HELP Chloraminated Water

[grumpybum]

Have just Received a letter from Severn Trent water stating that the disinfection of domestic water supply is being changed to a chloraminated supply.

 

Apparently this is a mix of chlorine and ammonia. Its also toxic to fish.

 

How do I ensure water for a pond and tanks is safe??

[chesters1]

best idea is to collect rainwater in butts or dustbins ,failing that theres chemicals that are supposed to remove chlorine (not sure about ammonia) but it workls out expensive.

or lastly buy an undersink filter and have fresh water to drink as well

[ColinW]

Here's a thought.

We use biological filters to convert ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates, which are relatively harmless. Then we do partial water changes to keep the nitrate levels down. So in future, when we do a water change, we will be replacing the nitrates with the same ammonia that we tried to get rid of in the first place! So what do we do? I'm not sure rainwater is the answer. I built a "self cleaning" pond that relied on rainwater and the fish didn't like it at all, probably too acidic!

Do we all have to dig our own wells in order to get clean water in this country? At this rate I'll have to start nicking de-ioniser resin from work and put a sock full of it in the power filter!

[Steve Walker]

Many over the counter dechlorinators will also remove chloramine. Check the label. I use one marketed for ponds, which works out a lot cheaper than the stuff aimed at aquaria. The mark-up is huge, a few pence worth of sodium thiosuphate, EDTA and an ammonia binder in a bottle that costs a fiver, but it's a fairly small expense.

 

It's a good point that adding ammonia to tapwater means that you are adding nitrogenous waste while trying to remove it, however chloramine is usually added at about 3mg/l. Broken down, that yields 1mg/l of ammonia. Now any measurable ammonia is undesirable, but 1mg/l is not a huge problem for a partial water change in a tank of reasonably hardy fish with a functioning biological filter. Of course it's going to end up as nitrate, which is what you were doing the water change to get rid of, but 1mg/l of ammonia will give you 3.6mg/l of nitrate. Most freshwater species will tolerate 40mg/l, and even sensitive species like discus are OK with 10mg/l, so even with an equivalent of 3.6mg/l in your tapwater you are still going to be able to knock nitrate levels down with water changes.

 

Wouldn't be very happy about chloramine if I had marine inverts, though, and RO doesn't reliably remove it.

[Huge_Vitae]

I use two methods as I require a lot of water replacement.

 

1) Rainwater which I run through a UV sterilizer to remove parasites from wild bird poo.

 

2) I fill 25ltr containers with tap water and leave them for a week with the top off, the chemicals slowly go by themselves.

 

A mixture of both can balance out hardness and alkalinity but that is of course dependant on species.

 

I cant use proprietary liquid purifiers as they make the fish unfit for human consumption and I eat my pets.

[Steve Walker]

I cant use proprietary liquid purifiers as they make the fish unfit for human consumption and I eat my pets.

 

If you haven't got chloramine and you want to be sure what you are adding, sodium thiosulphate is the active ingredient bought at a huge markup in most tapwater conditioners. It's not hazardous, and won't make your pets unfit to eat, but it will eliminate chlorine. Should be able to get it very cheaply (eg here. You'll need to look up the dosage on the web and have some decent scales.

[corydoras]

Any decent photographic supplies shop should be able to supply you with sodium thiosulphate. Its called hypo in the trade.