Anybody Else Given up on Dechlorinating?

[chris1004]

Clive, do you clean all three of these large filters at the same time?

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Chris,
It depended on my mood, to tell the truth. If I was annoyed/cold or if the Pinot Grigio in the fridge had chilled sufficiently I would abandon the effort midway through. If it was a nice day outside I would clean them all. Mostly I settled on an alternating strategy, something like #1 & #2 this week and #2 &#3 in three weeks. Mate, you have no idea what Major Drag Supreme that is. I won't even go into how to maintain water temperature during wintertime changes, or cleaning of tubing/diffusers. Tiptoe through the tulips with media trays? Forget about it :!: Although, perhaps the filter that was not cleaned that week would act as a buffer until the other two got up to speed. They are very high capacity...

As I said, this is just a corner cutting manoeuvre that worked in this case and that may not apply to other cases. If I had expensive fish or had other, more stringent goals, I would have adjusted the methods to reduce risk. 😀

Cheers,

 

[chris1004]

I can imagine the work invoved mate I know how long my planted tank takes and its a lot smaller than yours. I have two externals but by the time I've done the water change, done the gardening, cleaned the glass, hood, lights etc, stripped down the pipework cleaned and reinstalled it, cleaned the filters and anything else that needs doing the best part of a day goes. It doesn't help that i have a number of other tanks either, fortunatly the others are much simpler affairs just plain glass tanks with internal filters in the main with only ambient room lighting so therefore need much less maintenance but collectivly they still take up a fair ammount of time. Its a labour of love though and which I always feel good about when I'm on top of things.

I do understand your rational behind your maintenance schedule but don't think that I would have the balls to do it for fear of causing a breakdown in the nitrogen cycle. But you know me and my paranoia anyway, I just wouldn't sleep well for worry after doing that. Nothing that smirnoff wouldn't sort out though.... 😀 😀

 

[jonny_ftm]

Hi,

I don't know if I missed it reading through most of the thread, but I didn't see anyone talking about simply letting the water rest in an open reciepient for 24-48h

That's the best natural method to get all your chlorine evaporated. If on a hurry, an oxygenator added to the reciepient will do it in 12h-24h. It has a big advantage: no stange chemicals added and chlorine evaporates away instead of being binded and kept in water. It is a scientifically proven way

I do 60% WC /week and never used any chemical except ferts

 

[Dave Spencer]

....It has a big advantage: no stange chemicals added and chlorine evaporates away instead of being binded and kept in water. It is a scientifically proven way

I do 60% WC /week and never used any chemical except ferts

From what I understand, chloramines do not evaporate away.

Dave.

 

[Stu Worrall]

....It has a big advantage: no stange chemicals added and chlorine evaporates away instead of being binded and kept in water. It is a scientifically proven way

I do 60% WC /week and never used any chemical except ferts

From what I understand, chloramines do not evaporate away.

Dave.

nope, they definately dont and we do get them added where we are dave 🙁

 

[FiltranZer]

With this information that I got in this discussion I think it will really a big help to my problem.,





_________________
Furnace filter

 

[Stu Worrall]

With this information that I got in this discussion I think it will really a big help to my problem.,

welcome to ukaps filtranzer. what was your problem by the way?

 

[jonny_ftm]

I see, didn't think about chloramines,

Hopefully, in Switzerland, chloramines aren't ont the list of allowed substances for treating tap water. They use gas Cl2 or rather Chlore dioxyde.

Tap water here is very poor in nitrates (lower than 4ppm), mean value of 2ppm, so chloramine formation is unsignificant

I'll keep in mind that if things change, I have to take care

 

[davidcmadrid]

I been using Aquatan for about 3 years now . Upping the anti with EI recently based on a 5L bottle it will cost me 12 pence a week to treat the water. A year back i forgot to do it and promptly had a tank of of Algae ( so i assume i broke the nitrogen cycle ) .. even if it kills nothing in the tank I suppose i still hold the idea the fish dont like Chlorine or Chloramine and see a difference between stressing them and killing them and dont want to do either. From what i can see of planted aquariums thus far there is a lot of money spent in areas where its not needed presenting savings opportunities before id consider cutting out water treatment.

 

[davidcmadrid]

I can imagine the work invoved mate I know how long my planted tank takes and its a lot smaller than yours. I have two externals but by the time I've done the water change, done the gardening, cleaned the glass, hood, lights etc, stripped down the pipework cleaned and reinstalled it, cleaned the filters and anything else that needs doing the best part of a day goes. It doesn't help that i have a number of other tanks either, fortunatly the others are much simpler affairs just plain glass tanks with internal filters in the main with only ambient room lighting so therefore need much less maintenance but collectivly they still take up a fair ammount of time. Its a labour of love though and which I always feel good about when I'm on top of things.

Know what you mean about the time , I am looking at ways of cutting down the time needed at the minute. Bought myself 2 wheelie bins ( 12 pounds ) and a little eheim pump. Pump the water out into the first bin and wash everything in it once its settled , keep that water for the flowers. Fill second bin with fresh water add what needs to be added and then pump it into the tank with the same little drop in eheim. Saved myself a boat load of time doing it tonight for the first time, feeling right chuffed 😀

 

[chris1004]

Do you wheel the bins through your house then? Or have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick?

I noticed that you now spend 12 pence a week on dechlorinating, just out of interest how many litres (aprox) is that for?

 

[Dave Spencer]

From what i can see of planted aquariums thus far there is a lot of money spent in areas where its not needed presenting savings opportunities before id consider cutting out water treatment.

But as I have pointed out on this thread, it is nothing to do with saving money. 😀

Dave.

 

[davidcmadrid]

Do you wheel the bins through your house then? Or have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick?
[/quote]

No I wheel them through the house.

I noticed that you now spend 12 pence a week on dechlorinating, just out of interest how many litres (aprox) is that for?

About 130 Litres at the minute changed per week.

 

[davidcmadrid]

From what i can see of planted aquariums thus far there is a lot of money spent in areas where its not needed presenting savings opportunities before id consider cutting out water treatment.

But as I have pointed out on this thread, it is nothing to do with saving money. 😀

Dave.

I didnt suggest that you did 🙂 But i suppose I assumed it a factor and as its so cheap do do it that its imvho not worth not doing it. Others have mentioned cost so i calculated my own cost of doing it. Aquatan which i use theoretically contains some slime coat products for the fish also but i am thinking of changing to prime given i want to have the option of dropping purigen into the filter.

It has just occurred to me that Aquatan talks about binding heavy metals so i must check to see if it is effectively taking trace elements out of the water before and after the water change ( treatment )

 

[Dave Spencer]

But i suppose I assumed it a factor and as its so cheap do do it that its imvho not worth not doing it.

This is what I am wondering though. Do we do it because everybody else does, and have always done so, or is it genuinely a necessary process. I have my doubts as to its importance, to be honest.

Dave.

 

[chris1004]

Dave Spencer,

I don't think anyone is suggesting that your being tight mate by not dechlorinating, or even that you wish to save the money as the cost is so negligable that its not really worth mentioning other than to point out that it shouldn't be a factor when deciding wether to dechlorinate or not. The time it takes to use isn't really a serious argument for or against IMO either (sorry Clive).

Which really only leaves the question of whether chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals are desirable or not and how much damage is done to the filter bacteria colony by ommiting this step and what stress if any is caused to the flora or fauna.

I do think your looking for confirmation that emmiting to dechlorinate is ok but doubt whether you will be happy with any opinion contrary to this until you have lost a tankfull of fish or some geeky boffin type of water quality fanatic can spiel off 500 long and barely deciferable words about the pro's and cons of dechlorinating.

The truth of the matter for me though is that dechlorinating tapwater doen't go even close to the type and quality of water that I want to keep my fish in. So I will make no further comment on this thread as I feel that I have already said to much (I've already given you one really big word that I can't even pronounce(Dichlorobromomethane))and possibly upset one or two people. I also feel that I have already answered your original question to the best of my ability and have nothing further to add. If thats not enough for you then I wish you luck in seeking the answers that you want.

The following link has some real information in it and some links to articles published on the subject and should be good for a read if your that interested.

http://atlas.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_chlorine.htm

Regards, Chris.

I have just re-read the above and thought it sounded harsh but believe me when I say it really isn't meant to sound that way. I toyed with the idea of changing it or even toning it down but simply couldn't think of any other way to put it all so decided to leave it as it is please don't take offence Dave we all have our own opinions and methods thats for sure and if we didn't where would we be? Still at square one I guess all as identical clones, now that would not do!!!

 

[Dave Spencer]

Dave Spencer,
I do think your looking for confirmation that emmiting to dechlorinate is ok but doubt whether you will be happy with any opinion contrary to this until you have lost a tankfull of fish.......

I have no problems at all with the tone of your thread Chris. 😀 However, I do take great exception to the above comment. I have been accused of being lazy and can`t be bothered to dechlorinate, a cheapskate, and now I don`t care about my fish.

I started this thread to see if anybody had any real, hard evidence that dechlorinating is a necessary process. I wish people would read this thread and its sentiments properly.

I am not going to apologise for not following the "thou shall" and Thou shalt not" laws of this hobby verbatim. I guess my tank water would seem like poison to you chris, but my fish say otherwise. 😀 How you can say using tap water is irresponsible is a completely unfounded statement.

I am very familiar with the link that you supplied, chris.

If thats not enough for you then I wish you luck in seeking the answers that you want.

I don`t "want" any particular answer, I want the truth behind whether dechlorinating is a necessary step or not. I hope you are not suggesting that I don`t listen to advice and only hear what I want to hear. 😀

Dave.

 

[davidcmadrid]

David,

Whilst i reference cost as a factor in my decision not to look deeper into the issue , I would by no means like that my reference to cost as inference that it was a factor in your own decision.

 

[Dave Spencer]

No worries Mr Madrid.

This thread didn`t really go in the direction I hoped. I will just have to follow my own observations.

Dave.