Chlorine or Chloramine Level + Testing Inline Dechlorinators

[Bradders]

Hi All,

Later this year, I will (subject to successful Anglo husband and wife negotiations) be getting a larger aquarium. Something in the range of 250 to 300 litres, so I'm looking at preparing the ground early.

I am experimenting with in-line de-chlorinators as a result to help speed up water changes. However, I really want a VERY accurate Chlorine or Chloramine tester that clearly shows the presence of these two chemicals so I can be sure all is well. The test strips look really inaccurate (at least hard to tell the level), so I wondered if anyone has come across the 'bible' of Chlorine/Chloramine level testers - with a bonus point to anyone that can suggest a digital one which is even easier to read!

Thanks for any advice,
Brad

 

[Bradders]

I have purchased an Oase inline Dechlorinator - really to experiment and find out its actual performance in real life.

Whilst looking online, there have been several negative reviews of the Dechlorinator not working. Most of this boils down to poor specification advertising from Oase Dealers and Oase themselves. Both are not forthcoming on the below requirements, which are clear on the box packaging once purchased but NOT clear in all pre-purchase literature. The literature basically says "makes tap water safe" - and not everyone deeply reads what they are getting into:

Aside from the dual inline requirement for higher than 0.5 mg/l, I also suspect that Europe's classification as 0.5 mg/l is significantly too low. My water supplier (Essex and Suffolk Water) don't publish great chlorine level test metrics within their Water Quality Reports. However, their literature clearly states the following, and I suspect quite a few other Water Suppliers are not far behind:

Of course, we do not know what the levels are once they reach your home, and we don't always know how close we are to the water treatment works. So testing, no matter what, is going to be vital to anyone considering such devices. i.e. because of caution related to when Water Suppliers pump more chlorine or chloramine into the system.

So anyway, it's another of "Brads Folly's" but was interested to give this a go and see what the outcome is in a balanced way. Yes, this device is not going to be interesting to most, but for some with larger aquariums and tap water users this has the potential to be quite useful. But only of it does not kill any fish .........

 

[Wookii]

I have purchased an Oase inline Dechlorinator

You just need a decent HMA filter. I would recommend a dual cartridge one either 10" or 20", and have a combination carbon block and sediment filter in the first cartridge, and a chloramine filter in the second.

10" x 2.5" Triple Filter Housing System - Vyair

 

[Wookii]

For testing chlorine in product water of my RO system (which then tells me its time to change the carbon filters) I use this Hanna unit:

HI-711 Total Chlorine Handheld Colorimeter - Checker HC

 

[Bradders]

You just need a decent HMA filter. I would recommend a dual cartridge one either 10" or 20", and have a combination carbon block and sediment filter in the first cartridge, and a chloramine filter in the second.

10" x 2.5" Triple Filter Housing System - Vyair

Something like that? (note the selection in red for each chamber)

 

[Wookii]

Something like that? (note the selection in red for each chamber)

View attachment 215890

Yeah, that should be fine, though stage 2 only needs to be a Chlorine filter, with the chloramine in stage 3.

However I was meaning just a dual stage filter - so the Carbon Wrap filter in the 1st stage as it is dual purpose; sediment and carbon filter in one, and then just have the Premium Chloramine filter in the second stage which should be plenty. The third chamber can be empty, or just look for a two stage filter housing unit.

It's worth mentioning that we don't often have chloramine in the water in the UK, it typically added as an emergency measure by the water companies, so the chloramine filter is just an insurance policy.

 

[Bradders]

Yeah, that should be fine, though stage 2 only needs to be a Chlorine filter, with the chloramine in stage 3.

However I was meaning just a dual stage filter - so the Carbon Wrap filter in the 1st stage as it is dual purpose; sediment and carbon filter in one, and then just have the Premium Chloramine filter in the second stage which should be plenty. The third chamber can be empty, or just look for a two stage filter housing unit.

It's worth mentioning that we don't often have chloramine in the water in the UK, it typically added as an emergency measure by the water companies, so the chloramine filter is just an insurance policy.

Thank you - very informative!

The page does not tell you how fast the water can run through it to be effective? Is that a not a problem in these systems?

 

[Wookii]

The page does not tell you how fast the water can run through it to be effective? Is that a not a problem in these systems?

It shouldn't be an issue at typical household flow rates I wouldn't have thought, though you are right in the that slower the pass through, the more effective it'll be. It would be worth checking with the guys at Vyair, their customer support is very good.

 

[Bradders]

Thanks @Wookii - more things for me to try out! (What the hell is the matter with me???!)

 

[Wookii]

Thanks @Wookii - more things for me to try out! (What the hell is the matter with me???!)

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I also suspect that Europe's classification as 0.5 mg/l is significantly too low. My water supplier (Essex and Suffolk Water) don't publish great chlorine level test metrics within their Water Quality Reports. However, their literature clearly states the following, and I suspect quite a few other Water Suppliers are not far behind:

You can smell and taste chlorine (Cl2) at above 0.5 ppm. The problems nearly always come with <"emergency chloramine dosing">, usually where the integrity of the water main is threatened.

<"Regular chloramine dosing"> traditionally <"only occurs in the UK"> when the water will have a long residence time in the water main and this is just to ensure that the water is still chlorinated when it reaches the consumer.

I really want a VERY accurate Chlorine or Chloramine tester that clearly shows the presence of these two chemicals so I can be sure all is well.

For testing chlorine in product water of my RO system (which then tells me its time to change the carbon filters) I use this Hanna unit:

HI-711 Total Chlorine Handheld Colorimeter - Checker HC

@Wookii 's suggestion. It is quite difficult to measure low levels of chlorine in the tank. One "problem" is that chlorine is a very scarce gas in the atmosphere, which means that <"the concentration gradient"> between the chlorinated water <"and the atmosphere"> is very steep and chlorine levels in the tank water decline really quickly as it out-gases.

The "advantage" of chloramine (NH2Cl) is that it trickles a mix of chlorine and ammonia (NH3) over time. The chlorine can be removed by aeration and the Total Ammoniacal Nitrogen (TAN) will either,

• enter microbial nitrification,
• be taken up by plants or
• "locked up" by a dechlorinator like <"Prime or Amquel">. ,

If you don't want to go down the HMA filter, or dechlorinator, route, you would need to "store" the water before use.

Because nitrification is an <"oxygen intensive process">, plants really help by both their net oxygen production and the direct uptake of TAN, this means that you can use relatively small water changes of aged water, plants and direct aeration to ensure that you never have issues with unexpected chloramine.

cheers Darrel

 

[Bradders]

Thank everyone for the data and advice! And I think all you have said leads on to the below ......

Well, at the very least, here is why manufacturers need to make their literature very clear. After speaking to Essex and Suffolk Water (actually very, very helpful customer support) they say that a range of 0.08mg/l to 0.85mg/l of chlorine and chloramines could be found in the water. (see red highlight below as Residual Disinfectant). There were over 48 tests (nearly every week in the year) so much of the year, the Oase de-chlorinator would not be effective at eliminating. In some case, it would still leave a residual of at least 0.35mg/l in the water:

Here is an example blurb from one online supplier, but nearly all of them are like this:

The Dechlorinator is ideal for either new pond setups or well established koi ponds when you want to add fresh tap water. It will ensure your tap water is free of chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals making the water totally safe for your fish. It's simple to install with standard hose connectors (supplied) so there is no need for bucketing tap water and adding liquid dechlornator which can be sometimes time consuming. You can simply hook it up to your outside tap and leave it until the pond is full. The Dechlorinator is compact in size so it's easy to store, it can filter a massive 200,000 litres of water before the unit has to be replaced. It has a maximum flowrate of 500lph so it will be fine with most households water pressure.

Note that there are no comments about how much chlorine it will address and that if you have over a certain amount of chlorine, you need two inline units. It simply says, "It will ensure your tap water is free of chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals making the water totally safe for your fish.".

When you think about it, it is a significant omission not to publish the limits and capabilities on these websites..

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Presumably the longer the dwell time, the more chlorine/chloramine that can be removed by the filters? So if you reduced your flow rate significantly, all disinfectants would be removed.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Presumably the longer the dwell time, the more chlorine/chloramine that can be removed by the filters? So if you reduced your flow rate significantly, all disinfectants would be removed.

No, not really, probably actually quite the opposite.

<"Dwell time"> isn't really that relevant, as far as I'm concerned <"it is a diversionary tactic"> used by the <"vendors of Biohome"> etc to try and imply that their media can perform <"simultaneous aerobic nitrification and anaerobic denitrification"> & <"7.5. Denitrifying Media, Biohome and De*Nitrate in the Aquarium">.

Chlorine
To remove the chlorine (Cl2) you need as large a gas exchange surface as possible, which is why some people use a spray bar, colander etc. <"Water diffuser ideas for tank refill"> to add the new tap water to the tank.

Chloramine - chlorine
In terms of the breakdown of chloramine (NH2Cl) to chlorine, it is exactly the same process all chlorine removal

Chloramine - ammonia
In terms of the <"ammonia (NH3)"> from the breakdown of chloramine, you just need to ensure that you get rid of it as <"rapidly as possible">. It doesn't matter how you do it.

The prime metric in ammonia removal <"is oxygen">, in fact it is the <"only thing that really matters">. This is where a <"long dwell time in the filter"> may impede nitrification, if the water becomes <"deoxygenated in the filter">.

cheers Darrel

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Thanks Darrell. That’s interesting.

I bought a catalytic carbon filter a while back and it was advertised as having chloramine and heavy metal removal ability at higher concentrations when the flow rate was reduced. I don't actually need this for my tap water as it’s basically got nothing in it and it’s easy enough to dose water conditioner but it’s interesting to know.

So a second pass will work to remove the disinfectants but more time in the same filter will not if I’m understanding it correctly?

 

[Bradders]

And this interested me as well - Oase de-chlorinator states you need 1 for up to 0.5mg/l, but two will cover up to 5mg/l. I cant work out why the second one handles so much more, and the first so little.........

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

And this interested me as well - Oase de-chlorinator states you need 1 for up to 0.5mg/l, but two will cover up to 5mg/l. I cant work out why the second one handles so much more, and the first so little.........

View attachment 215910

Yes, that’s an order of magnitude greater by doubling what is essentially the surface area and the dwell time. I don’t understand that either.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I bought a catalytic carbon filter a while back and it was advertised as having chloramine and heavy metal removal ability at higher concentrations when the flow rate was reduced.

OK that makes sense and I'm in "apples and oranges" territory.

This is a chemical process. "Catalytic" is meant to <"suggest something special">, but this <"is just activated charcoal"> -

..... CAT is a high-performance coconut shell catalytic carbon filter specially designed to reduce chloramines in your drinking water. The enhanced catalytic functionally has four times the capacity for reducing chloramines than standard carbon and is an excellent chloramine removal water filter......

From: <"7.4.2. Activated Carbon">.

......... At the pH of most drinking water chloramine is very slowly reduced to ammonia and chloride (Bauer and Snoyeyink, 1973, Komorita and Snoeyink, 1985). The reduction is very slow (0.3 gallons per minute through three feet of carbon, per the article: “Activated Carbon Filtration”, DeSilva, 2000), which means it doesn’t work well for doing a water change (1 to 3 gpm and a few inches of carbon).

Because the reduction generates ammonia and ammonia is a food source for bacterial growth, activated carbon beds reducing chloramine become “fouled” pretty rapidly and stop doing reduction. This is in contrast to chlorine, which is reduced at a moderate speed in feet of carbon and where the beds are good for up to six months.

So, activated charcoal might have a use conditioning water for water changes if you have only chlorine and you use it in a large filter which is in the hose you use for a water change................

For <"nitrification">, the process of "biological filtration", <"the above holds true">.

I'm not a tap water user, but if I was I would want <"belt and braces"> to deal with any potential emergency chloramine dosing. I wouldn't be too worried about "normal" levels of chlorine, I'm going to perform small volume water changes and out-gassing should take care of that (this wouldn't <"apply to the USA however">).

The same would apply even if the regular disinfectant was chloramine, out-gassing and <"efficient biological filtration"> are going to deal with the continual trickle of chlorine and ammonia.

The "emergency chloramine" scenario is where <"really efficient biofiltration"> becomes important, and this is one reason to <"build a system"> that can deal with a huge increase in bioload.

cheers Darrel

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Ah, I didn’t realise we were talking about different products. I think the activated charcoal filter I’ve got is just manufactured to a higher grade than you run of the mill granular carbon so it’s more efficient. Reading your links suggest it probably won’t last long when reducing chloramine although it’s only added as an emergency method in my area so unlilely this capability is required often. However I have nothing to compare it to and I have limited use for the filter as it stands.

I may end up using it for pond top offs if we have a warm summer but realistically, the aeration and plant mass in my pond relative to the volume of top off, and my average tap water quality, it’s not necessary.

 

[Bradders]

At this point, we are saying the inline de-chlorinators don't work reliably and consistently. This is not a "fire-and-forget" product and, in my opinion, is mis-marketed.

I decided (based on the fact that we are in "Europe"- well, sort of ) to open the box and test - using basic DPD 4 tablets to test Chlorine before and after. I can tell you that being in "Europe" did not make the water safe when passing through the device at a very slow speed. It was still very pink in the results. API testing (even at a lower dose) was very white.

I am not that upset with the capability of the device; moreover, the sales wording makes people feel this is going to be the one-stop shot.