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Water changes without dechlorinator

sciencefiction

sciencefiction

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26 Feb 2013
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What is the damage if I do that long term?

I've been doing large water changes without dechlorinator for the last 4 weeks on two tanks. That's because I ran out of dechlorinator and I kept the last bits for my big tank so my small tanks have been water changed without any at all. In one of them I accidentally did 70% as I forgot the python draining and the tank is small, takes a few minutes to drain it.

Those two tanks contain corydoras, kuhli loaches, shrimp and ottos and they are absolutely unaffected during or after.
Today I ran out of dechlorinator altogether and my big tank just took a 60% water change without any dechlorinator.
A few months back I did several weeks water changes on one of these same tanks without dechlorinator to test as I had noticed that in the past in the rare cases when I forgot to put some, fish were ok. Those fish were and are still fine that I put through the test. I just started dosing back up so I don't worry about it, not because it made any difference.

From the limited info about our water I know it's treated with very little chlorine. I don't know anything about heavy metal content.

I know it's safer using dechlorinator because the water companies may flush the system and such but under the current circumstances buying Prime for multiple weekly water changes cost me way too much.
 
Seriously? Buy some Seachem 'Safe' and be done with it.

My friends dad used to keep fish without dechlorinator, saying it was all a money-making scheme. He couldn't keep guppies alive for more than 3 months. The tank was stable, and the nitrate etc. levels were acceptable, but his fish always seemed sickly and ragged, as if they were under constant stress.

My guess is that although you may not notice any difference immediately, over time the fish's health will suffer. Either as a direct result of the chlorine in the water, or through knock-on effect. If you're going to adopt the care of an animal, you certainly shouldn't be looking to cut corners to save small amounts of money.

Again, I refer you to Seachem 'Safe' as a cheaper alternative. In fact, if you do a Google search, there is a particular compoind you can buy in bulk to dechlorinate your water.
 
Henry said:
If you're going to adopt the care of an animal, you certainly shouldn't be looking to cut corners to save small amounts of money.
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Lol, Henry. I've been buying Prime for years. 3x500ml bottles run out within a few months because I have 5 tanks and I do a lot of water changing. Living in Ireland means I pay about 80 euro for them with delivery and I've been out of a job for the last few years because I went back to education. You probably have the one small tank for which one bottle of Seachem Prime lasts you a year and you probably forget doing your water changes weekly.

The options my fish have is giving them to the local fish shop in which there are 4-5 dead fish in each tank every time I go, quite a few from the rest sick and even the display tank is ridiculous. The owner is a very nice chap but doesn't know much of anything at all.
I can't even sell the fish online even if I wanted to.

On a side note, I bought one of my tanks from an Asian guy who owns a fish shop. It's just outside my town but he says he never uses dechlorinator here because the water is good.

If it wasn't for the lack of options to keep my fish happy and alive, right now I'd give all of them away. My electricity bills are huge. My partner is cringing every time. Dechlorinator is just one of the many things. I won't mention the amount of fish food I need for quite a few fish I have. And that too needs to be ordered online, otherwise it will be tetra flakes.
 
Putting the effect on the fish to one side you have to ask yourself why chlorine is added to water in the first place. Then think about what happens to the beneficial bacteria we have in our tank when you add water full of chlorine (or chloramine).

Take a read here also - http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/chlorine-chloramine

 
Seachem prime is the cheaper.
dose is 5ml for 200liter tap water change.
So a 500ml botle cost~15 euro.
It can clear 20000liters.
I dont use it because i use ro water, and very litle tap,at 100 liter 90 liter is ro and 10 liters tap.
 
sciencefiction said:
Nope, a 500ml bottle costs me 23 euro plus deliver 10 euro. So I buy 3 bottles to save on delivery. I am living on an island.
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To be correct, it costs me exactly 85 euro to buy 3 bottles plus delivery from swelluk which is about the cheapest website that does deliveries to my country.

I won't even go into detail the amount I pay for electricity because of the fish, the fish food, because I buy quality one, the repairs on my tanks, blown filters and heaters and the lists goes on. It's an expensive hobby. I've had a lot of my fish for many years and I love them and I am not putting them at risks on a whim because I'd like to or I want to take risks.
 
sciencefiction said:
To be correct, it costs me exactly 85 euro to buy 3 bottles plus delivery from swelluk which is about the cheapest website that does deliveries to my country.

I won't even go into detail the amount I pay for electricity because of the fish, the fish food, because I buy quality one, the repairs on my tanks, blown filters and heaters and the lists goes on. It's an expensive hobby. I've had a lot of my fish for many years and I love them and I am not putting them at risks on a whim because I'd like to or I want to take risks.
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I dont know exactly how much it cost ,i said ~15.
I know its expensive hobby.

I have 10 planted tanks... :)
 
sciencefiction said:
Lol, nicpapa, you're working to pay for your tanks :) 10 planted tanks is a lot. I forgot about the ferts and co2 expense but mine are the lowest tech possible you could imagine ;)
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It depend how you have setup the tanks ..:)
8 of them is shrimp tanks, and the other have fish .
i dont buy ferts i use dry ferts.
All my filters is power save, for shrimp tanks the filtres is 3 watt..
For the food it cost me about 100euros for a year , and co2 is very cheap to replace..
 
Yes, it does depend. I've got 5 tanks and 11 of the devices are in filters only. Then I've got heaters in each, lights and one UV filter. Two of the filters are 55W each, the rest vary but I've got about 2 filters or more in each tank and that's from experience because long term everything fails or clogs or whatever and I've killed fish with just one filter in a tank that accidentally failed to work. And I've got some big poopy fish and a couple of the tanks are about 100g each. I've got just one shrimp dedicated tank and this tank only costs about 2 euro every two months so it's not my problem :) I've got plastic pots on the window with shrimp and they cost me nothing at all :)

Also the water heater, to heat the tank to put for water changes is a massive KW eater.
 
Troi said:
I've hardly ever used dechlorinator...to my knowledge I've never lost any livestock as a result...
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Thanks Troi. That's good to know.
I think I'll take the risk and try it myself. I'll let you all guys know if you wish to know what happens long term.
In my limited experience so far the fish don't care at all. Or maybe they do but don't show signs.
 
I never used dechlorinator as well, I'm dosing ei with 50% water change once a week and fish are perfectly fine

Thanks
 
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