Chlorine water

[Arshis]

Here is just a though. Could people who use water in the city have a slower or zero cycle rate due to the chlorine in our water supply. VS people who live in the country that have well water?

Chlorine is used to remove bacteria from water could this chlorine be killing the nitrite/ritrate we need to cycle tanks?
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A story:
Upon buying my first fish it was an impulse decision, I went home and tossed 2 convicts in a 10 gallon and used a water condition and took the ph down to 6.8ish. After everyhour went by I noticed my fish were turning white , small bits of their skin mostly around their head were peeling off. Then their eyes got a clear glaze over it then it too turned white. Later I figured out it was the chlorine in the water.

Even if I take a shower and open my eyes in the water I get a slight burning sensation. The same feeling but much less when you open your eyes while swimming in a public pool.
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Just a thought: If chlorine can eat away at fish it should be more than strong enough to remove bacteria that we need to cycle our tanks.
I know there are conditions that remove chlorine but is it enough to remove it all?
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Example!
When I used AmQuel + removes nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, chlorine and chloramines. To 10 gallons of tap water I start to see small white flakes in the water they are just heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the tank and stay there. My only guess is that some sort of a chemical bond is formed that creates a new non lethal chemical (the white spots). I can see whatever its doing is working cause my fish are no longer peeling but how do I know all the chlorine is gone? Is there a chlorine testing kit??
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Well this is enough spam for now hope someone smarter than me out there knows the answer lol.

 

[greenmaji]

AmQuel is a product that you use to put in the bagwater of fish that are going to have a long travel or just came from a long travel to your tank from the store (there are alot of SW people around here that use it for drip acclimation to there tank) it is not a run of the mill chlorine/chlorimide remover.. you would use something like prime or start right they only remove chlorine (and prime detoxifies the chlorimide) at there normal douses.
in other words AmQuel is too much for a water conditioner for the tank IMHO.
And Prime can do some of the same things in stronger doeses so if you want an all round product use Prime..
chlorine detoxifiers remove chlorine emeditley.. there are chlorine testkits but your likely going to have to hunt for them most people dont buy them anymore..

 

[bosk1]

This occurred to me to mention in your other thread and it slipped my mind. You MUST add dechlorinator to your water. Chlorine and chloramines will harm your fish and, as you guessed, kill the beneficial bacteria. Most people, myself included, add it right into the tank as new water is being added. Some will argue more for certain brands, especially Prime. I like Prime because it works well, and is more concentrated so you use less. But there are plenty of other good brands. There are a couple of brands that are bad, and I can't remember what they are. But I seem to recall Amquel might be one of them. Others will have to chime in on this.

 

[Arshis]

I've seen prime at the store and I asked the guy working in aquatics and he said amquel works better! ~.~

Ok so now my water is contaminated with Amquel, will the substances in amquel be in my water still should i do like a 90% water change?

I have another topic in this fourm about my problem cycleing my tank this may be why~ :x

 

[bosk1]

A lot of things I've heard said at my LFS turned out to be dead wrong. It's unfortunate that so many people get bad advice, which causes a lot of tanks to fail, which causes a lot of would-be aquarists to give up. Don't give up! Even though you may be having a rocky start, you can get through it.

As as to the water change, I would do a large one (possibly a few large ones), as I mentioned in the other thread. Maybe not 90%. I had a problem not long ago when adding fish after I thought my tank had cycled, but really hadn't finished. As a result, I ended up doing 4 50-60% water changes in just over a 24 hour period. Thankfully, I had a python, which made the job easier. I could tell it helped the fish just by visibly observing them. But you have to have a good conditioner to add as you're doing the water changes. The problem I recall with a couple of the conditioners out there, and again I think Amquel might have been one of them, is that they bind up the ammonia or the nitrites (can't remember which) so that they will not convert, but they are still in the water doing harm to your fish. Do you have a python, or are you doing the bucket/syphon method?

Anyway, hang in there!

 

[Arshis]

I have a python no way i'd bucket 75 gallons lol 70$'s was worth it
In the process of changeing 50% of my water my ammonia hit 4ppm.

4 50/60% water changes a day "no way" ! It takes a few hours for me to remove water than add it back how can someone do that many a day ?!?!

 

[bosk1]

A few hours? It shouldn't take that long. I can do a 50% pwc in my 55 gallon in about 20 minutes. Do you have your faucet running while you are syphoning water out of the tank? I have my tap going at about 2/3-3/4 of full strenght, and the water syphons out pretty quickly. I haven't had mine python that long, but I've got a pretty good system down for my pwc's. Let me see if I can find the thread where I previously posted it...

edit: Okay, found it:

Granted I have only been doing this a short time, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I have been using only tap water and it works just fine. In the 2 months or so I have been on this board, I have seen numerous posts regarding hooking up a python to the faucet and using water right out of the tap. I can tell you, it makes water changes a snap. And since I recently had to do 4 50%+ changes in just over a 24-hour period, it made my life a lot easier. What I have done, upon recommendation of others here, is:
1. Suck out the desired amount of water using the python
2. When I am close to the desired amount, I begin checking and adjusting the temperature of the tap water to make sure it will match the tank temp.
3. When I get to the desired level, I switch the direction of the water flow and start adding water
4. Immediately after changing the direction of the water flow in #3, I add my dechlorinator (Prime) so that it dechlorinates the water as it flows in.

Using this method, I actually like doing water changes because they are so easy, and because it is fun to see the fish come out and frolic in the flow of incoming water (the loaches especially seem to like it a lot).

Again, you have to have the water flowing from the tap for step #1 to not take forever. That might be your problem. (or you just have abnormally low water pressure)

And as far as checking the temp. in step #2, I have a cheap $2 glass & suction cup thermometer in my tank. My tank temp is about 78 F, so I just pop out the thermometer and hold it under the tap and adjust until the tap water is about 78. Then I know the fish won't get temperature shock once I reverse the flow and start pumping the new water in.

HTH

 

[An t-iasg]

There is nothing bad about Amquel. It removes chlorine, chloramines, and ammonia; however, only using it at the recommended dose (1 teaspoon per 10 gallons) will not affect your cycling bacteria. I only use it to treat tapwater prior to doing a water change. What is "bad" is using an excess amount to try to remove ammonia due to an uncycled tank. In that case, water changes are necessary to bring the ammonia down and also keep the cycling process going.

If you are using Amquel as your dechlorinator, that's fine. If you used a large amount to try to control your cycle, then you should do a series of water changes over the next few days while testing the ammonia levels - not really to remove the Amquel, because it won't hurt the fish, but because using Amquel to neutralize the ammonia isn't the best way to complete the cycle. Do water changes instead.

 

[bosk1]

An t-iasg, glad you chimed in on the Amquel. I couldn't remember for sure which dechlorinators I had heard bad things about on this forum. That name just seemed to ring a bell. Well, that's one less issue for Arshish to worry about. But that ammonia reading is very worrisome.

 

[coolchinchilla]

An t-iasg, glad you chimed in on the Amquel. I couldn't remember for sure which dechlorinators I had heard bad things about on this forum. That name just seemed to ring a bell. Well, that's one less issue for Arshish to worry about. But that ammonia reading is very worrisome.

I've heard bad things about AmmoLock. Is that what you're thinking?

 

[An t-iasg]

AmmoLock says it will instantly rid an aquarium of ammonia. It binds up the ammonia so it doesn't hurt the fish, but then it may not be available to the cycling bacteria either. I think I remember reading that ammonia will still show up on the test kit, so you still see a high ammonia level, but you have to trust that it is bound away. It would be hard to keep track of your ammonia levels with this product. I don't think it will do anything to help your cycle along.

I can think of one instance where using Amquel or Amquel + in a greater quantity would be desirable: if you have a power outage. Otherwise, I know it can be frustrating (I've been there, and I'm there now, lol) to keep doing one or even two water changes a day to keep ammonia and nitrites down, but it's the best way. Chemicals do not help your tank in the long run. The cycle is much more stable when you allow the bacterial colonies to establish naturally. I tried to cycle a tank with chemicals, including Ammo-lock, many years ago and the fish seemed stressed, and I even had nitrite readings well after the six-week mark. Do water changes and let your cycle happen on its own!