have been told that chlorimines do not (leave with standing or aeration)
Chloramines do not leave the water by standing or with aeration. That is why cities
like to use it. Chloramine = NH2Cl .Chloramine is more toxic to fish than chlorine. You can destroy chloramine with activated charcoal filtration (not the one in your tank!) but it frees the chlorine to diffuse out and leaves ammonia behind.
Activated Carbon (
AC) + NH2Cl + H2O ---> Ammonia (
NH3) + H+ +
Cl-
You can destroy chloramine with the dechlorinator Thiosulfate with the same results, ammonia left behind.
The ammonia treatment products like Amquel, (and Ammo-lock too?) also strip the chlorine molecule, freeing it to diffuse out, but then bind the ammonia so that it is not free to harm the fish, but is still availble to biofilter for conversion into nitrate. So, you have to get the chloramine out, and unfortunately it places an ammonia load on your biofilter.
Chloramine Sucks.
I believe the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals tap water conditioner has ammo-lock in it as a chlorine/chloramine treatment? Read the label on your dechlorinator, see if it is thiosulfate or something else.
I don't know if you can get the tap water treatment without the stress coat, but the ammonia detoxifiers come that way. Amquel will make a Nessler reagent ammonia test invalid (turns brown, false high
NH3 level), and will not affect a salicylate test but the bound and just added
NH3 won't register?Ammo-lock will not effect the salicylate ammonia test, but I believe the bound and just added ammonia still registers?
The Thiosulfate and the ammonia detoxifiers/dechlorinators work immediately.
So I should start removing the cover from now on?
Must be open to the air for gas exchange to let the chlorine diffuse out. A cover that allows gas exchange is ok, so just don't have it sealed up air tight.
HTH