Chlorine, chloramines & heavy metals

[funwiththefish]

I was told (by my mother) that if you let your tap water sit for a day or two (in a bucket or open jug) the chlorine will disperse from the water. Something about being exposed to the air allows the chlorine to be expelled. Now my mother was an avid fish breeder about ten years ago (had 400+ gals of aquarium space and never a problem at all with our wretched well water), so I take her word for this. Perhaps someone else can back her up.

So if this water trick holds true, then I don't need to add anything to remove the chlorine (if the water has sat). But the products I've seen out there remove "chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals" or "ammonia and chloramines". I'm not worried about my ammonia levels (my tanks is well established, and I have some zeolite in my filter), nor am I concerned with chlorine if this water trick is reliable. But what can I add to rid my tap water of these possible "chloramines and heavy metals"? I know my home has a water softener, but I don't think it would remove these particular items. The tap for my drinking water has an under-counter RO system installed. Does the RO take either item out?

All-in-all, I hate to add more chemicals than necessary (to remove ammonia and chlorine which are not present), so what can I do to protect myself against chloramines and heavy metals?

Wouldn't it be nice if I had some good ol' Lake Tanganyika water lying around somewhere so I could just dump it in without worrying about treating it? My cichlids would go crazy for water that good. A fish can dream, can't she?

Thanks everyone for your help and input!

 

[dr_girlfriend]

RO water takes out the chlorine and chloramine, but you'll have to reconstitute the water with trace minerals if you use straight RO. Kent makes a product called R/O Right its available at Big Al's for $6. You'll also have to watch the PH, since its very low with RO.
Youre lucky, I wish I had a RO unit!

 

[Toirtis]

OK...are you on city/town or well water? If you are on well water, and do not treat it with chlorine or chloramine, then you need add nothing to your water. If you are on city water and you get your tank water from the RO unit (and it is working properly with fresh membranes), then you need add nothing to it. If you are on city/town water and you get the water from your tank from a different faucet than the one attached to the RO unit, then there are two possibilities:

1. The water is treated with chlorine and allowing it to 'age' for 24 hours, especially when aerated, in an open container, will remove the chlorine.

2. The water is treated with chloramines, and aging will do no good whatsoever, and you need to use a good product, like Seachem "prime' or some such, to remove the chloramine.

Now, if you mother was using city/town water before and it was OK, double-check with your local waterworks, as many cities and towns have switched to chloramines in the past 5 years.

 

[frog girl]

Yes the R/O unit will remove any dissolved heavy metals from your tap water. Likely candidates are lead & copper but unless they are at relatively high levels I doubt that this will impact your fish.

I still use my R/O though because I know that it is safe.

 

[TomK2]

chlorine is added to municiple water as hypochlorite (HOCL), which is in balance with free chlorine (Cl). Free chlorine CL readily diffuses out of water, and aeration really speeds this up. Aerating water with chlorine and hypochlorite will allow the free Cl to diffuse out, and will consume the hypochlorite as the hypochlorite repleneshes the free chlorine. With aeration, 24 hours is likely enough time. Without aeration might need 48 hours.

Chloramine (or monochloramine, to be exact) is a chemical derived from adding chlorine to ammonia = NH2Cl . Chloramine is added to municiple water supplies instead of hypochlorite, since it is more stable and lasts longer. When broken down, chloramine becomes free Cl and ammonia (NH3). Activated carbon will break the Cl and ammonia bond, as will thiosulfate, amquel, ammo-lock, really any dechlorinator. The free Cl diffuses out, and the NH3 is left behind (bummer, eh?) If the amquel and ammo-lock ads are true, amquel and ammolock then bind the NH3.

Since the salicylate ammonia test of a freshwater liquid test kit first treats the sample with chlorine to make chloramine (if NH3 is present), then has a color change with the chloramine, an ammonia test actually measures the ammonia by how much chloramine it can be turned into. Thus, if you do a salicylate ammonia test on your tap water and it is zero, you can deduce that you do not have chloramine in your water. I have not seen this published, but I believe it is true. When added to city water, chloramine is generally added in 3+ ppm, so it should be detected on your ammonia liquid salicylate test (two bottle test), not a Nessler reagent (one bottle) test.

I just aerate my water, and leave the conditioners out. I do not have chloramine.

And of course, my link: http://home.comcast.net/~tomstank/tomstank_files/page0018.htm