# GTA & condo water smell?



## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Guys I need your help since I am new to Canada and even newer to the Condo life. Today I noticed that our tap water (Richmond Hill) is kinda smelly. Maybe chlorine? Maybe another chemical? something like that. Do you know why and details?


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## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

monk21 said:


> Guys I need your help since I am new to Canada and even newer to the Condo life. Today I noticed that our tap water (Richmond Hill) is kinda smelly. Maybe chlorine? Maybe another chemical? something like that. Do you know why and details?


Can you describe the smell? Does it smell like natural gas? A fart? bleach? Other?


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

I thought I did! It smelled as bleach or something chemical. I cannot be sure. The smell though is not there anymore. Weird


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

monk21 said:


> Maybe chlorine?


That is chlorine. Universal used all over the world to purify tap water.
This is why you have to age the water before using it in your tank. Chlorine will evaporate in 24h period.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

More info on that? Who uses it? Where? How often?

And "age" the water? That's why we have conditioners!


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## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

Hey monk21 I also live in Richmond Hill, but I assume my city water is treated with chloramine which doesn't evaporate easily through aging like plain old chlorine. I treat it with Prime.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

monk21 said:


> More info on that? Who uses it? Where? How often?
> 
> And "age" the water? That's why we have conditioners!


Look's like you know and have all the tools you need. Good luck.


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

Town of Richmond Hill said:


> The water consumed by Richmond Hill residents is drawn from Lake Ontario and is treated by the City of Toronto and the Region of Peel. It travels to the Region of York and to the Town of Richmond Hill through a network of piping and metering points. The Town of Richmond Hill does not treat the water, but monitors it to ensure quality and safety standards are met. Concerns with regard to taste and odour of water should be referred to the Region of York at (905) 773-7715.


source

If this is the case then you certainly have chlorine and chloramines in your tap water from Toronto. The last stage of Toronto water processing is the addition of ammonia, which combines with chlorine, creating chloramine. Allowing your water to sit for a day will evaporate chlorines, but chloramines are far more stable and are not removed this way. You need to use a dechlorinator that does chloramines, such as Prime.

Maybe the Region of Peel has different water, but I would guess it is similar to Toronto.

You should call the number above and inquire about the foul smell of your water. You, and your fish, are what you drink.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Water treatment in Peel Region may depend on the city you are in.. most have their own water management, like Mississauga does. The source water, unless you have a well, is virtually always Lake Ontario. Being in a condo has no effect.. city water is city water and all households will get the same water if they are served by the same city.

The chlorine odour is very common here in Mississauga. I smell it often. The water company swears the chlorine should be gone by the time it reaches my tap, but testing has proven this is not the case. My testing as well as theirs shows this.

Aging of water is one way to remove volatile chemicals that will gas off into air, and was once the only way to remove chlorine from tap water to use it for aquaria. Chlorine is very volatile, it will gas off pretty quickly. Leaving water in a wide surfaced container [bucket or tub ] for 24 to 48 hours used to be how most of us managed the chlorine problem. Water conditioners like Prime are relatively new to the hobby. I'm not sure just when they appeared, but when I was in high school and college, they didn't exist.

Chloramines are produced by adding both chlorine and ammonia to the water. They combine and because they last much longer, they are better disinfectants than chlorine alone. But even they will gas off with time. I've read a few articles that claim that ageing water for a minimum of one week in a suitable wide container will remove chloramines. I doubt many of us have time or space to age water for a week, but you could if you wanted to.

The popularity of things like Brita water filters is thus explained, I think, simply by the fact we can smell and often taste some chlorine in our water, and a lot of us worry about what else might be in it, considering what's been found in the lake water. I filter my drinking water for this reason.

In some summers there can be huge algae blooms in the lake too. If so, our water may smell rather funky, like a swamp, from the tap. The city swears it is harmless but unless you filter it with some type of water filter, it is not much fun to drink during the period the algae is a problem. It does not appear to have any effect on fish, fortunately, so at least that's not a worry for our tanks.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Dechlors are not new and have been around since at least the early 60s.In fact the use of thiosulphite (the basis of dechlors), or hyposulphite was probably around before that. I am surprised that someone from water treatment would say the chlorine should be gone when it reaches you, since the whole point of adding it is to ensure the water is safe when it reaches you. This is why they add ammonia, to help ensure that.


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## zenins (Sep 17, 2013)

Chlorine in municipal treated water will dissipate after standing for 2 days or 1 day if you have a bubble stone running in the bottom of the pail.
Chloramine, on the other hand, persists in the water for 2 weeks, if you run a bubbler, it might be gone after 10 days, but sometimes will still stay in the water longer. 
Many municipalities have holding chambers through out the system to make sure that surges in demand can be met, so they want the sanitation to persist


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

That's interesting. So can u tell me? If someone doesn't use cconditioners, how long would he have to let the tap water stay still in a bucket before putting it in the aquarium in order to be 100% safe?


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

It depends on how much you are changing if you need any at all. Lots of us around here have done 50% changes for years without dechlor. My experiments with straight tap and tank water 50/50 is that the chlorine is gone in 5 to 10 minutes. Most of it is gone almost immediately, all within 10 minutes. Chlorine is a powerful oxidizer and as such reacts very quickly. I use a dechlor usually, as I have some very inexpensive home made dechlor. I have enough crystals to last at least the rest of my life. For really small changes or top ups I don't use it at all.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

monk21 said:


> That's interesting. So can u tell me? If someone doesn't use cconditioners, how long would he have to let the tap water stay still in a bucket before putting it in the aquarium in order to be 100% safe?


24h will be enough. I put tap water in 5 gal jug 1 week before. I need it at room temp also.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

When he said the chlorine should be 'gone' by the time it reaches my tap, I suspect the water tester the city sent actually meant that I should not be able to SMELL it by the time it gets to the tap. He seemed quite unhappy I could smell it, and that others could also. 
I've spent time in a couple places where the water was very bad. The chlorine odour was so strong in the tap water, I found it impossible to drink tea or coffee made with it, and the water itself as well. I drank club soda and juice instead. Those who lived there told me they got used to it.

When I kept fish in my school days, Chloramines didn't exist so far as I know. Only chlorine was used. So I left several large buckets out in the utility room for two or more days, for water changes and top ups, which I know kind of bugged my Mom.

But she was kindly gracious where most of my animal quirks came up, to a point anyway. 

To be totally safe, I'd test aging water the first day, then every other day after until the tests no longer indicate any levels of chlorine and/or chloramines.

If that takes a week, or ten days, or two weeks, then that's how long you'd have to age YOUR water, at this time. Bearing in mind that water does change. Water companies vary both the amount and type of chemicals they add according to the prevailing conditions, mainly weather related, throughout the year. Adding a great deal more or less treatment is probably more likely to happen during major heat waves or after very heavy rain or flooding, or drought, because all these can have profound effects on the source water.


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