# dechlorinator question



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Lets say you put in 10 gallons of water and then enough dechlorinator for 20 gallons, how long does the dechlorinator stay active if you want to add another 10 gallons of water?

I refill my tanks directly from a hose and have been adding dechlorinator a bit at a time while the tanks fill up. Wondering if I can just put the full amount in at the start and it keeps working until the tank is full which is sometimes 20 min or so.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I pour in my dechlorinator after siphoning and add water afterwards. I use a bit more than suggested, like 2x the dose and never had a problem. (btw I use Prime, best dechlor out there imo)


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

It depends on the dechlorinator if you use Prime you cannot over dose but other brands you have to be very accurate as you can over dose.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

The normal dose for dechlor, can be tripled or quadrupled with out issue. Dechlor is a reducing agent which reacts with an oxidzer, the chlorine, and they neutralize each other. The only issue with adding too much reducer is that you can deplete the oxygen in the water.
Adding the dechlor prior to adding chlorinated water, for the total volume of the tank, is the way to go. Adding for total volume, is to ensure that the new water comes into contact with dechlor as soon as it enters the tan. I make my own now using sodium thiosulphate crystals, and add 1 drop per gallon.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

But how long does that dechlorinator work? I have a nice hose system in place but the water comes in slowly. If I do a large wc, it can take 20 min or so for the tank to fill up.

If you have to do something, parents know what this is like, and you end up putting off finishing filling for an hour, does the dechlorinator still work?


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I have never used any dechlorinator in 30 plus years and have never had any ill effects to my fish. Straight from tap to tank. I think you may be worried about nothing.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

not worried exactly. I would just like to know how long its dechorinating ability lasts to know the best way to use it.

I find when I am putting a bit in at a time, I end up using more. With multiple tanks, this adds up.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

pyrrolin said:


> Lets say you put in 10 gallons of water and then enough dechlorinator for 20 gallons, how long does the dechlorinator stay active if you want to add another 10 gallons of water?
> 
> I refill my tanks directly from a hose and have been adding dechlorinator a bit at a time while the tanks fill up. Wondering if I can just put the full amount in at the start and it keeps working until the tank is full which is sometimes 20 min or so.


for 20mins you have nothing to worry about. Add dechlorinator for the FULL amount of your gallons (not only the new tap water) at the beginning and then you can add some at the end to be safe.



bob123 said:


> It depends on the dechlorinator if you use Prime you cannot over dose but other brands you have to be very accurate as you can over dose.


you cannot overdose



darkangel66n said:


> I have never used any dechlorinator in 30 plus years and have never had any ill effects to my fish. Straight from tap to tank. I think you may be worried about nothing.


no comment


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

monk21 said:


> no comment


No comment is a comment in itself. Feel free to disagree I will gladly discuss anything about it you wish. I personally think it is a waste of money and time. I am not alone in this and there are many others who do not use it either.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

if you are only doing a small water change, then you can probably skip it and be safe.

So it seems nobody actually knows how long dechlorinator works after adding it then.

Technically you could over dose dechlorinator I think. Take a 10 gallon tank, put in one drop of tap water and then the rest dechlorinator. I bet then you would have an over dose.


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## mousey (Mar 28, 2011)

If you are using Prime when adding new fish to a partially cycled tank the recommendation from the Prime people is that the neutralizing effect on ammonia and nitrites lasts 48 hours. I have used that regime when cycling with fish and have never had any fish deaths.
also use Prime as a regular dechlorinator and I use it at double dose as I cannot rely on the water here being 100% safe at any fish change. The region has misfires on its chlorine and ammonia injection to the water supply several times a year.
Sometimes other things get into the water at toxic levels for some fish that prime doesn't help.
Lost all my emperor tetras after one water change but no other fish.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

mousey said:


> If you are using Prime when adding new fish to a partially cycled tank the recommendation from the Prime people is that the neutralizing effect on ammonia and nitrites lasts 48 hours.


That is really helpful information. Thanks! I have been considering the same issue as I want to get a python when we move to a house. I am upgrading one tank, and adding another (90 gallon I hope), and don't relish doing that much watcher changes by bucket.


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

darkangel66n said:


> I have never used any dechlorinator in 30 plus years and have never had any ill effects to my fish. Straight from tap to tank. I think you may be worried about nothing.


I am very surprised you did not kill your fish. Here in Toronto the Water Department injects not only chlorine but ammonia, that combines with chlorine to make chloramine. I inadvertently bought API tap water conditioner that treats only chlorine and then killed a bunch of goldfish.



Region of Durham Works Department said:


> How often is the chlorine added and how often is it monitored?
> 
> Chlorine is continuously added at the water treatment plant and levels are monitored continuously 24 hours/day, 365 days of the year with the use of online instrumentation.
> 
> ...


The Region of Durham's Works Department most certainly injects chlorine into your tap water



The Regional Municipality of Durham 2011 Annual Report said:


> The source water for the treatment process is drawn from Lake Ontario. The
> water supply system includes:
> • Zebra mussel control (chlorine)
> • Screening
> ...


You may have nicer people, cleaner air and better drivers in Oshawa, but your water still has chlorine that I believe should be treated. I see no injection of ammonia into your water system, which is better for fish but worse for humans. Do you let your water sit for 24 hrs?

Then again I know someone who lives in Scarborough that puts water straight from the tap into his tank and claims he sees no ill effect. You two must be doing something I am not.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Straight from the tap. Nothing else ever done to it. I kept my syno angelicus for 25 years. Had 5 that grew to 8 for the two small ones and 14 for the three others. I have bred and kept dozens of species of fish like this. In the concentration that comes from the tap I am not convinced it is enough to harm the fish. It does no harm to us and we breathe in more chlorine in one shower then we do any other way. What works for one may not work for another.


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

darkangel66n said:


> Straight from the tap. Nothing else ever done to it. I kept my syno angelicus for 25 years. Had 5 that grew to 8 for the two small ones and 14 for the three others. I have bred and kept dozens of species of fish like this. In the concentration that comes from the tap I am not convinced it is enough to harm the fish. It does no harm to us and we breathe in more chlorine in one shower then we do any other way. What works for one may not work for another.


Huh! My other friend in Scarborough has had his 55G for over 15 years and has large fish. He even bought a large live snail from a Chinese grocery store, dropped it into his tank, and it' still alive after 5 years! He just tops it up with tap water every so often and has never used dechlorinator.

When you do a water change, what percentage of the tank water do you change? Do you have a heavily planted tank? Though I'm unsure if plants would neutralize chlorine. I am interested in your secrets.

Here in Toronto, especially in the summer if there is an algae bloom in Lake Ontario, I get a strong chlorine smell from the tap water, and I'm not even close to the lake!


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I do not know what to tell you. I have always done it this way and never had a problem. I will change anywhere from 20% to 60% at a time. The only thing I match is the temperature. I always make sure the water is the same or warmer, never colder unless it is needed to spawn a species. I use a python to both empty and fill. I aim the incoming water at a glass wall of the aquarium and add while I monitor the temperature. I have a thermometer on the faucet and use that and feeling the water to do the water change. My tanks are anywhere from my 7.7 gal up to my 120. I don't know what to tell you, but it works for me.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I would never say it is the best or only way to do it but it does work for me. I honestly can think of nothing out of the normal that I do except almost all of my tanks are filtered by multiple sponge filters. They are cheaper to run then anything else and bulletproof. Great for fry as well as they can snack on the microfauna when they are young


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

are you city water or a well? If you are on a well, you don't need to use dechlorinator at all.

If you are not sure which water you have, if you get a bill for water then you are on city water, otherwise probably well.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

I remember 'back in the days', we used to air tap water for 24 hours or more, sometimes in the sun, to let the chlorine dissipate, but not sure that would apply today with the slow dissipating stuff. 


To me, the cost of prime is negligible compared to the wellbeing of my tanks. A bottle lasts me close to a year, and at $10-12, it doesn't add much overhead for the peace o' mind either. I don't know if its needed or not, but I don't wanna find out the hard way. At mere cents per application, its not an area I'd wanna cut on.

Not debating the merits of. Jus' sharin' my practice, and the reasoning behind it.

Al.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I changed water for at least 30 years without dechlor, as have many others. I would do 50% water changes with no issues. I now use a cheap home made dechlor, and the cold water that goes into my fills comes through a carbon filter which removes much of it. the reason i started was i got some cheap dechlor and crystals to make more from Fishtrix, and after Walkerton the chlorine level in my tap water seemed to have gone up to over 3ppm. There may be an issue with the chlorine test kit, although it is what I use for my pool. I spoke with an employee of the water sanitation plant in Bowmanville, and he told me the water is treated at 2 ppm. regardless, i now use it and have a lifetime supply of dechlor.
What I did discover a few years ago when I tested this, was that the chlorine is quickly neutralized whether you add dechlor or not. It reacts very quickly with organics in tank water. I took a portion of water from a tank and added an equal amount of tap water that tested out over 3ppm of chlorine. When I tested after mixing them it was down to .75, and 15 minutes later it was at 0. So, the chlorine did what it does, which is oxidize organics, and very quickly. It may actually have a beneficial effect if there are pathogenic bacteria in the water column. The downside is that the by-products of this can be some rather nasty compounds which we don't want in our tanks.
In conclusion, while the chlorine may not be an issue, and even the small amount of ammonia that would be present with tap water having chloramine, would not be a problem for the filters, there is reason to use dechlor.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

pyrrolin said:


> are you city water or a well? If you are on a well, you don't need to use dechlorinator at all.
> 
> If you are not sure which water you have, if you get a bill for water then you are on city water, otherwise probably well.


I am on city water.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Interesting discussion. I also remember, back in high school, the method was to put WC water in buckets and let it sit out for at least 24 hours, or more. The part of tank keeping that bugged my Mom the most, I think. But then the water was safe to use. But back then, I certainly can't ever recall being able to smell chlorine from the tap water, either. The only time I smelled it was on laundry day and if I went to a pool.

Nowadays, the odour of chlorine in Mississauga tap water is so noticeable every time I open a tap, I use Brita water to drink and make tea, because I can't stand the off taste of the chlorine, especially the taste it gives tea if I use tap straight. My sister, who is fortunate to live in Jasper, Alta., thinks I'm very, very picky. Maybe so, but I truly can't stand the odour or flavour of the stuff in my water. 

I don't doubt the chlorine would dissipate in the tank, thanks to the organics, it is what it's supposed to do, or so my chemical engineer Dad once tried to explain to me. But I use Prime anyway. For one, because I stock heavily and it helps with nitrates, for another, because I am unsure about chloramines in our water and as Toronto Boy said, when the lake has an algae bloom, the stench is nearly unbearable, both in the tap water and anywhere near the lake. I'm only a couple of miles north of the shore and it's not something one's nose can miss when the wind blows the right way.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

the water in Kingston is pretty good, I drink it right from the tap


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I wonder how the Kingston water compares to the water here.. Kingston being much closer to the outlet of the lake than Toronto/Mississauga is, I'd be curious if there are differences in the water quality. I know when I first moved into this apartment, back in '85, the tap water did not smell of chlorine, but it sure does now and has for long enough I can't recall when it changed. My gf got so annoyed about it, she made the water company come and check her tap water, and they were not happy with the results. They said the chlorine they add should be completely dissipated by the time it gets to the tap, but the test they did on her water, and she was just up the street from me, showed much higher levels than what they should have been.


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

Kingston, Ontario Water Treatment does both pre-chlorination and post-chlorination, but seems to not add ammonia in their final step before distribution. This seems similar to Oshawa.

Maybe because there are fewer people in Kingston and more surrounding water that their water quality is easier to clean?



Utilities Kingston said:


> Water Facts
> 
> Bathroom use accounts for about 65 percent of the water used inside the home


Thank goodness I don't live in Kingston. More than half the water I use goes into aquaria, and the missus has definitely brought this to my attention.

Here in Scarborough I am about 10km from Lake Ontario. I can taste the chlorine in the water and so can others in my family. We know this because we have done blind taste tests between tap water and water that has been sitting for over 24 hrs. The difference, to me, is significant and easily detectible.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

This has sparked some interesting conversation but the original point I wanted to make is that out here at least it is not a death sentence or a problem for your fish to go straight from the tap. When I was at my high of 60 tanks I am sure I would have quit forever if I had to let the water sit before doing water changes.


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