Chlorine and Tank Crash

mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
I recently purchased a new RO/DI unit now that I am back into the hobby and I stumbled across Cran's post about testing the RO water for chlorine and chloramines. I bought a test this time around but it got me thinking about my crash a year or so ago. I never tested the RO water for chlorine and only worried about the TDS reading. By ignoring the chlorine reading, could this be a possible reason for my crash? I never did figure out my crash problems but if the chlorine is a possible culprit, I will monitor closely this time around which is why I bought the test kit. Thanks.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Chlorine will dissipate rather rapidly when exposed to water movement and air. If you add water to your fish tank that has just been processed by your RO system, then, yes, it may have caused a crash. Best rule of thump is to have a pre-mix tank of salt water and aerate that water with a pump for at least 48 hours.
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
Thanks. I always aerated my water mix for water changes for at least 24 hours so the chlorine might have dissipated before I used it. However, I had to use two gallons of topoff water a day which came straight from the RO unit and nothing was done to that water before use. So a lot of replacement water was going back in each day. What do you think about the replacement water?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
this is just me but i away treat with a product that deals with chlorine and chloramines before i add ro/di to my tank
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
Like prime? Will that also take care of the chloramines? I have a bottle so I guess I could go read it but that would require me to get up.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3256573
Like prime? Will that also take care of the chloramines? I have a bottle so I guess I could go read it but that would require me to get up.

actually I use Aqua plus by nutrafin for this application a penny saved is a penny earned
save the prime for ammonia and nitrites emergency's
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
So I see that it removes both like prime but I have seen some talk here about you shouldn't use prime all the time. I forget the reason without looking it up. Is there a difference between the two products?
Actually I just saw that you said to use prime for ammonia and nitrate emergencies. Are the ingredients in prime for those two things the reason why you shouldn't use it on a daily basis?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3256577
So I see that it removes both like prime but I have seen some talk here about you shouldn't use prime all the time. I forget the reason without looking it up. Is there a difference between the two products?
Actually I just saw that you said to use prime for ammonia and nitrate emergencies. Are the ingredients in prime for those two things the reason why you shouldn't use it on a daily basis?
to tell you the truth you would have to ask the people that say not to use it IMO if you have a tank in equilibrium you only need to address chlorine and not ammonia and nitrites
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
Cool thanks Joe. And one of your vet bros died from an aneurysm this week (my uncle). He will have military honors or something like that tomorrow.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3256553
I recently purchased a new RO/DI unit now that I am back into the hobby and I stumbled across Cran's post about testing the RO water for chlorine and chloramines. I bought a test this time around but it got me thinking about my crash a year or so ago. I never tested the RO water for chlorine and only worried about the TDS reading. By ignoring the chlorine reading, could this be a possible reason for my crash? I never did figure out my crash problems but if the chlorine is a possible culprit, I will monitor closely this time around which is why I bought the test kit. Thanks.
I'm not sure I understand. You recently purchased an RO/DI unit, and your crash as about a year ago. Were you using tap during the tank crash, or had an old/different RO unit back then/bought a new unit now?
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
No Aqua. Let me try to explain better. I got a tank in 2005 and used a RO unit from the beginning. About 4 years later, the tank staeted crashing and I never could figure out what caused it. I let the tank go for about a year with some water changes here and there just because I still had a domino and some inverts still alive but I really didn't care if they lived because I was fed up with the $1ks I lost. Anyway, I am back into the hobby and decided to go with the tap water just because I got rid of my old RO unit. Well recently I told myself to buy another RO unit because I know that is the better approach.
After getting another RO unit, I read a thread about testing for chlorine which is something I never did pre-crash. I only tested for TDS. So now I am using a new unit and I will be testing for chlorine.
So to answer your question, I didn't use tap before crash but maybe didn't test the RO water right. Have new unit now since I got rid of my old and will be testing. I don't know what caused my crash but I am always questioning anything I do now to make sure I do it right (even though I though I was doing things right the first time around) which is why a posed the question.
Not sure if I cleared anything up. Having martinis right now so my thinking is foggy.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
The top off water is a big problem if it came straight from tap.
24 hours of wait time is really good enough.
By "crash" what exactly do you mean?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3256589
Cool thanks Joe. And one of your vet bros died from an aneurysm this week (my uncle). He will have military honors or something like that tomorrow.
He now stands on guard in Gods army God bless him and may he rest in peace
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
FWIW dechlorinators and ammonia locks also lock up oxygen. The danger is that most ammonia products still test ammonia even if it is locked. So some will add more chemicals, decrease the oxygen and eventually everything can suffocate.
On all my fish tanks Fw and salt I use straight untreated tap water and just top off. So I only add 5% tap at most. I have done that is several cities in the US since the late 70's and never had any stressed behaviour from the fish.
That said there are some toxins in tap that will affect corals. So perhaps ro/di is justified in that case. But even with that thriving macro algaes in a refugium will suck those things like copper out of the system.
my .02
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by Beth
http:///forum/post/3256625
The top off water is a big problem if it came straight from tap.
24 hours of wait time is really good enough.
By "crash" what exactly do you mean?
Chloramine can take a week to dissipate but with a small volume like topoff it's probably not going to be a problem. A quick run through GAC is much better than treating with Prime IMO.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Doesn't your unit have a prefilter cartridge, usually carbon, specifically for removing chlorine and chloramines?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3256795
Doesn't your unit have a prefilter cartridge, usually carbon, specifically for removing chlorine and chloramines?

The carbon clears chlorine? I need to know...
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
The problem with the chlorine derivatives is if you're RO/DI filters aren't properly maintained.
Personally, when I topped off, I'd just run a powerhead in the bucket with an airline to produce bubbles (like those skimmers) I even used that style of pump for an few hours. And never had any issues.
 
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