Pinellas County - Mark your Calendars - Chlorine Switch

[Ted_C]

Pinellas County will be performing routine maintenance on the water system by switching to Chlorine from Chloramine between may 27th and June 16th.

Affects Pinellas County including Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Safety harbor, Tarpon Springs.

Fishowners should not be affected if they already have a system in place to remove chloramines, but they should contact local pet suppliers with any questions.

 

[Snookster]

Thanks for the heads up

 

[asmodyus]

whats those that mean because right now my tap is registering 2.5 to 3 PPM of ammonia.

 

[Ted_C]

You shouldn't be able to measure ammonia in your tap water. Chloramine can only be measured (as far as I know) by comparing free chlorine and total chlorine.

If you have ammonia - then that's a problem.

It's not even a measurement in the clearwater qater quality report: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ZFij5W_xt-xpw00Cw&sig2=A4sv4Ip4QJ8OGHpkTlqB3g

 

[Rm1759]

if we have an RO/DI system will this matter for us? Will chlorine show up on a TDS meter?

 

[aguila88psi]

The carbon blocks would take a major hit and won't last as long, best to take precautionary measures and make extra water before the date and buy new carbon blocks to replace on the fly if need be

 

[asmodyus]

You shouldn't be able to measure ammonia in your tap water. Chloramine can only be measured (as far as I know) by comparing free chlorine and total chlorine.

If you have ammonia - then that's a problem.

It's not even a measurement in the clearwater qater quality report: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ZFij5W_xt-xpw00Cw&sig2=A4sv4Ip4QJ8OGHpkTlqB3g

Yeah I had an issue about month ago or so. I had a fish Die in my Freshwater take and gave it a little ammonia spike so I did an immediate 5 gallon water change with my tap using prime well checked my ammonia level again and it went up so I did another water change and my ghost knife died and my ammonia was still high could not figure it out. So I check my tap and it was registering 2.5 to 3 on my api ammonia tester. Since then I have never use the tap.

 

[TampaSnooker]

I see the same results in New Tampa when I dechlorinate their tap water. I've seen as high as 5 ppm at Busch and Dale Mabry.

 

[Ted_C]

Ok - well that would be a different story. If your measuring ammonia after you add prime - That would be expected.

If your measuring ammonia after the water's been through a sediment / substandard low quality carbon block / RO membrane - that would also be expected.

To measure Ammonia straight out the tap means your water company has a problem.

 

[Ali :D]

Ok - well that would be a different story. If your measuring ammonia after you add prime - That would be expected.

If your measuring ammonia after the water's been through a sediment / substandard low quality carbon block / RO membrane - that would also be expected.

To measure Ammonia straight out the tap means your water company has a problem.

How would there be ammonia after prime or RO filtration?

 

[asmodyus]

Ok - well that would be a different story. If your measuring ammonia after you add prime - That would be expected.

If your measuring ammonia after the water's been through a sediment / substandard low quality carbon block / RO membrane - that would also be expected.

To measure Ammonia straight out the tap means your water company has a problem.

Um no that straight out of the tap plus prime is suppose to get rid of ammonia its a water conditioner?

 

[Ted_C]

If your getting ammonia readings straight out of the tap - you have an issue! It's either a bad test kit or a test kit that's breaking the chloramines down or you have a serious health problem on your hands.

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html

Prime works by removing chlorine from the water and then binds with ammonia until it can be consumed by your biological filtration (chloramine minus chlorine = ammonia). The bond is not reversible and ammonia is still available for your bacteria to consume.

If we're talking about Amqel instead - it's a thiosulfate reaction at it's simpliest:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-11/rhf/feature/

S2O3-- + 4NH2Cl + 5H2O à 2SO4-- + 2H+ + 4HCl + 4NH3

Ammonia (4NH3) is still shown as a product of that reaction.

I did some searches - it looks like maybe all test kits can read the ammonia when it's locked up as Chloramine. I did not know this was possible.

How would there be ammonia after prime or RO filtration?

Ro membranes do not remove all ammonia or Chloramines. Also from that RHF article:

In the case of a reverse osmosis/deionizing system (where carbon is usually part of the prefiltration prior to the RO membrane), the ammonia is partially removed by the reverse osmosis system. The extent of removal by the RO membrane depends on pH. At pH 7.5 or lower, reverse osmosis will remove ammonia from 1.4 ppm-Cl monochloramine to less than 0.1 ppm ammonia. The DI resin then removes any residual ammonia to levels unimportant to an aquarist.

Ammonia and Chloramine should show up within the electronic TDS measurement we take - as they are both ionic compounds that affect the conductivty of water. If you read 0 PPM TDS out of your DI resin, then you can be confident that there is no Chloramine or Ammonia in your output above 0.4 PPM

All of this is so pH dependent though - it's hard to put a stamp on it and say that's the way it is.

 

[risin]

I thought that chlorine and ammonia showed on Tds but chloramine did not. Don't recall the source though...

 

[TotallyAddicted]

I just bought the used rodi chloramine system so great timing! Lol bout time I got one. Also ordered new filters for it along with some Reef Roids and Acropower!

 

[installman]

Pinellas County will be performing routine maintenance on the water system by switching to Chlorine from Chloramine between may 27th and June 16th.

Affects Pinellas County including Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Safety harbor, Tarpon Springs.

Fishowners should not be affected if they already have a system in place to remove chloramines, but they should contact local pet suppliers with any questions.

Isn't chlorine easier to deal with as far as removal goes? So if they are switching to chlorine then that should make life easier for you pinellas guys.

 

[deftonead]

Isn't chlorine easier to deal with as far as removal goes? So if they are switching to chlorine then that should make life easier for you pinellas guys.

Correct

Ammonia is a byproduct of neutralizing chloramine but not the case with chlorine...

Chlorine will also diffuse out as a gas if you allow your water to sit for a 36 hour period, so.... No need to use prime or amquel. Unless you are in a hurry to use it. Not the case with chloramine. It must be neutralized.

 

[Ted_C]

Yes - Chlorine off-gasses fairly easily. The problem with the switch is sometimes it breaks more off - so your water may become dirtier than normal.

Chlorine has a detrimental effect on RO membranes as well - so the absorbent "high quality" carbon blocks become even more important

http://www.watertreatmentguide.com/membrane_condition.htm

Chlorine will oxidize the surface of thin film composite polyamide membranes, causing the membrane to lose its ability to repel or reject salts.

I thought that chlorine and ammonia showed on Tds but chloramine did not. Don't recall the source though...

As long as the compound is ionic (i.e. not organic) - It should register in a conductivity measured TDS reading. While chloramine may be a molecule - it does dissociate to some degree - the dissociation will then be measurable via a conductivity TDS meter.

Your source was probably Boomer
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1279816

 

[TotallyAddicted]

Who else on this thread has a freshwater tank? How will this affect filling freshwater tank with tap water? Should I use my new rodi unit to also fill cichlid tank? I've heard rodi is really bad for freshwater tanks

 

[ChadRaay86]

You should be good using Prime or Amquel or whatever water conditioner you're already using.

 

[TotallyAddicted]

We use stress coat. That's good to know