Dechlorinate in, or outside of tank???

[joe schmoe]

Subject sort of says it all. I've always heard that it's best to put the tapwater in a bucket...dechlorinate, then dump the bucket, but it seems that a lot of people are running tapwater straight into their tanks and dechlorinating as the tank fills. Have I been wasting my time all these years??

And, do the chemicals work immediately??

[JamisonBWolsh]

I have 3 tanks-60, 20, 10

this is what i do. I have 3 five gallon jugs that I fill with water and add Amquel and stress coat to EACH. Then, when I am done syphoning/vacuuming the tank, I add these jugs of water to the tank. I do this TWICE to equal 30 gallons. This method is ALOT less stressfull to the fish. they do not get in contact with the harsh tap water. If you add the tap water directly, there is some contact, which I am sure, is NOT good. People with smaller tanks.. 60 gallons and smaller are just LAZY to not mix the water in jugs first.

[Orbitorly]

There are a few ways to do it. Putting tap water straight into the tank can be dangerouse. What I do it have like 2 buckets or as many as you want and used 1 gallon juice or milk jugs ( as many as you want ), fill them up with water and treat them. Then put a clean small plate at the bottom of the tank so the back of it is facing up and pour the water from the bucket or jugs on the plate so the force of the water wont make a hole in your gravel if you know what I mean...

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Orbit

[famman]

There are many experienced aquarists on this board who add water directly to the tank and dechlorinate/dechloraminate the entire tank. This is generally done with larger tanks.
I personally prefer to detox outside of the tank. One reason I do so it because I have otos, and the ammonia released from dechloramination(?) seems to have been responsible for killing a few of them (my current hypothesis).
I age my water overnight and heat it to tank temp. My hoses and pump and bucket feel like they've cycled, I'm hoping this will take up any ammo left over. Aging and heating my water has stopped my oto deaths so far.
good luck
:)

[ArkyLady]

I can't bring myself to adding my tap water directly to my tanks. I'm hoping some day soon hubby gets our whole house filter setup so I won't have to worry about it so much, that would be great :)

[slipknottin]

depends on whats in your tap water.

If you have chlorine you likely dont even need to dechlorinate (unless doing large water changes)

If you have chloramine it would be better to add the dechlorinator first, but if you cant it likely wont cause any problems being added after.

[JacksontoKobe]

I add my tapwater directly to the tank from the python and here and there throw drops of dechlor in my 92 gal never had any bad reactions.

[Richer]

I add the water directly to my tanks. It isn't practical for me to dechlorinate outside of my tanks. It would literally take me hours if I did that. I use prime, and generally add enough of it to dechlorinate the entire tank. Then I add the tapwater. I've been doing it ever since I got my python, and I've had no losses.
famman - I do this with my plant tanks as well, and they have ottos in them.

-Richer

[JamisonBWolsh]

Well... I always think its safer to dechlorinate water OUTSIDE of the tank in jugs. That way, the fish never has contact with the tap water. Of course, we are talking about tanks the sizes of 60 gallons and LESS. for a 120 gallon tank, it would be impractical.

example: to change 30 percent of water in a 120 gallon would be 40 gallons of water. Thats EIGHT JUGS of 5 gallons. WAY to much work. But for a 60 gallons and less.. its the BEST way to go.... I have a 10,20,60 gallon tanks and each week I change 30 gallons of water. I do this in 3 five gallon jugs, twice. Works for my fish and I!!!!

[famman]

Richer,
thanx,
I have plants too, but just a few,
are your ottos in heavily planted tanks?
do you have chloramine?
I get intermittent chloramine whenever la dwp buys water from mwd. Plus dwp is changing to chloramine.
The other hypothesis I had for my otto deaths was temp changes, I think the water I put in may have been too cold. What do you think?
:)

[Richer]

Yes, I do have chloromine in my water. At least thats what the water company's website says in their latest water analysis. I haven't actually gone out and test it.
The thing with otos is, they are usually poor shippers. They can survive the shipping process but when they get to the LFS, they are usually somewhat weak (if not very weak). Herbivores generally have a wide range of bacteria residing within their digestive tract to help them digest food. After prolong starvation, the bacteria will obviously start to die off. If starved long enough, the oto's digestive tract may not contain enough bacteria to help it survive, even if they are stuck in an algae rich environment. Keep in mind, this is all speculation on my part. I haven't had the time to go out and research yet.
My suggestion to you is, find a decent LFS and buy otos from there. If you find the otos do not survive for a long time, switch to another place. Keep going till you find a good LFS. I find the LFS plays a large factor in this whole scheme. I bought my otos from a decent LFS, but they all died on me. I bought half a dozen otos from a small store elsewhere, and they are still with me... 5 months later. That method can get expensive though, I got lucky, it only took me two stores to find a place with a good supply of otos. You could also get them to put a hold on a few otos for you after a new shipment, and you can watch them then.
I don't think a slightly colder water change would affect them too much.. I frequently do water changes where the new water is a couple of degrees colder/warmer than the tank water and I've experience no losses with any of my fish. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have the water going in to be the same temperature as your tank.
My otos are in heavily plant tanks.

HTH
-Richer

[famman]

Thank Richer,
I've only lost 2 out of 8 ottos, but both of them keeled over immediately following a water change. I'm convinced that having plants helps, I'm not sure why. I've been slowly adding florabase (orthoscopically) to the areas I have plants to see if that improves them, and it does seem to have helped.
any other thoughts?
:)

[Richer]

It could have been just pure coincidence that it happend after a water change. A 2/8 mortality rate with otos is actually pretty good compared to a few people. I wouldn't sweat it =)

-Richer

[RTR]

Richer - you are correct on severely starved otos. It applies equally to the other Loricariids, but otos are the most sensitive to shipping starvation.

I age my water and pump it into my tanks. Buckets are completely impractical for folks with multiple or large tanks. The alternative is the Python and adding chlorine/cloramine neutralizers while adding the water to the tank.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Fanman,

I dont live in Los angeles, but in the San fernando Valley. I do know we get chloramines in the water all the time and we are on the LADWP (in fact.. I have to pay my bill this month).....

[JamisonBWolsh]

Check this link out:

http://www.ladwp.com/water/quality/wq_nh3cl.htm


it says "it will change over"

However, they said this for over a year now and never changed the webpage. I got a notice in the mail a few months ago stating some of the chemicals added to the water and chlorimines was one of them. So, its already in our water.

[famman]

JamisonBWolsh,
I live in the west san fernando valley, our water comes from wells part of the year. untill recently, say early last year, I never saw chloramines in my water at all. Then I would see it once in a while, apparantly when dwp purchased water from the metropolitan water district. Now, I see it most of the time
:)

[joe schmoe]

Thanks for all of the replies.

On a side note....for as long as I've kept fish, I've never owned an Otocinclus until now, and I am AMAZED. It is an algae eating M A C H I N E. For it's size, it has to be the best algae eater on the planet. I've had him/her for a couple of months and it's still alive and kicking. Put's my Gold Nugget to shame at 1/8 the size. :cool:

[jemmabubbles]

condition water before it goes in the tank, fill a bucket from the tap, treat it with StressCoat, of a Dechlorinator wait about ten mins then put it in the tank, chlorine will damage the fishes gills and the other chemicals will damage and stress the fish, also killing the healthy bacteria in your tank

[Serrateeth_2002]

I do in the tank,the buckets are way too slow-one bucket of water,dechlorinate,wait,fill and so on,i have 1 in a 100 chance of my fish getting poisoned.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I always put the water right into the tank. Nothing is going to happen to the fish if they spen about 1 minute in untreated tap water. I just add my declorinator in when I hang my python to dry. No fish loss ever as a result of this.