Bigfishguy is both right and wrong. Bigfishguy, you are looking at only one of the possibilties of Chloramines that can form under different circumstances. Chloramine-T might be beneficial, for instance, though studies are still being made. It is also true that Chloramine-T is highly toxic at lower pH levels. Also, since chloramine (unlike chlorine which burns fish gills when it passes across them) passes directly through a fishes gills and into its bloodstream where the molecule will attach itself to hemoglobin (oof, now we have extra chloride and ammonia in the bloodstream) which can lead to methemoglobinemia. Doesn't exactly sound so safe anymore to me, bigfishguy. It is also true that plants will readily use ammonia/ammonium in a planted tank, but here is the facts about Chloramine:
FACT: Some say in order for the chlorine-ammonia bond to be broken naturally it would literally take over a week for the water outside in the sun being aerated for it to be broken but several water treatment sites say this isn't true, that it remains stable.
FACT: Or, if you want to treat with a sodium thiosulfate solution (standard aquarium water dechlorinator) you have to use twice as much because, as bigfishman sort of pointed to, two chloride ions are bound to each ammonia molecule in chloramine. In highly acidic water (anyone keeping many fish in highly acidic water?) the ammonia released would largely (just largely, you can't account for all of it) be ionized into non-toxic ammonium. Obviously in planted aquaria, NH3/NH4 (ammonia and ammonium) are beneficial to plants.
FACT: EPA Guidelines set a maximum allowed level of Chlorine of 4ppm. Most water supplies target 2-4 ppm Chlorine. 4ppm of Chlorine is actually 5.8ppm Chloramine. (The Chlorine is 69% of the chloramine molecule, ammonia is the other 31%) So, with a possible 5.8ppm Chloramine, you have 4ppm Chlorine, and 1.8ppm ammonia. Following me so far? Good. Now, if you did a 10% water change in a 100 litre tank (using litres here because frankly the math is simpler, 100 litres is close to 26 gallons FWIW) you end up with .18 ppm ammonia in your tank. You can probably figure it out, but what the heck, if you do a 25% water change you'll end up with .36 ppm ammonia in your tank. For those of us that like those 50-60% water changes we're in the ballpark of .72 ppm ammonia if we simply age (which may not even work) or dechlorinate (using twice the amount listed on the bottle, recall) our water. Sure, that ammonia can be used rapidly by plants, but um, that's a heck of a lot of ammonia you are dumping on your fish all at once while hoping the plants you have are sufficient to suck up all the ammonia.
FACT: A Dechloraminator like Prime or Amquel (I only mention these as I have tried them both and know they are fine) will not only dechlorinate the water, but also bind ammonia into it's non-toxic form, ammonium, which plants can still use. Wow, look at that, problem solved. Non-toxic to my fish and plants still get the ammonia. An actual win-win situation.
So, there are some facts stated in their correct form for people to make an educated choice. For me, I will choose to use a dechloraminator. Pretty simple choice for me. I have a planted tank and I have fish in that tank. I really like my fish, even though they are not expensive fish, and I think they deserve the best I can give them. I will err on the side of caution in this debate when it comes to living animals. Obsidian, I hope this helps solve your problem and some of the misinformation that budded in this thread.
FACT: Some say in order for the chlorine-ammonia bond to be broken naturally it would literally take over a week for the water outside in the sun being aerated for it to be broken but several water treatment sites say this isn't true, that it remains stable.
FACT: Or, if you want to treat with a sodium thiosulfate solution (standard aquarium water dechlorinator) you have to use twice as much because, as bigfishman sort of pointed to, two chloride ions are bound to each ammonia molecule in chloramine. In highly acidic water (anyone keeping many fish in highly acidic water?) the ammonia released would largely (just largely, you can't account for all of it) be ionized into non-toxic ammonium. Obviously in planted aquaria, NH3/NH4 (ammonia and ammonium) are beneficial to plants.
FACT: EPA Guidelines set a maximum allowed level of Chlorine of 4ppm. Most water supplies target 2-4 ppm Chlorine. 4ppm of Chlorine is actually 5.8ppm Chloramine. (The Chlorine is 69% of the chloramine molecule, ammonia is the other 31%) So, with a possible 5.8ppm Chloramine, you have 4ppm Chlorine, and 1.8ppm ammonia. Following me so far? Good. Now, if you did a 10% water change in a 100 litre tank (using litres here because frankly the math is simpler, 100 litres is close to 26 gallons FWIW) you end up with .18 ppm ammonia in your tank. You can probably figure it out, but what the heck, if you do a 25% water change you'll end up with .36 ppm ammonia in your tank. For those of us that like those 50-60% water changes we're in the ballpark of .72 ppm ammonia if we simply age (which may not even work) or dechlorinate (using twice the amount listed on the bottle, recall) our water. Sure, that ammonia can be used rapidly by plants, but um, that's a heck of a lot of ammonia you are dumping on your fish all at once while hoping the plants you have are sufficient to suck up all the ammonia.
FACT: A Dechloraminator like Prime or Amquel (I only mention these as I have tried them both and know they are fine) will not only dechlorinate the water, but also bind ammonia into it's non-toxic form, ammonium, which plants can still use. Wow, look at that, problem solved. Non-toxic to my fish and plants still get the ammonia. An actual win-win situation.
So, there are some facts stated in their correct form for people to make an educated choice. For me, I will choose to use a dechloraminator. Pretty simple choice for me. I have a planted tank and I have fish in that tank. I really like my fish, even though they are not expensive fish, and I think they deserve the best I can give them. I will err on the side of caution in this debate when it comes to living animals. Obsidian, I hope this helps solve your problem and some of the misinformation that budded in this thread.
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