Chrlonine water Right out hte Tap OK?

[Slr342]

You heard?
What type of water is best for this?
Thanks!

 

[Gaval]

R/O is what everyone is using on these systems better for root health i have read so far

 

[darkmatter]

i just drug a 5gallon bottle with handle in from filling from a glacier water machine and its worth it,i also got a 30 gallon trash can with a big air stone that helps.a farmer threw out some stuff you can get at pet shops for fish to reduce or cancel the chlorine.check it all out. r/o filter $$$$ and if you got a one light and are just starting out not worth it yet,walmart and the depot stores have big filter sections these days.very important to clean clear out your water some way

 

[woodsmaneh]

not the best but not the worse to use.

Chlorine Gas:
This highly reactive halogen gas is volatile enough that can be easily detected by its odor, especially in the shower or when aerating faucets are used. This is one of chlorine’s short-comings as a disinfectant: It off-gases (volatilizes) from exposed water. Hobbyists have made good use of this effect for many years. Chlorinated tap water, especially drawn through an aerating faucet, will off-gas and effectively lose all its chlorine to the atmosphere within days. Some growers may not fully understand the off-gassing process and may not use the most effective setup for off-gassing. The best process is an open-top container with a power head or pump to circulate the water, or even just an air stone. This obviously calls for a relatively large container, but it also means that fewer containers are needed, as the circulation greatly enlarges the effective surface area for off-gassing. Exposed surface area is critical. The best situation without circulation in theory could be shallow trays with large surface exposed to room air, but that is impractical in application – it would be very messy and require large amounts of space. Buckets are acceptable, but not overfilled, please. If bottles must be used, do not fill past the shoulder (where the bottle starts narrowing) – this will allow the largest possible surface exposure. I used 45gal tanks or food-safe plastic tubs (trash can scale), both with pumps and heaters, open-topped. I have never detected residual chlorine after 24 hours operation in these, but allowed 48 hours for safety and to remove the requirement for routine testing. Static containers may or may not be safe to use after just 24 hours. Most, with good surface area exposed, will be after 48 hours, but this is best confirmed by test. If after you have found the required time for off-gassing, then you can add a bit more to ensure removal and no longer routinely test so long as the utility does not change the concentration. We no longer have hobby liquid tests for chlorine or chloramine, but must rely on swimming pool tests.
If you do not have the space and time to off-gas chlorinated water, there are many products available which will “neutralize” the dissolved chlorine. The active ingredient historically was sodium thiosulfate, and it is still highly effective for this use. This material captures any free dissolved chlorine gas and coverts the elemental chlorine (Cl2 dissolved gas) to the chloride ion (Cl-) which is harmless at those concentrations. The reaction is rapid. Just add the recommended amount, stir very briefly and add to the reservoir.
With dissolved chlorine gas disinfectant, there is only one job to be done, and it can be accomplished in two ways: Remove the chlorine gas (off-gassing), or inactivate it (chemical conversion to the chloride ion by thiosulfate). These are simple and straightforward.
Chloramines:
The growing situation with chloramines is more complex and demanding. We cannot efficiently off-gas chloramines, so the simplest solution with chlorine does not apply at all. We equally cannot use just thiosulfate – it does not do enough. There are 3 separate and distinct jobs, all of which must be done to ensure the safety of chloraminated water for use in our reservoir:

1. Break the chloramine-ammonia bond. Thiosulfate alone can do this at about the same dosage used for chlorine-only disinfectant.

2. Convert the freed dissolved gas chlorine (Cl2) to chloride ion (Cl-). Thiosulfate again can do this as well; at about the same dosage as before, so double the chlorine-only dose can do both of these two jobs well.

3. Lock the freed ammonia dissolved gas (NH3) into the ammonium ion (NH4+) form (which is usable by the nitrification bacteria). The former is toxic; the concentration may only be high enough to damage the plants, or can be high enough to kill them. Thiosulfate alone is useless for this job, regardless of the dosage. Thiosulfate has no effect whatsoever on dissolved ammonia gas. Bummer! We must use newer and specialized agents which specify on the bottle that they do each and all of the three jobs required.
There are a number of commercial products which specify in print that they “destroy” (or other terms to that effect) chloramines. That is valid even if the only active agent is thiosulfate – it does break the chlorine-ammonia bond which defines chloramine, so technically the chloramine is no longer there. Does that mean the water so treated is safe to use? No, it definitely does not. The freed chlorine gas must be converted to chloride ion, but as with the bond breaking, thiosulfate can do that as well, and is cheap and safe - so double the chlorine-only dose and cover the freed chlorine as well. Is the water now safe to use in the reservoir tank? No, unfortunately not. It still has all the ammonia released floating around at hazardous levels. If the product does not specify that it locks the ammonia into the harmless ammonium ion form, or at least notes that it “neutralizes” both the chlorine and the ammonia released, we have to assume it does not do this – commercial products never claim less that they do. “Destroying” chloramine is required, but is not sufficient. This is a key point, do not be misled. Both of the freed dissolved gases must be “neutralized” to make the water safe. This is where the marketing wizards take advantage of the chemically and biologically naïve. You do have to both read and understand the fine print, or you could kill your fish. Strictly as an FYI, yes, I have killed fish that way. I will not do that again. Specialized agents are available which do the whole job – break the chloramine bond and convert both freed toxic gases to harmless ions. Unfortunately, this is another situation where you cannot trust your local fish store, nor the chains, or mail-order houses. They quite likely do not understand the chemistry themselves. You need to ask on-line for suggestions of brands which do all the necessary jobs reliably, or search the manufacturer’s site for detailed information – if they do not clearly state that all three tasks are done, that product is not suitable.
There is another complication with post-chloraminated water. It still reads positive for ammonia on most hobby test kits. Read the information on your test kit for ammonia. If it specifies that it reads “total ammonia nitrogen” (or TAN), you will see positives with your test after using a good anti-chloramines agent. These are not false positives. They are real and valid, but do not necessarily indicate a hazard to your fish – which the kit instructions historically have listed as hazardous. Remember that ammonium ion (NH4+) is harmless, only ammonia dissolved gas (NH3) is dangerous, just as was the case for chlorine gas versus the ion form. The effective anti-chloramine agents lock all free ammonia gas into the ammonium ion form – which is harmless. The problem is that our 20th century tests are no longer adequate in this century. There are tests available which read only free ammonia (NH3), but to me they are not yet user-friendly. Technology changes rapidly these days, hopefully more user-friendly but adequate test kits will available soon. Until then, we must use the proper dose of an effective agent and rely on it working, or prescreen with difficult-to-use tests.
For what it is worth, I use Seachem’s “Prime” for chloramines, and “Genesis” for chlorine-only.
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorination
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine
3. … index.html
4. … lorine.htm
5. … amines.htm

 

[SCARHOLE]

Most veggie an plant growers on earth use water right out of the tap without problems.

Leave your water sit 24 hrs an it should be free of chlorine if it concerns you

 

[Seamaiden]

Assuming it's just Cl, though. The EPA has determined that Cl is associated with higher cancer rates, though, and so that, along with its tendency to off-gas when exposed to open air makes it not the disinfectant of choice for many water munis. Chloramine is safer for the population, and much more difficult a bond to break. However! As Woodsman wrote, it's a bond easily broken with sodium thiosulfate.

A 2lb jar of dry ST will cost you $5 at the chemistry store dot com. A single small diluted bottle of aquarium conditioner will cost you maybe double that. Use the dry product to mix up a 1%-3% solution, and you'll never have to buy dechlor again in your life.

 

[grnmountainboy]

i have 2 reservoirs and i fill one with tap water about 2 days before im going to change the second. those 2 days are long enough for most of the chlorine to evaporate out

 

[Innov8tr]

Honestly I don't think chlorine is a problem at all unless you are running organic nutrients, which personally I would never do. I add pythoff to my system as a sterilizer which is chloramine...chlorines cousin :). I dose the system and afterwards there is a very strong chlorine smell but within 12 hrs its almost completelty dissapated. I have a test kit so I know for sure, it doesn't even measure at all within 12 hrs. The areation in the UC system quickly gets rid of it. I wouldn't worry at all about the chlorine at all but I would still only recommend to use RO water. This gives you a clean slate to only put in the water what you want. For me tap water simply isn't an option but for some its just fine, it depends on where you are. My tap water is really high in iron which has caused problems for me in the past even with soil plants.

 

[St3ve]

That is a hard question because tap water is VERY different EVERYWHERE.

However for me.. when I first started it was RO water all the time.

..Then after awhile I let my filters go and go till they were hardly filtering anything out.

....Then started using tap that I would aerate for a few days before it went in.

........Then only aerate for one day.

.............Now I damn near just aim a garden hose at the plants.

I have never noticed a difference in quality or yield. Only thing I HAVE noticed is I can get a little heavy on the cal/mag when the plants are young. (my personal tap comes out around 250-275ppm at .7)

 

[homebrew420]

tap is fine if it is not too laden with other minerals. water out of the tap here is around 120 ppm, and in Boulder 40-60ppm! PH around 6.8...no filter required. The chlorine in the water is not concentrated enough to make any real difference. Keep in mind that most of the nutrients on the market today have been designed with hard water in mind. after mixing it all up we often have no adjusting necessary to pH

Hope that helps
Peace