City Water Chlorine Burnout

[Liukang]

hey guys,
First time poster so bare with me. I got a notice from the city saying they are doing their annual chlorine clean (burnout) removing the ammonia to add more free chlorine for a month or so.

Has anyone experienced this and how did it affect your plants?

 

[chemistry]

The Chlorine will evaporate if you leave your water stood for 24 hours.

 

[Liukang]

The Chlorine will evaporate if you leave your water stood for 24 hours.

That’s simple enough. Thanks!

 

[Fangthane]

Since I also have municipal water that's noticeably chlorinated, I've very recently decided to start de-chlorinating before giving it to my plants. From what I've read, the gas exchange primarily happens on the water's surface, so using an aquarium bubble stone to keep the water agitated should expedite the process. If you happen to have an old aquarium pump laying around, you may want to give it a try. Definitely seems to do the trick much quicker for me, versus just letting the water sit without aeration.

 

[Aqua Man]

Yep thats a good month for you then. They are removing the ammonia that binds with the chlorine gas to create chloramines. They do this because just chlorine gas by itself escapes water very quickly, chloromines on the other hand can stay in water for a week or 2 after it leaves the tap. The bond is pretty strong so the chlorine wont just off gas with agitation and you need to chemically break that bond in order to off gas the chlorine in 24hrs with a water conditioner meant for it. But for the next month an airstone in a bucket of water should off gas almost all the chlorine in about 24hrs. In all honestly though the amount of clorine/chloromines in your tap water will probably not make any difference in the growth/health of your plant but more so would have an affect on the good/bad bacteria in your system. if you are running something like hydrogaurd you would not want to be using chlorinated water, or atleast avoid changin large quantaties so as not to kill off the bacteria etc.

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

[Madbud]

Why chance it, buy spring water

 

[Liukang]

Thanks all. I ended up adding a reverse osmosis system. Just installed it. It’s been good so far