Dechlorinator

Performance & sizing

Core numbers for matching this unit to your tank and electrical plan.

Power

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Flow rate

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Noise

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Dimensions

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Price range

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Tank fit (L)

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Consumables & maintenance

Follow the manufacturer schedule for seals, impellers, media, and other consumables.

Description

Tap water arrives with a disinfectant still in it, and that is the whole reason this bottle exists. The EPA describes chloramines as secondary disinfection, most commonly formed when ammonia is added to chlorine, and used precisely because they last longer than chlorine as the water travels through pipes to the consumer. Utilities have used them since the 1930s, more than one in five Americans drinks water treated with them, and some systems switched to them to meet disinfection byproduct requirements. Two things follow for anyone filling a tank. The first is that you cannot tell by looking. Whether your supply is chlorinated or chloraminated is a question for your water utility, not for a forum. The second is in the compound itself. Chloramine is built from ammonia, which is why a conditioner sold for chlorine and one sold for chloramine are not interchangeable, and why an ammonia reading after a large water change is worth the two minutes it takes. The Merck Veterinary Manual's equipment list for a practice that treats fish names the product directly: a dechlorinator such as sodium thiosulfate should be on hand if the water used contains chlorine or chloramine. It sits in the same short list as the hospital tanks, the foam filters and the anaesthetic, which is a fair reflection of how basic a piece of kit it is. What neither source gives is a dose. Merck names the compound and stops there, and the EPA page is written about drinking water and never mentions fish or aquariums at all. Use the rate printed on the bottle you actually bought, and treat the water before it goes into the tank rather than after, so the filter never meets the untreated version.

Sources

• merckvetmanual.com — https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/aquarium-fish/overview-of-aquarium-fish
• epa.gov — https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/chloramines-drinking-water

Figures on this page were read off these pages. Manufacturers and databases do change or retire pages; if a link is dead, tell us with the correction link below.