Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2012 16:01:39 GMT -5
It was brought to my attention just a little while ago, that there may be more to our water and dechlorinators than we've really thought about.
A lot of water companies are turning to chloramine to sanitize water as it is more stable than chlorine. Chloramine is basically a bond between chlorine and ammonia. Not all water is treated with chloramine - there are still many companies using chlorine.
So, when we use dechlorinator, we are removing the chlorine from our water. When we use a dechlorinator that also removes chloramine, we are removing the chlorine, but breaking the chloramine down into chlorine (which gets removed) and ammonia (which is left behind).
Throughout my reef research, I learned that ammonia can cause damage to the gills of fish. As our crabs have the same basic gill structure as fish (though it is modified, it is still the same basic principle), we can assume that ammonia left in the water we give our crabs can also harm their gills.
Now, there are some dechlorinators out there that claim to remove both chlorine and chloramine, but the truth is this: many of these do not remove ammonia; they do break the chloramine down, but they leave the ammonia in the water.
It takes quite a while for ammonia to disappear on it's own (this is one step in the cycling process you hear about with fish aquariums).
What I'm getting at is that we may need to be more specific when suggesting dechlorinators to new and inexperienced crabbers.
Please, if you want to, do some research on it and tell me what you think about it all. In the mean time, here are just a couple of links that I found helpful with all of this.
freshaquarium.about.com/od/waterfaqs/f/faq0050.-5eR.htm
Differences between chlorine and chloramine.
saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/f/chloramineremoval.htm
This one talks about ways to remove chloramine from water.
www.marinedepot.com/Kordon_AmQuel_Ammonia_Chloramine_Remover_Tap_Water_Chlorine_Chloramine_Removers-Kordon_Novalek_Oasis-NV31256-FIADWTTCDC-vi.html
This is a product that removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia. The product description also talks about the break down of chloramine.
www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754035
This API product simply states that it "neutralizes" chloramine - states nothing about the removal of ammonia.
A lot of water companies are turning to chloramine to sanitize water as it is more stable than chlorine. Chloramine is basically a bond between chlorine and ammonia. Not all water is treated with chloramine - there are still many companies using chlorine.
So, when we use dechlorinator, we are removing the chlorine from our water. When we use a dechlorinator that also removes chloramine, we are removing the chlorine, but breaking the chloramine down into chlorine (which gets removed) and ammonia (which is left behind).
Throughout my reef research, I learned that ammonia can cause damage to the gills of fish. As our crabs have the same basic gill structure as fish (though it is modified, it is still the same basic principle), we can assume that ammonia left in the water we give our crabs can also harm their gills.
Now, there are some dechlorinators out there that claim to remove both chlorine and chloramine, but the truth is this: many of these do not remove ammonia; they do break the chloramine down, but they leave the ammonia in the water.
It takes quite a while for ammonia to disappear on it's own (this is one step in the cycling process you hear about with fish aquariums).
What I'm getting at is that we may need to be more specific when suggesting dechlorinators to new and inexperienced crabbers.
Please, if you want to, do some research on it and tell me what you think about it all. In the mean time, here are just a couple of links that I found helpful with all of this.
freshaquarium.about.com/od/waterfaqs/f/faq0050.-5eR.htm
Differences between chlorine and chloramine.
saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/f/chloramineremoval.htm
This one talks about ways to remove chloramine from water.
www.marinedepot.com/Kordon_AmQuel_Ammonia_Chloramine_Remover_Tap_Water_Chlorine_Chloramine_Removers-Kordon_Novalek_Oasis-NV31256-FIADWTTCDC-vi.html
This is a product that removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia. The product description also talks about the break down of chloramine.
www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754035
This API product simply states that it "neutralizes" chloramine - states nothing about the removal of ammonia.