Chloramine removal?

[steven baxter]

Chloramine is in the tap water in my county. It was said that it cannot be removed by letting the water sit, like with chlorine. What would be the best and easiest way to remove the chloramine. I have heard of vitamin C. Are there some other type of tabs or such that can be used?

 

Thanks a lot.

[RupertofOZ]

No... your ammonia has risen... as has your nitrite... which may still rise further as the rest of the ammonia is converted, and falls to zero...

 

Your nitrites wont fall until the ammonia reaches zero... and then could do so rapidly... when you should also see a major rise in nitrates.. and/or an explosion of growth in your plants...

 

Given your winter temps... this could take another 1-2 weeks....

[Adam Garrett-Clark]

So I should add salt to save my fish? wont that be bad for the plants?

Not to be callous but these are feeder fish, should I just hope for the best and continue to let it cycle if they die off?

 

[Tim Orth]

Adam, Oakland huh? I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods in a couple weeks.

[RupertofOZ]

Strawberries, cucumbers and snow peas, and really young seedlings wont cope with more than 2-3ppt... many other plants are good up to 6ppt...

 

You can chance your arm with feeder fish if you want... given they are feeder fish, and probably small,,, then any further exposure to nitrites will probably get them anyway...

[TCLynx]

salting to 1 ppt won't phase most plants and might help the fish get through maybe and it would be handy for you to have at least one fish make it through your cycling, otherwise you have to switch to fishless or get more fish to finish cycling which could set you back.

I would be doing water tests daily through cycling.

[Rebecca B]

Understand that If you add sodium thiosulfate (or a similar aquarium product) to your top up water, it's job is to break the chloramine into its components.  Many people are concerned about introducing the chemicals in these products into their aquaponic ecosystem---but that's another topic for later.

If you let the treated water sit, the chlorine will off gas but the ammonia will still be there. Tim spoke of aerating to off gas the ammonia. An ammonia test kit will verify this for you, but it takes a particular type of test kit with particular reagents.

You mention removing the fish when they float to the top. That fish was dead for an unknown time period before it became visible to you as a floater---and emitting ammonia as soon as it died. I'd suggest actively counting the fish each time you look at them to determine whether another fish has died and you need to locate it for immediate removal.

[RupertofOZ]

Thiosulphate, and similar products... while they do "break" the components into parts... they then "bind" them... otherwise they'd just release to ammonia... which we don't want...

 

Trouble is the "binding" ability can become "saturated" (unlikely in most cases)... and (more likely) can disassociate.. eventually releasing the ammonia...

 

There are questions as to possible health risks associated with Sodium Thiosulphate....

[Adam Garrett-Clark]

Thanks guys, I dumped salt in today, I think it was definitely needed because the last two fish looked really still down there. Hopefully that'll buy me some time. Appreciate all the advice.

[Adam Garrett-Clark]

Tim, 

I'm going to volunteer at Sundance for the next two weeks, if you're in the Bay Area after the 29th, would love to show you my system and see what you think.

Tim Orth said:

Adam, Oakland huh? I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods in a couple weeks.

[Tim Orth]

It will be after that for sure. I am working in Southern Humboldt for almost all of February, but I do an annual tattoo seminar at a studio called Inkies in Fremont. I am guessing it will be sometime just after Valentine's day and I will be in the Bay for about a week.

Adam Garrett-Clark said:

Tim, 

I'm going to volunteer at Sundance for the next two weeks, if you're in the Bay Area after the 29th, would love to show you my system and see what you think.

Tim Orth said:

Adam, Oakland huh? I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods in a couple weeks.

[Adam Garrett-Clark]

Hey everyone, 

I'm back from Sundance, one fish died while gone but I still have two survivors. 

My water tests look like not much has changed, maybe because I added some salt and there has been a lot of rain water that has diluted the system. Ammonia is now down to 0.25 ppm, Nitrites are at 5.0 and Nitrate is at 10 ppm. THe system is about 40 days old now. Should I put some more fish in there? or should I wait? when can I add more fish when the Nitrites go to zero?

Also, I've been looking in the forums for discusions about planting from seed. Whats the prefered method for planting? directly in the medium? or is it better to start the seeds indoors in soil first and then transplant. I started some vine beans  directly in the medium from seed, they're doing great, can I do that with all the seeds? I've got brocoli, cucumber, tomatillos, bok choi, chives, and lettuce.

 

Rebecca B said:

Understand that If you add sodium thiosulfate (or a similar aquarium product) to your top up water, it's job is to break the chloramine into its components.  Many people are concerned about introducing the chemicals in these products into their aquaponic ecosystem---but that's another topic for later.

If you let the treated water sit, the chlorine will off gas but the ammonia will still be there. Tim spoke of aerating to off gas the ammonia. An ammonia test kit will verify this for you, but it takes a particular type of test kit with particular reagents.

You mention removing the fish when they float to the top. That fish was dead for an unknown time period before it became visible to you as a floater---and emitting ammonia as soon as it died. I'd suggest actively counting the fish each time you look at them to determine whether another fish has died and you need to locate it for immediate removal.

[RupertofOZ]

Let your nitrites fall to zero before you add any more fish....

 

You can direct sow most seeds into the grow bed(s)...