RE: [Killietalk] Re:Water

["Al Anderson" <killiman at iquest_net>]

I am waiting for Jim Graham to bring his John Deere front end loader and
back hoe down here to dig a pond to use as a water source for the fish room
not a pool to chill down in.
killiman at iquest_net
Al Anderson
6246 N Rural
Indianapolis IN 46220
317 253 2170

-----Original Message-----
From: killietalk-bounces at aka_org [mailto:killietalk-bounces at aka_org]On
Behalf Of PB1212BBA at aol_com
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 2:55 PM
To: killietalk at aka_org
Subject: [Killietalk] Re:Water

    Hi Duane,

    I am amazed at the bad reputation that has been attached to tap water.
American municipal supplied water is the safest in the world. For PEOPLE.
The
bad rep comes from (surprise!) home water filter salesmen. Chlorine and
Chloramine are seperate issues.
    Chlorine is volatile and can usually be removed from water in 24 hours
by
simple aeration or instantly by the addition of sodium thiosulphate (hypo).
If your tap water only contains chlorine you are indeed very lucky. However,
if
your source water is high in organics, chlorine may react with them to form
certain compounds that are thought to be potentially carcinogenic.
    For the reasons stated above the current trend is for cities to add
ammonia to the water to make a longer lasting disinfectant, chloramine. The
chloramine bond is harder to break and may last up to a month, but is a
slightly
weaker disinfectant (still does the job, though) and does not form the same
compounds with organics. Simple aeration will not remove chloramines, but
the bond
can be broken chemically with sodium thiosulphate (hypo) which strips the
chlorine. The problem for us as fishkeepers is that once the chlorine is
removed,
the ammonia is left in the water. Which is one of the reasons why we are
changing water in the first place.
    Ammonia is very hard to remove from water, but carbon filtration will do
it. Some conditioners will change the form ammonia takes, but will not
actually remove it. Once in the aquarium it is best removed by biological
means(
sponge/corner filters, wet/dry filters, live plants, etc. ).
    Perhaps a greater concern is the hardness of the water, and which
killies
you keep depend more on this factor. Some need water that is close to pure
H2O while others need seawater. Some will do just fine in most tap water. If
the
water is too hard for a certain species, they may live healthy happy lives
yet never lay eggs, or else lay tons of eggs that never hatch. I will leave
discussion of this subject to others who have more knowledge than I.
    You can find hardness and other information out by calling your local
water plant and requesting a water analysis report. They should have one on
hand
and should be happy to send you one. I believe this information is mailed
once
a year in your water bill but most people don't bother saving it. If you
have
problems with red tape, make sure you have the number for the water plant
and
not the billing office, and request to speak with a water plant operator.
    I hope this helps clarify a complex subject,

Richard Arline
Hollywood, Florida

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