Total Chlorine

[Nikki Casali]

Has anyone measured the total chlorine levels in their established
aquarium? The TC level coming out of my tap water is .25 mg/L. I did a
10% water change 2 days ago. I dechlorinate with the recommended amount
to remove chloramines using a double dose. I just checked the TC in my
aquarium, for the first time ever, and it shows 0.11 mg/L. I've double
and triple checked this. Doesn't that sounds strangely high and lethal?
I haven't altered my water changing regime for years. Fish have always
been fine, except in very rare cases of disease outbreak.

pH 8.1
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 53 ppm

Nikki

[Nikki Casali]

Nikki Casali wrote:
> Has anyone measured the total chlorine levels in their established
> aquarium? The TC level coming out of my tap water is .25 mg/L. I did a
> 10% water change 2 days ago. I dechlorinate with the recommended amount
> to remove chloramines using a double dose. I just checked the TC in my
> aquarium, for the first time ever, and it shows 0.11 mg/L. I've double
> and triple checked this. Doesn't that sounds strangely high and lethal?
> I haven't altered my water changing regime for years. Fish have always
> been fine, except in very rare cases of disease outbreak.
>
> pH 8.1
> Ammonia 0 ppm
> Nitrite 0 ppm
> Nitrate 53 ppm

RO water, prefiltered by carbon and left standing for 24 hours, shows
0.12 mg/L of total chlorine. Something is giving a false positive.

Nikki

[Geezer From The Freezer]

Nikki Casali wrote:
>
> Nikki Casali wrote:
> > Has anyone measured the total chlorine levels in their established
> > aquarium? The TC level coming out of my tap water is .25 mg/L. I did a
> > 10% water change 2 days ago. I dechlorinate with the recommended amount
> > to remove chloramines using a double dose. I just checked the TC in my
> > aquarium, for the first time ever, and it shows 0.11 mg/L. I've double
> > and triple checked this. Doesn't that sounds strangely high and lethal?
> > I haven't altered my water changing regime for years. Fish have always
> > been fine, except in very rare cases of disease outbreak.
> >
> > pH 8.1
> > Ammonia 0 ppm
> > Nitrite 0 ppm
> > Nitrate 53 ppm
>
> RO water, prefiltered by carbon and left standing for 24 hours, shows
> 0.12 mg/L of total chlorine. Something is giving a false positive.
>
> Nikki

thats quite interesting. Have you tried boiling your water to see if there
is still chlorine in it afterwards?

[Nikki Casali]

Geezer From The Freezer wrote:
>
> Nikki Casali wrote:
>
>>Nikki Casali wrote:
>>
>>>Has anyone measured the total chlorine levels in their established
>>>aquarium? The TC level coming out of my tap water is .25 mg/L. I did a
>>>10% water change 2 days ago. I dechlorinate with the recommended amount
>>>to remove chloramines using a double dose. I just checked the TC in my
>>>aquarium, for the first time ever, and it shows 0.11 mg/L. I've double
>>>and triple checked this. Doesn't that sounds strangely high and lethal?
>>>I haven't altered my water changing regime for years. Fish have always
>>>been fine, except in very rare cases of disease outbreak.
>>>
>>>pH 8.1
>>>Ammonia 0 ppm
>>>Nitrite 0 ppm
>>>Nitrate 53 ppm
>>
>>RO water, prefiltered by carbon and left standing for 24 hours, shows
>>0.12 mg/L of total chlorine. Something is giving a false positive.
>>
>>Nikki
>
>
> thats quite interesting. Have you tried boiling your water to see if there
> is still chlorine in it afterwards?

Seems to be a problem with Hanna's reagents. They recommend taking a
"zero blank" reading with demineralised water and subtracting from the
real test. Yes, even rain water gives the same result as RO water.

I'm trying to calculate how long dechlorinators take to do their work.
According to the tests, my bucket of tap water is totally chlorine free
within the minute I add dechlorinator. If it weren't for the pH of 7.4,
I could throw in a couple of fish from the main tank.

Nikki