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Roger's Aquatics Pages |
Chorine is added to tap water by water companies to kill pathogenic bacteria, and make the water safe to drink. Unfortunately it also kills fish. Chlorine can be removed from the system by adding Sodium Thiosulfate (Photographic Fixer) to the water. This reacts with the chlorine to form Sodium Sulphate and Sodium Chloride (salt) both of which are harmless.
Some companies also add Chloramines these are much more toxic. Most water companies don’t do this routinely as it is more expensive. They only do it when the level of bacteria in the water is very high. Unfortunately they don’t tell you when they are adding Chloramines. While Sodium Thiosulphate will destroy this it liberates ammonia in doing so, this is toxic.
Your local fish store will sell you something to make the tap water safe. Be careful, the cheap ones, and some of the expensive ones are nothing more than sodium thiosulfate nicely packaged. Make sure the one you buy is capable of dealing with Chloramines as well.
Alternatively you can use Sodium Thiosulfate and check for ammonia before adding to your tank. There are products available on the market such as Ammo-lock which will deal with the ammonia at this stage,