Chlorine testing

[AJ356]

With Christmas coming up, I figured I'd treat myself to something for my sub-hobby of my main hobby of fish keeping!

Testing!

I got some testing strips off Amazon, tried to spend time looking at reviews, but it's probably a cr*p shoot. I could find no liquid testing for chlorine, it was all strips. I think I saw some different kinds of testers for swimming pools and jacuzzi's, but they equated to about £1 per test. I gave them a miss.

I am curious to know how much chlorine gets used in the tap water. I think I've wasted my time and money, although I knew that was probably always going to be the case.

I am surprised that I am getting zero reading for both free and total chlorine. The next colour up on the charts is 0.5ppm for both free and total chlorine, and my results are not budging from the colour that indicates ZERO. I don't think the test strips are complete duds because they are showing up nitrate, hardness and alkalinity at around the levels I would expect. I added a miniscule amount of bleach and the total and free chlorine results went up to the maximum of 10ppm, so the strips can obviously detect chlorine.

My water company uses chloramine, but I understand that TOTAL chlorine would still test positive, but free chlorine might test negative.

As far as I can see, there are no tests available for us amateurs (or obsessives) for chloramine.

Just wondering why my strips might not read for chlorine in my tap water? Although I think I have answered by own question here (see below) - I doubt any of you would know, but just putting it out there. On my most recent tap water quality report it has the chlorine levels measured as (first number is minimum, second is mean, and third is max) - maybe I've just tested on a day where it's closer to the minimum 0.08 mg/l (ppm)? That seems like a very low level of chlorine to fight bacteria? Not that I would know much on that, but I read somewhere you need measurable amounts of free chlorine to offer protection. Naturally, I care more about my fish than I care for my local population of tap water consumers (humans). Water quality report results

Also, I think some of us have fears of chlorine "pulses" or extra amounts of chlorine or chloramine being put into the system, maybe during pipe repairs. I thought if i ever have a mass extinction event in a tank after a water change, I'd at least be able to test for chlorine and see if that's the culprit. I wasn't necessarily planning to test for chlorine before each water change.

In hindsight, by the time you test for chlorine after a tank wipe out, some, or all the chlorine might be gone depending on other variables? But if you catch your fish breathing heavily or acting unwell soon after a water change, I know the active chlorine would still be present, at least mostly. However, I am not sure how this would work if it's chloramine that has been the killer? I am under the impression chloramine still gets detected in total chlorine ppm testing, as discussed above.

I think most tap water conditions aim to treat for about 4-5ppm chlorine and the same for chloramine (if the conditioner offers that).

 

[jaylach]

Personally I've even looked for a chlorine test product of any type as I use a water conditioner that removes chlorine from the water I'm adding. As a conditioner I use API Tap water conditioner. Since it removes both chlorine and chlormines there seems to me to be nothing to test.

 

[Colin_T]

Sera used to make chlorine, oxygen, carbon dioxide and various other liquid test kits but that was 20 years ago. They might still make them but I don't know.

Most chlorine test kits don't pick up chloramine. You would have to check with the manufacturer of each test kit to see what it actually reads.

--------------------

Drinking water used to have a maximum Chlorine level of 2mg/L (ppm). Recently the World Health organisation (WHO) decided it was fine to increase the level to 5mg/L. The WHO reckons most people can safely ingest tap water with high levels of chlorine. They are wrong.

Going back 20 years when I had fish I was losing baby fish as soon as they hatched from eggs. The water was dechlorinated and left to stand for a week with an airstone bubbling away before it was used. And I couldn't drink the tap water without boiling it first, leaving it to stand for a couple of days and then filtering it through a carbon filter. I complained to the water company (water corp) numerous times and eventually they sent someone out to test the water. It had 7.5mg/L of chlorine in (3.5 times the safe legal limit). If killed baby fish, adult fish, and made me sick. If I tried to drink a glass of tap water straight out of the tap, it felt like I was being cut open with a knife. It was very painful. The water corp said they would fix the level and after several years they did. But then they decided to increase it again and I complained again and wrote to the press and government and it was reduced again.

Earlier this year when the WHO said 5mg/L is safe, the water corp increased the level again and I ended up having to buy bottled water because I couldn't tolerate the tap water. Once again I wrote to the government and the water corp and asked why they felt it was necessary to increase the level to 5mg/L when we have had 2mg/L for the past 50 years. What is in our drinking water that requires so much chlorine? I never got a response from the government or water corp but the level suddenly dropped back down.

Just because the WHO says it's safe, doesn't mean it is. And why the WHO is now recommending 5mg/L of chlorine in drinking water is beyond me. They know high levels of chlorine is toxic but still say the safe level should now be 5mg/L.
What is in the water that makes them want to increase the chlorine level to such high levels?

 

[AJ356]

Sera used to make chlorine, oxygen, carbon dioxide and various other liquid test kits but that was 20 years ago. They might still make them but I don't know.

Most chlorine test kits don't pick up chloramine. You would have to check with the manufacturer of each test kit to see what it actually reads.

--------------------

Drinking water used to have a maximum Chlorine level of 2mg/L (ppm). Recently the World Health organisation (WHO) decided it was fine to increase the level to 5mg/L. The WHO reckons most people can safely ingest tap water with high levels of chlorine. They are wrong.

Going back 20 years when I had fish I was losing baby fish as soon as they hatched from eggs. The water was dechlorinated and left to stand for a week with an airstone bubbling away before it was used. And I couldn't drink the tap water without boiling it first, leaving it to stand for a couple of days and then filtering it through a carbon filter. I complained to the water company (water corp) numerous times and eventually they sent someone out to test the water. It had 7.5mg/L of chlorine in (3.5 times the safe legal limit). If killed baby fish, adult fish, and made me sick. If I tried to drink a glass of tap water straight out of the tap, it felt like I was being cut open with a knife. It was very painful. The water corp said they would fix the level and after several years they did. But then they decided to increase it again and I complained again and wrote to the press and government and it was reduced again.

Earlier this year when the WHO said 5mg/L is safe, the water corp increased the level again and I ended up having to buy bottled water because I couldn't tolerate the tap water. Once again I wrote to the government and the water corp and asked why they felt it was necessary to increase the level to 5mg/L when we have had 2mg/L for the past 50 years. What is in our drinking water that requires so much chlorine? I never got a response from the government or water corp but the level suddenly dropped back down.

Just because the WHO says it's safe, doesn't mean it is. And why the WHO is now recommending 5mg/L of chlorine in drinking water is beyond me. They know high levels of chlorine is toxic but still say the safe level should now be 5mg/L.
What is in the water that makes them want to increase the chlorine level to such high levels?

Thanks Colin. I remember your original post about this issue. I just had a look for the Sera chlorine test. It's still around. Not cheap though, £25 ($50 austrialian) for 45 tests

 

[anewbie]

hanna has a chlorine test but it is a pain and can give bad results if instructions are not followed precisely and even then the results are questionable. The problem with chlorine tests is most are designed for pools which is not suitable for fishes as the sensitivity is poor - the hanna test is lab grade but the method makes it very prone to bad results. Anyway if you just google chlorine test you will find ones designed around pools and won't detect very low level.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Some of us are lucky. we have private wells for water. I have never used dechlor in any of my tanks. However, I do use dechlor for two other reasons. One is when I remove and algae covered anubias from a tank I make a bleach dip fir that. When done dipping I run the plant under tap water, then I drop it into a bucket with a hefty dose of dechlor. After about 20 -30 second I take it out and it ends up back in a tank.

The second place I used dechlor is at weekend fish events where I am a seller. I normally bring some of the RO/DI water I make with me. But I need to mix it with the hotel's tap water which dies need dechlor. So I use it for that.

We also have had a swimming pool since 1980. We have had liquid chlorine tests for using in that. Since my brother who swims more than I do by a long shot wanted to convert the pools to salt water so I let him. I will not swim in salt water and have not been in the ocean in over 50- years. I do not like going into our pool since he went salt and I have not been in it on the past 5 years at least. So I no longer test the pool for anything and I have no need to test the tap water for chlorine.

(edited for typos)

 

[GaryE]

I'm assuming you're doing something to neutralize the chlorine/chloramines in your tanks.

I go to my city water treatment facility reports for levels. Here, they are very detailed. But I only have to worry about old school chlorine. Chloramines are a way higher level of concern.

 

[AJ356]

I'm assuming you're doing something to neutralize the chlorine/chloramines in your tanks.

I go to my city water treatment facility reports for levels. Here, they are very detailed. But I only have to worry about old school chlorine. Chloramines are a way higher level of concern.

Yes, I either use API or Tetra to take care of chlorine and chloramine. Much of the UK uses chloramine.

 

[Aiken Drum]

My tap water (severn trent) has about 0.5ppm of chlorine. I recently dealt with someone who had 0.25ppm, so it wouldn't show up on most home test kits.

 

[Essjay]

We also have chlorine (Northumbrian Water). From my water quality report -

Chlorine – Water is treated with a small amount of chlorine to keep it disinfected and stop
any harmful organisms growing in it, as it travels to your tap. In your water supply zone, we
do not add a small amount of ammonia during treatment, so the water is not chloraminated.

and

where the figures on the blue ground are min, mean, max.

 

[AJ356]

We also have chlorine (Northumbrian Water). From my water quality report -


and


where the figures on the blue ground are min, mean, max.

Thanks, not too dissimilar to mine, mine is top, yours on bottom