How Long Does Dechlorinator Take To Have An Effect?

[fifefish]

how long does dechlorinator take to have an effect?

 

[minxfishy]

Its instant to my knowledge.

 

[puppyjess123]

As soon as its in i just swirl it around and dunk straight in my tank. Never had problems.

 

[ThePiggy]

All the dechlorinators that I've used, worked instantly. They just need to be stirred in. They only work on chlorine though, not chloramine.

 

[Schmill]

All the dechlorinators that I've used, worked instantly. They just need to be stirred in. They only work on chlorine though, not chloramine.

What makes you say that? The API Stress Coat that I use (I know, I know, use pond declor!), but anyway, it specifically says it works on the chlorine, chloramines, & heavy metals.

 

[fifefish]

thanks i was always making sure that i left it for a minute for it to mix.. so its basically almost instantanious

 

[OldMan47]

I put it into my bucket shortly after I start to fill it. By the time the bucket is full, the dechlor is thoroughly mixed and the water is ready to go into my tank.

 

[fifefish]

also i wait until the water has reached about a few degrees off the temp in my tank

 

[andywg]

All the dechlorinators that I've used, worked instantly. They just need to be stirred in. They only work on chlorine though, not chloramine.

Sodium thiosulphate (the active chemical in dechlorinators that do not claim to deal with chloramine) will break the chlora-amine bond and neutralise the chlora part, it's just they don't have any way of binding to the ammonia part. Our filters will more than happily deal with the small amount of ammonia which is released in a water change so, in effect, every single dechlorinator will work in chloraminated water.

 

[Schmill]

Just in case anyone is wondering HOW MUCH ammonia is released when the bond break, I just did a water change.

Got my bucket of water, added my dechlor whilst it was filling and once I had a full bucket of water, took a sample and did an ammonia test on it.

Ammonia: 0 ppm

So whatever is released when the bond is broken is only neglible anyway. Some people probably already knew this, others probably don't care, but I was curious - lol

 

[aaronnorth]

your test kit wont be able to detect what ammonia is given off, they only detect what is suitable levels for fish. so if they all gave of 0.01 as an example, then adding 100 buckets to a tank means you have added 1ppm of ammonia. Obviosly this depends on the size of the bucket you tested it on.

 

[Schmill]

your test kit wont be able to detect what ammonia is given off, they only detect what is suitable levels for fish. so if they all gave of 0.01 as an example, then adding 100 buckets to a tank means you have added 1ppm of ammonia. Obviosly this depends on the size of the bucket you tested it on.

How does the size of the bucket matter? The Dechlor is based on the amount of water in the bucket, and the ammonia is then measure in ppm.
If you have 100 buckets of water, and they all measure 0.01ppm ammonia, then it makes no difference whether the water is in 100 seperate buckets, or all in your tank, it's still 0.01ppm (Don't forget that ppm is "parts per million", and therefore the ammonia is being measured as a ratio to the water).
Think of it like this. In a bag I 'measure' that I have 1 bananna for every 10 oranges. I've got 1,000,000 bags. Even if I dump the contents of all the bags into huge pile, in the pile I'll still only have 1 Bananna for every 10 oranges, (1,000,000 banannas and 10,000,000 Oranges)... I hope your hungry!

So as I said, it's a neglible amount, (as in it can't even be measured on our kits)

 

[aaronnorth]

How does the size of the bucket matter? The Dechlor is based on the amount of water in the bucket, and the ammonia is then measure in ppm.

oh yeah lol

 

[OldMan47]

No matter the size bucket that I use, I end up close to 1 ppm of ammonia in the bucket. As Andy said, the filter makes short work of the ammonia once it is in my tank. Actually the concentration in the tank is lower because I don't change all of my water at once when I have fish in a tank. A 25% change means the filter starts its job at 0.25 ppm and makes things get better from there.

 

[Schmill]

It's interesting, because when people have an ammonia reading of ANYTHING on their water tests, the first reaction seems to always be to perform a water change. This is why I wondered when you perform the water change, and use dechlor on the fresh water, how much ammonia are you then actually putting back INTO the tank.
Just my curiosity getting the better of me... don't mind me