Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Will a normal de-chlorinating agent for fish be enough to get rid of the chloramine that Mustafa stated was deadly to shrimp?

The dechlorinator *has* to break down chloramines (not just chlorine) *and* neutralize ammonia, which is produced when the chloramines break down. I use Seachem Prime for that purpose and it's both economic and totally non-toxic to shrimp. Can't guarantee for other products.

Hi Constantine, just read the label and make sure your anti-chlorinator says it removes chloramines too.

To answer your other question from another site, yes, chloramine is deadly to shrimp, so people who live in an area where chloramine is added to the tap water, an an anti-chlorinator that states it also removes chloramines, is a must.

-GB

Whoops! Ninja posts ...

GunmetalBlue wrote: Whoops! Ninja posts ...

Haha...my first one ever! I guess it happens sometimes.

Anyone know of a product that just does chlorine and chloramines and nothing else? Most of the products like Prime and Amquel+ removes nitrates and amonia as well. This prevents me from using it with tap water for a base for green water. When I add the nutrients, these products take it out and the algae won't grow. I'm stuck now using reconstituted R/O waster.

I use AP Tapwater Conditioner, and it will break the chlorine/ammonia bond in chloramine and remove the chlorine, but it doesn't neutralize the ammonia. You need to dose more to break the bond than if you have chlorine in the water (it says on the bottle).

I believe Wardley Chlor-Out does the same thing.

After using Kordon AMQUEL+ for several months I can say this this is a great product, and in my opinion, better the Seachem Prime. It doesn't have that nasty sulfur smell, and it makes my tap water safe for shrimp instantly, even without bubbling for hours. I wasn't able to use my tap water with Prime and got dead shrimp when I tried.

It claims to handle chlorine, chloramine, nitrates, nitrites, metals, etc. I tried warm water with this stuff and used it with my moina and they are doing fine. Using hot water from the tap is supposed to be a no-no due to copper ions but it seems to be OK with this stuff. All my shrimp are breeding like crazy!

badflash wrote:It doesn't have that nasty sulfur smell, and it makes my tap water safe for shrimp instantly, even without bubbling for hours.

Yes, the sulfur smell is annoying but not a big deal. But bubbling? I never get any bubbling whatsoever. I even add the tap water directly to my tank and add the prime at the same time. Did you maybe overdose? How much did you dose? Everyone I know who uses prime in shrimp (and fish) tanks is extremely happy with it.

I'm sure Amquel+ works fine, too, but Prime si 5 times more economic as you only need 1/5th the amount of Amquel+ for the same amount of tap water. 5ml of prime treats 50 gallons whereas 5ml of amquel+ treats 10 gallons.

I wasn't able to use my tap water with Prime and got dead shrimp when I tried.

That should not happen with a normal dose and even with a slight overdose. My take is that you either had a bad bottle, overdosed too much or something else was involved as a cause for the deaths. Prime never caused any deaths in my tanks and I use it all the time.

I wasn't clear about the bubbling. It was recommended that you bubble air through the water for several hours after adding Prime to allow the sulfur smell to get out. I wasn't talking about any chemical reaction resulting from its use. There is no smell with Amquel+

The cost difference is negligable. I use 2.5 ml for 5 gallons. a 16 oz bottle runs $6 (473 ml). 250 ml of Prime runs $6.50. This means that Prime costs .26 cents per gallon while Amquel+ costs .63 cents per gallon. So Prime is 2.5 times less but in my case the difference is live shrimp vs. dead ones. For a cost difference of 3.7 cents on a 10 gallon water change, I'd say it was a good deal. Before I found this product I needed to re-constitute R/O water wich is a royal pain. Now I only need to do this with my algae culture wich still fails unless i use R/O. Wappingers Falls water tastes great, but algae hates it. Never got green water in my pool.

Just a data point.

badflash wrote:I wasn't clear about the bubbling. It was recommended that you bubble air through the water for several hours after adding Prime to allow the sulfur smell to get out. I wasn't talking about any chemical reaction resulting from its use. There is no smell with Amquel+

Oh, I see. I understand now. Who recommended bubbling anything for several hours? There is usually no sulfur smell once you add the treated water to your aquarium. In any case, if Amquel+ works better for you, use it. Everyone's tap water is different and I could imagine that different chemicals in these products *might* react differently with whatever is present in people's tap waters. Prime works for me, Amquel+ works for you. Both work for many others.

Just a data point.

Yes, we need those.

Who recommended bubbling anything for several hours?

Maybe it is an old wives tale, but I was always taught to bubble air through tap water after adding a dechlorinator. I was told that some of the byproducts are removed or reacted in this way. Maybe it is like chicken soup and it "couldn't hurt". Anyway, I do it if it isn't an emergency.

Lotus wrote:I believe Wardley Chlor-Out does the same thing.

I have used Wardley's Chlor-out for years--on shrimp, clams and everything else. Never had a problem. Works Great, its Cheap and available without shipping costs: Walmart.

HTH

Does using dechloraminator same effect as let tap watter in opened canisters for a few days, or has it really some extra effects as labeled on bottles sometime?

Kordon Amquel+ and SeaChem Prime do more as most do. Open air does not remove chloramine and most dechlorinators do. The ones above also kill nitrates, nitrites and some metal ions like copper. Read the lables carefully for what they claim to do.

gr81 wrote:Does using dechloraminator same effect as let tap watter in opened canisters for a few days, or has it really some extra effects as labeled on bottles sometime?

Letting it sit for a few days won't remove chloramines.