Hi BV - I don't use the Activated Charcoal type - I use the Diaphram type
and the type of filter for the incoming waterline to your home - it says it
is good for 3 - 6 months for home usage , so I am sure @ ~ a couple thousand
gals/yr it will last the whole season if used strictly for the pond before I
need to change it - I have never used dechlor in 10 yrs, just sprayed any
water I added to aerate it and had no problems with chlorine - Actually I
was just reading that dechlor does not remove chloramine from water anyway -
it just "breaks" the bond between chlorine and ammonia (chloramine) so the
chlorine will dissipate and your biofilter takes care of the ammonia - I
don't have the wepage bookmarked anymore, but someone here sent me the link
and it's under "Tip 18"
Gale :~)
"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

"Gale Pearce" wrote in message
...
Hi Kathy - a lot of people add dechlor to any new water they add to
their
pond - if you have chlorine in your water supply and not chloramine a
lot
of
us get away without using dechlor as long as the amount you add is not
too
much (an inch or so) - I also put together a filter which will take out
95%
of the chlorine in my water if I have to add a large amount (5"+) For
the
smaller amounts. I "spray" the water into the pond to help aerate and
dissipate as much chlorine as possible

Activated charcoal filters become useless over time and will stop removing
chlorine and chloramine. Spraying water over a pond will not knock
chloramine out of the water. There are inexpensive dechlor products on the
market, so IMHO, just buy some and when you add water, add dechlor. That
is
the BEST way to ensure the safety of your fish.

We have an article on this topic at
http://www.ilovemypond.com/topic.asp?aid=99170.

BV.

P.S. Some of you may notice the url is ilovemypond and not iheartmypond.
We
are currently transfering the iheartmypond site to a new server/ISP so we
have set up ilovemypond.com to assist in the transfer and minimize down
time. When the transition is complete, both URL's will work.