Thanks for the information and VERY useful chart from Chuck's page! I have
asked a local water purifying company regarding how the city treats the
water and it is only chlorine...so yes, that's why I used to just evaporate
it before in pails.

The weird thing is I don't know when or if they would change treatment if
ever to chloramine.

Thanks again,
Dave.

"Elaine T" wrote in message
...
Dave@aquaflora wrote:
Oh! I read about how some simple dechlorinaters can react with the
chlorine and leave ammonia free in the water. So, removing the chlorine I
can introduce a new problem of ammonia. Does this Genesis remove ammonia
as well?

Municipalities use one of two chemicals in water to keep it safe for
drinking, chlorine or chloramine. Chloramine is a very stable complex of
chlorine + ammonia and will not even dissipate if the water sits in
sunlight for a week! Sodium thiosulfate detoxifies either, but releases
ammonia from chloramine. I assumed you had chlorine since you said
letting the water sit makes it suitable for fish, and because you were
treating with Stress Coat which is a thiosulfate based water conditioner.

It's best to find out from your water company which one is in your water.
Use sodium thiosulfate (Genesis for example) on chlorine. Use AmQuel on
chloramine to detoxify both chloramine and the resulting ammonia. Ghuck
Gadd explains chlorine vs. chloramine much better than I can.
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_chlorine.htm

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm has a list of some water
conditioners and what they do. My favorite Genesis is missing, but many
others are there.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com