Water Treatment

As I mentioned before, I'll be incorporating an automatic water change system into my setup. This means I will have to figure out a way to remove any potential chlorine/chloramine from my water automatically.

One possibility is to assemble a separate water treatment area. For my purpose, this has a many downsides. It would require me to dedicate space in my house to a separate water treatment reservoir, something like a 55g trashcan. It would also require a separate pump to pump the water from the reservoir to the tank at water change time. The pump would be pricey and it would require the use of one of my control channels. I only have 6 control channels, so every one of them is precious. Finally, it would require a peristaltic pump to dose Prime automatically into the reservoir and another control channel. It would likely require at least one, but maybe two float switches. To make it fully automated, like I desire, this option would simply require too much equipment. I must say, however, that to completely remove chlorine and chloramine, this is the best option.

Another possibility is to take said peristaltic pump from above and hook it up to the tank, so that I'm dosing Prime straight into the tank as the water is being refilled. This would require a peristaltic pump and a control channel. The major downside of this is that I can't just treat the new water, I have to treat the entire tank...every water change. Since I'm considering doing 10% daily WC, this would mean I would have to treat 120g of water every day. Prime is cheap, Pond Prime is cheaper, but treating 120g of water daily would really add up. Additionally, it would still require a control channel.

The solution I've decided to go with is inline carbon canisters. A decent amount of thought went into this decision. Carbon cannisters can completely remove chlorine from water, but they aren't as effective at chloramine removal.  I read through the Atlanta Watershed Maintenance 2008 Annual Water Quality Report to see if Atlanta used chloramine or just chlorine to treat the water. The report was inconclusive, listing ppm of chlorine in the water as required by the EPA. The EPA has guidelines for what must be included in an annual water report, and chloramine levels and usage is not among them. I then turned to the local club. It appears that Atlanta, like many cities, may primarily use chlorine but at least adds chloramine every once in a while at random. This presented me with a problem. Carbon canisters remove chlorine, not chloramine, or so I thought...

I stumbled upon the article "Chlorine and Chloramine" by Chuck Gadd. It turned out to be most insightful. Chucks sources mostly involve discussion on the Aquatic Plant Central forums, so while not completely scientific, they were good enough for me. Chuck pointed out that when used at the correct residence time, carbon canisters can remove chloramine, not all of it, but significant levels.  He also stated than in many people's experience, small water changes, 10% or less, where the refill water contains chloramine, seem to not cause any problems with livestock. I believe that between my carbon canisters and 10% water changes, I will effectively eliminate and risks associated from chloramine. The best part about this is the low cost. The carbon canisters I will be using cost $5 each, and treat up to 1500 gallons of water. It comes out to be about 4 cents per water change. The other big advantage is that it won't require any pumps or control channels.

It's important to point out that Prime is cheaper per gallon of water treated, but in my specific case, it is not cheaper per water change because Prime would require that I treat 120g of water EVERY water change, whereas the carbon canisters will only treat the 12g for the top off.

No comments:

Post a Comment