chloramine...

[smartie2000]

I just looked at Weekly Water Quality Report of my water provider and I saw that they use chloramine! Just how bad is this stuff for orchids?

I also have three aquariums and I am now concerned. I keep koi, ornamental goldfish and cichlids. The ornamental goldfish tend to have a very short lifespan, either it is genetic (they are mutants!), water issues, food issues(I'm already making my own food and they are living longer) or I shouldn't keep them anymore...

Anyways here is some recent data if anyone wants to analyze how it is for orchids/fish: Weekly Water Quality Report

All I've been using is tap water for everything. How is it's quality?

[Lagoon]

Oooh you don't want this stuff in your orchids, fish or in your water glass for that matter.
This is chlorine & ammonia combo. You can pick up some Prime from your local pet store, this will knock it out -- Don't forget to test again first before apply the water to your pets and chids, (You may have to double dose)
I hope your now drinking bottled water

[Gin]

Ammonia is one of the problems fish run into in an aquarium I would check out buying an Ro. unit there are some that are not expensive . Or find a super market that has a big unit there is one here that sells Ro. for 39 cents a gallon including the jug . Gin

[Lagoon]

Ro filter is not going to deal with any of this, you need to run a serious carbon filter or use prime. Chloramine will kill fish for sure, this stuff is deadly

[markr]

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that chloramine is harmful to orchids but I don't know of a scientific study that proves it for orchids specifically. A quick search turned up one journal article linking chloramine to root damage and reduced growth in lettuce:
EFFECTS OF NUTRIENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRE-TREATMENTS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF ROOT INJURY OF LETTUCE CAUSED BY CHLORAMINE
I don't know if that study used the same concentration of chloramine that we might find in treated tap water.

It is a long accepted fact however that chloramine is very dangerous to fish, so I'd bet that is the cause of your goldfish problems.

Chloramine can be removed by carbon/charcoal filters and most RO units incorporate them.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Lagoon

Ro filter is not going to deal with any of this, you need to run a serious carbon filter or use prime. Chloramine will kill fish for sure, this stuff is deadly

Not true. A RO unit (if properly adjusted) will remove chloramines as well as all other disolved minerals and chemicals. That is the point of RO units. The only thing negative, as far as plants are concerned, for chloramines, is that they do NOT dissapate through evaporation as does chlorine. Chloromines are added because they are persistent (like in swimming pools and hot tubs) and evaporation doesn't dispell them. RO does filter them out, however (if your unit is working correctly). Chloromine isn't "deadly" as suggested, just persistent.

[Lagoon]

Would you please share what types or brands you are using??
I have had both types of chemicals in my drinking water, I have not found that any of the membranes, prefilters nor carbon blocks were helpful, the tests still came out positive for chlorine or chloramines. Using prime was the easier and cheaper way out for me.

[Oscarman]

Could you not use the chloramine removing solutions designed for treating water for aquariums?

[smartie2000]

I've used those chloramine removing chemicals in my aquariums but not for the plants. I heard these chemicals don't remove chloramine as well in alkaline waters

[Shadow]

I think the danger is in amount of chloramine in the water. I have it in my tap water too and I use this water for all my plants exept aerangis (this little guy don't like it so I boil the water for him). But I don't know the exact amout of chloramine in my water. I just know that most plants can live and bloom with it.