Habitat - Indoor :: Water conditioner, do you really need it?

[slider_keeper]

Awesome, that's for sharing. That is some very cool info you came across;)

[cutepanda86]

Thanks for sharing that awesome work.

[VeipaCray]

That was a very informative posting. Thank you!

I agree with everything you've posted but will add a couple of my thoughts.

In terms of contact time with carbon to remove chlorine and chloramine, I purchased a chloramine test kit. My tap water was measuring around .75PPM chloramine. Running the water through a carbon filter (the same one linked earlier in this thread), the test kit measured an undetectable amount of chloramine. I do believe that we can effectively remove chloramine from our tap water by means of carbon filtration in a very reasonable amount of contact time. I think the high surface area of the carbon in conjunction with the water being forced to take a path through it yields good results.

While I agree with the sentiment about our turtles not dying from a capful of water conditioner my thought is, why subject them to it?

We as turtle keepers have an ethical responsibility to care for these animals as best we can with the knowledge we have. Our goal is to as closely replicate their natural habitat with anything less being unacceptable. Turtles aren't living in water conditioning chemicals in nature. If we can effectively use carbon to treat the water our friends live in, why not? I believe this attitude applies to environment, diet, care or any aspect of turtle keeping.

The research ljapa did is very informative, accurate and much appreciated. For anyone new reading or referencing this thread I would still whole heartedly encourage you to use carbon as a means to water treatment vs. chemical conditioning.

[ljapa]

In terms of contact time with carbon to remove chlorine and chloramine, I purchased a chloramine test kit. My tap water was measuring around .75PPM chloramine. Running the water through a carbon filter (the same one linked earlier in this thread), the test kit measured an undetectable amount of chloramine. I do believe that we can effectively remove chloramine from our tap water by means of carbon filtration in a very reasonable amount of contact time. I think the high surface area of the carbon in conjunction with the water being forced to take a path through it yields good results.

Thanks for that info. Everything I had read mentioned slow flow and long contact time. However, if you look at the flow rates mentioned in that snippet, you'll see 5.7 and 3.74 gallons per minute with ppm around 3. My canister filter has a higher flow rate, but my bathroom faucet probably doesn't. I'm pretty sure it would take more than a minute to fill a five gallon bucket from the bathroom faucet.

I guess the waste water treatment definition of low flow rate and the aquariust's are different.

I am just depending on the carbon in my filter. I've not built the inline carbon filter on a python. So, it's good to hear that when I do, I'm not dumping any chloramine in my aquarium.

Have you tested the chloramine breakdown just before a carbon filter change? How many gallons of water does it take before a filter change is needed?

[slider_keeper]

Have you tested the chloramine breakdown just before a carbon filter change? How many gallons of water does it take before a filter change is needed?

I would imagine a couple months cause, you don't run water thru the carbon all the time like the filter for the tank does. But I will let VeipaCray answer this one better than I could.

[VeipaCray]

No I have not measured how long before a carbon filter change is needed... and the answer would also depend on how much source chloramine was in your water supply. Someone with more chloramine in their supply would get less longevity from a single filter.

The replacement cartridges are like $5 locally, so I just change them like 2x a year. My closest hardware store has them in the same aisle as the furnace filters. When I stock up on furnace filters I just grab a carbon filter replacement.

[slider_keeper]

Awesome thanks VeipaCray

[Cake3141]

I have worked many years in a pet store, and we used Prime for the Beta's and we sold it to people who were new to the fish hobby. We also sold it to people who bought RES ( Red Ear Sliders ) I have NEVER had an issue using Prime for my turtle. Prime is used to remove Chlorine and chloramine. Never had any issues.

[VeipaCray]

Prime is one of the better products on the market. However many of us on this forum subscribe to the philosophy of, "Why add any chemicals that don't exist in nature if you don't need to?"

[slider_keeper]

Prime is one of the better products on the market. However many of us on this forum subscribe to the philosophy of, "Why add any chemicals that don't exist in nature if you don't need to?"

+1