Not so easy to get rid of. This link has the best info on the subject that I have found.
http://morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water
http://morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water
New Grower Removing Chloramines From Water
- Thread starter pop22
- Start date
You might want to work towards getting an RO system. You can get a decent one for around $100
Muddy
Proud deplorable!
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,673
- Reputation
- 10
- Reaction score
- 1,554
- Points
- 0
- Currently Smoking
- OG Kush, Deep Cheese, Key Lime
I just read that 1 gram of vitamin C per 75 gals of water will remove the chloramine. I only have chlorine in my tap water so have no need to try this but it may be worth a shot.
AndyBotwin
Weed Whisperer
Here's some more info I posted in Live Help a while back. Chloramine molecules are very stable and hard to remove by design. RO filters do not work unless they also have a carbon filter as part of the system. I personally use humic acid to remove chloramines because I don't want to constantly pour citric acid on my plants, nor do I want to risk smoking Camden tabs or fish tank additives...
The very condensed version is that chlorine degrades quickly after contact with air, uv rays, etc. That's why you have to keep adding it to your pool all summer, as well as why it will evaporate when bubbled or left open to the air for a day or so. But bind it with ammonia, and you have a very stable compound named chloramine that will travel long distances in pipes without losing the capability to fight bacteria.
Without getting into what drinking chloramines does to humans, it can cause trouble in ways that people don't think about. Ask a friend who homebrews beer or has tropical fish tanks, and they likely are well aware of chloramine issues. And while it doesn't kill our beloved plants, it can do serious damage to the beneficial bacteria and fungi living in your soil. It's made to kill those things, after all. Bubbling it won't remove it, at least not in any reasonable time period. Even boiling it can take days to adequately reduce chloramine levels. Your RO system won't remove it without a carbon prefilter. One affordable solution that I used for my organic grows were aquarium conditioners like Amquel which break the bonds between ammonia and chlorine. But just because they don't kill fish doesn't mean they won't build up in the soil and possibly the human body when ingested. Probably a low risk, but one I no longer wanted to take.
So after loads of research and reading everything I could on the subject, I started adding a few drops of humic acid to my tap water before bubbling it. This causes the chloramine bonds to break as the humate is attacked by the chlorine molecules. You can actually smell the chlorine being released not long after treating the water. Give it a day or so, and you can water your organic grow without being concerned about the health of your microherd. There are lots of accounts of compost tea brewers who checked their tea under a microscope and found activity just as robust as in teas brewed with water containing no chloramines. See here for a bit more info:
http://www.natureswayresources.com/DocsPdfs/chloramine.pdf
The very condensed version is that chlorine degrades quickly after contact with air, uv rays, etc. That's why you have to keep adding it to your pool all summer, as well as why it will evaporate when bubbled or left open to the air for a day or so. But bind it with ammonia, and you have a very stable compound named chloramine that will travel long distances in pipes without losing the capability to fight bacteria.
Without getting into what drinking chloramines does to humans, it can cause trouble in ways that people don't think about. Ask a friend who homebrews beer or has tropical fish tanks, and they likely are well aware of chloramine issues. And while it doesn't kill our beloved plants, it can do serious damage to the beneficial bacteria and fungi living in your soil. It's made to kill those things, after all. Bubbling it won't remove it, at least not in any reasonable time period. Even boiling it can take days to adequately reduce chloramine levels. Your RO system won't remove it without a carbon prefilter. One affordable solution that I used for my organic grows were aquarium conditioners like Amquel which break the bonds between ammonia and chlorine. But just because they don't kill fish doesn't mean they won't build up in the soil and possibly the human body when ingested. Probably a low risk, but one I no longer wanted to take.
So after loads of research and reading everything I could on the subject, I started adding a few drops of humic acid to my tap water before bubbling it. This causes the chloramine bonds to break as the humate is attacked by the chlorine molecules. You can actually smell the chlorine being released not long after treating the water. Give it a day or so, and you can water your organic grow without being concerned about the health of your microherd. There are lots of accounts of compost tea brewers who checked their tea under a microscope and found activity just as robust as in teas brewed with water containing no chloramines. See here for a bit more info:
http://www.natureswayresources.com/DocsPdfs/chloramine.pdf
The problem that any method you use is, the ammonia thats left from breaking down the chloramine. Its my understanding that it too needs to be removed by filtration or RO. etc. Chloramine is beyond a doubt nasty stuff. If they used that here, I'd be collecting rainwater! Our water is well water, but one well serves several homes, so the owners are required to treat the water. I asked...they use chlorine.
I would question using cambden tablets for growing.
It would work fine for brewing but the point of cambden tablets it to strerilize and remain in the water just like chloromine but with sulfur and other things that are toxic to the micro herd.
It would work fine for brewing but the point of cambden tablets it to strerilize and remain in the water just like chloromine but with sulfur and other things that are toxic to the micro herd.
AndyBotwin
Weed Whisperer
From what I've read, the ammonia will slowly bubble out once it's been separated from the chlorine as it becomes a gas at room temperature. But this takes a minimum of 24 hours if not more. Using a carbon filter in conjunction with an RO system is the only way to make chloraminated water immediately ready to use as far as I know. But I've been using organic matter to break the chloramine bonds in my water for a while now, and the microherd is definitely alive and feeding the roots. If any ammonia remains in the water when using it on the plants, I haven't seen any direct effects from it. One issue I did have was dumping too much humic acid in the water which the plants did not like. After that I started using a pipette since I only need a few drops in the 5 gallon buckets where I bubble my water.
One way to get around all this is to use synthetic nutes and not worry about what chloramine does to the microherd. I had good results when I used to grow with the
Trio and straight bubbled tap water. It was not until I attempted to grow with organic nutes that I had weird problems occur & I discovered that chloramine was in my water. It's not harmful to plants unless they're aquatic and the water goes directly into the tissues. All my outdoor plants flowers and vegatables do fine with it, but obviously I want a higher level of quality from my cannabis.
Good stuff Andy, thank you!
Similar threads
