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Chloramines
Make Tap Water Safer for People but
not for Fish. |
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Most of the tap
water, coming from local water districts and
running out of most people's faucets in the U.S.,
contains chloramines. In fact most tap water has
contained chloramines for several years, so chloramines
are not really new.
Chloramines are a chemical combination of chlorine
and ammonia. Before chloramines were used, most
tap water contained chlorine, which killed most
of the pathogens in the water and made tap water
“safe to drink”.
Without question killing pathogens in tap water
by adding chlorine or chloramine improves the safety
of the tap water for most of the people most of
the time.
But the chlorine apparently reacts with organic
matter in the water to form chlorinated-hydrocarbons,
which are thought to cause cancer, and epidemiological
evidence confirmed higher cancer rates in people
in areas with chlorine in their tap water. Chloramines
safer, so chlorine was replaced by chloramines in
tap water.
Chlorine is relatively easy to neutralize, but chloramines
are not. So chloramines have posed a greater threat
to fish.
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| The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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The Bailey Brothers
discovered that doing a partial water change by
replacing 20% or less of the water in an aquarium,
fish bowl, or pond with tap water containing chloramines
is almost always safe. In fact a small amount of
chloramines seemed to improve the health of the
fish. Perhaps a small amount of chloramines reduces
the number of pathogens in the water without harming
the fish.
The small amount of un-neutralized chloramine will
probably reduce the number of pathogens and may
improve the water quality for fish.
But changing more than 20% of the water with water
containing chloramines is risky to fish, even if
a commercial Water Conditioner is added to the water.
Click
here for more information about Water Conditioners.
Surprisingly, several scientific studies have shown
that many brands of bottled water are not as good
as most tap water for human consumption. Though
the best bottled water is probably better than most
tap water for human consumption.
The Bailey Brothers are reluctant to say that aquarists
should remove all the chloramines from their tap
water before putting that water in their aquarium
or in their mouths.
Click
here for information about removing Chloramines
from water. |
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| The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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