Bulk Reef Supply Chloramines and Chlorine Tests

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by Newreef15, Oct 15, 2014.

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  1. Newreef15

    Newreef15 Horrid Stonefish

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2009
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    Location:
    Tallahassee Florida
    Alright so recently Bulk Reef Supply posted this on there Facebook and Instagram pages. image.jpg Well I sent them an email an it turns out I was one of the first 500 people.

    After a few days I got there package in the mail. Turns out it is a test to read Chloramines and Chlorine In my city water supply.
    image.jpg

    Thankfully my city water read 0 ppm for both.

    Here is Bulk Reef Supply's video on why Chloramines and Chlorine can be so detrimental to your aquarium. Chloramines can also pass right your RO/DI unit!!!!!


    Turns out one in every three US reefers have Chloramines in their water supply
    image.jpg Bulk Reef Supply is using the results from this survey to create a list of cities that have high Chloramines levels.

    I wanted to see how many 3reefers participated in this survey so if you did participate post a picture of your results. Thank you for reading hope you guys enjoy
     
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  3. Vinnyboombatz

    Vinnyboombatz Giant Squid

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    Dunnellon, Florida
    City water is periodically disinfected using chlorine so keep in mind it will be present from time to time;)
     
  4. Toallhisdoom

    Toallhisdoom Dragon Wrasse

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    I got one. Will test water tonight!
     
  5. AZDesertRat

    AZDesertRat Giant Squid

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    As long as I have a good 0.5, 0.6 or 1.0 micron extruded carbon block and fresh DI resin I don't get too concerned whether it is chloramines or free chlorine. The carbon block removes the chlorine portion of chloramines or the free chlorine and breaks the bond with the ammonia then the ammonia is partially removed by the RO membrane and polished off by the DI resin. The chlorine is gone before it hits the RO membrane and ammonia will not hurt the RO membrane in the low levels used in drinking water and is gone by the time it leaves the DI.

    The Maximum Contaminant Level for chloramines in drinking water is the same as free chlorine at 4 mg/L so it will never be any higher than if you had plain chlorine alone. According to the American Waterworks Assn. about 30% of the water utilities in the USA use chloramines as the residual disinfectant.
     
  6. Toallhisdoom

    Toallhisdoom Dragon Wrasse

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    Tank water read 0/0. Tap water read 1FCI 5TCI.
    Will test my ro tonight.
     
  7. Newreef15

    Newreef15 Horrid Stonefish

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    Jul 21, 2009
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    Location:
    Tallahassee Florida
    Thanks for all the responds and Info everyone keep them coming

    Coupon code for 50% of BRS carbon blocks. Type In BLOCK at check out expires 10/20
     
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  9. Sghera64

    Sghera64 Plankton

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2014
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    I’ve been trying to increase the life of my RO membrane. I know that chlorine, and to a lesser extent, chloramine, can attack the membrane that most of us have in our systems.

    I already have a total chlorine test kit (DPD-4 tablets and a color comparison chart). I wanted something more precise. And, I wanted to know how much of my reading was coming from free chlorine versus chloramine.

    I decided to buy the HI701 (Free Chlorine) Hanna Checker. After I received it, I tried it out on the water leaving my carbon blocks. I got a zero reading. That got me wondering if I should have bought the HI711 Total Chlorine Checker.

    After doing a bit of research, I learned that both the HI701 and HI711 are using a modified USEPA 330.5 method (DPD colorimetric method). I also learned that the key difference between the US EPA standard test for free chlorine, which uses DPD-1 and the total chlorine method (DPD-4) is the use of potassium iodide (KI). Apparently, KI reacts with chloramine quite quickly to convert it to free chlorine. I designed a series of experiments to test a theory that I might actually use my DI701 to determine free chlorine and also for total chlorine.

    I took some tap water that certainly contains free chlorine. Following the instructions in the HI701 kit, I got a reading of 0.45 ppm-Free Chlorine. I recalibrated the instrument and reanalyzed the same sample and got a reading of 1.07 ppm-Free Chlorine. I recalibrated the instrument and repeated the analysis of the same sample three more times and got readings of 1.31, 1.4 and 1.51 ppm-Free Chlorine. It seems that over time, the color got more pink as the readings increased. Perhaps the chloramine was slowly converting to free chlorine. Maybe this is why the Hanna HI701 assay instructions says to mix for 20 seconds and then wait only 1 minute before taking the reading. To the same sample, I added 1 crystal of KI. It got a darker pink in about 10 seconds After 20 seconds I did a series of calibration and sample analysis. My readings were 2.04, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.14.

    I cleaned out the sample tube with RO/DI water and filled it with fresh tap water. I added 1 DPD-4 tablet from my SpectraPure chlorine test kit. Using the color chart that came with the SpectraPure kit, I gaged the result to be between 2.0 ppm and 3.0 ppm. I placed the sample tube into the HI701 after calibrating it and got a reading of 2.15. I repeated the analysis, calibrating the HI701 each time and got these readings: 2.15, 2.10, 2.05. Seems like the DPD-4 tablet achieves the same result as the HI701 reagent plus some KI added. It also seems to show that the chlorine level is dropping with time as it sits. Perhaps that is why the SpectraPure instructions say to make the reading after the tablet dissolves and before 60 seconds elapses.

    What I now believe is that one can “qualitatively” do both a free chlorine and total chlorine analysis using the HI701. I do not have access to a reference standard or an instrument that can precisely quantify the level of chloramine in a water sample. The best I can say is that using the Hanna Checker HI701 with DPD-4 tablet from SpectraPure gives a similar reading to using the SpectraPure test kit per instructions. For the same water source, a very similar total chlorine result was obtained by using the Hanna Checker HI701 using its HI701-25 reagent AND adding one small crystal of Potassium Iodide.

    So, if you are thinking about buying both the HI701 and the HI711 to measure both free chlorine and total chlorine you might be able to use one of them to do the job of both. If you can only buy one, I would recommend the HI711 since it does pick-up both free chlorine and total chlorine. If you get a reading above 0.1 ppm with the HI701, you just won’t know if it is the less harmful (and harder to remove) chloramine, or if it is free chlorine. If you do want to make a more informed analysis of the level of free chlorine AND chloramine, then you might consider doing what I did and purchase the HI701 but add KI to the sample after the first reading (free chlorine) to obtain the total chlorine). You can obtain reagent grade Postassium Iodide from ScienceLab.com, Rocky Mountain Reagents (rmreagents.com) or even ebay.

    By the way, I did contact Hanna and inquired about my theory. I asked if I could simply use the HI711-25 reagent with the HI701 Checker to obtain total chlorine results. They said I could not do that. Just thought I would provide full disclosure here.

    I'd welcome any one's insights here. I'll bet folks with swimming pools could shed even more light on what I've seen here.