Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Not sure if I havent looked hard enough on here but does anyone have a good way to dechlorinate an IBC full of tap water?

My fish tank (an IBC) is currently full of the dirty water from my gravel even after I cleaned it and some seasol thats been run through the GB for a few days

I have the choice of doing a 100% water change by trying to "clean up" the rainwater I have collected in an IBC that I hooked up to my guttering...I say "clean up" because its stained yellow (which over a few days settles to almost clear) and has a ph of 8.6 and no doubt full of any other surburban crap..

OR

A 100% water change with tap water and hopefully dechlorinate it ASAP so I can keep the system down time to a minimum

do you know what kind of chloriene they use in your town? if it is just straight chloriene then run a bubbler in the water, that will speed up getting rid of it...

No I dont know

Oh and I should have also asked ...how long would it take to get it to a safe usable state for my system?

BK - as AM indicates, if it is just chlorine, it will dissipate over a few days. If chloramine is uded, then a much longer period in sunlight would be required.

I'd just put some neutraliser into it. The stuff I bought from Big W when I was putting my system together would do 5000 litres plus and it was well less than 20 bucks. I still need a bit when I do top ups (water loss due to evaporation adn transpiration) and I just bought a new bottle - different stuff. To my disgust I have just noticed that this bottle will only do 2000 litres, but then again it was less than 10 bucks to buy.

thanks guys........ I'm guessing the neutraliser was in the pool section? Will get some tomorrow

Chloramine is our enemy!

if your town uses chloramine then neutraliser is the best bet, but be aware that almost all of them will neutralise the chlorine, but leave the ammonia component of the chloramine "free" hence if your water was dosed at 2ppm chloramine then you will have 2 ppm of ammonia after neutralisation. Good to cycle your beds with as it will give the bac. something to much on and establish. BAD for your fish at PH 8.6

I wonder............is the turbidiy of the "gravel water" such a bad thing except for asthetics? anyone checked the turbidity of the murray lately? If you dosed the system with citric acid (supermarket) to ring it to PH 7.5 would the turbidity be all that bad a thing?

Dunno.


Steve

i did not wash my gravel before getting my new system up and running. It was very dirty for a few days but is now starting to clear so I am wondering if you really need to worry.
Do what steve said about the pH and leave it for a week and see how you go. mine isn't settling out to the bottom it is being filtered like all the rest of the crap in the system through the growbed.

BK - the neutraliser will be in the pet section. Whatever you do, don't ever use pool chemicals for your fish.

cool...not sure if I mislead you Steve....its the rainwater I collected thats sittin there as an alternative to using tap water that is at 8.6...(and wee yellow lol)

BBK, how do you collect your rainwater? If the yellow colouring is due to decayed plant matter on a roof and in the guttering that you collect rainwater from, it really shouldn't pose much of a problem - sub-gravel filters in aquariums seem to filter it out OK. Air-borne pollutants that have settled on a roof are a potential problem, but installing a first-flush diverter should help eliminate that.

Bundy, now i'm confused...........

tank water is yellow and at 8.6 ph ?

if this is right then just dose it back to mid 7's, airate it for a while it probably got very low O2............ then dunp the fish in

Gravel washing - normally there is clay and muck with it, (especially if bought in bulk) it really only needs a quick rinse to remove the crap and minimise any build up in the grow beds.

Gravel washing is labour intensive and most "aquaponians" have allergies (Monya complains of knee bends, Les due to a mature age.....and the list goes on), now it is regarded as a newbies initiation to becoming a true AP.

LOL, then months later we laugh and say "you didn't really need to wash it" ROFLMAO

You're right Les, it's a bit of an initiation to clean gravel.. One of the main reasons I cleaned my red pea gravel, is because it's just so damn red and dusty... And the small chips in amongst it may cause problems in pumps and pipes..

As someone who has washed about 5 ton of gravel so far for my systems, I say wash it you lazy buggers... ( I just can't accept that I may have done it for no reason:) )

To remove chlorine from water quicker, bubble oxygen through it...