Chloramine...Not sure if I have it.... (1 Viewer)

[Jay-Hawks]

I live in Bayou Vista (just across the bridge from Galvetraz) and I'm not sure if I have Chloramine in my water or not. I have called the water company and I have been told yes they do use Chloramine but it doesn't show on the water report I got. I thought the report might be prior to adding chlorine or chloramine but I didn't know so I emailed them back and asked "if you use chlorine or chloramine during the water treatment process." The response that I got was:

"We use chlorine and LAS which makes total chlorine, which makes chloramines. Per our Operator."

Now I think I'm more confused than ever. Can anyone make sense of this for me?

 

[NarnyTheGreat]

It is most likely that you do have chloramine in your water, most of us down south do.

 

[Ostentum]

I dont think their operator knows what they are talking about, Chlorine and Chloramine are two different processes, and you dont use chlorine to make chloramine. Its hypochlorous acid and ammonia a very simple procedure to make. Yeah for 4 years of College chem, which I put to use slim to none but helps in discussions like these. I would tend to lean towards them using Chloramine, which is what is used in League City, also in Galveston County. The reason they are going to using Chloramine is because it stays in solution unlike chlorine which tends to bind to other substances before it reaches its destination.

 

[ange062]

I'd agree with above, most likely chloramine in the greater Houston area, most of the burbs have even switched over now. The plus side is that a chloramine-specific RO/DI unit is still effective for chlorine, so if you pay the extra to get the chloramine unit you are covered in either case.

 

[Jay-Hawks]

Yeah I was under the assumption that they would use either chlorine or chloramine and one didn't create the other. My RO unit right now is a 4 stage unit and I was considering replacing it with a chloramine unit and I just wanted to figure out if I needed to. My assumption was that I did. What kind of problems have you all seen from chloramine being in your water?

Does chloramine have any impact on PH? I have had problems with my RO water's PH going up over time as it would sit in my NSW tub prior to adding salt. I was using a brute tub but have switched. My PH would start out around 7 and would end up about 8.1 before I added salt. Once I added salt it would be even higher. I hadn't been checking my water PH prior to water changes only my salinity and I was killing fish because of a PH spike.

 

[Ostentum]

That alone tells me that there is chloramine in your water. ph is solution of chloramine is aroun 8.5, depending on how much is used in the water supply, you could have anything from neutral water around 7 ph to 8.5. I am a little confused on why it would increase in the bucket except maybe you are getting evaporation and the chloramine is staying in the water causing a rise in ph, but I would think that would take awhile. Also remember that CO2 in the area effects the ph of water also, the more CO2 the lower the ph.

 

[Jay-Hawks]

Well the increasing PH wouldn't be because of evaporation because the tub had a float valve in it. I thought it might be my container so I bought a different one. You can see the setup in my YouTube video #2 & #4 (see footer for link). I was using a PH probe (an old one) to test the PH in the new saltwater tank and since my tank has been drained and my new PH probe that was in my tank isn't being used I might try it again with both my new tub and see what happens to the PH.