Chlorine still present in water and water safety question

Hello,
I used Fritz Complete to dechlorinate my fish tank and am using test strips to test for chlorine levels. It seems for the first week there was no chlorine (after using Fritz Complete) but then after that I still get readings for some chlorine in the water. I don't want to overdose the tank so I'm not sure what to do. Also I ended up dosing 3x for each tank but DID NOT do that within 24 hours like the bottle says (my mistake). I did it over like a week. Is the water still ok to use? I'm very new to fish keeping, haven't even gotten my first fish yet

 

Hello,
I used Fritz Complete to dechlorinate my fish tank and am using test strips to test for chlorine levels. It seems for the first week there was no chlorine (after using Fritz Complete) but then after that I still get readings for some chlorine in the water. I don't want to overdose the tank so I'm not sure what to do. Also I ended up dosing 3x for each tank but DID NOT do that within 24 hours like the bottle says (my mistake). I did it over like a week. Is the water still ok to use? I'm very new to fish keeping, haven't even gotten my first fish yet

I'm not familiar with fritz. Most of us use seachem prime, so if you are able I would switch over to prime as your water conditioner. I know it is safe to overdose pretty heavily. Most times once or twice a year the water authorities flush the lines which means extra chlorine (especially in the spring) so around that time of year I double dose prime to ensure any extra chlorine is taken care of. Prime also detoxifies (***does not remove but binds into a less harmful form***) ammonia and nitrite. So it is very handy in emergency situations because you can over dose to help save your fish.

Any water with any chlorine present is not safe for aquarium use.

 

So water conditioners are so easy to replicate that really, I have yet to see a reason to believe one is inherently better than the other. I worked in the past for an aquarium company where the boss was able to replicate the recipe and made a product that was basically identical to Prime.

Anyways, question. Are you suddenly getting chlorine readings even without doing any water changes? Because that would be odd and a bit of a concern.

 

So water conditioners are so easy to replicate that really, I have yet to see a reason to believe one is inherently better than the other. I worked in the past for an aquarium company where the boss was able to replicate the recipe and made a product that was basically identical to Prime.

Anyways, question. Are you suddenly getting chlorine readings even without doing any water changes? Because that would be odd and a bit of a concern.

My point was I didn't feel confident in telling them to overdose the fritz as I have zero personal experience with that conditioner and can't say for sure whether or not it is safe to overdose like prime. That is a good question however on whether or not they are observing chlorine in the aquarium or in the fresh tap water after conditioner is added. I don't know if api makes a liquid test for chlorine? But test strips can be inaccurate as well. We should try to rule out a false reading

 

My point was I didn't feel confident in telling them to overdose the fritz as I have zero personal experience with that conditioner and can't say for sure whether or not it is safe to overdose like prime. That is a good question however on whether or not they are observing chlorine in the aquarium or in the fresh tap water after conditioner is added. I don't know if api makes a liquid test for chlorine? But test strips can be inaccurate as well. We should try to rule out a false reading

Sorry I did not mean to come across as countering your point or anything! Apologies.

Though yes, that is a very good point on the overdosing. Definitely something like Prime is tried and tested, and I think we all have great personal experience with it.

 

Chlorine tests aren't reliable unless you use lab or industrial grade stuff.

"Super-chlorination" is a myth.

 

Chlorine tests aren't reliable unless you use lab or industrial grade stuff.

"Super-chlorination" is a myth.

I'm not sure what you mean by super chlorination. Usually the water authority will switch from chloramine to free chlorine when they flush the lines, and chloramine is less volatile. Not to say it is "more potent" per say, but I remember this tidbit of information from a newsletter i got from dustinsfishtanks reminding everyone to use extra conditioner in the spring for this specific reason. I should have worded my original comment about this better. But for obvious reasons I like to share this with people who use city tap in with their aquariums as it's important and not always something you'd have in mind to pay attention to. At any rate I don't want to derail the thread so, back to the point! I'm glad that you had an answer regarding the test strips, so we can factor in that there's a good chance this is a false reading and that the aquarium water is safe.

 

Update: I waited 5 days after double dosing prime (I also used the fritz complete - not sure if there are any chemical reactions between the two) and I'm still getting chlorine readings. I'm using test strips that I bought on amazon so, yes, they may be giving me inaccurate readings. At this point I'm afraid I've completely overdosed the water with water conditioners and am not sure if I should dump the water and start over? What do you guys think? My hunch is there's no chlorine left in the water, I mean, I dosed it so many times but I don't want my fish to be swimming in a bunch of unnecessary chemicals

 

Update: I waited 5 days after double dosing prime (I also used the fritz complete - not sure if there are any chemical reactions between the two) and I'm still getting chlorine readings. I'm using test strips that I bought on amazon so, yes, they may be giving me inaccurate readings. At this point I'm afraid I've completely overdosed the water with water conditioners and am not sure if I should dump the water and start over? What do you guys think? My hunch is there's no chlorine left in the water, I mean, I dosed it so many times but I don't want my fish to be swimming in a bunch of unnecessary chemicals

I'm not familiar with fritz complete. I know with prime it is almost impossible to overdose unless it accounts for a good portion of the liquid volume. The only negative affect is at really really high concentrations it starts to deprive the water of oxygen. Still easily fixable with an airstone or better surface agitation. Try taking a gallon of your tap water and let it air out for 24hrs then test it. Aging water for 24-48 hours naturally removes all chlorine via evaporation. If your test detects chlorine after that long of degassing, forget about them because they are false.

 

not sure if there are any chemical reactions between the two

There shouldn't. Almost all water conditioners are chemically identical.