Is there a way to save money not using water conditioner?

I have a 45 US Gallon tank and I am considering having amuch bigger tank that will use a lot of water conditioner for weekly water changes. I am figuring that the money spend on water conditioner is even more than the fish food. Is there a way to avoid buying petshop products like AquaPlus and still be able to get rid of chlorin and chloramin?

I know that chlorin can be eliminated by air pumping the water? But what about chloramin?
By the way I have checked the tap water analysis report from my city, but the word chlorin & chloramin don't appear anywhere... Anyone knows how to detect chlorin & chloramin in your tap water?

Thank you for input.

 

Chlorine can be removed by simply letting the water sit for a while. Chloromine, however, is different and will require you to use a conditioner to remove. I would suggest you use Prime...it is a concentrate, so you really do not use very much, even for large volumes of water (1 capful for 50 gallons). Unless you are looking at a truly massive tank, I do not think you would go through it as quickly as you fear. As for testing for chlorine/chloromine...I am not sure. There may be a way, but I do not know what it is. I guess I would be very surprised if your tap water did not have one or the other in it. You may be able to find out for sure by calling your water company.

 

the easiest/most accurate way would be to get a water report from your water company. if you don't see it on there, maybe call them up and ask? i'd be EXTREMELY surprised if you had neither.

I would also recommend prime if you have chloramines. it's not too expensive and you only use a little. I think it was like a drop per gallon? i'm not sure since I don't use water conditioners, but I used to have some prime.

you can also test yourself. there's a test kit by api, and i'm sure there are others, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

how big are you planning on having your larger tank?

 

BIGGER TANKS MEAN LESS WATER CHANGES

 

Also, most water companies publish their water quality reports on the web, so check their website. I believe they have to do at least annual reports, and they usually list the stuff we're most concerned with. For example, my water company's report (Virgina-American) says their pH is 7.0, they average 2.5 ppm of cloramines, and less than .5ppm ammonia in their water.

 

BIGGER TANKS MEAN LESS WATER CHANGES

Only if you keep the same number of fish that you would have in a smaller tank. You should still be changing water out every week.

As far as removing chlorine/chloramine, I'm not sure. I think that some water purifiers remove both, but I'm not positive.

 

Prime and AquaPlus are both excellent products but I use a cheap no frills dechlorinator I find at walmart put out by wardleys.it inactivates chlorine as well as chloramines. the 4 ounce bottle treats 472 gallons of water and costs me $1.97 that's .004 cents a gallon approx. so there are cheaper was to get rid of chloramines Water can be allowed to sit for 24hrs with a bubbler to allow the chlorine to dissipate.
carol