Seasonal Changes: Wichita Tapwater has Chloramines! Prepare!
After heavy rains and during the summer heat, the Wichita Municipal Water utilities add ammonia to the tapwater. This is done to keep the chlorine more stable, but it forms highly toxic CHLORAMINE! For example, I tested water from the faucet on September 8th, 2013 to find lethal ammonia levels between .25ppm and .5ppm!
This is a HUGE dose of Chloramine and is very difficult to eliminate or neutralize. Here are some steps to prevent your fish from becoming casualties from an inept, government-run utility provider:
Dechlorinators:
Double the dose. Use only SeaChem Prime. Prime uses complex sulfate salts to neutralize chlorine, ammonia, nitrite, AND nitrate. How can you beat that? It’s also inexpensive and concentrated!
Stress Coat is a great product but CANNOT detoxify ammonia… it contains sodium thiosulfate and therefore can only neutralize the chlorine ions in chloramine… leaving a toxic form of ammonia to damage the mucus coating on your fishes gills and leave it to suffocate.
Carbon:
Run fresh carbon. Carbon is excellent at removing chlorine! It can also remove miniscule amounts of ammonia and absorbs heavy metals and hormones commonly found in our tapwater!
R/O filter:
You probably didn’t get a chloramine-capable R/O unit. A chloramine-busting carbon filter is your FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE! If you do not have those, I’d hope you have some fresh DI resin, although ammonia will pass right thru the R/O membrane and quickly work your DI resin to exhaustion.
Zeolite:
Zeolite is a gravel-sized filter media that removes ALOT of ammonia. It is inexpensive and you can buy it as API Ammo-Chips or you can buy API Ammo-Carb to remove both chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, and heavy metals all with one product!
***As a precaution, test your R/O water if your filters are not new! YOU WILL GET A POSITIVE AMMONIA RESULT! Use a double-dose of Prime if your ammonia test has even a hint of green!***
On the right is water straight from the tap. The Left test is treated with Prime
