Does this really work to get chlorine chloramines out of water?

Hello all. First post

I'm preparing for my first indoor grow in a long long time, so I am familiar with all the basics of soil growing. And one of the things that I worry about most is the chlorines in the water harming the beneficial microbes in the soil. I know that either using RO water, or bubbling for 24 hours are common practice, but neither of those two options are very practical for me.

I came across these products and I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere here. According to the description it removes up to 97% of chlorine and chloramines. So what do you think? Is this too good to be true? This would be much easier (to me) to attach this filter to the garden hose, fill up my gallon jugs, and go straight to adding ferts, and then feeding. I would much rather do this than bubbling water for several hours in a big bucket.

Opinions?

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Hose-Filter-Chloramines-Pesticides/dp/B007I6MN72/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0C68FP0YPHQK98YGWW2V

http://www.amazon.com/Rainshowr-Green-Knight-Hydroponic-Dechlorinator/dp/B0045LQPYA

it has a good rating.
all you can do is read the reviews, and make a judgement call.
I personally have a RO/DI system. might be something to look at in the future.

Good Luck on Your Grow

Those are just carbon filters. Unless you need something as a hose attachment, you can find filter/pitcher systems for a lot less and the replacement filters are cheap.

The ones that fit onto a faucet are a bit cheaper as well.

By filter/pitcher systems, are you referring to the Brita type filter, because it would seem to me that it would take a good while to passively filter 5 or so gallons of water?

If you are growing organic, disregard....
if not, trust me, worrying over this is a waste of time, if it wasn't they wouldn't sell products like Dutch masters zone, et....
all those zillions of garden plants & lawns watered from the end of a garden hose aren't dead are they?

again, the chlorine scare thing is a internet based thing with lil basis in fact

SuckMyFreedom said:

By filter/pitcher systems, are you referring to the Brita type filter, because it would seem to me that it would take a good while to passively filter 5 or so gallons of water?

Click to expand...

You can use those, sure (probably the cheapest route but like you said, would be slow). But you can also get the ones that fit onto a regular faucet (like in the bathroom or kitchen) - they are still cheaper than the ones you linked.

Edit just to add: I'm with Johnny Socko in regards to chlorine - it's really nothing to worry about at the levels it comes out of taps (and in fact, chlorine is an essential element for plants and people) and I use it along with beneficials in hydroponics. Chloramines I'm undecided about when it comes to hydroponics but my tap water doesn't have chloramines in it so I haven't had to really worry about them.

oh and
I should add...if you insist, sodium thiosulphate crystals are by far the cheapest/most efficient way to de-chlor....

here and here and here (I think 1lb will treat like 50,000 Gallons)

It comforts me to have two seasoned growers agree that it's really nothing to worry about. Thank you.

I'm so glad to hear you say that. Makes life so much simpler. One less thing to worry about. I'm lazy and I find the (seemingly) endless list of tweaks, adjustments, augmentations, etc that many people seem to do disheartening and sometimes overwhelming. That's why I'm growing organic, and staying far far away from the alchemy and sorcery of hydroponics. Too many details for my simple mind. I like dirt.

Thanks guys for the advice.

SuckMyFreedom said:

I'm so glad to hear you say that. Makes life so much simpler. One less thing to worry about. I'm lazy and I find the (seemingly) endless list of tweaks, adjustments, augmentations, etc that many people seem to do disheartening and sometimes overwhelming. That's why I'm growing organic, and staying far far away from the alchemy and sorcery of hydroponics. Too many details for my simple mind. I like dirt.

Thanks guys for the advice.

Click to expand...

People get waaaaay voodoo crazy about organics as well, especially since it's become such a huge mainstream economic market in recent years. Keep an open mind about hydroponics though and give it a try down the road - I have much more fun with it as a hobbyist grower than I ever did with soil.

I would try and get a report of your water quality. I found one for my area in a couple minutes using google. I also stressed about this big time when I first started but after reading the report realized there wasn't enough chlorine/chloramine to impact my plants. The chloramine was something like 2ppm! That being said, I am guilty of using an air stone to 'de-chlorinate' and oxygenate my water before I hand feed.

Well, chiming in for organic growers here, i think the idea is not that you will totally sterilize your soil using chlorinated water, but rather that you will have to constantly be rebuilding the microbiology of the soil if you do water with chlorinated water. I think that a lot of the discussion in organics gets lost in the "how-to" recipe style of information dissemination whereby people not fully understanding the philosophy and concepts, who just want a quick answer to "what should i do, here" start then repeating the answers they were given when they asked their question. That's why you get people sounding like super hardliners on what you can and cant/should and shouldn't do. You make a good point that lawns and outdoor plants don't seem too negatively effected by chlorinated water from the garden hose, but you neglect the fact that the soil is much deeper, the environment much more dynamic (critters of all sizes constantly transporting themselves and other critters into the soil area), and so the microbial life is generally always in the process of multiplying etc. So with that ecosystem it's much easier to not worry about the chlorine in your water. In a closed indoor system where the only water your plants get comes from a can, anytime you're watering more than once a week it becomes difficult for your microbial population to rebound. Furthermore, you only realize benefit by watering without the chlorine, as it allows the microecosystem of the pot/growroom to continuously develop.

As to the chloramines, they're potent but as was pointed out, so miniscule that they pose little problem. Particularly when you consider that they break down immediately in the presence of organic matter. So drop a drop of humic acid in your water before you water and it's taken care of, if you want to be super anal about it. Otherwise, you'll be sacrificing a couple microbes but no where near enough to impact the whole population.

Long and short of it is, as was pointed out, for organic growers it's just easier to maintain the system with dechlorinated water. Btw, you only really need to bubble it for about 2 hours with a strong air pump to get out the chlorine. i bubble a big reservoir then turn off the airpump when i'm not going to need to water. turn it back on about an hour or so (or whenever i remember) before i need to water to up the dissolved oxygen in my res.
be easy,

I've been using tap water straight out of the faucet for cpl yrs now in a F&D system with no problems.
I think that along with a cpl other things are way over-rated. Like trimming some fan leaves during flower.
I mean seriously, if canna was as sensitive as some people make out, we'd never finish a grow.