no dechlor

My goldfish tank needs a water change today, but I have no dechlor, and cannot get to the lfs till Tuesday. I have filled a large bucket with water and it has been standing for about 18hrs or so.

Would I be able to use this water without dechlor - if I leave it until 24hrs has passed?

i was told something intresting but weather it is true is a different matter

with the ammount of chlorine in the water we would have had chlorine poisioning if it wasnt removed when we drink it

what they said was the bubbles when pouring the water will remove the chlorine not too sure myself tho (he is a fish keeper and has been for 10 years)


or you could just boil it as this removes chlorine and makes it suitable for babies so should be good for fish as well

I'd say 24 hrs was fine, I used to do that in my community tank. I now use the Haloex dechlorinator (7th one down). The 500ml bottle is £11.49 and treats 22,500 litres. Far more cost effective than any other i've seen.
I also buy the Melafix pond meds, a lot, lot cheaper than the aquarium as the doses needed are so tiny. You only need 5ml of med for 190L, the normal Melafix you would need 5ml of med for 38L. Obviously, this is what I use, please don't go down this route on my say so. In 8yrs I've never lost a fish to overdose

That works out a lot cheaper doesn't it Munchy, I think I'll order some of that, thanks

Thanks MC, I'll order some of that this week.

You're welcome, saving the pennies is good, especially round the festive season :santa:

I use Seachem Prime which is also much more economical than the normal small bottles you see in the LFS. A tip is to get a calibrated plastic syringe from the chemist (usually free) to measure out the stuff as I have to add just 0.25ml to each 10L bucket.

So, is it ok not to use dechlor if you leave the water stand for 24hrs? I thought that the fish would get ill if dechlor wasnt used?

Well, i'd only do it if desperate. The chlorine will disperse but i don't think the chloramine will. I'm not 100% on this matter but know a lot of people use the 'let it to stand method'. I would say it's acceptable once in a blue moon! I used to do it when I was stuck but just haven't run out of dechlor since.
I know a few cichlid keepers who never dechlor, their water change consists of draning 50% of the tank & refil with the hose pipe. It must be soooooooo cold for the poor fish. But they claim not. It induces spawning. I'd definitely not recommend this and I wont be trying it out.
I believe the chlorine burns the fishes gills. A good idea re water changes is to find out when the water company add chemicals, they do it on certain days. The North West Water board told me theirs are done at the end of the week, I try not to do a w/c then.
You can find some info on your water board's website. You have to have a good search for it though.
Try your water company