Don't freak out just yet. I've never had an ICP report Chlorine (Triton, ATI) so I have no idea what to make of that value. Found this on Hanna instruments website thoNope, nothing good to report. In the past two weeks I did an icp test. In the last 6 days I did a 36hr blackout except to feed. I refreshed my gac. Turned off gfo. Turned off water changes. Lowered the flow on the uv. Blew off rocks with a pump and then scrubbed the rocks with a toothbrush - lots of stubborn gha is still there but the 'dead' gha/dino stuff came off. It appears to be growing again. I've added filter floss, cleaned it nightly with hot water and peroxide. I've kept my same feeding schedule.
Results:
Corals are dead or dying. Some from the base, some from the middle, some from the tips. Some have white tips, some are brown with dino. Three sps that were happy pre-blackout are showing signs of stn. The Monti has lost color, bleached in areas, and looks sad. I have some bambam zoas and a fl ricordia mushroom that are happy (meh). Everything else is upset.
I tested po4 and no3 tonight. 15ppm no3 / 0.25 po4.
Here are the icp results-
Display
Rodi
I don't see anything that's off.
I can't win and I pretty much want to quit. This shouldn't be this hard for someone who's tried their heart out.
Chlorine in Aquatic Systems
Generally, municipal water has a relative chlorine level of 1.5 to 2.0 ppm out of the tap. Chlorine is a strong oxidant and can be lethal to most fish at level between 0.1-0.3 ppm. Although is its best to maintain levels below 0.001 to 0.003 ppm as health issues can arise in aquatic systems. Since chlorine is a great disinfectant, many beneficial bacterial strains in water or biological filter systems may be killed by its presence.Fish may exhibit symptoms of overexposure to chlorine such as hyper activity, jumping out of the water, lateral recumbence and spasmic movements of the tail, fins or mouth. Chlorine overexposure of levels above 0.3 ppm in fish can also cause difficulties respiring, suffocation or in some cases, death. At a pH range of 6 to 7 hypochlorous acid (HOCl) is more predominant and is the most toxic form. As the water’s pH becomes greater than 7 more hypochlorite (OCl–) ions become present, and are less toxic compared to HOCl.
Chlorine can be removed from water by the use of strong aeration or activated carbon. Aging water will also work to remove chlorine as natural dissipation can occur after 24-48 hours. Sodium thiosulfate easily neutralizes chlorine, but chloramine is generally more difficult to get rid of.
Chloramine can be more difficult to remove compared to chlorine as it is less volatile. Chloramine is more toxic to fish. Water conditioners to detoxify chloramine generally use sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate which breaks apart the chloramine and converts the ammonia to ammonium, a less toxic ionized form.
Much attention is paid by aquarists to detoxify various forms of chlorine with commercial supplements known as water conditioners. Reverse osmosis/de-ionized water is also used to provide pure water samples to aquatic systems. Although these methods are used with relative success, measuring chlorine is still important to make sure that one is not harming their organisms. Sometimes RODI membranes will becomes less effective and water conditioners can expire, resulting in ineffective use. Thus regular monitoring of Chlorine in both the aquatic environment and the water source for your system is best practice.
