What am I supposed to do about this smh STOP USING IO SALT RN!!!

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I know for a fact that Carbon Filters can get overwhelmed with Chlorine and Dump it back in the water. We used Carbon Filters on Flake Ice Machines. If the customer, didn’t stick to the change out schedule, they would get a Chlorine Dump. I believe that IO has chemicals to neutralize Chlorine. Doesn’t this reaction produce Ammonia temporarily in this process?

If chloramine is used in the water supply, then yes, there can be substantial ammonia in RI/di effluent when the di becomes depleted.
 

Jay Hemdal

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I know for a fact that Carbon Filters can get overwhelmed with Chlorine and Dump it back in the water. We used Carbon Filters on Flake Ice Machines. If the customer, didn’t stick to the change out schedule, they would get a Chlorine Dump. I believe that IO has chemicals to neutralize Chlorine. Doesn’t this reaction produce Ammonia temporarily in this process?

Yes, many sea salts add varying amounts of sodium thiosulfate as a "dechlorinator" for their mixes. Some may also add EDTA. The compound from that reaction is some type of sodium sulfate salt. Ammonia is not produced UNLESS the water system is being disinfected with chloramines - then breaking the chloramine bond will result in ammonia being released.

Jay
 

Jay Hemdal

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FWIW, I think normal IO does not have either chelators or dechlorinators, while Reef Crystals does (a reason that I prefer normal IO).

I've always wondered - do any of the component salts in mixes also act as "dechlorinators"? When I ran my bench test a few years ago, I got this result:

Three brands of consumer sea salt were tested for chlorine after mixing with tap water containing 1.2 ppm total chlorine. Sample A reduced the chlorine by 65%, sample B by 71% and sample C by 90.5%.

Sample C is rumored to have lots of STS in it. Sample A was IO (shsssh, that's a secret!).

Oddly, sample A had a strong absorption at 208nm on my UV spec, sample B had none. I'm not sure what that is. A STS solution that I made up seemed to have peak absorption at 214 nm. A friend of mine thinks it is EDTA, but IDK.

Jay
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I've always wondered - do any of the component salts in mixes also act as "dechlorinators"? When I ran my bench test a few years ago, I got this result:

Three brands of consumer sea salt were tested for chlorine after mixing with tap water containing 1.2 ppm total chlorine. Sample A reduced the chlorine by 65%, sample B by 71% and sample C by 90.5%.

Sample C is rumored to have lots of STS in it. Sample A was IO (shsssh, that's a secret!).

Oddly, sample A had a strong absorption at 208nm on my UV spec, sample B had none. I'm not sure what that is. A STS solution that I made up seemed to have peak absorption at 214 nm. A friend of mine thinks it is EDTA, but IDK.

Jay

A few years ago, I asked someone fairly high up in the tech world of Aquarium Systems about IO and RC. he wouldn't say what the chelator was in RC, but IIRC, he did indicate it was only present in RC (not normal IO) and that the vitamins present in RC were not present in normal IO.

Many vitamins are also antioxidants and hence would tend to react with and lower chlorine. But since the nature and concentration of the vitamins are not revealed, it's hard to know if that might be part or all of what you observed.

Other ingredients (notably trace elements) will also react with chlorine, but are likely themselves too low in concentration to have a big impact on chlorine. Ferrous iron, for examnple.

Bromide and iodide will react with chlorine to produce other oxidizing species (e.g., Br2), but I am not certain which of them might be detected by a chlorine kit or proceed to other breakdown products.
 

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