-1

I purchased a product called a seachem prime to dechlorinate my tap water so I can use it in my organic garden inside. I want to know if the product itself is safe to use on my plants and if there would be any adverse effects to the plant's ability to uptake nutrients. It's used to break the chemical bond of the chloramine and turn the nitrite and nitrate into "nontoxic" forms. Plants can utilize nitrate so I don't want to inhibit the health of the plant. I currently dose at 4 drops per 2 gallons of tap water. Is there any issue with using this method to dechlorinate and water/feed my plants?

Aaron King
  • 27
  • 1
    See also a related question I asked a few weeks ago: reaction mechanism - Does hydrogen peroxide remove chloramine from water? - Chemistry Stack Exchange. – Ray Butterworth Feb 18 '22 at 01:29
  • 2
    Are you sure your water is treated with chloramine? If the community just uses chlorine, then simply let the water stand a few days in a wide, open container. – DrMoishe Pippik Feb 18 '22 at 02:31
  • 2
    For organic gardens, it makes more sense to let water dechlorinate itself spontaneously by chlorine escape than contaminate it by dechlorination products. They would accumulate in soil as water evaporates, while in aquarium, water is exchanged and chemicals are diluted. – Poutnik Feb 18 '22 at 06:22
  • 2
    Collect rainwater? – Karl Feb 18 '22 at 07:37
  • @Karl Rainwater is always the best option, if available. But it may be problematic for cases of small gardens in an urban a/o low precipitation area. – Poutnik Feb 18 '22 at 09:40
  • Please try to find somewhere the composition of your product. It should be printed in small letters somewhere on the label. Without this information, we cannot help too much. – Maurice Feb 18 '22 at 09:50
  • @Poutnik Well, small garden --> not much water needed. This dechlorination idea here only makes sense if you intend to do it for years. At that point, an invest into a reasonably sized cistern will pay off very soon. The dryer the region, the more expensive the water, I guess. – Karl Feb 18 '22 at 09:58
  • After quick search, it seems the Seachem prime is far from to be simply just a dechlorinator. Composion is not disclosed but I would be careful to use for your purpose. // It can be e.g. a hanging garden on am upper floor balcony, with difficult logistics to collect rain water. In a flat area like backyards of houses, I do agree to manage a rain collector would pay off, e.g. collecting rain from a house roof. – Poutnik Feb 18 '22 at 10:02
  • It is not just that a compound can remove chlorine/HOCl, it is the immediate products that can be powerful radicals leading to problematic side products. If you water can is plastic, the photo induced radicals especially with chlorinated water can be a problem. Interestingly, your pure spring water bottle left in a car in sunlight, in time, gives an amazing odd taste! Do you believe that if that was tap water/air in that bottle, it would be safe to give to your dog? – AJKOER Feb 18 '22 at 15:04
  • @Poutnik It seems that stuff is simply a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dithionite solution. – Karl Feb 18 '22 at 16:33
  • @Karl I have seen such a reference, but it was highly unofficial. – Poutnik Feb 18 '22 at 16:37
  • "Turn the nitrite and nitrate into nontoxic forms" It would be nice to see links or references that describe the product and ideally the suggested mode of action, and perhaps some information about the quality of the tap water. If the product is not toxic for fish and aquarium plants it probably will not harm house plants. Note the dithionate referred to in some comments may also function as a metal chelator, which is also an important function of such aquarium water additives. – Buck Thorn Feb 19 '22 at 07:30

1 Answers1

2

Total waste of time and money. For many decades I have kept tropical fish and never used chlorine remover ( it used to be "hypo"). I let a gallon bottle sit overnight and never had a problem with city tap water for fish, which are much more sensitive than plants. I formerly raised all my own vegetable and flower sets using city water directly -no problem.

blacksmith37
  • 3,719
  • 7
  • 12