Does molasses really remove chloramine?

hey guys! ive been starting to read up on molasses as ive found out that my city will start incorporating the use of chloramine some time later in 2013 and recently read that molasses neutralizes chloramine. the only problem is that there isnt really enough evidence that is convincing enough to show that molasses really does work. does anyone here have first hand experience and can chime in?

Thank you!
Happy Growing RIU!

I do not know for sure, however what i would do is run my own experiments if I couldn't find any hard evidence.

Daniel987 said:

I do not know for sure, however what i would do is run my own experiments if I couldn't find any hard evidence.

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too bad i dont have the extra space or testing equipment to do that, nothing like answering your own questions!

I would think no?

You could get a test kit: http://www.underwaterwarehouse.com/Water-Testing/ChlorineChloramine-Test-Kit-sc-2245.html

And see if molasses somehow affected chloramine levels in water. If they don't break it down in water, I doubt they would inside a plant.

Maybe a UV water filter would be the way to go?

Not 100% but I don't think so. Chloramine is actually worst then chlorine. Chlorine when left open in water evaporates pretty fast. But, chloramine doesn't do that. In fact, most of the time it will never leave the water. Even with state of the art water purification systems.

HydroLogic Small Boy filter with upgraded catalytic carbon (about $150 for the whole deal). Keep your tap water minerals (Ca and Mg), remove the chloramines. Problem solved.

RO isn't even that effective against chloramines.

SpicySativa said:

RO isn't even that effective against chloramines.

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It is actually highly ineffective.

Canna Connoiseur said:

It is actually highly ineffective.

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Haha. I was trying to put it lightly, because many folks don't believe it. You are absolutely correct.

SpicySativa said:

Canna Connoiseur said:

It is actually highly ineffective.

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Haha. I was trying to put it lightly, because many folks don't believe it. You are absolutely correct.

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Sorry if that sounded dickish lol

vitamin c and catalytic carbon filtration.

but unless levels are high its not really that big of a deal

Canna Connoiseur said:

Sorry if that sounded dickish lol

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Not at all, Canna.

Other stuff is supposed to be effective; a teaspoon of liquid humic acids per 5 gallons of water if I remember correctly.
Other people have reported success with things like sodium thiosulfate.

Chloramines (pretty sure there are three distinct chemical forms) are supposed to be more stable in terms of how they react with organic matter. Free chlorine that they use for tap water and pool sanitation reacts violently with organic matter to produce VOC's and other disinfection by-products. Chloramine still reacts in certain ways with organic matter though.

Been using mostly rain water for a while. A single 55 gallon rain barrel beneath a downspout is collecting most of the water that I use on the indoor plants.

Molasses, or many different types of organic matter, breaks down Chloramine into chlorine therefore allowing it to evaporate. Works best and quicker with airstone.

Rancho Cucamonga said:

Molasses, or many different types of organic matter, breaks down Chloramine into chlorine therefore allowing it to evaporate. Works best and quicker with airstone.

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Pretty much that ^^^^^

The corollary is, your organic soil will break it down if using tap water.At least that has been my experience over the years. For the last 5 years, my tap water has been treated with chloramines.

I have noticed NO detrimental effects from using straight tap water in my organic mix.

Wet

now this is the kind of info i was looking for, thanks guys!

Exactly what wet and rancho said.

Many people allow tap water to sit out for 24 hrs to evaporate out chlorine. If you toss some worm castings or other organic matter into your water during this time it will convert the chloramine into chlorine and evaporate. I'm sure molasses would work as well. But it seems this may not be necessary seeing as wetdog has great success with straight tap water.

I asked a local chemist. Our water has chloromine as well. Chloromine will bubble out, just much much slower. Half life is just over 28 hours so bubbling for a day will only half the concentration.
Humic acid is used to treat it as well. (He said 2 TBL will TREAT 40 -50 gallons of water.) Essentially it (or compost) gives the chloramine something to stick to. So it is not leached into your plants. Nothing we can afford will remove all the chloramine, but general practice is to bubble for at least a day or two and add lots and lots of organic matter to your garden to minimize its effects. Hope this helps.

AliCakes said:

I asked a local chemist. Our water has chloromine as well. Chloromine will bubble out, just much much slower. Half life is just over 28 hours so bubbling for a day will only half the concentration.
Humic acid is used to treat it as well. (He said 2 TBL will TREAT 40 -50 gallons of water.) Essentially it (or compost) gives the chloramine something to stick to. So it is not leached into your plants. Nothing we can afford will remove all the chloramine, but general practice is to bubble for at least a day or two and add lots and lots of organic matter to your garden to minimize its effects. Hope this helps.

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THANK YOU!

this thread is getting info to a question i really couldnt find any solid answer to. loving it!

lol no molasses will not remove chloromine. it is chlorine bonded with ammonia for longevity, and its truly not that horrible for plants in typical small amounts. if your water is 300ppm yeah filter that shit and break the ionic bond between chloromine and ammonia and release the chlorine, but if your levels are low dont even worry about it. the plant will eat the trace amounts of ammonia and release the chlorine all by itself, without hurting anything.

thinking is good, overthinking will hurt..

Ccoastal