Chlorine Question

[BulldogPleco]

Hey, just something random I was thinking about. I work at Big Al's and we are always adding water conditioner to our tanks when we add new tap water. So, chlorine is so bad for fish and has wiped out a few of our tanks because we forgot conditioner. Anyways, more to the point...I have a saltwater 10 gallon reef tank, and I have NEVER EVER added a single drop of dechlorinator to my system, including the initial fill. So why is it that for freshwater, if we forget it, everything's gone but in saltwater it doesn't seem to make a difference?

[Funkmotor]

Chlorine will dissipate from standing water over a day or two.  But even if you did your initial fill with straight tap water and then added salt and so forth, there was probably nothing in there at the time to kill anyway.

If you're topping off your tank with straight tap water, then you are adding Chlorine.  If you're in Ottawa, I'm told you're also adding Chloramine - which is worse, and does not dissipate as readily as Chlorine.

That you probably haven't changed/replaced enough water at once to kill your fish as yet is probably just luck.  But any amount of it is going to hurt their gills, and you should avoid it.

Like many reefers, I don't need to to use water conditioners or dechlorinators because all my water is Zero-TDS RO/DI.

[BulldogPleco]

I don't let my water sit before filling my tank, and I am in Ottawa, so I guess I'm slowly killing my fish  My bad, I guess I'm gunna start using conditioner. Thanks