This guy knows what he is talking about. Chloramine sucks for fish. Amquel works just fine. Add it to the water before you add it to your tank. It doesn't take long at all to 'fix' the water. It is a chemical reaction. Even cities that still use chlorine should use a dechlorinater because the water departments sometimes will up the dosage of chlorine at certain times if there is a danger of an algae bloom, for instance. Anyway, don't add chemicals directly to the aquarium...this puts the fish into shock, which can kill. If it doesn't, then you might get 'ick' (small white spots all over the fish's body). Are you changing out the entire tank full of water? It is actually better to do small amounts at a time. About 1/3 works best for fresh water tanks while in salt water, you want to do a little less. You want to lower the stress level on fish as much as possible. If you have a water test kit, you can find out if your nitrogen levels are too high, in which case, can determine how often you want to change 1/3 of the water. The other thing, if you are changing out a lot of the water, don't change the filters at the same time. Beneficial bacteria grow on the filter media, so they can help restore the water to what it was before the water change quicker. You can alternate these things...again, lowers the stress level. Any other questions, just let me know.

 

I almost forgot, if you are running a salt water tank, make sure to match the salinity of the water before adding it to the aquarium. Also, add something to get rid of heavy metals. Copper is the worse thing for salt water tanks, especially if you have invertebrates. Copper will kill them very quickly.