Hi All
This post is a bit detailed, so anyone not interested in the topic of treating municipal water that has chloramine in it with Vitamin C might want to pass this one by.
This is an update of a thread labelled Vitamin C in which we discussed how to neutralize chloramine in tap water. Several posters did considerable research and posted their findings and links and wise advice. We concluded that products used for fish tanks are too strong for AVs. The chemicalnamefor this product can be found on the original thread. The Amquel brand I used lowers the pH too much to use consistently. I was using at least 3x or 4x the amountneeded when following the package directions. The growth of many of my plants was seriously stunted. It took several months of TLC and spring water and fert. to get them back to growing again. I am finally ready to experiment. I am following the advice of A Seed is a Promise and posting the original post below. I started a new thread to date stamp this better and for those who want to follow the discussion but not read through the lengthy posts, although all were informative.

I decided to use the 500 mg. capsule, which I can open up, there are teeny pellets inside, perhaps 100 of them. I divided these roughly by eyeball among four gallons, then will dilute this to the approximate measurements suggested by A Seed, which is 1/3 capsule divided among 5 gallons. The tap water sat out for several days to allow evaporation of chlorine then the C was added and it sat for another few days. I was not being scientific, just did not have a chance until today. (My first day off in a long while.) The house is cool, so I am going to heat up the water that I add to the C treated water first. All plants will be watered today with this
tap water treated with C. With a tiny bit of fert. Then I will go
back to the spring water, which is Arrowhead brand, bottled from several California Mountain Springs. There are no additives. It is one of the more popular brands here, in the mid-price range. We use if for drinking and cooking, it has no additives. I heeded Seed's comments and did not switch to a lower priced brand that does not have as high a quality rating. The plan is to use the C treated tap water every third or fourth watering. With the number of plants I have, the cost of the bottled water is about $3 to $4 per week. The cost is not the issue, it is making sure to have enough bottled water on hand at all times for the plants and people. I could also buy a filter, but I like the idea of the purity of the spring water.

As this is date-stamped, I will follow up at the end of Jan. to report if this works. Rather, if it doesn't work, I will report right away. Where I live, we have 8 or 9 months of sun and low humidity. Now in our brief "rainy season," there is foggy, diffuse light, much higher humidity, and rain outside. I did collect rain water, but probably won't experiment with it. It is also much cooler in the house during the day. Growth is slowed, blooming increases greatly, and plants do not need to be watered as often. I don't know why the plants bloom profusely from Nov. to Jan. Maybe they prefer the softer light and higher humidity. Their other blooming time is in late spring, early summer. Some that are in bloom much of the time put out a higher number of blooms now. Or maybe they were just busy growing new leaves all summer and fall so they could bloom in the winter. Or maybe this is the result of not using the Amquel water for several months. Sorry if TMI.
(A California winter is mild, more like an east coast Fall.) Joanne