Our tap water has 1ppm ammonia!!!! What do we do?

[daj24601]

Our tap water is at 1ppm. In accordance with the adivce recieved on this forum, I have been doing a 20-30% every night because our levels were at .50-.75ppm. Now they are above 1ppm, and I think it is because the tap water already has ammonia. We use some chemical that is suposed to neutralize chemicals in tap water before we put the water into the tank. I am going to buy three gallons of distilled water and do a water change tonight. What else can I do? Stupid tap water.

 

[Capps]

I would do a 50% water change, check it and then if you are still getting some readings do another 50% change. Sometime Back to Back water changes help a lot, but if you are sure it is your tap water then maybe some Ammo-lock.

 

[TrickyD119]

What is the brand of the additive you are adding at water changes?

I believe Prime and Amquel are generally considered the two most reliable to use.

 

[daj24601]

We use AquaSafe from Tetra Aqua. The lable says it neutralizes certain chemicals, but it says nothing about ammonia. We did a 30% water change and the levels are back down around .50ppm.

 

[TrickyD119]

I'd recommend getting Prime or Amquel as they specifically target ammonia among others. You'll need to knock it out somehow until your bio filter can handle it.

 

[chrisinha]

my tap water has 1ppm of ammonia too. i live in southern california.
anyways, the only de-chlorinator that worked with my water was Prime.

 

[Raskolnikov]

...I think it is because the tap water already has ammonia...

Did you happen to measure your tapwater?





.

 

[chinnp]

I had this problem before. Our tapwater had chloramine in it. I was using a chemical that neutralized the chlorine, but the result was free ammonia and that's where my ammonia was coming from.

 

[rohnds]

Just a bit of adivce to all who use de-chlorinators. These are NOT products that will remove the Ammonia NH3 from your water but will neutralize them to less harmful substance. So your conditioned water will still conatin NH3 indicated by your tests; but in less harmful state.

Rohn

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Amquel, and likely other ammonia detoxifiers, have as a side effect that they render useless the most common ammonia kits- ie readings not correct at all. You need to get a special type of kit to test accurately when using these products. Read the Amquel label for details.