Ammonia in Water and CaribSea Instant Aquarium Sand

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irmuddled

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Jan 4, 2009
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Maria
I bought CaribSea Instant Aquarium sand which says has beneficial bacteria and that you have to add fish within 24 hours of purchasing it. Using a new Fluval Edge 6 gallon.

The thing is, my tap water is pretty horrible with 1ppm of ammonia. I left the tank running overnight without any fish, and the ammonia went down to 0.50 ppm and I'm beginning to see a little color change in the nitrates, so I'm assuming the water will get fixed in time.

Read the reviews on the sand and it seems to work great but I'm concerned about the ammonia levels in my tap water. How many fish should I stock to start in there, and what kind? I was hoping for neon tetras and some shrimp (have a betta coming in the mail), but I just don't know how much to start.
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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Maria, is it possible your tap water uses chloramine as opposed to chlorine for a disinfectant? Chloramine can show as ammonia with your test kit.
 

irmuddled

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Yes!! I'm using the water conditioner that comes with the fluval, it says "removes chlorine & chloramines". Is that it? Should I try using a different water conditioner? I also bought a tetra aquasafe and the sand came with a packet of another conditioner that also says that it removes chlorine/chloramine.
 

tanker

Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
Sep 1, 2003
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I too only use Prime as a water conditioner. The ammonia reading you are getting is probably from the Chloramine as Freshy said.
 
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