NH3 in Tap Source - Help

[Julia]

Originally posted by Hound
Just have to say, I hope you drink bottled water.

I even send bottled water to school with my kids.

 

[BHRay]

JS - my Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is a 2-part liquid test. Is this a salicylate test kit?

I talked later in the day with the wter plant guy. Just probing him. He told me that the PH was presently in the 10's! I said "WHAT?" He said that they have to use some sort of lime process. His hardness numbers were a little off on the phone too. So I still plan to go by on Monday just to see what units of measure they are using. Maybe I'll get into the water business

 

[BHRay]

Thanks for the link Julia. From what I was reading, the only difference between the AmQuel and that Amquel+ is the ammount of NO2 and NO3 that it detoxifies? The water guy told me that the NO2 was zero and that the NO3 was around 1. So would regular Amquel be suitable?

 

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by BHRay
JS - my Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is a 2-part liquid test. Is this a salicylate test kit?

I talked later in the day with the wter plant guy. Just probing him. He told me that the PH was presently in the 10's! I said "WHAT?" He said that they have to use some sort of lime process. His hardness numbers were a little off on the phone too. So I still plan to go by on Monday just to see what units of measure they are using. Maybe I'll get into the water business

It sounds like you have a salicylate test. That should work fine with Amquel.

Your water utility probably uses the lime-soda method. The Skeptical Aquarist web site has a good description of that. Check out http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/ .

HTH,
Jim

 

[Julia]

Originally posted by BHRay
From what I was reading, the only difference between the AmQuel and that Amquel+ is the ammount of NO2 and NO3 that it detoxifies? The water guy told me that the NO2 was zero and that the NO3 was around 1. So would regular Amquel be suitable?

Try it and see. Remember that breaking down the chloramine frees up more ammonia, and some of that will occur in the pipes between the water plant and your sink, so your numbers at home may be different from what the water guy tells you. AmQuel & AmQuel+ cost the same at my store, and the only real difference is how much is needed per gallon of water, so I buy AmQuel+.

I can't stress enough how useful it is to test your tap water both before and after you treat it.

 

[BHRay]

JS - thanks for the link. Looks like I'll need to "cure" the water for 24 hours to stabilize the PH. Soft water with a high PH - not good.

Julia, I did test at the tap, and it was as the wter guy said. NH3 = 1.0 At least it makes me feel somewhat better that he got that one right. I will get some Amquel on Monday and then retest.