Tap water ammonia???
- Thread starter led_zeppelin
- Start date
It is also untrue that after using Prime or Amquel that you can "never" get a valid ammonia reading. Some old-fashioned tests (outdated chemistry for modern water treatment) cannot read or will give incorrect readings after those agents, but good test can and will still read and read accurately after such treatment. Broad brush statements such as those in that prior post are misleading at best.
Funny how newbies jump on someone for making a minor error.
1) I said that Stresscoat neutralizes ammonia. I was wrong about that particular product. I no longer use water conditioners. So excuse me. But the spirit of my comment was factual. Certain water conditioners will convert toxic ammonia to non-toxic ammonium. And if my pH was 7 or below, I would not even worry about ammonia because the toxicity of ammonia is pH dependent. The lower the pH the less toxic ammonia is.
2) A couple of ppm of ammonia is NORMAL in tap water treated with chloramine. Chloramine is a product of ammonia and chlorine.
3) Ammonia is also common in well water. But 1 ppm of ammonia is not serious. Well water is often contaminated by runoff from local agriculture and other sources of nitrogenous waste. Nitrate in well water is very common. But anything below 10 ppm of nitrate is not considered serious by the EPA.
1) I said that Stresscoat neutralizes ammonia. I was wrong about that particular product. I no longer use water conditioners. So excuse me. But the spirit of my comment was factual. Certain water conditioners will convert toxic ammonia to non-toxic ammonium. And if my pH was 7 or below, I would not even worry about ammonia because the toxicity of ammonia is pH dependent. The lower the pH the less toxic ammonia is.
2) A couple of ppm of ammonia is NORMAL in tap water treated with chloramine. Chloramine is a product of ammonia and chlorine.
3) Ammonia is also common in well water. But 1 ppm of ammonia is not serious. Well water is often contaminated by runoff from local agriculture and other sources of nitrogenous waste. Nitrate in well water is very common. But anything below 10 ppm of nitrate is not considered serious by the EPA.
Yes, ammonia is normal in water treated with chloramines, as is chlorine. And if both ammonia and chlorine are not neutralized, it can and will injure or kill your fish.
The EPA figure for nitrate is 44 ppm nitrate, or 10 ppm nitrate-nitrogen, not 10 ppm nitrate. That has nothing to do with ammonia toxicity for FW fish, or chlorine toxicity either.
Have you ever looked at a table of ammonia/ammonium versus temperature and pH? Within normal tank operation level of pH 6+ to 8, there is not a large difference in the percentages of each. Folks seem to think that it is an all-or-nothing situation and it is not that at all.
The EPA figure for nitrate is 44 ppm nitrate, or 10 ppm nitrate-nitrogen, not 10 ppm nitrate. That has nothing to do with ammonia toxicity for FW fish, or chlorine toxicity either.
Have you ever looked at a table of ammonia/ammonium versus temperature and pH? Within normal tank operation level of pH 6+ to 8, there is not a large difference in the percentages of each. Folks seem to think that it is an all-or-nothing situation and it is not that at all.
Is your tank cycled? If so then start replacing two or three cups of water daily. The biofilter will adjust to the added ammonia and will no longer prove a problem. Treat the daily water changes for cholorine and only use the Amquel only your weekly/bi-weekly changes.
At the very least you'll save yourself some money and your plants will potentially benefit.
At the very least you'll save yourself some money and your plants will potentially benefit.
How long has it been since your well was tested or inspected? Just curious, because when my family bought their first farm, part of the property inspection involved testing the well water. It hadn't been checked in a very long time, and apparantly there were all sorts of things in the water that shouldn't have been there, including ammonia. I remember work men fishing a lot of things out of the well including (dead) snakes, rabbits, insects and mice. We were astounded, as the well had only a small opening. After a thorough cleaning, a new cover was placed on the well and we tested regularly. If your water tastes terrible, there could be something in your well, but then again it could be the local ground water.led_zeppelin said:
Both of my tanks are cycled and thanks for the money saving idea purplesmurf. Blinky our well probably hasnt been checked in over 20 years so anything could be down there. Like i said we dont use the water except for showers and boiling food, and since i just got 2 fish tanks i was concerned.
I tested my tap water this morning after seeing a slight ammonia increase in my seasoned tank after a 50% water change. I discovered the level to be 2ppm. I then treated the water with stress coat, and what do ya know? 0 ammonia on my next test.
Must be Chloramine. Guess no worries?
Must be Chloramine. Guess no worries?
Rusty Ray is 100% correct. Just use Prime whendoing water changes then move on to the next issue 
