winter is coming... a chemistry question

dundadundun

dundadundun

;sup' dog? ;woof and a wwwoof!
Jan 21, 2009
4,295
2
38
S.E. PA
ok, here's the deal. i've had water mains cleaned out and replaced this summer which i'm sure some of you are tired of hearing about. i understand completely. in the course of this i believe my local water supply has increased the amount of chloramine they use significantly. my water smells like chlorine Hades, tests at a much higher level and tests close to 1ppm ammonia.

now i know i can use prime, amquel, safe, sodium thiosulfate, yadda yadda... but this just releases ammonia from the chloramine and binds the chlorine. i know some of these can temporarily convert ammonia to ammonium but then 24-36 hrs later it's back if your biological filtration hasn't taken care of it.

the problem is what to do with the ammonia.

is there a filter that will take it out? i do know that carbon is not 100% effective. do i have to run another cycled tank just for w/c water if i were to attempt to use my tap water for the winter?

i have been using rain water mostly up till now and reconstituting it with minerals and ferts. i do not have a cycled tank for the tap water. i really would rather filter it out if i don't have to use a softener that will react with my tank chemistry and/or ferts.

so the question is what are my options for ammonia removal once the water is treated for chloramine?

any help on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks a lot in advance!
 
they do have ammonia removal media at LFS or online you can add to your filtration, a lso liquids. if your water parameters are off then you may have cycling issues.

if asking for help on these forums you need to provide data on your set up

water parameters? this is key to many indicators of problems

what test kit do you use? (i.e. many suggest API Master Test Kit not strips)

size of tank
type of fish/quantity
plant/bare bottom
type of substrate
filters used
how often w/c & quantity %

etc.

do this & many can help you further. good luck
 
i understand that quite well sushiray, but thank you.

my problem is not in my tank though, it's in my tap. i have treated 2 fish successfully for columnaris due to not noticing the ammonia spike in my tap. i am just not willing to put this water in my system with ammonia coming out at that rate.

there is no ammonia/ammonium testworthy in my tanks... they both read at 0 as well as nitrites. as a matter of fact i've been dosing nitrates from time to time lately to keep up with my plants.

i don't know if i made this clear but my tap water is unusable and winter is coming so anything i collect outside is liable to freeze over. i need to make my tap water usable somehow and haven't started cycling a spare tank yet. :duh: so my issue (although it is putting this water in my tanks) is absolutely unrelated to what's in my tanks currently.
 
Use zeolite to remove the ammonia after treating with whatever you use. If you're familiar with a Phosban reactor from Two Little Fishies you could run a powerhead to push water through it or a reasonable facsimile that you piece together.
 
yeah, but if i'm using zeolite i could just run another tank and have it reduced to nitrates i need anyway.

is there a way to filter it out 100% (or close) straight from the tap?

i'm thinking d/i might be effective but the claims seem to be inconsistent.
i'm pretty sure from what i've been looking up that a 2 stage carbon filter would at best rid about 50% with new cartridges... is my thinking correct on this or have i been led astray? if i'm correct that's definitely not good enough.

i am carbon filtering now (for drinking and cooking) with a pur tap mount system and it's largely ineffective even at slow rates (dripping 10ml into a test tube).

thanks for responding SubRosa! you're one of the few i hoped would. you know, "us techy folks". lol
 
R/O or DI water would work, but you would need to replace some of the minerals and ions. There are various products available for this.
 
yeah, i know. i've been reconstituting rain all summer long. i've been using barr's gh booster, baking soda and the ferts from aquariumfertilizer.com. works well.

purchasing r/o or d/i would have the wifey lugging 40 gallons of water a week honestly. she does the shopping. also as far as i know we can get spring water for the same price or cheaper. (cheapest is $.88 a gallon here) that's $35.20 a week and up to 16 2.5 gallon jugs w/o issues just in water.

if someone could vouch that one of those systems could actually remove the ammo instead of converting it i would definitely install one. i've checked a bunch of water treatment sites and some scientific journals and studies and nothing says the filters will remove the ammonia. a few things i came across says they'll convert it or not remove all of it. i just can't justify an extra expense that doesn't pan out right now.
 
jpappy... my tanks are about packed right now. i'm tossing plants out.

i guess i'm just gonna put a storage tote with a filter in the wash room for now. that should give me some time to get it cycled. then i can use that to use up the ammonia and turn it into nitrates for the other tanks.

you guys think that's my best shot or what?
 
sorry I missed your issue on your tap. could having it sit out a few days allow ammonia to dissipate like chlorine (but not chloramine I heard doesn't dissipate)?
 
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