Ammonia in city water

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navarrosarah

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 11, 2015
Messages
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Hi all, I just finished doing all my water tests because its been a while and all my established tanks are testing with ammonia. I just tested my tap water and it is testing at .25 ppm of ammonia. How do I control this in my 6 tanks? Is there something I can run in the filters to keep it under control? Our water here has gotten so very bad, and I am smack dab in the middle of drought central also. Thanks.

Sarah
 
I honestly wouldnt even worry about 0.25ppm. Doing a 50% water change would only increase the ammonia in your tank to 0.125ppm which i almost guarantee would be cycled out within the hour.
 
Do you see any evidence of nitrite in your water? If not, I wonder if you're getting a false positive test for ammonia. I don't know why your tap water would contain that much ammonia/ammonium.
 
Nitrites were zero. I don't know what a false positive is. What would cause that?

Sarah
 
It's not totally uncommon, especially in rural areas where you can get fertilizer runoff. I live in a fairly rural area and deal with quite a bit of junk in my tap.

I know, but the title of the post says city water. That doesn't mean that urban areas can't be affected, but it's less likely.

Nitrites were zero. I don't know what a false positive is. What would cause that?

Sarah

If you're using a colormetric test, such as the API kit, zero readings of ammonia sometimes have a very slight greenish color that can be interpreted as 0.25 ppm ammonia. If that's what you're seeing, my guess is that it's not real. If you do a large water change and have 0 ppm nitrite 3-6 hours after adding the fresh water, my guess is that there is little or no ammonia in your tap water.

On the other hand, if your ammonia test is giving a very clear and obvious color for ammonia, your tap water probably does contain ammonia (likely as an ammonium salt). Have you tested your tap water for nitrate? If you have ~1 ppm nitrate, your tap water might contain ammonium nitrate (fertilizer).
 
I will do a nitrate test here in a bit. Our town is considered a city, but we are a very small city in a rural area in Fresno county, CA. They say that the drought is greatly affecting our water supplies but I am not sure in what way. I will do a PWC today or tomorrow and then retest and see what happens.

Sarah
 
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