Ammonia in my tap water?

[t27countryboy]

My tap water is reading about 1ppm of ammonia.What should I do for water changes?

 

[mattrox]

If you do 25% pwc's then by the time it gets into the tank it will be 0.25 pmm. Now I am no expert at this, but I bet your biofilter would take care of that quickly.

You wouldn't want to do large water changes though.

 

[t27countryboy]

My tank is not cycled yet..My tank is readi9ng sky high for ammonia.Showing a deep dark green color. Is this the ammonia spike during cycling.That is why I was afraid to put more ammonia in my tank with my tapwater that read a little darker than 1ppmammonia.

 

[madchild24]

u could by bottled water from water depot or some other place $3.27 for 5 gallons

 

[patagonia]

i cycled both my tanks with my tap water...which has chloramines like yours...not that high though...but since the ammonia in the tank is far higher than that in your tap water i think you would benefit with a water change...mine reads 0.50ppm and i test right after a water change and its all gone...are u doing a fishless cycle??? because ur ammonia is really really high and it would be really bad for ur fish if u have them....as far as bottled water is concerned...i asked the same question and not many people agreed...so i keep using my plain old tap water...HTH...

 

[greenmaji]

there is a ammonia spike during cycling and form the sounds of it your tank is going through it.. I agree with patagonia.. if your tank has alot more ammonia than the tap water then your tank will be better off with the tap water. as far as cycling goes it needs ammonia to start the cycle so I wouldnt see why this chloramine tap water couldnt be used as a fishless cycle.. unless there is a chemical bond there that the chemicals cant handle.. JMHO..

 

[greenmaji]

in other words can dechlorinator break the bond and leave just ammonia behind??

 

[patagonia]

i believe dechlors which claim to neutralize chloramine bond the ammonia in the chloramine and release the chlorine in it...i use prime and so far my bacteria has been using the ammonia in my water with no problem...as i said i cycled both my tanks using tap water and prime...just keep in mind that any dechlor will just convert the chloramine into a non toxic form...but they will not remove it...HTH ...and please somebody correct me if im wrong...

 

[t27countryboy]

Thank you all very much.,I am taking everybody's advice and doing whatever I can to make this work for my fish.

 

[patagonia]

i hope everything goes well for you and your fish...just do daily water changes until you get the ammonia down to around 1ppm if you have fish in your tank ( i believe you do) even if your doing a fishless cycle if the ammonia is too high i believe it can stall the cycle...just let us know how things are going...

 

[TomK2]

in other words can dechlorinator break the bond and leave just ammonia behind??

A positive ammonia test from the tap water is almost definitely chloramines. The two bottle salicyalte test in an AP kit actually measures the amount of ammonia by how much chloramine it can be converted into. Thus, chloramine and ammonia turn the test kit color.

As far as detoxifying chloramines, it depends on what you use. A simple dechlorinator like thiosulfate breaks the chlorine-ammonia bond and leaves ammonia behind, with chlorine diffusing out. If you use amquel or ammolock as a dechlorinator, the chlorine-ammonia bond is broken with chlorine diffusing out, and the amquel and ammonlock molecules are supposed to bind to the ammonia making it less toxic to fish, but still available to the biofilter. BTW, AC breaks the chloramine bond also.

So, if your tank ammonia is higher than your tap chloramines, a water change will dilute the ammonia. The greater the difference, the more dilution you get. Once you have an established biofilter, just use a dechlorinator, and let the bacteria swiftly dispatch the added ammonia.

For more info on test kit chemistry, you can check out:
http://home.comcast.net/~tomstank/tomstank_files/page0018.htm

 

[greenmaji]

it sounds like your saying that both leave the ammonia behind for the bio-filter.. my question was could this ammonia be used to do a fishless cycle, assuming it left enough ammonia to do a cycle? for people who have this water.. I think a fishless cycle is better than doing a normal cycle by the way, less stress on the fish and or inhabitants... thats why I was asking..

 

[TomK2]

could this ammonia be used to do a fishless cycle,

I have pondered that point myself. If your chloramines are 1 ppm, just filling the tank, ading dechlorinator,running the filter, and doing some water changes should, in theory, cycle the tank. My guess is that after 4 to 6 weeks you would find no ammonia in the tank, no nitrites, and a small amount of nitrate. Then when you did water changes, if you waited an hour or two for a large water change, minutes for a small one? , you would see no ammonia from the chloramines.

Fishless cyclers like to get the ammonia in the 3 to 5 ppm range to speed it up, but I see no reason why 1 ppm would not work.