Water conditioner removes ammonia!?

[steph101]

The water conditioner i brought removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia. What will my beneficial bacteria eat if there is no ammonia because the water conditioner removes it? Will this destroy my colony of good bacteria? Can i still use this water conditioner?

 

[Khuligirl93]

From my understanding, water conditioners that claim to remove ammonia really only temporarily change the chemical composition of the ammonia, so it is still actually present in the aquarium and the bacteria can still use it.

 

[threnjen]

From my understanding, water conditioners that claim to remove ammonia really only temporarily change the chemical composition of the ammonia, so it is still actually present in the aquarium and the bacteria can still use it.

+1
Water conditioners that convert ammonia are simply converting Free Ammonia NH3 into Ammonium NH4, which improves the situation for your fish if fish-in cycling because NH4 is not fish toxic. Either NH3 or NH4 are usable by ammonia oxidizing bacteria and it will not affect your cycle.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Agreed. Also, your fish produce ammonia pretty quickly and rotting food does too. So an established tank won't ever run out of "food" for your beneficial bacteria.

 

[tnfinfan]

Ditto the others. It turns it into NH4 -- not toxic and still edible by the same bacteria. If only the same could be done for nitrites!