ammonia in tap water

[LordErrorprone]

Hi ever since i set up my aquarium Ive had ammonia in the water. I recently did a test on the tap water and found ammonia. What can i do to get rid of it?

 

[WhiteDevil]

call your water dept.

as far as getting rid of it, just run the tank now as it is and use filtered water instead.

 

[Aquarium1]

get something like Seachem Prime 250 ml at Big Al's Online It detoxifies ammonia and nitrite along with chlorine and chloramine from tap water.

 

[LordErrorprone]

ok i'll do that. thanks for the advice.

 

[Aquarium1]

no problem

 

[melosu58]

call your water dept.

Calling you water dept isnt going to do anything. I work for a water municipality and ammonia is added to treated water to make it safe and drinkable. Not too good for aquariums though. You need to get a RO/DI unit. That will take care of it.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Yes but depending on his recent weather status they might have added more to compensate, happens all the time.

 

[melosu58]

I`m just saying if you call the water dept they are not going to change something for one person. Not trying to argue but I know they wont change it.

 

[LordErrorprone]

I wasent going to call them anyway. Ill just get some prime.

 

[Aquarium1]

but eventually a Ro would b better especially if you go reef. U'd still need to dechlor tho.

 

[LordErrorprone]

It will be a long time before i get a reef

 

[Aquarium1]

Fo or Fowlr?

 

[LordErrorprone]

i have a pound of live rock.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

but eventually a Ro would b better especially if you go reef. U'd still need to dechlor tho.

Nope. Assuming you're running the water through a carbon block before the RO membrane (which most units do), you don't need any dechlorinator.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Kurt. I dont use any dechlorinator.

 

[Aquarium1]

Nope. Assuming you're running the water through a carbon block before the RO membrane (which most units do), you don't need any dechlorinator.

Wow, I didn't know this. So with an Ro unit there's no need for a dechlorinator?

 

[aarongalvan]

I use Prime by SeaChem as well and it works great!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Wow, I didn't know this. So with an Ro unit there's no need for a dechlorinator?

Originally Posted by Kurt_Nelson
Nope. Assuming you're running the water through a carbon block before the RO membrane (which most units do), you don't need any dechlorinator.

Some "bare-bone" RO setups don't have any carbon filters at all... that's the only reason I'm covering myself with the above statement.

 

[LordErrorprone]

I got some prime and my fish are much happier.

 

[SparKy697]

Kind of curious about how much ammonia you are reading?

If your water company is feeding ammonia it is for the sole purpose of creating chloramines. Chloramines last longer out in the system an also help to reduce the chlorine smell from your water. Normally they want to keep the free ammonia down to a fraction of a ppm. If you are seeing an elevated reading it would not hurt to give them a call anyway. Too much ammonia in the water mains can cause the same thing that happens in our tanks, nitrifying bacteria can start to grow. Plus it means they are wasting ammonia.