Ammonia and Reverse Osmosis Water

[JasonCooper]

Hi, had my tank set up for about 3 months now with a fish in cycle and I cannot seem to get the ammonia level down to 0ppm.

Readings I'm getting are Ammonia 0.25ppm/Nitrite 0ppm/Nitrate 20-40ppm/ph 7.8-8.0. Tank is 180litre at 25.7c with a Juwel BioFilter 3.0. Doing on average two 30% water changes per week.

Talking to the LFS they have suggested that the less toxic ammonium is getting converted to ammonia by the high ph and have stated I'd be better doing water changes with 50/50 RO water/tap water to naturally lower the ph.

Valid premise? RO Good idea? any others?

 

[librarygirl]

IMO no, they're just trying to sell you something. What test kit are you using? If it's strips, they aren't accurate always. If it's the API kit, it can be difficult to tell between 0 and .25 on the test depending on the lighting in the room. You could test some distilled or spring water and compare it to the test tube from the tank and see if they match. Also try having a good light source behind you (sun from open window or a good lamp) and hold the tube up against the card. Either way .25 ammonia isn't very toxic so I wouldn't go to extreme measures yet. Are you changing the filter media have you changed anything in the tank (removed or added anything)? Do you vacuum the substrate regularly?

Also have you tested your tap water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? If your tap has some ammonia and you do a water change and then test right afterwards you'll be seeing the ammonia from the tap in the test until the bacteria can process it. Also nitrates are on the high side; you want to keep those under 20, under 10 is better. Your tap might have nitrates in it or you might be overstocked or/and overfeeding and not cleaning the substrate well. What fish do you have?

 

[JasonCooper]

IMO no, they're just trying to sell you something. What test kit are you using? If it's strips, they aren't accurate always. If it's the API kit, it can be difficult to tell between 0 and .25 on the test depending on the lighting in the room. You could test some distilled or spring water and compare it to the test tube from the tank and see if they match. Also try having a good light source behind you (sun from open window or a good lamp) and hold the tube up against the card. Either way .25 ammonia isn't very toxic so I wouldn't go to extreme measures yet. Are you changing the filter media have you changed anything in the tank (removed or added anything)? Do you vacuum the substrate regularly?

Also have you tested your tap water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? If your tap has some ammonia and you do a water change and then test right afterwards you'll be seeing the ammonia from the tap in the test until the bacteria can process it. Also nitrates are on the high side; you want to keep those under 20, under 10 is better. Your tap might have nitrates in it or you might be overstocked or/and overfeeding and not cleaning the substrate well. What fish do you have?

Using a API liquid test kit and the tap water shows 0.50ppm ammonia/0 nitrate/0 nitrite. Nothing new added or removed recently and I vacuum the gravel base weekly, filters are changed as per the Juwel BioFilter instructions and I swill them out in the removed tank water once a week. I test prior to doing water changes.

Only 12 fish in at the moment did not want to add any more after I got bad advice from the LFS about early stocking and a fishless cycle. 3 Red Platty/3 Minnow/3 Danio/3 Corys

 

[tonedogz]

Using a API liquid test kit and the tap water shows 0.50ppm ammonia/0 nitrate/0 nitrite. Nothing new added or removed recently and I vacuum the gravel base weekly, filters are changed as per the Juwel BioFilter instructions and I swill them out in the removed tank water once a week. I test prior to doing water changes.

Only 12 fish in at the moment did not want to add any more after I got bad advice from the LFS about early stocking and a fishless cycle. 3 Red Platty/3 Minnow/3 Danio/3 Corys

If you have ammonia in your tap water you should be using ro water for your water changes. Every time you do a water change your adding more ammonia to your tank.

 

[JasonCooper]

If you have ammonia in your tap water you should be using ro water for your water changes. Every time you do a water change your adding more ammonia to your tank.

Asked that previously on here and was old not to worry about it. Do you do 50/50 change with to water/tap water? I heard that using just ro water is also bad.

 

[tonedogz]

Asked that previously on here and was old not to worry about it. Do you do 50/50 change with to water/tap water? I heard that using just ro water is also bad.

I doubt there is anyone on this forum that would tell you not to use ro water that its bad.

 

[tonedogz]

RO water is pure thats why they told you to mix it it lacks nutreints fish need.

 

[JasonCooper]

I doubt there is anyone on this forum that would tell you not to use ro water that its bad.

No I was told not to worry about the small level of ammonia in the taps (from the chloramine) and that the use of 100% RO water was bad, you need to mix it with something else otherwise it's bad for the fish.

 

[aqua_chem]

I wouldn't worry about it. Your biofilter will process the ammonia quickly, and if you're using a quality dechlorinator like Prime, it will be largely detoxifying the ammonia. Plus, if you are doing smaller water changes (less than 50%), you won't even have a detectable ammonia level in the tank. RODI water is expensive and 90% of the time completely unnecessary.


Long story short, don't sweat it.

 

[christine2012]

Are you using prime?

Prime sometimes gives a slight ammonia reading. I'm not positive on the science, but when prime neutralizes chloramine, it removes a part of the chloramine compound leaving ammonium. I THINK. I hope someone chimes in here, just something to think about.

Edith! I see now that you have ammonia at the tap. Sorry.

 

[JasonCooper]

Are you using prime?

Prime sometimes gives a slight ammonia reading. I'm not positive on the science, but when prime neutralizes chloramine, it removes a part of the chloramine compound leaving ammonium. I THINK. I hope someone chimes in here, just something to think about.

Edith! I see now that you have ammonia at the tap. Sorry.

Cheers ammonia at the tap is coming from chloramine, use tetra aquasafe as a conditioner at the moment but have got some Prime on order as it does not seemto be freely available in the uk. I think I got told on here that there is a slight locking compound too so it works better than tetra. I just want the little guys being healthy and happy.

 

[christine2012]

Cheers ammonia at the tap is coming from chloramine, use tetra aquasafe as a conditioner at the moment but have got some Prime on order as it does not seemto be freely available in the uk. I think I got told on here that there is a slight locking compound too so it works better than tetra. I just want the little guys being healthy and happy.

Prime is perfect for a fish in cycle. I'm sure I would've lost a lot of fish without it!