Ammonia in well water?

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Watsonja4

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Joined
Feb 26, 2016
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166
Location
Joaquin, TX
Ok guys so I'm a week in to cycling my 45g and I already am dropping around 2.0ppm ammonia in 24 hours with small amounts of nitrites and nitrates starting to read. I added Tetra safe start at beginning since I could not get my hands on any seed material, so far it seems to be working. My problem is my well water is showing 1.0ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates and 8.2ph with API master kit, I tested some bottled water to see if my ammonia test was good and it showed 0 ammonia so my well definitely has ammonia. Will this reading ever drop to zero or will 1.0 be the lowest it will ever be? I been dosing my tank back to 4.0ppm everyday should I stop this and see if it will drop to zero? My final question is I was planning to have German blue Rams, Cardinal tetras, Cory cats, and swordtails, will they acclimate to the high ph? Background on the well is it roughly 5 years old, 270ft deep, and no water softener or filters.
Thanks in advance for the input.
 
I can only talk about your tank and not the well.

Please stop feeding it daily. Only increase the ammonia back to 4.0 ppm when it reaches zero --but do not let the ammonia sit at zero for more than 24 hours. That was my mistake at first. I fed ammonia as well as did daily water changes. Once I stopped both, the cycle completed itself.

Cardinals and German Blue Rams are quite sensitive for a new tank. Can you start with one other fish you may like at least for the first two months? Like a Guppy --or two. Let the bacteria spread around the tank for a while and then add the more sensitive fish.


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I dont have any specific experience with well water; but if you're seeing an ammonia reading now I'd always be concerned even if it did ever drop to 0. Do you have any alternate source of water to do water changes with?
 
No we did not connect to city water when we built our house. I have seen posts saying seachem prime can detoxify ammonia for 24 hours, would this work for water changes? I'm guessing my bio filter will be able to process it once established.
 
I can't promise anything with well water but what I would do is order some Seachem Prime. Prime will detoxify the ammonia until the biological filter, once established can take care of it. If you would like to lower you PH crushed coral either in a filter or in the tank itself will slowly drop the PH for you without dipping it too low.

You probably are going to have to do water changes twice a week at 5 to 10% while using prime to prevent the ammonia from doing harm.


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I will see if petsense has it, if not I will order. I am currently cycling the tank so I have no fish. Once the cycle is finished I will do a regular water change of 25% to see how much ammonia would be added and then time how long it takes to drop to zero. If it drops to zero in 12 hours or less do you think I could do regular sized water changes with prime? Also will I be hurting my biofilter by doing this test I would hate to lose my cycle after growing it for weeks.
 
I will see if petsense has it, if not I will order. I am currently cycling the tank so I have no fish. Once the cycle is finished I will do a regular water change of 25% to see how much ammonia would be added and then time how long it takes to drop to zero. If it drops to zero in 12 hours or less do you think I could do regular sized water changes with prime? Also will I be hurting my biofilter by doing this test I would hate to lose my cycle after growing it for weeks.


I'd hold off on doing much until you believe your cycle is complete. If you manage to see ammonia drop to 0 in 12 hours, prime should protect your fish. From everything I've researched it stays active for 24 hours. I know prime is so effective it can slow your cycle even so it would probably be best to wait until you complete the cycle.


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Spend time on your well too! Research as much as you can. Although Ammonia is not very toxic to humans, it kills fish. I found what you may be looking for in about 5 minutes but the method you wish to use is your choice. Apparently it is not common and you should find the source. Maybe your water is getting mixed with that from the sewer? Please do keep us up to date.

Do an Internet search for: ammonia in well water

http://www.purewateroccasional.net/wtiammonia.html

https://public.health.oregon.gov/He...Water/Monitoring/Documents/health/ammonia.pdf


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Back in 2012 I was measuring 1.0 ppm ammonia in my source water. It was out of the tap. It went back to zero in 2013. I checked my notes and apparently it was increased back in 2007. I cannot remember if it was seasonal (winter months). Or it could have been the use of chloramine from the treatment center.
I kept water changes low (more like 25-30%) per week. I do recall measuring 1.0 ppm nitrites one day and was shocked about it until I remembered doing a larger (~75%) just the day before.
Good luck with this.


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I was also thinking that it might be increased atm do to winter rains. I am thinking it will go down as we enter the dry season since we will be using more water and less will be entering the aquifer. I also tested this straight from the faucet do you think I should have let the water sit out before I tested it?
 
A few of our neighbors also have wells so I will see if I can get a water sample from them to test. It might be a common occurrence in our area or my well just might be crap even though it produces the most water I have ever seen. It is 270ft deep and after he set casing water was within 15ft of the surface, almost had a artesian well.
 
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