Ammonia in Tap Water

[BlazedSaint]

K So my tap water is tons of ammonia in it, like 2.0, 0 nitrite, and i didnt check nitrate cause i have live plants so thats whatever, plants love that nitrate : ) but im into my 8th day of cycling and my ammonia is .25(which if my tap water is 2.0 that's pretty legit) my nitrites however are super high 5.0 or plus, could this be because my tap water has such high ammonia, also could this hurt the cycling process, seems like my nitrite has been high for a few days! also top ph is 8.0 tank is between 7.8 and 8.0 do i need to bring my ph down for danios, cherry barbs, bushnose pleco, and sapphire platys?

 

[dwayne.aycock]

I suggest storing your water in a barrel or similar and treating with amQuel (nor AmQuel+) AmQuel will take care of the ammonia issue as well as any chlorine. In the storahe container, add a heater and an airstone. After 2-3 days this water ahould be good to go in your tank. Your PH is high for the fish you mention, which also means your water is probably hard. You can lower your PH and soften the water with peat pellets. You can find them on ebay or possibly your LFS. You can also use API / ph down liquid but this is not a buffer for keeping the PH stable. You want a PH of around 7 or slightly acidic. Indian almond leaves also softens the water and has a natural antibiotic benefit that your fish will appreciate. I use a vitamin c tab in my resevour water because it scavenges chlorine and ammonia. Ammonia and chloramines will NOT vent on their own, so you will have to treat than..AmQuel or Prime are very effective. Don't rush at this point, let the nitrogen cycle take it's normal course (about 6 weeks). If you have plants, go with a heavily planted tank, as plants improve water quality and absoeb those nasty little things that kill fish. You will need to do frequnt water changes during cycling, so I suggest storing at least half your tank's volume in a separate container (ex: 20 gallon tank / 10 gallons in resevoir) that has been PH balanced, aerted and treated for ammonia/ chloramines / chlorine and heated to the same temp as your tank. I use this method for my Discus tank, and it has worked well for me.
Good luck!
D

 

[Mebbid]

Either amquel or prime will detoxify the ammonia long enough for your bio filter to do it's job. I would just stick with 25% water changes on your aquarium if there is a heightened ammonia level in the tap water.

 

[Berylla]

I use Seachem Safe which is the powder form of Prime. It neutralizes ammonia and last forever. I'm still on the same bottle I've been using for 2 years and I change out my water every 2 days in a 45G.

 

[BBradbury]

K So my tap water is tons of ammonia in it, like 2.0, 0 nitrite, and i didnt check nitrate cause i have live plants so thats whatever, plants love that nitrate : ) but im into my 8th day of cycling and my ammonia is .25(which if my tap water is 2.0 that's pretty legit) my nitrites however are super high 5.0 or plus, could this be because my tap water has such high ammonia, also could this hurt the cycling process, seems like my nitrite has been high for a few days! also top ph is 8.0 tank is between 7.8 and 8.0 do i need to bring my ph down for danios, cherry barbs, bushnose pleco, and sapphire platys?

Hello Blazed...

You can simplify things, by changing a quarter of the tank water every day. Just replace that with pure, treated tap water. The best water treatment on the market is Seachem's "Safe". It's a concentrated powder that will remove Chlorine, Chloramine and Ammonia and detoxifies the other forms of nitrogen.

Get some Anacharis (Common waterweed) from the pet store. It will help filter the tank water. You just float it in the tank. Don't fret over the pH, that's not important at this point. Review the testing steps to make sure you're doing it right. Test daily for ammonia and nitrite and change out the tank water if needed. This cycling process will easily take a month.

B

 

[BlazedSaint]

First of all, thank you dwayne.aycock for taking the time to write a detailed response, i was thinking of getting a piece of drift wood for decoration anyway so ill invest in a good piece to help drop my ph,

Berylla, ill look into the powder, i do like a good value : )

Mebbid, bbradbury, seriously guys your the bomb, your always there for my questions : ), i have a follow up question for everyone, i have dispensor water( water cooler) would using like half tap and half water cooler water help level out my ph? also will the ammonia or ph levels of my tap water stall or stop my cycling process? lady at the LFS said no more water changes while doing the 7 day stability treatment, but my nitrites are high, but i assumed(mebbid has put my worries to rest a few times) it was part of the cycle and the nitrites will drop off aoon

 

[Berylla]

First of all, thank you dwayne.aycock for taking the time to write a detailed response, i was thinking of getting a piece of drift wood for decoration anyway so ill invest in a good piece to help drop my ph,

Berylla, ill look into the powder, i do like a good value : )

Mebbid, bbradbury, seriously guys your the bomb, your always there for my questions : ), i have a follow up question for everyone, i have dispensor water( water cooler) would using like half tap and half water cooler water help level out my ph? also will the ammonia or ph levels of my tap water stall or stop my cycling process? lady at the LFS said no more water changes while doing the 7 day stability treatment, but my nitrites are high, but i assumed(mebbid has put my worries to rest a few times) it was part of the cycle and the nitrites will drop off aoon

Half osmosis water (water cooler) and half tap is a good thing, but expensive. Your PH is what is is, don't mess with it. The swing from your refill water to the aged tank water can be reduced by aging the water in a water barrel or refilling from a height through a sponge or wand to maximize water agitation to gas off the carbon dioxide in the tap water.

If you have fish in the water you will still need to perform daily water changes to bring down the ammonia. It will eventually level off in a week (or two). Changing the water does slow the cycle process but you have fish already. Don't clean out your filters during this time. Use a prefilter sponge so that you just need to clean that out and not the filter media in the filter.

Check out my water change system if you are interested:
Many Hats of Me: Aquarium Water Change System

 

[Mebbid]

First of all, thank you dwayne.aycock for taking the time to write a detailed response, i was thinking of getting a piece of drift wood for decoration anyway so ill invest in a good piece to help drop my ph,

Berylla, ill look into the powder, i do like a good value : )

Mebbid, bbradbury, seriously guys your the bomb, your always there for my questions : ), i have a follow up question for everyone, i have dispensor water( water cooler) would using like half tap and half water cooler water help level out my ph? also will the ammonia or ph levels of my tap water stall or stop my cycling process? lady at the LFS said no more water changes while doing the 7 day stability treatment, but my nitrites are high, but i assumed(mebbid has put my worries to rest a few times) it was part of the cycle and the nitrites will drop off aoon

You can dilute the tap water with filtered water but it can cause you issues with pH. Most fish will adapt perfectly well to an 8.0 pH as long as it doesn't have large changes.

 

[BlazedSaint]

Half osmosis water (water cooler) and half tap is a good thing, but expensive. Your PH is what is is, don't mess with it. The swing from your refill water to the aged tank water can be reduced by aging the water in a water barrel or refilling from a height through a sponge or wand to maximize water agitation to gas off the carbon dioxide in the tap water.

If you have fish in the water you will still need to perform daily water changes to bring down the ammonia. It will eventually level off in a week (or two). Changing the water does slow the cycle process but you have fish already. Don't clean out your filters during this time. Use a prefilter sponge so that you just need to clean that out and not the filter media in the filter.

Check out my water change system if you are interested:
Many Hats of Me: Aquarium Water Change System

right on, thanks, i was going to mix the tap/cooler water myself, we get several(like 7) jugs of it a month so was going to mix myself(however i can see a good point to just using tap for constancy, so i will probably just use tap water uinless 7.8-8.0 will kill cherry barbs or pleco

 

[Mebbid]

Not at all. I have 5 plecos in my tank and my pH is around 8.0 which are all doing great. Barbs also did great in my water.

 

[BlazedSaint]

Not at all. I have 5 plecos in my tank and my pH is around 8.0 which are all doing great. Barbs also did great in my water.

Right on, well ill post my test results when i get home just 4 more hours to go

 

[Rivercats]

You said your cycling your tank correct? Is it fish in or fishless? If fishless your nitrites are fine and it shows your tank is cycling. If fish in you have to do enough WC's to bring it down to .25ppm. If you only have a low amount of ammonia in your tap water once your tank is cycled it should have no problem converting the ammonia. If you want to lower the amount of ammonia, which will also lower the ph, you can indeed use 1/2 RO and 1/2 tap water consistently for each WC you will be adding only 1ppm of ammonia. The lower ph would just be a bonus in this case. I've used this process for years in many tanks, 4 tanks right now actually, and it works great. You just have to be consistant with adding 50% of each type of water and your ph will remain constant.

 

[dwayne.aycock]

To be safe, I suggest gettig water samples from the place you plan to get your fish. See what the PH is and if it is a big difference (more than .2) you will have to slowly acclimate your fish over several hours or days. If your LFS has a lower PH than you do, you will have to meet the fish half way (example: LFS has a PH of 7.0 and your PH is 8.2, wou will have to try to drop and lock your aquarium PH at a lower PH) Once you have reached the desired PH, you will need to add a buffer or "lock" to keep it where you want it. I have a Discus tank and the PH is 6.5. The breeder where I got my Discus keeps his tanks at 6.0, so the difference is .5. I acclimated my fish over a four period with the "drip" method whereby I slowly drip water from my aquarium into the bucket where I had my new fish. At the same time I added a heater and airstone to keep the water warm 86 degrees and oxygen, as warmer water holds less oxygen. After 4 hours, I added the new fish to the aquarium and turned out the lights for the next 8-12 hours. Everybody has some good suggestions, you just have to see what works for you. The only caution I will give you is to be consistent whatever you do. PH fluctuations and ammonia / nitrite can kill your fish. Using water from the water cooler is a good idea, but in my opinion, not necessary as it is a cost you dont have to have. Water stored in a resevoir of other container is a one time expense, and one that you can control. Check out the PICs on my album. I use a 64 gallon trash can with an airstone, UV sterilizer, heater and powerhead. I make 50 gallons of pristine water every day, and can do the required water changes without having to do any other work. I usually move 30 gallons out and 30 gallons in every day, and my fish love it.
Good luck!
D

 

[BlazedSaint]

You said your cycling your tank correct? Is it fish in or fishless? If fishless your nitrites are fine and it shows your tank is cycling. If fish in you have to do enough WC's to bring it down to .25ppm. If you only have a low amount of ammonia in your tap water once your tank is cycled it should have no problem converting the ammonia. If you want to lower the amount of ammonia, which will also lower the ph, you can indeed use 1/2 RO and 1/2 tap water consistently for each WC you will be adding only 1ppm of ammonia. The lower ph would just be a bonus in this case. I've used this process for years in many tanks, 4 tanks right now actually, and it works great. You just have to be consistant with adding 50% of each type of water and your ph will remain constant.

It started all wrong with fish(didnt know better) fish died in less than 24 hours, so now the only thing in tank is some anubius and some stability lol, and cool man that gives me hope/insight if i decide to use half ro water, i probably for my piece of mind, if the tank is only .25 ammonia(last reading) and my tap water is 2.0, and i did a water change thursday(50%) then i have to assume the good bacteria that converts ammonia into nitrite is in place, so im just waiting on the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate to develope and i i should be good to go : )

 

[Rivercats]

It started all wrong with fish(didnt know better) fish died in less than 24 hours, so now the only thing in tank is some anubius and some stability lol, and cool man that gives me hope/insight if i decide to use half ro water, i probably for my piece of mind, if the tank is only .25 ammonia(last reading) and my tap water is 2.0, and i did a water change thursday(50%) then i have to assume the good bacteria that converts ammonia into nitrite is in place, so im just waiting on the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate to develope and i i should be good to go : )

Just remember the nitrite part of cycling usually takes the longest so hang in there, you've almost made it.

I actually have a countertop portable RO unit that I've been using for over 2 years and love it. I have those 2g handle water jugs and they work perfect for the RO water.

 

[BlazedSaint]

Just remember the nitrite part of cycling usually takes the longest so hang in there, you've almost made it.

I actually have a countertop portable RO unit that I've been using for over 2 years and love it. I have those 2g handle water jugs and they work perfect for the RO water.

right on man ill look into one, id like a RO water system anyway!

 

[BlazedSaint]

Just remember the nitrite part of cycling usually takes the longest so hang in there, you've almost made it.

I actually have a countertop portable RO unit that I've been using for over 2 years and love it. I have those 2g handle water jugs and they work perfect for the RO water.

o ya im just scared i will or have done something to screw up the cycling process, however anytime i have concerns theres always someone(usually bbradbury or mebbid) to ease my worries lol

 

[Rivercats]

o ya im just scared i will or have done something to screw up the cycling process, however anytime i have concerns theres always someone(usually bbradbury or mebbid) to ease my worries lol

This is the one I have used for over 2 years and love it.... portable countertop reverse osmosis drinking water system - remove fluoride, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs and more. I have the Pro-100 unit.

 

[BlazedSaint]

This is the one I have used for over 2 years and love it.... portable countertop reverse osmosis drinking water system - remove fluoride, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs and more. I have the Pro-100 unit.

PRO-100 - portable countertop reverse osmosis system with 100 gallon per day membrane (1 gallon in about 15minutes, 96% TDS reduction)
$299.00 suggested list, your cost - $169.00, with free refrigerator bottle, free TDS meter and free shipping (in contiguous U.S.).

Ordered : ) Thanks For the link, im not very happy to find out my tap water has such high ammonia so this will be cool for more than my tank, im sure my dog will like it alot better too lol, he's so finicky for a dog lol, but seriouly thats awesome ty

 

[Rivercats]

I actually have 10 of those 2 gallon bottles they come with. Since I use 10g for a WC in my 55g planted, 6g for WC's in the 24g planted, a gallon or so for each small nano tank, and I use only RO for all tank top ups I get my money's worth from it. Plus I can put it away and out of sight when I'm done with it.