How much Chloramine in DC tapwater?

[chrisethompson]

I live in Arlington VA, just across the river from DC. I'm setting up a tank for the first time and realize that I have to neutralize the Chloramine in the tap water. However when I add AquaSafe the water still tests for ammonia. Even when I add three times the dose, the water still have ammonia in it. How much AquaSafe can I safely add? Should I be adding enough to neutralize all of the ammonia?

 

[TankGirl]

Welcome to AA!

What ammonia test are you using? Is is a Nessler or salicylate based test?

 

[chrisethompson]

It's Red Sea brand. Has three reagents. Two of them apprear to be Sodium Hydroxide and the other is Sodium Nitroprusside.

 

[TankGirl]

One thing you can do to test your kit against your Aquasafe is to test your tap water without the Aquasafe (you may have done this already, forgive me). I can't imagine that DC water has so much chloramine that you would have such a situation, so I am grasping at straws, but I really suspect false positives.

 

[krap101]

dang you must be living in poop . are there any geese around . lol step... step... step... step.. step. step. SQUISH

 

[shawmutt]

LOL...the correct question should be "How much LEAD is in your water?"


Sorry, j/k.


Let me see if I'm reading this right...your water out of the tap has an ammonia reading???

 

[chrisethompson]

Yes, the water out of the tap tests for Ammonia. I understood this confirmed that there was Chloramine in the water. (I know for a fact that they do use Chloramine). When I add the correct dose of AquaSafe the ammonia level is reduced, but not eliminated.

I need some advice because I don't see how I am going to cycle the tank if the water always appears to have ammonia in it.

 

[shawmutt]

OK, I did some research, and found that you are correct. The dechlorinator reacts with the chloramine and releases ammonia into the water, resulting in a false positive reading. However, it is a less toxic form of ammonia. Look for test kits using salicylate reagents to avoid this problem. You should purchase a dechlorinator that detoxifies chloramine and ammonia. I used Kordon AmQuel when I used my tap water.

Another option is to do what I do now. My water was killing my fish, so I started buying ro water from Walmart. I fill up two 5 gallon jugs once a week @ $.33 a gallon. I then use additives to adjust the parameters of the tank water. It is a bit more work, but my fish love me for it.