Just check ammonia in my tap water 1-2 ppm?

[kcsport]

I just refilled my tank and added just a few drops of ammonia. The test was way off the chart. So I test my tap water. Its showing 2ppm. I'm using a liquide test kit and it checks out ok testing my other tank. Is this very common? Does the water company add every once in a while to treat the system?

 

[SparKy697]

I might be able to offer some info here.

The water company I work at adds ammonia to the water just before it leaves the plant. The ammonia combines with the free chlorine to form chloramines. They usually feed a little more ammonia than is needed to make sure that all of the chlorine is bound up. If they feed more ammonia than that, you will see it as free ammonia.

Something else that comes to mind is what kind of de-chlorinator are you using? Others with more knowledge will chime in but check the bottle and see if it is made to treat chloramines. I think that if it is not, then you may be freeing up the ammonia portion of the chloramines and it is showing up in your test.

 

[kcsport]

Sparky thanks for the info! Thats what I was thinking since its friday afternoon.
I'm using Aquasafe says if removes chlorine and chloramines. I'll check it again tomm. and see if the level has come down. Thanks!

 

[rich311k]

Check the water in a cup before and after adding your dechlor see what reading you get.

 

[Zagz]

I would recommend prime, it is concentrated and treats more water per volume of the bottle. Check your water as Rich suggested.

 

[SparKy697]

Hi Zagz,

Doesn’t Prime also sequester the Ammonia?

 

[TomK2]

You have chloramines in your tap water. The ammonia test first adds chlorine to the test tube to turn ammonia into chloramine, then adds reagents that turn color with chloramines. Thus, chloramines in the tap water turn the test kit color too.

You will always have to add dechlorinator to your water to break the chlorine-ammonia bond, so that the chlorine will diffuse out, and the ammonia will be metabolized by your biofilter (when you have one). Aeration does not remove chloramines, which is why municiple water supplies add it in (it lasts longer than regular chlorine). For now, you can not dilute your tank ammonia level down below 2 ppm, since that is what your tap water starts with, so I would not do a cycle with fish.

But look at the bright side, you can fishless cycle without buying ammonia, just by adding tap water and a dechlorinator! PWC's with dechlorinator are your source for ammonia! Remember that any dechlorinator will break the chlorine-ammonia bond, some ammonia binders might "hide" the released ammonia from your test kit. If that happens, it is still there (although less toxic to fish), still needs to be dispatched by the biofilter, but does not show up on the test. For more info:

http://home.wowway.com/~tomstank/index_files/page0018.htm