TAP WATER has Ammonia reading of 5!

[littletank]

Hello. For some reason the water from my tap has had an ammonia reading of 5 for the past couple of months. We have an Aquasana water filter attached to our kitchen sink and that has an ammonia level of 2.5, so what am I supposed to use for water changes? I have read that bottled drinking water is not good for aquariums, but I can't think of anything else to use.

Also, is ammonia in our drinking water bad for me and my family? I will appreciate any advice y'all can give me.

Thanks,
littletank :?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Fill up a glass of water tonight before going to bed. Add dechlorinator that removes Chloramines and then test in the morning. You may have Chloramine's in your water which is giving false ammonia readings.

 

[greenmaji]

getting a ammonia reading means that your municipality has started using chloramides instead of just chlorine to sanitize the water. Chloramides (ammonia+chlorine) dosent leave the water like chlorine does.. When doing your water changes you will need to use a product like seachems prime to break the bond between the chlorine and ammonia.. that seems like a pretty high reading if the 5 is in ppm you might want to check with the water company to find out if that is temporary. And alot of water companies are using this method.. It should be fine for human consumption. but as I said it sounds like it is high and they might be able to get it down to the 1 or 2ppm range that is normal..

 

[PBirdsong]

Either that, or someone is pooing in your water . . . which is just gross.

Question though: if he had another ten gallon tank that was established (but fishless), could he not let the water sit there for a week and let the bacteria do the trick? Then afterward transfer it into his aquarium? If that worked, then in the end it would be cheaper.

I dunno, just a theory. Someone tell me if I'm an idiot.

 

[greenmaji]

5ppm is enough to do a fishless cycle..LOL.. so putting the water into a empty tank that has a seeded filter should do the trick but there is nitrate to think about.. time to put some plants in that empty tank..LOL

 

[patagonia]

if your tank is cycled then i wouldnt worry about the chloramines in your tap water (although the 5ppm looks a bit high) for water changes...even though your test kit is giving you a positive reading... if your using a water conditioner like seachem's prime it would be in a non toxic form....so your bacteria will take care of that...the water company here in toronto increases the amount of chloramines in the summer time...but mine is only 0.25-0.50ppm....HTH....

 

[Jchillin]

Littletank - See if you can obtain water tests results from the supplier of your water (usually found on the local gov's website). It would be good for you and your family to have this information.

 

[malkore]

I second the use of SeaChem Prime to remove chloramines.
Also, just call the water company. They'll send you a detailed analysis of the city water supply.

 

[littletank]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I wish I had read them before I went to the fish store today. I was on that end of town running other errands so I told them of my dilemma and they gave me something called Amquel+ to remove the ammonia in the water.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering, yes the tank has been cycled and doing well for almost six months. Let me know if Amquel+ is as good as SeaChem. It says it removes Nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, chlorine, and chloramines.

Question though: Wouldn't it be a bad thing to remove all ammonia? The biobugs need it to live. Well, unless this Amquel just removes it initially but doesn't STAY in the water. That must be it, just intial "removal" Ignore my my previous "brain exercise"

Oh, and it makes sense about them adding chloramine in the summer because during the spring my straight from the tap read 2.5ppm but once going through the Aquasana filter it read 0, so that worked out for me, but these past two months I got 5ppm from the tap and 2.5 from the filter. I'm in the Southest of the South Louisiana so we've already got temps in the 90's and we went through a little drought about a week ago, that probably affected the water as well.

Anyhow, thanks again and please let me know if you "approve" of Amquel. I added it this afternoon. This is the first small water change I've done with the tap water in the last couple of months because I've had to use bottled water, which was a huge pain in the neck. I hope I didn't mess up the pH by switching from tap to bottled to tap again??? I'm about to test the water. I'm pretty sure it's okay because all my little fishy friends are frolicking as we speak!

Many thanks,
littletank

 

[Jchillin]

Amquel (and all other NH3 "removers") actually "bind" the ammonia molecules together, doesn't actually eliminate it. It will still go through your filters and be processed by the bacteria.

I use AquaPure for chloramine/chlorine removal...performs the same functions.

 

[TomK2]

You are using a quality liquid reagent test kit?

When researching chloramines, I came across literature that suggested a 3 to 5 ppm level of chloramines for water treatment, but I have not yet heard of anyone actually seeing that... until you. Most others have 0.25 to 1 ppm. So the bright side is that you will never have to search the city for an ammonia source for fishless cycling, just add dechlorinator to your tap water! viola! instant ammonia!

The downside is that every water change you make places an ammonia load on your tank. each ppm of ammonia you add will end up as a ppm of nitrate, so your tank seems doomed to run higher nitrates. If you choose a dechlorinator that also has an ammonia binder, like amquel, then your fish won't be as effected by the ammonia infusion during the time it takes for your biofilter to metabolize the ammonia.

Chloramines suck.

 

[patagonia]

i agree with TomK2...chloramines do suck!

 

[malkore]

Amquel+ will be ok, Prime is just usually a better price, and is WAY more concentrated.

They both work by binding ammonia into ammonium, which is much less toxic to fish, but still usuable by the bacteria that run your nitrogen cycle.

Just use the amount per the label, and you shouldn't have any extra that would interfere with cycling.

 

[littletank]

Well is it going to be too much ammonia for the bacteria to process? I don't want to go through any more cycling. I REALLY REALLY don't. Maybe I should just go back to bottled water for water changes?? I mean everything has been going so smoothly after all sorts of cycling/ fish disease drama. I can't go through all of that again!
littletank

 

[littletank]

Ignore my last reply please, I hadn't turned the page and read Malkore's response, which basically answers my frantic question about the cycle. Still though, I'm confused about whether or not my bacteria will be able to handle all the extra ammonium and will cause a nitrite spike? Maybe I'm worrying too much and should just chill until something bad happens? :|
litletank

 

[greenmaji]

It would depend on the bio-load capacity of your filtration.. you will have problems with keeping your nitrate down even if your biological filtration is enough to handle the job. Most filtration setups can handle this by the way. Unless you have the tank overstocked. You might want to look into keeping plants.. It were me I would at least look into some type of natural filtration to help with the extra nitrate.. like algae turf scrubbers or terrestrial plant filtration.. this might be overkill for your size tank though..