The Barel Problem

[brianf40us]

Alright everyone if you have read my last thread i have been having problems with amonia in my water change water for my tank. I have checked the water directly out of the RO machine and the reading was 0. So i took some water out of my barel that i mix my salt in down to my LFS and i had amonia. I was told that it may be the Barel that is bleeding amonia into my water. So i mixed some salt in a bucket that i get my Salt mix in and i tested it. I still have Amonia in my water. I have a Seachem test kit with the little yellow discs in it and they turn a very very very dull shade of green when i test my mix water. Could the amonia be comming from the salt mix itself? Also i use prime in my water as well. Could it be comming from the Prime?

I dunno i am so confused i never had these problems when i did fresh water.

 

[melosu58]

Is there anyway you can take a sample to your LFS anf have him double check it. You might have a bad one.

 

[brianf40us]

Yes i took water out of my barel last night to get checked my LFS and he found amonia in the water so my test kit is working properly. Did you mean i may have a bad bucket of salt or test kit?


Here is another possible reason that i have amonia in my mix water. I have my mix water down in my basement. I also have my dogs kennel down there and my cats litter box. sometimes my dog pees on her blanket in the kennel and also sometimes the litter box smells like amonia when ever we are about to change her litter.

Is it possible that since amonia is a gas that it is getting into my water. The reason that my fresh RO water is not showing amonia is because it has a screw on lid that keeps the air out of the container. My mix buckets have a lid but are slightly open due to the cord from the power head comming out the top of the bucket.

I believe this could be a possible problem

 

[melosu58]

Did you mean i may have a bad bucket of salt or test kit?

No I was talking about the test kit. I dont know about the scenario you gave. I guess it could be possible. One thing I wanted you to try is to try putting some of your water in 5 gallon buckets and bypass the barrel and see what you get.

 

[brianf40us]

Yes i have done that i put RO water directly from my RO machine into a container that i use for fresh water to top off my tank. I tested the pure RO water and there was no Amonia. Now that Container i use for the fresh water is a container with a screw on lid that is air tight. I have also put water into an empty salt bucket and added salt to it. It now shows amonia. However that salt bucket has a lid but it is only setting on top the bucket NOT AIR TIGHT.

 

[fijiwigi]

Do you have a DI cartridge or just an RO unit?

What brand of Salt do you use?

Have you tried another brand of test kit?

Try and buy another batch of salt maybe even a different brand it could even be a small package and mix some with that salt and see if it solves your problem.

 

[brianf40us]

I use Seachem Salt and yes it is a RO DI system. I have a new bucket of salt (seachem) i bought a couple of weeks ago so what i did was mad 2 seperate cups of salt water one with the old salt mix in it and the other with the new im going to test to see if there is a difference.


Has anyone herd of Salt mix leaking amonia into the water?
What you guys think about the litter being the problem?

 

[brianf40us]

And i took a sample of water to my LFS and they found amonia in it as well so i dont think its the test kit.

 

[brianf40us]

Well i just tested both water with the old salt in it and water with the new salt in it. They are both showing amonia so the only place i could be getting amonia from is the salt itself. It is Seachem Salt which i believe is hard to believe but that is the only possible answer to this problem.

What you guys and gals think? Have you ever heard of this and is it even possible?

My LFS said they will be looking into it with Seachem.

 

[melosu58]

It`s possible. Can you get some of another brand to sample and see?

 

[sooju]

I would suggest bringing a sample of salt to the LFS for testing. That will rule out your water supply or buckets. I have had two bad buckets of Seachem - one too low for magnesium and one too high for calcium. If the LFS confirms your results you will need to send a 2 cup sample to Seachem for them to investigate.

 

[brianf40us]

Ok guys i have tested my tap water once again with some test strips that i just bought at the store and it is showing amonia in the water. Is it possible to have amonia in the water from town water. I thought they filtered the water with high tech filters. So now i am confused if it is my salt or my tap water. The LFS checked my tap water and said there was no amonia. now i checked it with my test strips and it said there is amonia in my tap water.

 

[brianf40us]

oh yeah the test strip i used were jungle amonia strips. Now i also tested some bottled water and the strips are also telling me that there is amonia in that. Now i cant believe the test strip because why would bottled water have amonia. I think it is the salt.

I also called my water company and they said that there should not be any amonia in my tap water because they test their water with high tech test kits. I believe them.

sorry everyone for the constant messages.

 

[sooju]

Test strips are really inaccurate, I'd stick with your real test kit. I thought you were using RO, why are you talking about tap water? I'm confused.

 

[brianf40us]

I mean RO water i have my RO attached to my tap so i call it tap water sorry

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

A couple questions...

1. What exactly is this "barrel" we're talking about? Plastic? PVC? What brand is it and where did you get it?

2. You mentioned you're adding Prime. Why? And when/where are you adding it... when you're mixing up the salt, or are you just putting it in the RO water?

 

[brianf40us]

I talked to my LFS and they told me that they contacted Seachem and said that i will have a trace of amonia in my mix water due to the Magnesium in the mix that contains small traces of amonia.

I add prime to my ro water i have it so i use it until it is empty. Also it says that it is good for their slime coat.

I also have town water and it always scares me that some chlorine is going to get through my RO DI machine. I know i am weird hahaha

 

[fijiwigi]

Why do you use prime if you have a RO/DI machine and effective RO/DI machine should eliminate 99.99% of everything. the RO eliminates about 95% and the DI eliminates the rest.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

The Prime could be causing the false test results with ammonia. Most test kits (except Seachem's!) will show water treated with Prime as having a trace of ammonia. This has to do with the chemicals involved to dechlorinate the water.

Adding any chemicals to RO/DI water is kind of undoing the whole thing you were trying to achieve - pure water. The carbon block before the RO membrane will eliminate the chlorine in the water before it even hits the membrane. And if your fish are healthy, there's no need to any type of "slime coat" products. Give your fish good clean water, and let them be fish... they'll be fine.

My guess is that if you stop with the Prime (highly recommended!), your ammonia "problems" will go away. The amount of ammonia Seachem is talking about in their salt mix should be unmeasurable using the hobbiest test kits we all use - regardless of brand.

 

[brianf40us]

Yeah but when i had fresh water i used prime all the time and it never showed amonia in my water.

If this is the case what your saying is that it is a false measure.