As far as I know it removes everything. After you get the water you have to put in the electro right and ph adjuster to make healthy for the fish.
It is Deionized Water. Makes water pure of chemicals. I'll send you a link.
So my tapwater has ammonia
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As far as I know it removes everything. After you get the water you have to put in the electro right and ph adjuster to make healthy for the fish.
It is Deionized Water. Makes water pure of chemicals. I'll send you a link.
Heres the link.
Aquarium Water Quality: Tap Water Filter
I have not heard of anyone having problems doing this. I have one but have not yet used it.
I can see rookies point that ammo chips could stall the cycle process. I was just thinking that with ammonia that high is not good.With fish in the tank.
Aquarium Water Quality: Tap Water Filter
I have not heard of anyone having problems doing this. I have one but have not yet used it.
I can see rookies point that ammo chips could stall the cycle process. I was just thinking that with ammonia that high is not good.With fish in the tank.
Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
mfd is correct. I am a superman.
Anyhoo....
Chloramine is a combination of Chlorine and Ammonia. It is used in most municipal water treatment facilities, because it lasts longer in water than chlorine. This is bad for fish, not to mention for your body.
When you add a modern de-chlorinator product (as long as it says it detoxifies chloramines, it is modern) will break the bond and lock up the ammonia into a form that is not harmful to fish, but is still bio-available to the bacteria.
If you haven't cycled your tank, then you will continue to show high levels of ammonia in your tank until a biological colony forms that can consume it. When this happens, the consumption is almost instantaneous. This is why your tap water shows 0.25 ppm Ammonia, yet your tank shows no ammonia within a hour or so of your water change. With no cycle, you will still have the same amount of ammonia that is in your tap water.
After your tank is fully cycled, you can do PWCs without fear as long as you de-chlor the water - the bacteria will consume the locked-up ammonia very quickly.
In the meantime, I would treat your tank water daily with Prime and do PWCs. You can safely dose I think 3-5x the normal dosage of Prime directly into your tank to temporarily detoxify Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. The effect only lasts 24 hours. Check Seachem's website for info on that, you might have to search a little.
You do NOT need to buy an API tap water purifier for the reasons listed above. If you tank was cycled, you wouldn't have even noticed the issue, unless you tested RIGHT after doing a PWC.
A de-ionizer only filter will quickly burn out, causing you to have to replaced the media at great expense. This is why DI units are generally only used in saltwater applications, when you make your own RO water and want to polish it down to 0 ppm TDS before mixing in salt.
Otherwise, for freshwater applications, you would need to add in the beneficial minerals that you strip out. This in only really to be done as a last resort.
So take a deep breath, go get a bottle of Prime, and do a PWC at least every other day until you start to see the cycle.
See if you know someone who can take the fish in the meantime and use your tap water as your ammonia source!
Anyhoo....
Chloramine is a combination of Chlorine and Ammonia. It is used in most municipal water treatment facilities, because it lasts longer in water than chlorine. This is bad for fish, not to mention for your body.
When you add a modern de-chlorinator product (as long as it says it detoxifies chloramines, it is modern) will break the bond and lock up the ammonia into a form that is not harmful to fish, but is still bio-available to the bacteria.
If you haven't cycled your tank, then you will continue to show high levels of ammonia in your tank until a biological colony forms that can consume it. When this happens, the consumption is almost instantaneous. This is why your tap water shows 0.25 ppm Ammonia, yet your tank shows no ammonia within a hour or so of your water change. With no cycle, you will still have the same amount of ammonia that is in your tap water.
After your tank is fully cycled, you can do PWCs without fear as long as you de-chlor the water - the bacteria will consume the locked-up ammonia very quickly.
In the meantime, I would treat your tank water daily with Prime and do PWCs. You can safely dose I think 3-5x the normal dosage of Prime directly into your tank to temporarily detoxify Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. The effect only lasts 24 hours. Check Seachem's website for info on that, you might have to search a little.
You do NOT need to buy an API tap water purifier for the reasons listed above. If you tank was cycled, you wouldn't have even noticed the issue, unless you tested RIGHT after doing a PWC.
A de-ionizer only filter will quickly burn out, causing you to have to replaced the media at great expense. This is why DI units are generally only used in saltwater applications, when you make your own RO water and want to polish it down to 0 ppm TDS before mixing in salt.
Otherwise, for freshwater applications, you would need to add in the beneficial minerals that you strip out. This in only really to be done as a last resort.
So take a deep breath, go get a bottle of Prime, and do a PWC at least every other day until you start to see the cycle.
See if you know someone who can take the fish in the meantime and use your tap water as your ammonia source!
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
Thanks floyd! I just copied and saved that to my computer in case it's ever needed in the future 
Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
You could also use the dechlor, then ammo-lock, all BEFORE putting in your aquarium. Then the replacement water would be ammonia free, and you would know where you are in your cycle for sure. But you would need some 5g buckets and powerheads to allow the water to mix before adding. Still cheaper than API tap water filter.
Thanks Floyd for clearing all that up for my information. Good Stuff
Thanks to rookie also great help.
Thank you Floyd et. all for all the good help, I think I now understand what I need to do and what is actually happening. I will do PWC every couple of days for a few weeks and see if I can get the good bacteria to grow and get the tank cycled. I do know understand that when I use tap water with the prime, the ammonia is neutralized but still present therefore shows up on the test, and that once I have the good bacteria it will not show up after about an hour allowing me to test and get accurate results over the next few weeks between PWC. Thank you all for saving me from buying expensive water from my LFS or messing with these purified water places where the PH is too low and having to us PH up to fix it, therefore costing me more and being more work in the long run.
Love_MyFish
Aquarium Advice Freak
Primes should get rid of the Ammonia from the chloramine, your readings may be off for a day or two but it will be safe. Most tap water has chloramine and distilled water isnt the best thing for an aquarium as it lacks a lot of life giving impurities that is needed to maintain a great boilogical environment for our fishy friends... The short of it the tap is the best other wter require a lot more work here is a great link to look at about water for aquariums: http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/purewatr.htm
Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
Update???
Update
Ok here is my update. I finally started to see some changes in my tests, my ph is 7.6, ammonia .95, nitrite .25 and nitrate 0. yay! I was starting to wonder if it was going to happen, I am not that patient. Anyway I did however go and by some nutrafin cycle, and over the course of 3 days added the entire 4 oz bottle, I think this is why things finally started to happen.
Anyway, I will do a 50% PWC tomorrow to lower the nitrites and keep moving forward. I do want to thank everyone for their help. I am sure I will have more questions.
The fish seem to be happy, I did however lose 1 ghost shrimp, the other has molted and the color seems to be a bit off, so I might lose him too, we shall see.
Ok here is my update. I finally started to see some changes in my tests, my ph is 7.6, ammonia .95, nitrite .25 and nitrate 0. yay! I was starting to wonder if it was going to happen, I am not that patient. Anyway I did however go and by some nutrafin cycle, and over the course of 3 days added the entire 4 oz bottle, I think this is why things finally started to happen.
Anyway, I will do a 50% PWC tomorrow to lower the nitrites and keep moving forward. I do want to thank everyone for their help. I am sure I will have more questions.
The fish seem to be happy, I did however lose 1 ghost shrimp, the other has molted and the color seems to be a bit off, so I might lose him too, we shall see.
well it is not really .95, see that is the dilemma I was in. When I test my water from the tap, after prime, it registers as ammonia 1.0 , BUT that is actually chloramine (so im told) and not really ammonia and it has been rendered neutral by the prime, so really I think it is ok.
Have you thought about seeding with a used filter from a friend? As long as it is kept in tank water it will travel ok. I seeded just after the nitrite showed and the rest of the cycle was done in 4 days. Now my figures are ammo 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates 7.
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Your LFS should give you the water. Ask them.
