Tank Water - Need advice

[oneatos]

After a month of poor results with the cycle of my tank, I decided to test the tap water. It tested positive for ammonia. I tested it straight from the faucet, filtrated and dechlorinated. They all tested positive for ammonia... 1 ppm.

Needless to say that I was shocked . No wonder my water would only go down to 0.25.

SO... Does anyone else have this problem? Is it typical for tap water to have ammonia? I guess I will need to use bottled water and from the articles here, Deer Park seems the best. Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks,

 

[Jennewt]

This is explained in the CC water FAQs:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/FAQwat.shtml
Your water has chloramine, which is fairly common in the USA. You should continue to use tap water, but use an appropriate product to treat it (ask at your pet shop).

 

[oneatos]

I read it before starting more than a month ago... and even after treating the water I got the reading!

I thought that by treating it - the problem would be taken care of but it didn't happen.

ANY ADVICE ON WHAT PRODUCT TO USE FOR IDEAL RESULTS!

thank you!

This is explained in the CC water FAQs:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/FAQwat.shtml
Your water has chloramine, which is fairly common in the USA. You should continue to use tap water, but use an appropriate product to treat it (ask at your pet shop).

 

[oneatos]

Has anyone used prime to threat chloramine in their tap water? Good or bad results?

 

[Jennewt]

I read it before starting more than a month ago... and even after treating the water I got the reading!

I thought that by treating it - the problem would be taken care of but it didn't happen.

ANY ADVICE ON WHAT PRODUCT TO USE FOR IDEAL RESULTS!

thank you!

Ah, this isn't necessarily a problem with the product you are using, it's more likely a problem with your test kit! Some test kits still detect the ammonia, even after it is properly "de-activated" by the dechlorinating products. If the product you are using SAYS that it treats chloramine, you are OK.

Prime is a perfectly acceptable product for treating chloramine. Should be fine.

The key point here is that the ammonia in the chloramine isn't "erased" from existence by the dechlorinating product. It is just locked in an inactive form. After this water goes into your aquarium, your biofilter (the good bacteria) break it down and TRULY remove it. The water conditioner product just makes it non-toxic in the meantime.

 

[Kal El]

Ah, this isn't necessarily a problem with the product you are using, it's more likely a problem with your test kit! Some test kits still detect the ammonia, even after it is properly "de-activated" by the dechlorinating products. If the product you are using SAYS that it treats chloramine, you are OK.

Just going on what Jennewt has already mentioned, dechlorinating products will convert ammonia into ammonium, which is the less toxic molecule of the two. The test kits that you're using will test for both ammonia and ammonium, hence the "false positive results". Just out of curiosity, what sort ammonia test kit are you using, i.e. what kind of colour changes are you getting?

After a month of poor results with the cycle of my tank

The one thing I would suggest is to have a close to neutral pH range (~7), because nitrifying bacteria work most efficiently at this pH.

ANY ADVICE ON WHAT PRODUCT TO USE FOR IDEAL RESULTS!

AmQuel is good. The only problem with Prime is that it has the potential to give false positive results when testing for ammonia, especially if you test the water straight after a water change.

Jay.

 

[oneatos]

I am using the API freshwater test kit - no strips. I will double check my PH - which was stable at 7.4

I have tested my water before and after treating it with Prime. Before treating it it reads about .5... after leaving it treated for a day it reads .25. It is only a slight color change.

Just going on what Jennewt has already mentioned, dechlorinating products will convert ammonia into ammonium, which is the less toxic molecule of the two. The test kits that you're using will test for both ammonia and ammonium, hence the "false positive results". Just out of curiosity, what sort ammonia test kit are you using, i.e. what kind of colour changes are you getting?



The one thing I would suggest is to have a close to neutral pH range (~7), because nitrifying bacteria work most efficiently at this pH.



AmQuel is good. The only problem with Prime is that it has the potential to give false positive results when testing for ammonia, especially if you test the water straight after a water change.

Jay.

 

[lollypop]

hi
I dont know if this will help or not.
i have clorimine in my tap water and straight from the tap get an ammonia reading.
the declorinator that i use is stress coat (the one that does treat cloramine) and in 4 fish tanks and 2 lottle tanks i get no reading for ammonia with the api liquid tests.

I dont know if prime is the same with where you are (or 100% certain its the one i think it is)
but i think its one of the ones that help with the ammonia etc with water, i tend to stear clear of these unless there is a sudden clamity in one of the tanks. so the less i put in the less there is to go wrong.

basicaly just letting you know that it will get there in the end :happy:, like i say i have ammonia in the tap water but all of my tanks (and dontated media sent to other tanks) have 0 ammonia.
another thing i was advised to do was when testing tap water was to let it stand overnight first as straight from the tap can give a false reading (not sure if this is true but it seems to work)

lolly

 

[paullism]

Funny you should mention the API test kit.

Chelsea and I found that our API ammonia test kit was faulty. As you know you have to add 8 drops to 5ml of water from 2 different bottles. After a while we realised that the eye droper from bottle number 2 was releasing just over double of bottle number 1. Give both your bottles a shake and see if there seems to be the same amount of volume in each bottle. If your concerned about the ammonia levels then do a water change more frequently.

Good luck