Chlorine/Ammonia Questions

[ykung]

Hi i am new to discus and plan on starting a discus grow out tank and i have a few questions about my water.

I tested my water straight of the tap for chlorine with the JUNGLE cholrine/chloramine quick dip strips. It read 0 chlorine and 0 chloramine. Is it possible that water out of the tap is free of chlorine and chloramine?

I also tested my Ammonia levels out of the tap and it read at a level of 0.25 ppm. The PH out of the tap reads at about 7.8. However after 24 hours of agitation it rises to about 8.2.

So, according to what i have read about aging water, i should place the tap water in a storage container and agitate it, heat it, and filter it with a cycled sponge. Since there is no chlorine or chloramine present in my water i will not have to worry about the bacteria on the sponge being affected, correct? If so, then i will be able to do water changes without adding extra chemicals because the aged water is PH stabilized and chlorine/chloramine and ammonia free right?

Last one,

I am currently trying to do a fishless cycle on my tank and i bought "Ralphs clear ammonia", however i read the ingredients on back and it has "surfactants" and "quality control substances". I did the shaking test and it was not sudsy or foamy. Can i use this ammonia to cycle my tank?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your advice
Tai

[ykung]

Actually now that i look at the chlorine/chloramine test again. It may have a tiny bit of chloramine showing. If there actually is some chloramine in the water would i need to add dechlorinator that does not remove ammonia before aging/filtering/heating it, so i dont kill the bacteria colonies on the filter?

Is there a product that removes only chlorine and chloramine and not ammonia?

Thanks again,
tai

[Butch]

Hi Tai...if you get your water from a city water supply in a fairly large
town or city, it is going to have at least chlorine but most likely chloramines.
I just moved from a water supply that had only chlorine to a new area
that has chloramines. I am in the process of setting up my tanks and
aging barrels now, almost finished. Here is what I am going to do.
1. Set up tanks and barrels with tap water.
I use an electric pump to pump from barrels to tanks.
2. Treat tanks with BioSpira...from Marineland. It is a live bacteria
that will establish in the filters and consume the ammonia.
3. I will treat the first barrels with BioSafe which will remove all the
chlorine and chloramines...ammonia from the water but not kill
the bacteria.
4. I will put the clear ammonia in the tanks to keep the bacteria growing
and when I see the nitrites begin to increase I will know the filters are
established.
5. I will order fish.
6. I will then use ChlorAm-X to treat the barrels when I refill them with tap
water. Once I have fish to provide food for the bacteria I will not need
BioSafe but use ChlorAm-X.

Hope this helps...it is what I am going to do now that I have chloramines.

Butch :)

[funkyfish]

if u like jungle products they make start right i keep some on hand just in case. i don't have to use dechlorinators were i live just have chlorine
in the water
good luck with the hobby