Ammonia

[krislewis3]

Why would my tap water test high for ammonia?????????????

[Skip]

Its used to purify water.. When mix with chlorine.. It makes chloromine.. It tests positive on ammonia test

[applekrate]

Warlock,

This make sense. Do many water companys use to purify the water, the reason I ask is because all tap water will have Chloromine in this case. Even if your water company tells you they only use chlorine. Not sure if I got this right.

[lipadj46]

Warlock,

This make sense. Do many water companys use to purify the water, the reason I ask is because all tap water will have Chloromine in this case. Even if your water company tells you they only use chlorine. Not sure if I got this right.

If your water company says they use chlorine they use chlorine. Chlorine is more common than chloramine in general

[applekrate]

Ok, so my water co would only use ammonia OR chlorine not both. I use Sodium Thiosulfate as a de-chlor. so I didn't want to miss something.

[Skip]

Austin uses both

[krislewis3]

I panicked when I noticed that my ammonia level was .25 , and this was AFTER a 75% wc......
The next day, I was surprised to see that the ammonia was at 0. Later that day I did my normal 50% wc, after which I tested again for ammonia and to my surprise it was up again. Because the level of the ammonia was higher AFTER the wc, It was recommend that I test the water straight from the tap, which tested 2.0 for ammonia!!!!! Can someone explain this? Kris

[applekrate]

hhhuuummmm, GTK info

[strawberryblonde]

Your water source uses chloramine, which gives the ammonia reading from the tap.

You mentioned yesterday that you use Prime, so you have nothing to worry about. Prime takes care of both chlorine and chloramine. You're going to get a false positive when you test your water in the tank. That's because you use Prime. It's nothing to worry about.

I use Prime/Safe too, so instead of measuring ammonia, I do nitrite readings whenever I'm concerned that I might have lost some beneficial bacteria in my tank.

[TURQ64]

As one who travels almost continuously, I find most all municipalities either use, or are switching to cloramine. Mostly due to cost effectiveness, which is probably relative to source water. As a former Californian, I have never ran accross a water district using 'just ammonia'...just chlorine, maybe, but even SF with the advantage of clean Heche-Hetchy source water, has switched to cloramines from chlorine..It's more and more becoming an issue of funds...

[krislewis3]

Really?????? So if I understand you correctly, if I test for nitrits, I don't need to test for ammonia???

[brewmaster15]

Hi Kris,
I merged two threads on the same subject by you. Its easier for people to follow and help you if you only post in one location on the forum when you have a question.

Thanks,
al

[strawberryblonde]

So long as you've already cycled your tank, then you shouldn't need to worry too much about ammonia. The beneficial bacteria will convert it to nitrites, and then it's converted yet again from nitrites to nitrates.

That's why I test for nitrites since I use Prime. If the tank is cycled, and there's an ammonia spike for some reason, there will also be a corresponding nitrite spike.

I generally only test for those pesky nitrites when I've had an "event" in my tank that might have affected my bio-media. Fer instance, last week my heater died on me and I didn't notice it till the water temps reached 69 degrees. Cold doesn't generally affect the good bacteria in the bio-media, but since it took two days to get the temps back to normal, I was being cautious and checked my nitrite levels for those 2 days, plus one extra day at normal temps just to be safe.

Other events to keep an eye on would be the addition of new fish, overcleaning the bio-media, using meds in the tank that are known to affect bio-media, etc.

Hope this info helps to relieve your worries a bit. =)

[TURQ64]

You must not mean me; I clearly stated most municipalities use cloramine now, a combination of ammonia and clorine. But waste products, and a lack of a nitrogen cycle still require keeping ammonia in check......it's far easier to control the ammonia than heal up burnt fish.

[applekrate]

Ok called my water co and everyone will be glad to know I got it!!. Everything makes sense. Warlock can you find me a pic fix for the day of like a crowd cheering or something entertaining.
Warlock you are right I just misinterpreted and needed a translator-my bad. Lipad your right my water co uses chlorine only (prob. one of the last to do so). Turk your right also its really rare that water co's use chlorine only- to costly. Carry on.