Ammonia In Local Tapwater?

[Mr Melt]

I was doing a water change earlier when I decided to test the actual local water supply.

It had no nitrates or nitrites (thank God) but it DID have a bit of ammonia (between 0.5-1ppm). Thank you very much NI Water >_>

I'm now worried that instead of changing the water in my tank I'm making it worse? Anyone have the same problem? If so, then how would you solve it?

 

[StandbySetting]

The excess ammonia will soon be dealt with by your filter bacteria, most of us have ammonia in our water supplies, it's normal.

Just think of it this way, if you're doing a 25% water change on a cycled tank with tap water containing 0.5-1PPM of ammonia the level of ammonia will be 0.125-0.25PPM once it's in the tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I have the same problem with my tap water. I started using Stress Coat to condition the water and that's done it. No more ammonia. Any kind of water conditioner that not only removes chlorine but ammonia too is good.

 

[Mr Melt]

I have the same problem with my tap water. I started using Stress Coat to condition the water and that's done it. No more ammonia. Any kind of water conditioner that not only removes chlorine but ammonia too is good.

I'm just back from Pets at Home; Bought a bottle of Interpet Ammonia Remover. Says it removes chloramines too; would that make a good substitute for my standard tap conditioner (eg. when doing water changes)?

 

[StandbySetting]

None of these so called ammonia removers actually remove ammonia, they just shift the Ammonia - Ammonium equilibrium so that it favours the production of Ammonium, so in essence all that is happening is the Ammonia is being converted to Ammonium, a less toxic substance, it's still toxic to some degree.

 

[Mr Melt]

None of these so called ammonia removers actually remove ammonia, they just shift the Ammonia - Ammonium equilibrium so that it favours the production of Ammonium, so in essence all that is happening is the Ammonia is being converted to Ammonium, a less toxic substance, it's still toxic to some degree.

Does ammonium come up in the liquid API testkits? This claims that it doesnt =/

And either way its still the lesser of 2 evils eh =P

 

[StandbySetting]

It depends on your test kit, some do, some don't.

 

[Mr Melt]

It depends on your test kit, some do, some don't.

Ammonia is 0.25 after testing, with the nitrites at 0 and the nitrates at 20. Good or what? =P

 

[StandbySetting]

I've been reading through the Chemical data for the API Ammonia kit and there is no mention of ammonium, I will drop them an email and see if their kits are able to detect Ammonium (my guess is no as Ammonium is an cation and is likely to bond to other anions such as Cloride etc, thus making it undetectable on the kit).

 

[Mr Melt]

I've been reading through the Chemical data for the API Ammonia kit and there is no mention of ammonium, I will drop them an email and see if their kits are able to detect Ammonium (my guess is no as Ammonium is an cation and is likely to bond to other anions such as Cloride etc, thus making it undetectable on the kit).

Good idea. How toxic is Ammonium anyway?

My fish all seem fine at the minute....

 

[StandbySetting]

It's still toxic to some extent, but not as toxic, temperature and PH all play a part too.

 

[Mr Melt]

Well I got my temp set to 26 and my PH is around 7.3

 

[Essjay]

On the API website, in the last FAQ for the ammonia test: they recommend adding ammo-lock which they say converts ammonia into a non-toxic form {ie ammonium} and they then say "Ammonia test kits will still test positive for ammonia, even though it is non-toxic"

In other words, thet are saying their ammonia test kit does test for ammonium as well.

 

[StandbySetting]

Ammonium is toxic though, the reason it 'appears' to have been removed is because of the ammo-lock, or a similar oxidizing product you use, it shifts the equilibrium so that it favours Ammonium production, Ammonium is a cation, it carries a positive charge so will form Ammonium salts with other anions (negitvely charged species) that are present in the water column.