Ammonia In Tap Water/fishless Cysle

[ac106]

Hi,

i was ready to do a fishless cycle in my ten gallon tank.

I tested the tap water to get a baseline and discovered that it has ammonia in it. I tested it 3 times and it fell between .25-.5 ppm

this seems pretty high.

I have a 35 gallon that does not have any problems with this.

my question is, how will this affect the fishless cycle

 

[rdd1952]

It seems odd that the tap water would have ammonia in it. How old is the test kit and is it liquid or strips? They can get dated and become inaccurate. You may want to take a water sample to your LFS and have them test it just to make sure. As for the fishless cycle, it won't have any effect since you would be adding ammonia anyway. Just means you won't have to add as much to get to the 5 to 6 ppm you need to start. It may be a problem later on though when you have fish and do water changes since in essence you would be putting ammonia in the tank with the fish.

 

[fishing4exotics]

Some water companies will add chloramine into your tap water. My tap water has chloramine. I use a water conditioner to break down the chloramine into chlorine and ammonia. The ammonia is made inert by the water conditioner and the chlorine dissipates into gas. My guess is that your water company adds chloramine into your tap water. That is why you are getting the ammonia readings. If you don't already, use a water conditioner to neutralize the ammonia until your filter system can deal with it.

 

[rdd1952]

My tap water has chlorine and chloramines but it doesn't show as ammonia. My tap water parameters for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all 0.

 

[ac106]

Thanks for the help so far guys

The test kit is not old. I bought it within the last 3 months

It's the liquid kind made by Doc Wellfish/ Aquarium Pharm.

I was looking at a 5 in 1 strip tester today. Are these any good. I know the local Petco uses them if you try to return fish. Are they accurate? because they seem a lot more convienent

 

[tttnjfttt]

In general, mowt people think the drop kits are alot more accurate. My reasoning behind this is that thye are harder to screw up. For example, did you hold the strip under water for too long? Not long enough? ect. I have used strips before and really prefer my drop kit.

 

[rdd1952]

The strips are quick. For the LFS wanting to check the parameters when you return fish, it gives them a quick, fairly accurate reading. I'm sure if something like ammonia showed on the strip, they would probably check again with a liquid kit to verify. As for the 5 in 1 strips. If I remember correctly from looking at those in the past, they don't test for ammonia, only nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity, and hardness. I never figured that out as ammonia is probably the most important thing to keep at 0.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I never figured that out as ammonia is probably the most important thing to keep at 0.

Its all about the $$$ This way, you have to buy two test kits

 

[rdd1952]

I never figured that out as ammonia is probably the most important thing to keep at 0.

Its all about the $$$ This way, you have to buy two test kits

You are probably right.