Ammonia In Tap Water?

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

OK I have a few questions....

Has anyone out there ever had an ammonia reading of .5-1 pmm in their tap water?

Is it possible to do water changes with this kind of tap water or will it completely devastate your tank, even with using dechlorinator of course, and ammolock

Also, if the tap water is the problem, is it possible for your tap water to get this bad within a weeks time?

Last one.... can adding plants cause an ammonia spike in any way




Basically... in the last 2 weeks both of my tanks have experienced drastic ammonia spikes... theyve both been up and running perfectly for about a year now... the only change in the last 2 weeks is I've added some plants to both tanks... the same kind from the same place.

I also tested my tap water and got the ammonia reading displayed above....... Unfortunately I never tested the water before so I don't know if it has changed or if it has always been this way. So basically it has to be either the plants that caused it or a sudden change in the tap water. I have not been overfeeding and have more than adequate filtering. This really blows my mind.

Please help I'm soo confused and frustrated right now..........

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

That small of ammonia levels should be ok for water changes assuming that the tank is cycled. In a cycled tank, you should be able to put ammonia into a tank and see it disappear in a short amount of time, leading to a nitrite reading, and eventually nitrates.

With the addition of the plants, you have to make sure that you are removing the dead, decaying plant matter or this will be a big ammonia source, just like with over feeding. Other than that, I do not think plants (alive) can bring an ammonia spike to your tank and there must be another reason.

I will go out on a limb again hoping that I dont get slammed too hard for saying it again, but you shouldnt really need to use ammolock at all if the tank is properly cycled. Think of the tank as having two types of bacteria in it, one that eats ammonia and changes it to nitrites and another that eats the nitrites and makes nitrates. If you constantly use the ammolock, you are ensuring that the bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrites are starved. This would result in a tank that can have a ammonia spike without seeing a nitrite spike later on. So, IMO and IME, it is best to allow your tank to be self sufficient and only use a dechlor conditioner when doing a water change and allow the bacteria in the tank to do the rest.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

I completely agree with your views on Ammolock.. I only started using that a week ago after the first amonia spike just as a last resort to try and save my fish....

 

[PaPeRo]

If you constantly use the ammolock, you are ensuring that the bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrites are starved. This would result in a tank that can have a ammonia spike without seeing a nitrite spike later on. So, IMO and IME, it is best to allow your tank to be self sufficient and only use a dechlor conditioner when doing a water change and allow the bacteria in the tank to do the rest.

You have again completely ignored what i talked about in the other thread.

AMMO LOCK DOES NOT REMOVE AMMONIA THEREFORE IT DOES NOT STARVE THE AMMONIA CONSUMING BACTERIA.

If your tap contains high levels of ammonia then you may need to use Ammo Lock for water changes especially large ones like 50% in order to detoxify the ammonia from harming the fish!

A cycled tank may or may not be able to deal with that extra high level of ammonia instantaneously so it may be a good idea to use Ammo Lock when doing large water chainges that contain high levels of ammonia.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

LOL... well stated PaPeRo....

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Again, just pointing out my opinion on the need for buying and supplimenting water with anything other that a dechlor conditioner and do not see the need for using anything else on a constitant basis because you are locking yourself into spending money that is not completely neccessary. If cycling with fish, you can lower ammonia levels through water changes and if using fish that are not extremely hardy, then good luck anyways. Most fish used for cycling, Mollies for example, can handle many extremes of water chemistry and quality and still live.

This is all my opinions and I am not trying to say anything was done wrong or trying to be judgemental.

If your tap water contains so much ammonia that it can throw a cycled tank into turmoil, then I might go to a doctor quickly.

 

[Bignose]

then I might go to a doctor quickly.

You probably don't need to go to a doctor quickly, unless you are feeling ill. BUT, you should not be having virtually any ammonia in your drinking water at all. I would be definately notifying my water company about this, as those levels should not be for everyday consumption.

A document from the World Health Organization (http/www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/en/ammonia.pdf) says that the average person cannot smell ammonia in their water until 1.5 ppm, and cannot taste ammonia in their water until 35 ppm. The document also says that unless you intake more ammonia than your body can detoxify naturally, humans should be fine. Doses of about 100mg/kg of body weight is cited as approximately that toxic threshold.

That said, it also cites study in rats exposed to low levels of ammonia for long-term, and found significant decreases in bone mass, calcium content and blood pH, lower body masses and fat accumulation. These are all things I would not want to happen to me.

So again, I would definately inquire because there should not be ammonia in the drinking water.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Sooo do you think that its more likely the tap water thats causing my tanks to go into "cycle mode" or could it be from the plants giving off ammonia? I removed the plants yesterday but my tanks are still extremely cloudy... and now the nitrite levels are high but the ammonia is down. I'm almost scared to do a water change though if its the tap water that caused this in the first place.....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well run some water from your tap and do an ammonia test on it, then you'll know at least!

if it is bad then go to your lfs and buy some RO water and do a change with that, you'll need to add trace elements to it as well i believe but having never been in that situation i'm not 100% sure.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

I tested the water from the tap this morning and it is about 1ppm. I never checked it before this happened so possibly it could have always been at this level. Would 1ppm in tap water be a small enough amount for my biological filter to take care of it all the times before when I did water changes? I find it kind of weird that my water quality would change so drastically over a weeks period.

The only other thing that i changed was adding plants. They were the kind with really small leaves that obviously shed a little bit, and I did vaccuum up some of the leaves whenever I did a water change.

Could it have been those decaying that shot up the ammonia so terribly? I'm down to just a few fish in each tank, my Sev died last night. I can barely even see in the 55 gal to look for any others.........

Also heres something else kind of interesting.... Doesn't look like it would do any good to complain to my water company, if this website is accurate..... scroll down to the last paragraph..

http/www.ewg.org/tapwater/contaminants/c...contamcode=1003

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you've lost a lot of fish could a dying bacteria colony be either to blame for the losses or causing the ammonia spike itself? could the plants have been treated with some sort of antibacterial agent that's killing off the filter bacteria?

any ammonia in your tap water doesn't sound good to me, i'd be investing in a water filter before i drank it certainly!!

 

[Bignose]

At the very least, it doesn't hurt to make a few phone calls. I seriously doubt that the water company wants that level of ammonia going out, they may not even know about the problem. Like I said, at the very least, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Then, if you choose to, you could really raise a stink about it, writing letters to the papers and whatnot. But, I don't think I could encourage you enough to at least call of write the water company and get their opinion.

 

[jgray152]

If you have space get one of those large 55 gallon plastic tubes you usually store x-mas stuff in and fill it was tap water. Run a good bio filter on it to cycle the water so its ammonia free