Ammonia In Tap Water

[tmiller]

First of all great site, tons of useful knowledge to be had here, thanks.

Now here is my situation.
I am just over a week into a fish in cycle.
If I had found this site just a few hours earlier I wouldn't be doing 2 water changes a day and testing at least 3 times a day.
After checking my tank post 50% water change I noticed that my ammonia reading didn't drop as much as I expected.
So being curious I mixed up a gallon of dechlorinated and immediately tested it... I got a reading of .25ppm.(I'm using API master kit)

I'm assuming that my water company is adding Chloramine however my dechlorinator (Topfin Tap water Dechlorinator)states on the bottle it removes said contaminate so why the reading?

I'm at a loss as how to proceed here. would prefer to not stress the poor little guys any more than I have to.
at the moment in a 30 gallon 1/2 round acrylic tank i have
6 baby african cichlids all less than 1/2" long (sure I wish I had read about fish less cycling before I brought them home)
2 small yellow mystery snails
2 ghost shrimp
1 loach ( i forget exactly what kind at the moment ) about 1.75" long and thin

So far they are not showing any serious signs of stress but if I don't get a handle on this that will change rapidly.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
thanks

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

So you've got ammonia in your tapwater? I think this is quite common, it's reccommended that you use a dechlorinator called Seachem Prime as it neutralises ammonia into a form that the bacteria can still process but isn't harmful to fish.

 

[tmiller]

This the stuff?
The answer I hope

I will give it a try and report success I hope.

I feel fairly horrible putting these little guys through this.
the last aquarium i had was over 15 years ago , I don't even remember if i knew anything about cycling or not.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

yep! You'll also probably want to get yourself a little syringe for dosing it because it's VERY concentrated so you only need a small amount, ebay is always good

 

[tmiller]

Thank you very much.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Most dechlorinators turn Ammonia which is harmful, into Ammonium which isnt, but test kits still pick it up as ammonia, hence your reading after dosing with dechlorinator.


Tom

 

[tmiller]

Most dechlorinators turn Ammonia which is harmful, into Ammonium which isnt, but test kits still pick it up as ammonia, hence your reading after dosing with dechlorinator.


Tom

Ahh yes. thank you tom.
I do remember reading something about that now.
I was particularly tired after work this morning (work 3pm to 3am) and became frustrated quickly.
I'm still leaning towards picking up some of the recommended "prime" as it seems a bit higher quality, at lest from its description.

So I'm assuming one would take an initial reading as a base line and watch for an increase? So since my initial is .25ppm i would then become concerned at .50ppm correct?
Forgive me as I'm sure it has been covered 100 times in previous posts and I appreciate your patience.

 

[paulyoung666]

you should be able to check your water supply company to see what conditions they supply your water at , i checked mine and also found out that they still use chlorine not chloramine ....

 

[OldMan47]

I actually have the same problem that you do tmiller. My tap water reads around 1 ppm of ammonia right after I dechlorinate it. The ammonia comes from the chemical bonds in chloramine being broken by the dechlorinator and results in chlorine and ammonia. Even with that issue, my fish do better after a 95%+ water change if they have been suffering from chemical issues. In fact I use Prime as my dechlorinator and it temporarily makes the ammonia less toxic. A day or two later I again will do a huge water change to remove ammonia or nitrites and again the fish look far better after the change than before it. It is not an optimal situation but water changes still work well.

 

[tmiller]

I am doing one or two water changes a day so far and seeing decent results.
Am I correct in assuming that after fully cycled the bacteria will deal with that all on its own?
I am looking at switching my hob filter out for a nice canister, haven't gotten allot of feedback on my questions over in the hardware section though..
Maybe once I settle on one I'll do the cycle in bucket thing I read about with it and switch out when its matured and possibly save of some of the hundreds of water changes I foresee on my current path

 

[FishFanatic04]

Your filter will handle the tap water when you are cycled...using Seachem prime will help until your filter converts it. I have ammonia in my tap too. It wasn't ideal for doing a fish-in cycle, it made everything a little harder, more water changes. Stick in there, once your done cycling you will be so efficient at water changes. I can change 90% of the water in my 46g in 20 mins, start to finish. After a month of cycling, I also had strong arms from hauling buckets

Welcome to the forum!

 

[tmiller]

Your filter will handle the tap water when you are cycled...using Seachem prime will help until your filter converts it. I have ammonia in my tap too. It wasn't ideal for doing a fish-in cycle, it made everything a little harder, more water changes. Stick in there, once your done cycling you will be so efficient at water changes. I can change 90% of the water in my 46g in 20 mins, start to finish. After a month of cycling, I also had strong arms from hauling buckets

Welcome to the forum!

A little empathy and encouragement goes a long way, Thank You
And I agree as I am already getting quite skilled at water changes, a 75% on my 30 in under 15min including a good vacuuming of the sand substrate all with minimal drips on the hardwood tonight.

Now if i could only get some opinions on my filter choices post over in hardware "Here" .
I'm leaning towards this unit Eheim ECCO 2234
but would like some feedback on some of the other units listed as well if anyone has any experience with them.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I have a Rena Filstar xp2 on my 46g and a xp3 on my 75g. I love them so far. Very quiet and plenty off room for extra media. They are very easy to open up to clean and get started up again. I don't have experience with the others you listed.

 

[tmiller]

I have a Rena Filstar xp2 on my 46g and a xp3 on my 75g. I love them so far. Very quiet and plenty off room for extra media. They are very easy to open up to clean and get started up again. I don't have experience with the others you listed.

Thank you,
I will take a look at those as well

 

[waterdrop]

I believe the Rena filters have received good reviews from OM47 if I'm remembering correctly, and others as well. I believe questions have been raised in the past about the reliability of the asian ecco lines from Eheim. The main German lines from Eheim have received good reviews from members for a long time, similar to the Rena filters. I use an Eheim EC and have been very happy with it.

WD