Ammonia!!

[LKravitzDO]

So, I am currently cycling my tank, with fish. I do my water check, a little ammonia, a little nitrIte, and a little nitrAte. So, I decided to do a ~20% water change, and for some strange reason I decided to test the new tank water and the water from the tap (treated w/ stress coat to dechlorinate) and I am shocked to see that they are all the same color!! Is it possible that I have ammonia in my tap water? and that every time I have been doing water changes, I have just been adding more ammonia back? Please help!!

 

[Rodders]

My tap water has EXTREMELY high leves of nitrate, dark red when i test it.
I have to say, i havnt tested it for nitrite or ammonia, but i wouldnt of thought that would be in there, not 100% sure.
But my ammonia and nitrite in the tank are zero anyway, its only the nitrate that affects me.

 

[LKravitzDO]

Wow!, well what concerns me is if I should pre treat the water with an ammonia neutralizer (like amquel) before i put it into tank?

 

[catfishfan]

If you are on a city or town water supply it is possible to have ammonia in your water. They add it in small amounts to aid in the treatment of the water. Kinda of a scary thing, I would think they would find a less toxic way to treat water

 

[catfishfan]

heres a link I found.... if you scroll down youll find the adding of chlorine and ammonia.

http/www.town.aurora.on.ca/live/waterqua...ortdec2002.html

 

[wetwetwet]

Check your test kit and make sure it's in date before adding more chems to your tank....




www

 

[LKravitzDO]

ok,so i think i figured it out, 2 different things chlorine and chloramine ( whic i have both of in my water, probably) , i add conditioner and it only gets rid of the chlorine, when you remove chlorine from chloramine, i'm left w/ ammonia. Therefore what i probaly need to do with my water, is treat w/ something like amquel+ which removes chlorine and ammonia (i think)... make sense??

 

[Rodders]

Ammonia should be taken out by your filter if its working properly.
The filter will process the ammonia (the bacteria in it) into nitrates, which arnt has harmful to fish, and also your live plants food.
Nitrites you shouldnt have a prob with either if your filter is working properly. The filter turns ammonia into nitrites before into nitrates, so again, if your filter is working properly you shouldnt have a problem.
Now i know your cycling, so your filter isnt 100% at the momnet, so this would be expected.
Nitrates in your tank should be taken by your plants, but they might not be able to cope with the ammounts on their own, so keep an eye on the levels of that.
I am putting a Interper nitrsafe in mine as my tap water has high nitrates to start with, let alone what the filters kicking out.

What sort of levels you talking about when you say a 'little bit of'. I dont like adding chemicals to my tank unless i really need to, cant be good for them. You might be able to get away with water changes until its fully cycled.

Dunno if this helps anyway.

 

[LKravitzDO]

yeah, my ammonia was ~ 1ppm and that was in the tap water! so what happened was i tested my tank water ammonia 1ppm, i then tested my h20 before doing a 25% water change, tested the tank after water change and still 1ppm!! So i think I need to treat my tap h2o first??

 

[Rodders]

No, once the filters going properly, it should cope with that.
Try not to pump chemicals in.
The level should reach 0, then it should stay there!