Amonia In Tap Water

[San O Fisher]

so i am trying to figure out why lately my amonia levels rose a bit despite water changes and today i just checked the tap water and my kit tested it at around a 1ppm level. is this normal? If it is not normal I suppose i will have to find another source of water. my tank cycled fine, but when i added my gold nugget pleco my amonia level rose - i figured it went into a mini cycle and i have been doing water changes. any advice on what to do or if this is noramal. I dont want to lose my plec!

 

[Bignose]

You probably should talk to your water company. That reading seems high to me. Your tank's bioflter should be grow large enough to take core if it pretty quick, but if you are really concerned you can get a dechlorinator that also detoxifies ammonia. Usually, those declorinators work by trapping the ammonia in a larger chemical, but that ammonia is still available to the biofilter so the tank doesn't uncycle because of the declorinator.

Your water company may have a problem somewhere that is causing ammonia to show up. Also, they may be using cloramine and accidentally using too much ammonia (the -amine part of chloramine). That will happen once in a while. But, it shouldn't be happening all the time. Ammonia in your water long-term really isn't healthy.

 

[fry_lover]

i seem to get about 0.1 mg/l in mine, i would say no more than 0.1 mg/l but when i compare the results, my tap water does contain more ammonia than any of my x5 established tanks

I use Seachem Prime as a water conditioner and i know for a fact my Water Company uses Chlorimine

People reading, up to 0.1 mg/l normal?

 

[Bignose]

I think that it is a least a little unclear how much ammonia is too much. There is a World Health Organization document that has some info in it: http/www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/ammonia.pdf

It indicates that it is pretty safe for humans to take in ammonia up to 100 mg of ammonia per kg of body weight per day. But, that exact same report talks about rats given water with ammonia in it to drink and the rats experienced "significant decreases in bone mass, calcium content, and blood pH." I certainly don't want that to happen to me!

The report also says that naturally, there will be below 0.2 mg/L of ammonia in water, unless you check the groundwater under a forest (up to 3 mg/L then).

Nevertheless, I think it is always a good idea to check with the water company. At least get their take on it -- they may not even know about it. Or they may not care. I don't know, but I think it is worth a phone call or two.

 

[San O Fisher]

but if you are really concerned you can get a dechlorinator that also detoxifies ammonia. Usually, those declorinators work by trapping the ammonia in a larger chemical, but that ammonia is still available to the biofilter so the tank doesn't uncycle because of the declorinator.

Do you have one you would reccomend? Top fin has an reducer i think and then there is ammo lock - if i added a small amount just to the bucket of water that is being poured in would that make it any better? I am going to contact my water company tomorrow and see what the deal is. it is good to know that it is not something that i caused