Higer Ammonia After Water Conditioner

[memder]

Sorry, I come back with another ammonia question again.

My tap water, before adding conditioner, has an ammonia reading of 0.25-0.5. I switched to Prime Seachem which says it removes ammonia.

This morning before water change, the water in the tank actually showed 0 ammonia. But after water change, the ammonia level was 0.25. This afternoon, it was still 0.25.

I am confused. Isn't the conditioner supposed to reduce the ammonia? Why did it actually worsen the water?

I am also not so sure about the method I chang the water. I only add the conditioner to the new water proportionally. Say, if I do a 2 gallon water change, I only put 0.2 ml Prime in the new water(on their label, it says 5ml for 50 gallons), then add the new water into the tank. Is this right? Or should I put 1ml for the whole 10 gallon tank each time I do a partial water change?

Thanks.

 

[Tolak]

Prime, or other water treatments that state that they eliminate ammonia convert it to ammonium, which is harmless to fish at levels found in an aquarium. With the single reagent tests ammonium is detected the same as ammonia.

The chloramine in most municipal water supplies is a combination of chlorine & ammonia. When your dechlor eliminates the chlorine it will leave you with ammonia, which is converted to ammonium with better water treatments. This would cause what appears to be an increase in ammonia after a water change.

 

[waterdrop]

I am an example that Tolak is right. My water authority definately uses the chloramination method. I tested my tap water with the API ammonia test kit and it measured 0ppm ammonia. I then used a dechlorination/dechloramination product in the correct amount and measured the ammonia again. Right away I saw a very small ammonia reading, representing the ammonium released when the dechlor product separated the chlorine from the ammonia in the chloramines.

The amounts involved here don't normally present any practical problems we have to worry about.

You are correct that you only need to dechlor for the amount of replacement water you are adding, not for the whole tank volume again. Many aquarists calculate the product amount, toss half that amount into the tank as they fire up the refill hose, then toss in the other half of the chemical near the end of the refill.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[memder]

Thanks