How Does The Ph Of Water Affect Ammonia

[scotty]

is it the higher the ph the more toxic the ammonia gets? is there a ph level that neutralises a certain concentration of ammonia?

scott

 

[StandbySetting]

Higher the pH the more ammonia there is, it's all to do with the ammonium/ammonia equilibrium, a lower pH favours ammonium whereas a higher pH favours ammonia, ammonium is less toxic, there is no way of neutralising Ammonia by changing pH

EDIT

I should add that both ammonia and ammonium are present, it's just that the balance of each changes with pH, so a lower pH and there will be more ammonium and vice versa.

 

[Akasha72]

that's interesting. My ph in my new tank has dropped to around 6 (it was steady at 6.8 in the old tank) There's a new piece of bogwood in there which is more than likely to blame. I've recently been getting ammonia readings of 0.50ppm (new tank with old media seeding = mini cycle) but the fish wern't affected by it at all - in fact I've not seen them as active for a while.

I still changed water regardless though but it answers my query as to why the fish wern't close to death with an ammonia reading that high. Thanks for that