Seachem And Ammonia-confused :s

[ellena]

I bought 4 endlers on saturday to add to my current 6. When I put them in, they are a bit bigger so I've effectively doubled the stocking. I was really cross with myself
Anyway, I tested ammonia on sunday and it was 0.25ppm so I thought 'I'm in for a few weeks of water changes here'. I used seachem prime as my water conditioner though and I haven't seen any ammonia since.
I know it changes ammonia into ammonium, but this still shows on the API liquid kit doesn't it?

As a scientific aside, I don't really get this ammonia to ammonium thing. Ammonia, NH[sub]3[/sub] is a gas, in water it forms a solution of NH[sub]4[/sub]OH which dissociates into NH[sub]4[/sub]+ and OH- ions, giving it its alkalinity. So what does the seachem actually do?
Thanks if you can satisfy my idle curiosity

 

[coldcazzie]

Your bacteria may have caught up that quickly - after all, in optimum conditions they only take 24 hrs to double in numbers...

 

[aaronnorth]

I dont think it changes ammonia to ammonium, but a form of thiosulphate is used to neutralise the Chlorine. and another chemical, which i have read is Sodium Hydroxymethanesulfonate neutralises the ammonia.

ammonium still registers on test kits.

 

[ellena]

Right, thanks guys So my fish are definitely not sat in ammonia, that's what I was mainly worried about.