Ammonia readings

[Mathew1991]

Can anybody help me with readings

I can’t work out if this has ammonia in or not

I always seem to struggle reading ammonia

 

[Lcc86]

To my eye it looks like it reads 0 but I'm not sure if others would see it differently! Not sure if it would be easier to read if the bottle was laid down on the white surface?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Hard to tell with the light. Looks to me like you might have just a trace. If you put the bottle against a white surface under brighter lighting we could probably tell for sure. Small amounts of ammonia can be hard to detect on tests. If in doubt, play it safe and treat it like a positive reading.

 

[AlexT]

I can't tell mate to be honest

 

[Byron]

It is not enough to worry about, assuming things in the tank are ship-shape. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia, and with what result? If you have live plants, they will gobble this up depending how many and which ones, floaters the best for this, real "ammonia sinks."

 

[Mathew1991]

Thanks everybody

I always find it hard to tell if there is a reading or not

 

[Ram419]

My tap has 1ppm ammonia in it. Nothing I can really do other then have plants that use it, or change to RO water and add my own minerals in.

Well, I suppose one could use something like API Ammo Lock, forgot about that until just now. Not sure if anyone has any info on wheather or not that is a good idea to use but thought I'd throw that out there. What are folks thoughts on Ammo Lock?

 

[Byron]

My tap has 1ppm ammonia in it. Nothing I can really do other then have plants that use it, or change to RO water and add my own minerals in.

Well, I suppose one could use something like API Ammo Lock, forgot about that until just now. Not sure if anyone has any info on wheather or not that is a good idea to use but thought I'd throw that out there. What are folks thoughts on Ammo Lock?

First thing to note is, that a balanced healthy aquarium does not have ammonia or nitrite issues, so any chemical filtration to deal with such is (or should be) totally unnecessary. Second, if you have live plants, they will take up as much ammonia as the fish and decomposition could ever produce, and some of these chemical filtration products detrimentally affect plants.

 

[Ram419]

@Byron Yes, I"m aware. This was for my tap water that has 1ppm ammonia in it. Trying to lower that number during water changes.

 

[Byron]

@Byron Yes, I"m aware. This was for my tap water that has 1ppm ammonia in it. Trying to lower that number during water changes.

I believe this topic is being covered in another thread-- isn't it? Twotankamin has posted therein...?

 

[Ram419]

I believe this topic is being covered in another thread-- isn't it? Twotankamin has posted therein...?

Oh yeah, I think you are right. The Water Changes thread? I just askings same question in there about Ammo Lock and thought this was the thread you were replying to.

 

[Byron]

Oh yeah, I think you are right. The Water Changes thread? I just askings same question in there about Ammo Lock and thought this was the thread you were replying to.

OK. My response in this current thread is general, that chemical filtration is not advisable with plants. The other thread has specific issues.

 

[Ram419]

OK. My response in this current thread is general, that chemical filtration is not advisable with plants. The other thread has specific issues.

Yeah, I'm still left with 0.25ppm ammonia after the Ammo Lock. So I think I'm still good with using it.

 

[Byron]

Yeah, I'm still left with 0.25ppm ammonia after the Ammo Lock. So I think I'm still good with using it.

I don't think this is wise. First, ammonia in the source water is best dealt with by using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia. This will be immediate. As the bacteria and (even more) the plants get active in taking the ammonia up, it is gone within 24 hours.

 

[Ram419]

I don't think this is wise. First, ammonia in the source water is best dealt with by using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia. This will be immediate. As the bacteria and (even more) the plants get active in taking the ammonia up, it is gone within 24 hours.

Not sure I understand what you just said. Isn't the Ammo Lock a conditioner that dextoxifies ammonia? Your statement makes it sounds like that is what I should do but at first you say it isn't wise.