Confusion as to when 'cycling' is complete.

[JazzyV]

I have a question Not sure if I’ll ask it right ..bare with me please…so if one has chloramine in their tap, they are able to prime and break it down to ammonia…but the levels is .25 to 1ppm and possibly close to breaching 2 ppm…depending on day and time of day…bc of location along pipeline…it does not ever show up on an alert kit with the chip technology..would you say one needs to prep it for biological filtration to receive it once cycle or the levels are safe bc the alert chip didn’t pick it up…how would one go about to best cycling a tank with ammonia in tap with the chloramine relation.
Then the challenge of each water change is also introducing ammonia .25-2ppm. What about the vary percentage of your water change volume? Should it be limited to small water changes only or is it true 50% water change days are safe for a cycle tank with ammonia in tap.

 

[Byron]

I have a question Not sure if I’ll ask it right ..bare with me please…so if one has chloramine in their tap, they are able to prime and break it down to ammonia…but the levels is .25 to 1ppm and possibly close to breaching 2 ppm…depending on day and time of day…bc of location along pipeline…it does not ever show up on an alert kit with the chip technology..would you say one needs to prep it for biological filtration to receive it once cycle or the levels are safe bc the alert chip didn’t pick it up…how would one go about to best cycling a tank with ammonia in tap with the chloramine relation.
Then the challenge of each water change is also introducing ammonia .25-2ppm. What about the vary percentage of your water change volume? Should it be limited to small water changes only or is it true 50% water change days are safe for a cycle tank with ammonia in tap.

How are you determining the level of ammonia to be 2 ppm or lower?

Moving on, if there is ammonia in the tap water, there are two things to note. First, if the pH is on the acidic side (below 7.0) the ammonia will be primarily ammonium which is harmless. Plants and nitrifiers will take it up the same as ammonia, but it is harmless before they do if it is ammonium.

Second thing, you can use a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia (they do this by changing it to ammonium). This lasts around 36 hours, the idea being that by then the nitrifiers/plants will be able to deal with it. Fast-growing live plants (floating are ideal) will easily take up this ammonia rapidly.

 

[JazzyV]

api test kit…then it doesn’t seem to show up on strip tests either ..I think api is “forget I ever read it”

im uncertain if it’s ammonium..spoke to lfs they Basicly told me not to worry about api test ..forget about it and just know if my alert chip doesn’t pick it up but those are delayed so I’m not sure if it works bc the ph one doesn’t for me. Drives me nuts so I test around the clock for months until I get to know my water.

i think I may have broken it down to ammonium but I can’t be certain …that 36 hours kinda sounds familiar

 

[Essjay]

The API liquid reagent ammonia tester tests for total ammonia - that's ammonia and ammonium combined. So even if it's all in the ammonium form it will still show up in the test. And that includes the detoxified ammonia after adding the water conditioner.

Some of the alert type testers only register ammonia, they don't detect ammonium.

 

[JazzyV]

The lfs test against their chip and they say it’s only .25 so my alert reading should be working. The sample water I gave them was a low read mid day. So they haven’t seen it on high days. The owner test for me himself. But Idk I thought any ammonia is a no no but ammonium is okay but he didn’t say. I don’t think I understand him. He told me just do 50% water changes no worries. But some days the green on the api it increases..my tanks are cycled so I’m okay now for bio to receive. But if I cycle a new tank I wait until the api clears too in case it’s picking up on cloramines cousin and I’m not sure is she’s cool lol

 

[JazzyV]

Right so I dug up water chemistry on chloramine like a “mad women water chemist“ and spoke to my family in Greek they just say that’s way outta our interest and ..Um no

 

[ClownLurch]

Why not just keep it simple. Full your tank with water put a whole lot of plants in the tank. wait until the plant starts growing ( 10-14 days ) add your first fish a few at a time. Test for nothing.

You missed out the bit about going to the pub for the two weeks.

 

[ClownLurch]

The lfs test against their chip and they say it’s only .25 so my alert reading should be working. The sample water I gave them was a low read mid day. So they haven’t seen it on high days. The owner test for me himself. But Idk I thought any ammonia is a no no but ammonium is okay but he didn’t say. I don’t think I understand him. He told me just do 50% water changes no worries. But some days the green on the api it increases..my tanks are cycled so I’m okay now for bio to receive. But if I cycle a new tank I wait until the api clears too in case it’s picking up on cloramines cousin and I’m not sure is she’s cool lol

Have you tested your tap water for Ammonia?
My tap water reads 0.25 for Ammonia minutes after leaving the tap then also 24 hrs later then a week later just prior to a WC.

 

[JazzyV]

Yes this is testing tap

 

[JazzyV]

The API liquid reagent ammonia tester tests for total ammonia - that's ammonia and ammonium combined. So even if it's all in the ammonium form it will still show up in the test. And that includes the detoxified ammonia after adding the water conditioner.

Some of the alert type testers only register ammonia, they don't detect ammonium.

I hear ya…so would you deem it safe to use? I literally went through a monsterous amount of test strips, meters, more tests kits around the market to try and learn my water about 6 months ago to try banging it out. Would you say it’s safe to use on a new tank to cycle ? I use filter water until it’s safely cycle before I cut straight tap decllorinate. It’s more expensive to keep fish if it’s not necessary to do so. Thank you for helping.

 

[Essjay]

For cycling, all you need to do is use tap water and add water conditioner. If you don't split the chloramine and remove the chlorine half, the bacteria won't grow. Chlorine and chloramine is added to our water to kill bad bacteria so they don't make us ill. But they also kill good bacteria like those we want to grow in our fish tanks. So we have to remove chlorine, whether it's added to the water as chlorine or chloramine.
During fishless cycling, we add ammonia so the ammonia half of the chloramine in your water is not a problem as you need to add more of it. If you do a plant cycle, the ammonia half of the chloramine will feed the plants and make them grow better.

Once the tank is cycled, the bacteria or plants will be able to remove all the ammonia half of chloramine in a few hours. If the water conditioner detoxifies ammonia, it can't harm the fish for those few hours, and it will all be gone long before the time the ammonia detoxifier wears off.

 

[JazzyV]

Please read again Most of what you mention is known

 

[JazzyV]

Forget I ask. First one didn’t even know it was testing ammonia water source makes me know didn’t even read. Then this…forget I ask.
Thank you