Oh Great...Ammonia in Tapwater

[Where the river goes]

Looks like our water has recently had ammonia added to it, or could it be the chloramines giving an ammonia reading? This must be a recent addition 'cause when I did a test on my tanks last month I had no ammonia reading. I've never had a positive ammonia test for the tapwater before either. Now the reading is @ .25-1.0 ppm

To hopefully solve this I used amquel in a gallon of tapwater and when I tested I still got a positive ammonia reading. Now, the bottle says Nessler reagents will give false readings...does anyone know if the dipstick type test kits use Nessler reagents? I think I'm better off buying an ammonia test kit that is Salicylate based which according to the bottle will give a true ammonia reading.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[mrV]

They probably add chlorine (it reacts with water and form hypochlorite etc..) and after that they probably add ammonia. And final result are chloramines. It depends on water quality (pH etc..) what "chloramine" there is, but major product is monochloroamine (NH2Cl) (and dichloroamine (NHCl2)).

So, if your water plant adds some ammonia-product, and you have sensitive fishes, use some water conditioner. E.g. Tetra promises that their product, Tetra AquaSafe, also binds ammonia. If your tank is old, well working environment, then bacteria take care of ammonia quickly. When you do water changes, do smaller but often. If you have changed water though 30-40% weekly, do it 20% twice a week now.

 

[crazie.eddie]

This must be a recent addition 'cause when I did a test on my tanks last month I had no ammonia reading. I've never had a positive ammonia test for the tapwater before either.

It sounds like you tested your tank, not your tap. Did you test your tap water before putting it in your tank?

 

[pendragon]

As I understand it, when you "break the chloramine bond" - as dechlorinators claim to do - a byproduct is ammonia. Some dechlorinators (like Tetra AquaSafe) also include an ammonia-neutralizing component to deal with this, but many do not. If you use a dechlorinator that breaks up the chloramine but does not deal with the ammonia, some ammonia is likely in the water (which you will promptly put into your tank). I believe most dechlorinators that deal with chloramine but not the resulting ammonia will inidicate this on the label in some way, shape, or form. Just my speculation here, but I wouldn't think the quantity of ammonia produced in this way would be much of a problem for a cycled tank anyhow, but I don't know for certain (is there a chemist in the house?). If in doubt, I'd either use a dechlorinator that you're certain does deal with the ammonia, or add a neutralizer (Amquel, AmmoLock, etc.) to the new water before putting it in the tank.

pendragon!

 

[mrV]

If you use a dechlorinator that breaks up the chloramine but does not deal with the ammonia, some ammonia is likely in the water (which you will promptly put into your tank)

If H in under 7, then ammonia forms ammonium-ion (NH4+). If pH is over 7, then there is also free ammonia and the hgiherthe pH is the more free ammonia is in water.

If you still use some other product than e.g. Tetra AquaSafe that binds also ammonia, you should watch your fishes. If they are sensitive (like Apistogrammas), it would be better to do small water changes often than one huge at once. Well working tank has lots of nitrification bacteria and small amount of ammonia is oxidize quickly to nitrite and so on... hopefully B) But still, if you have some water contioners that promise to also bind ammonia, use it.

 

[Where the river goes]

It sounds like you tested your tank, not your tap. Did you test your tap water before putting it in your tank?

I first tested the tapwater to see what I had back when I setup the minibows in November, but it's not something I test on a regular basis. I usually test the tanks monthly, unless there is something amiss. When I tested the tank the afternoon after the water change I got an ammonia reading. I know these tanks are cycled and there hasn't been anything (to my knowledge) that has interupted this, that's when I decided to test the tapwater and found it to be the culprit.

Thanks for the good info MrV and Pendragon. I feel much more comfortable handling this situation now that I have more information on this. I guess it was more of me freaking out when I got an ammonia reading on my tapwater Glad I found out though as now I can deal with it properly.