Ammonia in tap water

[Archman66]

Problem:

There is 1 ppm NH3 in my tap water. How should I do water changes? Just RO water with buffers to bring it to pH 7.0?

More Info:

Before I knew this I was mixing RO & tap to pH 7.0 for water changes. I cycled my tank for 6 weeks. When 3 consecutive days (previous post) of testing showed no NH3 nor NO2 I determined my tank wss cycled. I did a 25% water change and went for some fish. I replaced the 8 leopard danios with 12 neon tetras and all but 2 died. It was suggested that my cycle wasn't complete, which didn't make sense since the 3 previous days tested 0 for NH3 and NO2. Then someone suggested I test the water I was putting in the tank. So I tested the RO water, and the tap water separately. The RO water has no NH3, just the tap.

How should I carry out water changes?

[Wild Turkey]

Continue as you would normally, but do smaller more frequent water changes whenever possible. You can do the math to determine how much ammonia you are introducing and keep it low. I.E

25% water change, 50% tap and 50% r/o, so 1.0 /2 = .5 x .25(%) = 0.125ppm of ammonia in your tank after a 25% water change, so nothing your biological filter cant handle quickly and easily most likely, and not high enough to be harmful to most fish that are not overly sensitive.

[Archman66]

Continue as you would normally, but do smaller more frequent water changes whenever possible. You can do the math to determine how much ammonia you are introducing and keep it low. I.E

25% water change, 50% tap and 50% r/o, so 1.0 /2 = .5 x .25(%) = 0.125ppm of ammonia in your tank after a 25% water change, so nothing your biological filter cant handle quickly and easily most likely, and not high enough to be harmful to most fish that are not overly sensitive.

I also get a nitrite spike afterwords of 1 ppm. And it is difficult to bring that down. I'm guessing because I keep adding more ammonia with each change.

[PostalPenguin]

I also get a nitrite spike afterwords of 1 ppm. And it is difficult to bring that down. I'm guessing because I keep adding more ammonia with each change.

Here is an idea. Get a container that can hold the amount of water you use for water changes and get a cheapo HOB filter. Pack the HOB filter full of Ammo-chips. The day before a water change, fill the tank, turn the HOB on and then use that water to mix into your RO water. The ammo-chips will strip the ammonia out of the water and ammo-chips are reusable so you can keep recharging it.

[Wild Turkey]

I also get a nitrite spike afterwords of 1 ppm. And it is difficult to bring that down. I'm guessing because I keep adding more ammonia with each change.

Yea if you change less water and introduce less ammonia, a nitrite spike is less likely as well. Your bacteria can deal with small increases in ammonia pretty quickly and easily, but say .5ppm is a different story and you will probably see some cloudiness and nitrite spikes

PP, I thought ammonia chips just converted the ammonia to ammonium like most ammonia reducers?

[PostalPenguin]

Yea if you change less water and introduce less ammonia, a nitrite spike is less likely as well. Your bacteria can deal with small increases in ammonia pretty quickly and easily, but say .5ppm is a different story and you will probably see some cloudiness and nitrite spikes

PP, I thought ammonia chips just converted the ammonia to ammonium like most ammonia reducers?

Hmm, I was under the impression they removed ammonia. Most sites list them as ammonia removing, rather than ammonia neutralizing. I have no direct experience with them however.

[Wild Turkey]

Im also not 100% on it, since I never really use such products.

Check this thread for me pp while I have your attention
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Miltonic]

If I were you I would do my water changes with just RO water, I've been doing with my fish for months and they all are fine. You can also get Kent's R/O Right to mix with the RO water before the water change, this adds all the minerals lost in the RO water.

[jaysee]

How would it "remove" it? I'm physics, not chemisrty..... I know there's at least a couple of chemists out there, if my memory serves me right.

[MonkeyPox]

ammonia chips are zeolite.

[Wild Turkey]

How would it "remove" it? I'm physics, not chemisrty..... I know there's at least a couple of chemists out there, if my memory serves me right.

I dont think it would really, I think they say "remove" because there is technically no ammonia afterwards, just ammonium. Unless its zeolit or something? Just speculating though

As for the R/O you absolutely have to add something to get the buffer, which is why a lot of people use 50% tap water in the first place, its a lot less costly than buying liquid buffer like kent. If you use just R/O water as is, your tank will be subject to rapid ph swings, so if you use 100% R/O, you have to add the buffer somehow or you will have problems.

Edit: Ah ok monkey says its zeolite

[thrakuarium]

Both Prime and the ammo-chips claim to remove ammonia ( I have both ), but where Prime mentions converting ammonia to a non-toxic form the ammo-chips don't. I would say that the chips function to remove ammonia like carbon will remove meds from water. I would think if they only converted and didn't say so on the packaging they would catch major crud over it.

[Wild Turkey]

Both Prime and the ammo-chips claim to remove ammonia ( I have both ), but where Prime mentions converting ammonia to a non-toxic form the ammo-chips don't. I would say that the chips function to remove ammonia like carbon will remove meds from water. I would think if they only converted and didn't say so on the packaging they would catch major crud over it.

Yea, zeolite is supposed to remove ammonia and other stuff as well

If you want to use it for removing the ammonia from the water change water every week though, it will probably only be worth it if you buy a large amount and bag it up your self

[MonkeyPox]

Both Prime and the ammo-chips claim to remove ammonia ( I have both ), but where Prime mentions converting ammonia to a non-toxic form the ammo-chips don't. I would say that the chips function to remove ammonia like carbon will remove meds from water. I would think if they only converted and didn't say so on the packaging they would catch major crud over it.

Zeolite is an ion exchanger. Different process then carbon.