Wow!! High Ammonia in my tap water

[cobraden]

I set up a small tank at my new house and couldn't figure out why my ammonia was so high. Just decided to check the tap water and it comes out of the tap at almost 2.0! Granted I'm using a cheap API test kit but still.... No wonder my water changes were not helping to bring it down.

[algarciajr]

That is really high out of the tap. Do you have a cycled tank that you could use media to help cycle your new tank faster so that ammonia can be broken down after water changes?

[cobraden]

yes I have a couple tanks. I was just very surprised how high it was coming out of the tap.

[fshfrk]

God I miss plain old chlorine. Ammonias a BIOTCH. Prime or Safe will break the bond of the chloramines. Your API test kit will still show ammonia even though it's in a safe form called ammonium. Your BIO filter should handle the ammonium with no problem. Good Luck.

[myjohnson]

Sachem safe FTW!

[fshfrk]

yes I have a couple tanks. I was just very surprised how high it was coming out of the tap.

Yea it's lake Houston water and then your mud district treats it. Fill a bucket with your water and treat it with your declorinator(prime or safe) and then test for ammonia. It will still show ammonia but it will be a harmless form called ammonium. The test kit does not distinquish the difference between the two.Your filter should handle it. I know what you mean when all of a sudden you have ammonia in your water it' s scary.

[davemonkey]

Yikes! This is why I love planted tanks so much. If the water has ammonia in it at water change, my plants get a heapin' helpin' of the good stuff. I kinda miss it now (just moved and have well water...would be perfect for fish only I suppose ).

[Andrew_B]

This has caused me problems in the past. It's not so much the ammonia as it is the nitrates. The ammonia gets broken down quick, but you do a water change to drop nitrates, yet they come back a few hours later with breaking down the newly introduced ammonia. It's hard for me to stay below 30-40ppm of nitrates for longer than a day. It doesn't greally go higher than that though. Just got back from vacation a couple days ago, was gone for a week, didn't do any water changes in roughly 2 weeks. Tested water, 40ppm nitrates. Do a water change, drops down to 10 right after, test it 2 hours later and its back up to 30ppm.

[algarciajr]

Have you used Purigen? I have never tried it but some people on here swear by it.