Tap water at new location has ammonia. What should I do?

[Gannon]

Before I signed a lease for this apartment I took a bottle of tap water home and tested it. I got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 7.8 ph, 8 gh, 6 kh. This was roughly a month ago.

Today after moving some of my tanks and fish I tested the tap and found the ph to be around 8.5+ and there was .5+ ppm ammonia also. I can try to use RODI again but I have radically less space to accommodate giant bins and waiting for them to fill. I used some acid buffer to get the ph where I wanted but idk what to do about the Ammonia it seems really bad.

it’s been flooding a lot in the area? Could this be the cause? As long as it’s temporary I’ll be okay using RODI for the next two tanks I suppose but if this is permanent idk what to do other than RODI. Thanks for any advice you can offer me on this.

[johnnyxxl]

Could be due to extra treatment, that happened where I used to live.  They would use chlorine most of the time.  Then during bad problems they used chloramine for additional treatment. This is chlorine and ammonia.  

There is prime I believe that will treat for both that can be used.possibly others.

[Sacah]

Hopefully it's just a temporary thing like @johnnyxxl mentioned.

While it's in there, I'd use something specifically for ammonia to treat it, I know Prime says it also detoxifies ammonia, but I've seen people run tests and it did nothing for ammonia, so I'm skeptical.

[Gannon]

On 7/11/2024 at 6:07 PM, johnnyxxl said:

Could be due to extra treatment, that happened where I used to live.  They would use chlorine most of the time.  Then during bad problems they used chloramine for additional treatment. This is chlorine and ammonia.  

There is prime I believe that will treat for both that can be used.possibly others.

 

On 7/11/2024 at 6:27 PM, Sacah said:

Hopefully it's just a temporary thing like @johnnyxxl mentioned.

While it's in there, I'd use something specifically for ammonia to treat it, I know Prime says it also detoxifies ammonia, but I've seen people run tests and it did nothing for ammonia, so I'm skeptical.

Thanks guys for the advice! This does likely delay my ability to take my archers and other fish to the new place but we’ll see how it goes.

if this is temporary. When would you expect it to change? If it goes on for over a month should I just assume this is how it is?

[Biotope Biologist]

Prime “locks” ammonia it doesn’t get rid of it but greatly reduces its reactivity and thus toxicity towards fish. Thats why you will still get ammonia readings after using prime

 

There is a great writeup on prime done by some of our members here that is really worth a read

 

Anyway as stated above sometimes water districts use chloramines to treat. Itd be best to check your local water district site. They usually have all the readings for water your heart could desire…. Unless theyre hiding something 👀 haha. But anyway that might give you a better idea of their schedule

[face]

Another option it to simply do small water changers 25% charge and you probably won’t even be able to detect the ammonia 

and a ro system isn’t very good at getting rid of ammonia it tends to get through the membrane 

man’s to add even more you could try zeolite as well 

Edited July 12 by face
Added stuff lol

[Gannon]

On 7/11/2024 at 6:53 PM, face said:

Another option it to simply do small water changers 25% charge and you probably won’t even be able to detect the ammonia 

and a ro system isn’t very good at getting rid of ammonia it tends to get through the membrane 

Bummer about the RODI. I feel a little like I’m screwed here but idk. We’ll see. Feels like I shouldn’t be keeping anything that isn’t bulletproof now

[face]

The ro member will get ready of a lot of it and DI cartridge will get rid of the rest of the  ammonia if your running a full system but imo it’s a really costly way of going about it you’ll burn through resin fast I think zeolite would be a lot cheaper 

[Gannon]

On 7/11/2024 at 7:05 PM, face said:

The ro member will get ready of a lot of it and DI cartridge will get rid of the rest of the  ammonia if your running a full system but imo it’s a really costly way of going about it you’ll burn through resin fast I think zeolite would be a lot cheaper 

What’s zeolite?

[Gannon]

I looked into this and it seems cool. Wouldn’t this long term hurt my aquariums cycle without much ammonia for it to process? Provided this is faster than the bacteria. 
 

or would this just be used in a water bin or something before water changes?

[face]

On 7/11/2024 at 8:13 PM, Gannon said:

What’s zeolite?

A chemical absorber it’s often used in ammonia removers for aquariums the best part is it can be recharged with salt water you could put some in a bin fill the bin with water and wait till the ammonia is gone then change water like normal 

[Gannon]

On 7/11/2024 at 7:24 PM, face said:

A chemical absorber it’s often used in ammonia removers for aquariums the best part is it can be recharged with salt water you could put some in a bin fill the bin with water and wait till the ammonia is gone then change water like normal 

Would it have to be in a filter or could it just sit there

Like in a media bag of course

[face]

I’ve never used it like this but some water movement is required it can’t remove anything it not touching honestly the stuff isn’t very expensive so you could give it a try with it just sitting there

[Gannon]

On 7/11/2024 at 7:35 PM, face said:

I’ve never used it like this but some water movement is required it can’t remove anything it not touching honestly the stuff isn’t very expensive so you could give it a try with it just sitting there

Will do. I’m hoping this is a temporary thing as a precaution with the flooding in the area and I don’t have to worry about this long term 😕

[Pepere]

I would call the water district and ask them.

 

they can tell you if there is a temporary treatment going on, or they may ask for the address and go flush the water mains near you to flush it out.

[johnnyxxl]

On 7/11/2024 at 8:25 PM, Gannon said:

Would it have to be in a filter or could it just sit there

Like in a media bag of course

Zeolite people add to the filter media just like carbon, pureogen etc.

[Pepere]

Another way to deal with chronic ammonia in tap water, other than zeolite or RODI is a holding tank that you have a cycled filter in.  A decent beneficial bacteria colony should be able to metabolise 2 ppm ammonia challenge in 24 hours to zero ammonia, zero nitrites.  The downside of course is that it will have copious amounts of nitrates…. Floating plants and light can then reduce that…

My tap has 1 ppm ammonia chronically due to my location in relation to the treatment facility.

water districts do not add chloramines to water, rather they inject chlorine and ammonia into the water that combine in the plumbing system to form chloramine.  If you are close to the injection facility you can have chronic low levels.  If the water is stagnant in a low use branch, biofilm can deplete the chlorine component liberating ammonia.  In that case, flushing the water lines can clear it up.  4 ppm seems a bit high for that scenario in my mind..  There is always the possibility calibration of the injection equipment is off too…

for myself, after a 50% water change my tank will show 0.5 ppm that gets metabolized to Zero within hours.  If I need to water change out a quarantine tank where quarantine meds damaged the cycle, I will either transfer in a cycled sponge filter from another tank, or do a cascading water change where I drain water from the quarantine tank and get replacement water from a display tank to go into the quarantine tank, and then refill display tank with tap.

calling the water district would be my first action…

Edited July 12 by Pepere

[Pepere]

Just re read first post to see that it is 0.5 ppm ammonia.  I thought I had read it was 4 ppm ammonia initially.

 

 

I would not be the least concerned with 0.5 ppm ammonia.  I deal with 1 ppm and practically speaking it is a non issue.  If you do a 50% water change in a well cycled tNk it will be gone in hours…,  if Prime and Fritz complete really do something to “lock up” ammonia temporarily, then all the better. I dont have much confidence in the claims, and would never rely on them to do anything useful regarding ammonia, but I am happy to have the protection if my doubts are baseless and it does do something….  I always double dose the tank with dechlor when I do a water change.