Tap water already high in ammonia!!
- Thread starter scott9
- Start date
If your tap water has .5 ppm ammonia, it sounds as if it's disinfected with chloramine, a more stable compound than chlorine. Chloramine is ammonia bound to chlorine, and it doesn't dissipate as easily, which is good for disinfection but bad for fish.
Luckily, the solution is easy: use Prime or Amquel to treat your water as you add it to your tank. They will not only detoxify the chlorine, but they'll also neutralized the ammonia. Both work well.
HTH,
Jim
Luckily, the solution is easy: use Prime or Amquel to treat your water as you add it to your tank. They will not only detoxify the chlorine, but they'll also neutralized the ammonia. Both work well.
HTH,
Jim
aqua safe??
When I tested i didnt add any Aqua safe (from tetra aqua) According to the bottle its suppose to neautralize chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. So maybe the test I did meant nothing!! I just changed 3 gallons (out of 10) and added in a bit more aqua safe. Are the product Amquel+ a better product than the Aqua safe??? Thanks Scott
When I tested i didnt add any Aqua safe (from tetra aqua) According to the bottle its suppose to neautralize chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. So maybe the test I did meant nothing!! I just changed 3 gallons (out of 10) and added in a bit more aqua safe. Are the product Amquel+ a better product than the Aqua safe??? Thanks Scott
AquaSafe will not remove ammonia. “neutralizing chloramines” only means it breaks the chloramine bond so that now – instead of chloramines – you have chlorine (which it will get rid of) and ammonia (which it will not). The 2 products JSchmidt mentions will neutralize the ammonia left from the broken bond.
Further reading on Water Conditioners and Dechlorinators:
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm
Further reading on Water Conditioners and Dechlorinators:
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm
Aquasafe uses Sodium Hydroxymethanesulfanate as it main ingredient which means that it can break down and neutralize chloramines. Both the ammonia and chlorine.
It does however tend to be allot more expensive than Prime and Amquel when you break down the cost verses the amount used per treatment.
You should think of changing/sticking with those two as Jim suggested.
It does however tend to be allot more expensive than Prime and Amquel when you break down the cost verses the amount used per treatment.
You should think of changing/sticking with those two as Jim suggested.
Thanks, ScottoMacD. My mistake. I was just going by the statement on the linked page, about halfway down under Additional manufacturer's comments
Tetra AquaSafe
"AquaSafe will not remove ammonia from an uncycled, overstocked, or underfiltered aquarium."
Tetra AquaSafe
"AquaSafe will not remove ammonia from an uncycled, overstocked, or underfiltered aquarium."
I really dont think you should worry about the ammonia, your beficial bacteria will quickly break down any ammonia in the water, and besides all which 20-25% water changes are fine to do without water treatments anyway, its only bigger water changes that need some kind of water condishoner
Vyper said:
If his tap water tests positive for ammonia, that's a sure sign it contains chloramines, a much more stable disinfectant than chlorine. If adding water with simple chlorine, a 20-25% change might not require any dechlorinator.
Doing water changes using water containing chloramines, however, requires something to break the chlorine-ammonia bond. Preferably, one would also use something to detoxify the ammonia (e.g., Amquel, Prime), but a dechlorinator at a minimum is needed. Chloraminated water won't offgas the chlorine, at least not readily. Adding chloraminated water directly to a tank containing fish is asking for trouble.
Jim