ammonia in tap water

[Dale Henderson]

My tap water has an ammonia level of about .25ppm (and a nitrate level
of 5ppm) from what I've been reading this is enough to be toxic to
fish. So my question is what should I do about it. My aquarium is in
the middle of a fishless cycle right now when I add 2ppm ammonia its
it's gone in 24hrs. So should I just use tap water and leave it to the
bacteria to take care of it. Or should I find another source of water.

My water comes from a private well and as far as I can tell there is
no chlorine. But the water is very hard with a high alkalinity and a
pH of 8.2. So what can I do to soften the water and maybe bring down
the pH.

[David C. Stone]

In article >, Dale Henderson
> wrote:

> My tap water has an ammonia level of about .25ppm (and a nitrate level
> of 5ppm) from what I've been reading this is enough to be toxic to
> fish. So my question is what should I do about it. My aquarium is in
> the middle of a fishless cycle right now when I add 2ppm ammonia its
> it's gone in 24hrs. So should I just use tap water and leave it to the
> bacteria to take care of it. Or should I find another source of water.
>
> My water comes from a private well and as far as I can tell there is
> no chlorine. But the water is very hard with a high alkalinity and a
> pH of 8.2. So what can I do to soften the water and maybe bring down
> the pH.

Invest in a domestic water treatment system - especially if the nitrates
are high. Given the ammonia, I would expect that to be the case.

[spiral_72]

A nitrate level of 5ppm is nothing. I dose nitrates to KEEP 5ppm for my
plants. Add several plants and you won't have a problem. IMO don't
worry about nitrates until they exceed 25ppm..... (IMO)

The ammonia? I've not had much experience with. I've had a slight touch
of ammonia once, but as far as I know there were no side effects.
Supposedly ammonia IS one of the more deadly parameters though.

Peat granules worked pretty well for my well water but if you use a
mixture of distilled water it'll bring hardness and pH levels down in a
hurry. I dunno if this will help, but my well water goes through a
cylce of nitrates and phosphates during the year. I have no idea what
causes it. Maybe it is fertilizers in the ground water, I dunno.

My Aquaria info & pics at:
http://www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

[Rocco Moretti]

Dale Henderson wrote:
> My tap water has an ammonia level of about .25ppm (and a nitrate level
> of 5ppm) from what I've been reading this is enough to be toxic to
> fish. So my question is what should I do about it. My aquarium is in
> the middle of a fishless cycle right now when I add 2ppm ammonia its
> it's gone in 24hrs.

You don't have chlorine to worry about, but you could always try a water
treatment conditioner that also works to bind ammonia, like AmQuel.

The other option is to limit your water change volumes. If tap water is
0.25 ppm ammonia, a 20% water change will give your tank an ammonia
level of only 0.05 ppm (assuming no ammonia in the tank prior to water
change). Limiting yourself to a 10% change will give you 0.025 ppm
final, etc.

Another possibility is to let you water sit for a while with aeration.
Since free ammonia is a gas like chlorine, it will tend to diffuse out
of the water over time. The big caveat is that I'm not sure at which
rate - it might be too slow to make a big deal of it.

And always, you can't go wrong with overfiltering and having lots of
live plants. (Wild idea - you could have a "plant only" tank which gets
tap water, and your fish tanks are topped up with water taken from the
plant only tank.)

[Elaine T]

Dale Henderson wrote:
> My tap water has an ammonia level of about .25ppm (and a nitrate level
> of 5ppm) from what I've been reading this is enough to be toxic to
> fish. So my question is what should I do about it. My aquarium is in
> the middle of a fishless cycle right now when I add 2ppm ammonia its
> it's gone in 24hrs. So should I just use tap water and leave it to the
> bacteria to take care of it. Or should I find another source of water.
>
> My water comes from a private well and as far as I can tell there is
> no chlorine. But the water is very hard with a high alkalinity and a
> pH of 8.2. So what can I do to soften the water and maybe bring down
> the pH.
>
I'd add a 1/4 dose of AmQuel to deal with the ammonia. Even very small
amounts are toxic at pH 8.2. As far as softening, consider keeping fish
suited to your hard water like livebearers and African Cichlids.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[David Zopf]

"Rocco Moretti" > wrote in message
...


> (Wild idea - you could have a "plant only" tank which gets tap water, and
> your fish tanks are topped up with water taken from the plant only tank.)

This hobby has _such_ the slippery slope... Love it! :-)

DaveZ
Atom Weaver

[Dale Henderson]

"spiral_72" > writes:

>
> Peat granules worked pretty well for my well water but if you use a
> mixture of distilled water it'll bring hardness and pH levels down in a
> hurry. I dunno if this will help, but my well water goes through a
> cylce of nitrates and phosphates during the year. I have no idea what
> causes it. Maybe it is fertilizers in the ground water, I dunno.
>

Actually I was thinking of mixing my water half and half with
distilled or RO water. I think that will get the hardness where I want
it. (I can't find a GH test) And then adding some seachem acid buffer
to get the Alkalinity and pH down.

I was concerned with the ammonia but as others have pointed out once I
get rid of the ammonia in the aquarium. The partial water changes will
only add a very small amount of ammonia.