Help me!!! | Ammonia looks ok | Nitrate and Nitrite Uncontrollable

[contactharpreets]

I checked and found that 2nd level of ammonia and nitrate exist in my tap water after dechlorinating it.

 

[Rocksor]

I checked and found that 2nd level of ammonia and nitrate exist in my tap water after dechlorinating it.

What are the tap water readings for each?

 

[contactharpreets]

Here are the tap water readings:-

Ammonia - right tube



Nitrite


Nitrate

 

[Rocksor]

That's not bad. You have chloramine treated water. I get similar readings for tap water ammonia and nitrates throughout the year. You should be able to get your nitrates in the orange area of 10ppm-20ppm.

 

[contactharpreets]

Left tube for Nitrate - another angle.

 

[contactharpreets]

Seachem Prime says - it detoxifies Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrites from Freshwater.. shouldn’t it be 0 after using it?

 

[TheWolfman]

Prime does detox ammonia and nitrite, but does not remove it. It binds it up and makes it non toxic to fish. Or can be used as a safe guard when fish in cycling like your doing. It needs to be redosed every 48 hours to keep the water safe.

 

[Rocksor]

Seachem Prime says - it detoxifies Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrites from Freshwater.. shouldn’t it be 0 after using it?

The API ammonia test will show TAN (Total Ammonia as Nitrogen) = toxic ammonia + non-toxic ammonium + chloramine

So Prime will convert ammonia to ammonium, but it will still show up on the API ammonia test as TAN.

 

[Rocksor]

If you were to do a 90% water change or 2 75% water changes back to back, your tank water will go below 20ppm nitrates.

Left tube for Nitrate - another angle.

View attachment 1453372

 

[Oughtsix]

Left tube for Nitrate - another angle.

View attachment 1453372

That is very helpful to know where your tap water is vs where your tank water is. It looks like you should be able to greatly reduce the nitrate concentration in your tank.

Have you been able to up your water change frequency? Is your mechanical filtration pretty clean or pretty gunky?
I would expect twice a day water changes to bring down your levels pretty fast... within a few days.

I was not aware the chloramine registered as ammonia. At first I was quite surprised to see ammonia registering in tap water. This is good information to know... thanks Rocksor!