As part of recent move I setup an auto drip on my 180g. For the move I had to have my 3 ac110s on a 40g with my fish. Once I got the 180 up and running with autodrip I moved fish and filters over. Ever since I've had a constant low level of ammonia. I have one 9-10in aimara in the tank so it's undestocked with plenty of media. I'm guessing either the ammonia is in my tap water or caused by the auto drip filter that removes chloramines.
How do I solve this? I was hoping my filters would catch up but it's been close to 2 weeks. Thoughts?
I assume you are using a carbon block, otherwise, I'm sure some of this will need to be edited.
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/house-water-softener.688254/
See post # 3 from
duanes
Granted that was almost 4 months ago and you may have tested the water, posted it and even corrected the buffer issue (if there was one.)
Aquarium water with active nitrification and low buffers will tend to see large drops in pH. If it becomes low enough, low pH will lead to inefficient or negligible nitrification. Even in under stocked tanks, this can lead to low levels of ammonia. The good news is that at low pH, the ammonia isn't nearly as toxic.
Without seeing the kH of the softened water, knowing your water change schedule, seeing what your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings are, knowing what you mean by a "constant low level of ammonia", it would be a guess.
Activated carbon block filters will convert some chloramine to ammonia, but if don't imagine there is a continuous (constant) presence of it at one level.
My suspicion is that your BB reacts to water changes (as the pH is higher), converts ammonia, but then can't keep up as the pH drops. So you will find low levels of ammonia if you test well after a water change, but not necessarily during the 8-16 hours after a water change.
I'd check the kH and pH of the tap water, the pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates of the tank before a water change.
