Ammonia

[Zari]

I've been doing constant water changes on my 10gal qt 3 a day because my test kept showing ammonia, come to find out my tap water is showing the exact same amount =(.
My Fiance looked it up and she saw someone saying that some water companies use extra chloramines in the winter to help with bacteria problems so how should i counter act this just extra water conditioner?

 

[aclockworkorange]

You need to use a water conditioner that treats chloramines, like Prime. It will still show you have ammonia in your tank on a standard nesslar based test kit (like the API tests) when using it.

 

[Zari]

Ok, ty. Pretty sure mine covers chloramines haven't had any trouble before. Must just be false or extra chloramines

 

[aclockworkorange]

What happens is your nesslar based test kit can't distinguish between different forms of ammonia in your tank... Even if your water conditioner "neutralizes" the ammonia (binds it into ammonium), it will still give you a false ammonia reading.

What conditioner do you use? If you have chloramines, I would use Prime.

 

[Zari]

I have API Stress Coat+ and won't be changing for awhile since I have a gallon of it to use, tho I'll probably switch to prime/safe after its gone since that's what everyone here on mfk swears by.