Amonia Suddenly in Tap Water

[duanes]

I always run new water change water, first into my sumps, instead of directly to the main tanks. This thoroughly mixes it before reaching the fish, and allows beneficial bacteria first crack at the ammonia in the chloramine.
My main concern though, was the low water temps from the tap (sometimes in the high 30s-low 40s in winter in Milwaukee) 50sF in summer.
With chloramine, my average tap water ammonia level was 0.2 or less ppm.

 

[duanes]

I always run new water change water, first into my sumps, instead of directly to the main tanks. This thoroughly mixes it before reaching the fish, and allows beneficial bacteria first crack at the ammonia in the chloramine.
My main concern though, was the low water temps from the tap (sometimes in the high 30s-low 40s in winter in Milwaukee) 50sF in summer.
With chloramine, my average tap water ammonia level was 0.2 or less ppm.

 

[neutrino]

Nitrifying bacteria can tolerate chloramine levels of 4 mg/L. Fish may be harmed by as low as 0.003 mg/L over time.

+1. The bottom line is you can't make blanket statements covering everyone's tank or water. Setups vary, water sources vary. But there's no reason under normal circumstances large water changes would kill off your beneficial bacteria.

I routinely do 50-80% water changes, I've done 100% a couple of times for specific reasons. Never a problem, but that's my tanks, my well. I disagree with those who say you must or must not do X% water changes at X intervals, as if there was some immutable cosmic law of water changes. There isn't. Every tank is different-- type of fish, stock levels, filtration and tank ecology in your tank, water source. Do what works for you-- your tank, your water, your fish.

That said, if or while I was having an issue with ammonia in my tap water my reaction would be to do smaller water changes. Won't even suggest a %. If it was me I'd experiment by ammonia testing the tank with different size water changes to figure that out. In fact, I might also test at intervals after the water change to see how long it takes for the tank to remove it. Truth be known, the way some people stock and feed, if they tested their tank after feeding they'd find some ammonia.

...btw, unless you're talking about an open well with a bucket, how is a dead animal supposed to get into an underground well 75-100-200 ft under the ground? And if somehow it did, there would be more than your fish to worry about.

 

[blackwolf911]

I had no idea people struggled with water changes so much.. I know water differs from place to place but it seems people have no clue what's going on by reading this thread

 

[Jexnell]

I use city water. I live in the NW so we get lots of rain. My city draws it's water from underground aquifers that flow thru limestone. With all the rain we get the aquifers are refilled from the rains. This all makes for cheap water.

I don't have sumps, so I put the prime in first then refill. I normally do anywhere from 50% to 75% water changes and never had any problems.

 

[Gavint85]

Anyone have any experience with Zeolite? I was thinking of running my tap water through a chamber of Zeolite when doing a water change? If anyone has experience with it, can you tell whether it is effective and how quickly it absorbs the ammonia (i.e., will a quick pass through of water on its way to the tank remove the ammonia)?

 

[Jexnell]

I have Aquaclear hobs on both my tanks, the 125 has two 110's the 55 has three 50's on it now. All on these I run the ammonia remover packs (zeolite).

I don't know how quick it does it job, but I never have any high ammonia reading from my test. They last two months in my tanks.

 

[Rocksor]

Zeolite will adsorb ammonia upon contact. It would be best to get a free ammonia tester like Seachem Ammonia Alert to let you know of any free ammonia ions in your tank, and will also let you know when the zeolite is exhausted.

 

[squint]

You want clinoptilolite, specifically.

A novel approach for ammonia removal from fresh-water recirculated aquaculture systems, comprising ion exchange and electrochemical regeneration

Shifting to the ammonia removal angle, it is well known that NH4+ can be effectively separated from fresh water by ion-exchange (IX). For example, natural zeolites, having a high affinity toward a wide range of cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+), are often used for separating NH4 + from wastewater (e.g. Lahav and Green, 1998). With regard to aquaculture, Dryden and Weatherley (1989) reported that clinoptilolite (a common natural zeolite) can be applied for continuously removing TAN from RAS. Working with NH4+ concentrations in the range 1–5 mg N L−1 they showed that the practical capacity of clinoptilolite for NH4+ increased almost proportionally with the ammonium ion concentration. This observation means that, for given concentrations of competing cations, a proportionally lower zeolite mass is required when the NH4+ concentration is higher.