DIY Drip System Water Parameters = Ammonia Spike
- Thread starter gavigan1
- Start date
Thanks everyone, I guess I was expecting my water coming from the the drip system to be chlorine and ammonia free. My tank is currently reading 0.25 ammonia. I will continue to monitor levels.
It's dropping,that's good. My water straight from my dual carbon filters is reading between .50 and 1. Almost the same as yours. I wonder how long before your bacteria colonies build up enough to bring the ammonia to 0?
Could this water be used to fishless cycle a tank?
Could this water be used to fishless cycle a tank?
You could probably use it to cycle a tank. Might be one reason I've never had a mini-cycle regardless of changing stock around.
Glad to see the parameters dropping.
Glad to see the parameters dropping.
Update..... My Drip system has been working perfectly, fish seem to be thriving. My tank is virtually maintenence free! I hightly recommend a drip system.
Yep. To clarify a bit.
Ammonia is bonded to chlorine to make chloramines. When using an activate carbon filter, it will break the chlorine to ammonia bond. The carbon will remove the chlorine (or it will off-gas) but the ammonia will remain. This is where the bio filtration steps in. Anytime you begin running one of these setups, it is advised to start slow and then work your way up to higher WC levels. This will help with the mini-cycles.
Ammonia is bonded to chlorine to make chloramines. When using an activate carbon filter, it will break the chlorine to ammonia bond. The carbon will remove the chlorine (or it will off-gas) but the ammonia will remain. This is where the bio filtration steps in. Anytime you begin running one of these setups, it is advised to start slow and then work your way up to higher WC levels. This will help with the mini-cycles.
It seems the chloramine filters are meant to be used before RO/DI filters, which will remove the ammonia being produced, chlorine and chloramine damage the filter membrane.
