Lowering Ammonia

[Aquanero]

Nice post Nat, could explain the differance between the two AmQuel products.

 

[jcardona1]

It does have Ammonia. All tap does. NOt a ton, but it's still in there.

No it doesn't. Maybe yours does, but not mine, and not all. I also don't have chloramines, chlorine only.

 

[TheMightyOscar]

no ammonia in my NYC water either..

 

[BODYDUB]

Just to chime in, treating water with ammonia in it with prime will neutralize ammonia but will still give ammonia reading on standard test kits.

x2...............

 

[Natalie]

Nice post Nat, could explain the differance between the two AmQuel products.

Amquel removes ammonia, chlorine, and chloramine only. Amquel+ claims to remove those three plus nitrite and nitrate. The reason I didn't recommend Amquel+ is because I've never used it before (haha) and I have issues with telling people to dump something in their tank if I've never tried it myself. I haven't heard anything bad about Amquel+ but since the OP's issue is ammonia toxicity, Amquel would do the job.

 

[lipadj46]

I've have lived in quite a few different cities and suburbs and none have had ammonia but it is possible. Nitrates are possible too. I believe fritz-zyme 7 is a land based bacteria and will out compete the proper aquatic bacteria you want and then drown eventually and create more ammonia, not good. I know tetra safe start has the proper aquatic bacteria and the seachem bacteria stuff is good too but you need to have ammonia at 2ppm or lower to use it or the ammonia will kill the bacteria. And as others have mentioned prime just converts ammonia into less toxic ammonium so it will show up in most ammonia tests that test for combined ammonia/ammonium. This is a good thing because prime will allow for bacteria to grow as the ammonium is still available. The best way to remove ammonia if fish are present are frequent (daily) water changes of 25% with Prime.

 

[kzimmerman]

Okay, first we have to understand that we are all geographically seperated. Not every water treatment plant in America uses the same processes. Apparently, some nasties have developed a resistance to the chlorine that is added to tap water, so they bound the chlorine with ammonia to make chloramines, which work better for disinfectant. But when you put chloramines in an open container, the clorine starts to dissipate, leaving just the ammonia. Zeolite will absorb this, but it is far better to have a fully cycled tank. To the op, I strongly recomend that you stop feeding, that will help lower ammonia, maybe add a zeolite pillow, and continue to do the water changes, but put the ammonia neutralizing agent in the water before adding it to the tank. As noted before, these just bind the ammonia, I don't know what, but apparently it removes it's toxicity. So you will still see the readings.
I also strongly recomend that you observe your fish. Ammonia toxicity is usually manifested by gasping at the surface, because there is gill damage. If your fish are acting normal, just be patient and let the often misunderstood cycle get itself going.
I don't have ammonia in my tap. Or chlorine, or chloramines. It's a well.

 

[Danger_Chicken]

I had zero ammonia in my tap for years then last year they started putting in cholamines and everyting changed

But when you put chloramines in an open container, the clorine starts to dissipate, leaving just the ammonia.

are you sure about this? That works for cholrine but one of the reasons treatment plants use cholamines is because they are more stable and don't break down like cholrine. I've never tested it but always heard that aging chloramine water WILL NOT remove it. The cholrine doesn't dissipate because it's bond to the ammonia. I could be wrong.

 

[ironballz]

I had zero ammonia in my tap for years then last year they started putting in cholamines and everyting changedare you sure about this? That works for cholrine but one of the reasons treatment plants use cholamines is because they are more stable and don't break down like cholrine. I've never tested it but always heard that aging chloramine water WILL NOT remove it. The cholrine doesn't dissipate because it's bond to the ammonia. I could be wrong.

I have heard that aging chloramine will remove it but it can takes weeks according to the City of Ottawa's site. Also something to note from this site is "When chloramine is chemically removed from water, ammonia is released", I'm not sure just how much ammonia this would add and whether it would be harmful to fish but my region uses chloramine and I've been using Prime for years and never had any problems.

 

[jcardona1]

But when you put chloramines in an open container, the clorine starts to dissipate, leaving just the ammonia.

No it doesn't. Like Danger stated, it's bound to ammonia. Aging doesn't affect it. The only way to remove chloramines is to break the chlorine/ammonia bond (water conditioners or activated carbon), which leaves behind ammonia. This is why granular activated carbon filters will put out a bit of ammonia if you have chloramines in your water.