My well water showing ammonia? Whats going on?

[eddiegunks]

Hi everyone,

I checked my tap water, which comes from my well, as a routine thing. I'm showing trace amounts of ammonia. It has always been zero. How could this be? We've been getting a lot of rain lately could that have something to do with it? Now I'm a little worried.

I'm scheduled for some water changes in the next few days and I'm not sure how to handle that. I am afraid to go get water from the city as I have never used that before and I'm worried about different pH levels as well as Chlorine etc. etc. how about 5 gallon bottled water. Anyone try that?

Suggestions? Should i try treating my water 1st? Or maybe just get city water and dechorinate it?

Thx

Eddie

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I do not have a good answer for which water to use for the WC (water changes), only some thoughts.
First is that eventually current rain will get into the ground water but perhaps not quickly. I have thought that it can take surface water a long time (years to decades even) to seep down and become ground water. Likely a difference between a deep well and a shallow well with the more shallow a well being the more likely to get recent rain sooner.
I guess there can be paths, cracks, faults and such, from the surface down into a well. If so this would raise some concerns as the filtering effect of passing thru the deep rocks and such will be lost.
I was on a well for a number of years. I am thinking it was over 90 ( maybe 120) feet deep. I know it took two of us to pull the plastic pipe in order to replace the foot valve. From time to time the well would fill up and overflow at the well head but it had not necessarily been getting a lot of current rain.

I knew a fellow here in Tennessee whose well was contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria. He was surrounded by cattle pasture in a Karst ( limestone) area. So wells can be affected by surface conditions.

Have you had the well water tested by a lab?

 

[Hendre]

Add prime

 

[eddiegunks]

My well is over 300 feet deep. I live on sand. Sometimes I feel like I live at the beach. It is quarter than beach sand but is sand nonetheless. Makes growing grass very challenging.

We have had heavier than usual rains for the past 4 to 6 weeks. I just can't think of any other reason why I would have a significant increase (.25 or so) in Ammonia.

If I add prime will that have any effect on my beneficial bacteria? This is my only concern.....killing my bb.

Thx

 

[duanes]

Even though a well is 300 ft deep, with heavy rains, it is possible to have incursion from agricultural, feed lot, or lawn runoff (if you are in an area where some residents want pristine lawns, and over fertilize) or near a golf course.
When I was microbiology student, I did an internship with the DNR testing wells, and found depth did not have as much to do with contamination as the health of the water table and incursion from run off. Or how well the water regs are followed in your area, or how lax they the regulations are.
I agree with skjl47, you may want to have your well tested for coliform bacteria, not just to test for your fish, but your own well being.(coliform are not harmful to fish)
Coliforms are used as indicator species for runoff or other contamination, but are not necessarily disease producers. If however, the tests show E coli, it may be necessary to bleach shock your well.

 

[s_mossy]

I agree about the testing especially if it's water you're drinking.

Prime should help it has beneficial bacteria that consumes ammonia. There's also Ammo -Rocks you can put in a media bag and toss in your filter system. You'd probably need to swap them out each time you do a water change, I think they're only active for a limited time before they have to be recharged.

If you're worried about adding the new water straight to your tank you can fill a large bucket or tote with however much you think you'll need. Treat the water with the prime and/or rocks, you'll need to have a bubbler or power head in the bucket to move the water around. If I remember right the bacteria need circulation to stay alive and the rocks only absorb that ammonia from the water passing through them. Check the levels in the bucket over the following days to see if ammonia has gone down sufficiently.

If your tank doesn't have any ammonia in it prior to the water change you probably have decent bio filter cultivated in you tank and you could just do mini water changes over several days letting the bacteria in your tank handle it.

Same with the city water you could do mini water changes to transition to the different type.

 

[eddiegunks]

Thanks guys.

My tank water has better numbers than my tapwater.

I worry about adding any ammonia to my system because I have a new motoro Ray. She is eating well, acting well, everything is good, and I don't want her on a downhill slide. She's a new addition to the system. She is the only fish in the system.

She is in one 40 gallon breeder. I have an above tank sump on a 40 gallon (a second 40 gallon). I have a 55 gallon sump of bio balls hooked to both 40s, all purifying. (About 130 gallons of water using two sumps)

This is a quarantine set up for the ray. It is handling the bioload nicely. I just dont want to do anything detrimental to her as she has only been in the tank 5 days.

Tank parameters are 0,0,45. 80F.

I will have my water tested immediately.

 

[skjl47]

but is sand nonetheless

rains for the past 4 to 6 weeks.

hello; I lived near the beaches of North Carolina between Wilmington and Southport for a time. Sandy soil. When it rained hard the water just percolated down right away. Shortly after a hard rain there would be little sign of water. grass was also hard to grow. You may well have surface material being carried down and undergoing decay to account for the ammonia. There likely will be other surface materials dissolved in the water if this is the case.

The porous sandy soils may also become a problem if you area has a lot of septic fields. I recall that some areas near Wilmington had to be restricted from development because the ground could not handle the septic loads already in an area.

If however, the tests show E coli, it may be necessary to bleach shock your well.

Hello; Duane's post is right on. The friend I mentioned to could not even use his well water to shower due to the contamination. Lots off sinkholes around here, one within a half mile of my place. This area also has extensive limestone cave systems, many of which I crawled about in when young. The limestone can make for both very good drinking water under the better circumstances or bad water if the cracks and underground channels are fed from cattle pastures or septic fields.

Good luck.

 

[Homer Siped]

I would probably shock my well anyway. i used to work on wells and had a lady that lived next to a horse farm, every 4 months or so we had to shock her well due to ecoli. We used chlorine instead of bleach though.

 

[eddiegunks]

Ok. I dumped a gallon of bleach in the well several days ago.

Now test kit is showing 0 ammonia. I plan to get a. Chlorine test kit to be sure my chlorine levels are acceptable.

Until then i plan to set out some tubs in the sun with an air bubbler on them for a day. That should strip off any chlorine.

It is tough work ferrying water from the spring!