W.C. With Tap water?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
f1 vet should remember a talk we had like this my tap water has 1ppm ammonia in kc so its not unheard of. the kc water quality report shows they test it at 0.72ppm so that likely shows up as 1 on my api. I never have any problems doing water changes in fresh water tanks with tap water that is around 1ppm ammonia. Now the only catch i had was if something happened like equipment failure or power outages ect that caused a mini cycle. so since the tap water itself has ammonia if trying to do a water change to bring down ammonia due to a full or mini cycle you have to change much more water as your not removing as much ammonia. also prime only detoxifies ammonia it doesn't remove it.
 
i would check your cities water quality report it will tell you how much ammonia is in the tap water normally in the form of chlorimine
http://www.kcmo.org/idc/groups/water/documents/waterservices/wqr2011.pdf

it should look something like that and every city has to give one. on page 6 of that report the city range for me is 0.07ppm - 0.72ppm with the average of 0.2. I happen to live in some place in the city that has the upper range.
 
Your test WILL indicate positive for ammonia when using prime. It binds with the free ammonia to form ammonium something or other that will not harm the fish. Then your bio filter can do its stuff. Is your tap water show ammonia before using a dechlorinator? If so, you need to be speaking with your water supplier.
 
David R said:
Where is your tap water coming from? I'd be pretty concerned if the water I was drinking had detectable ammonia in it, especially if it was coming from a town supply.

Forget about buying RO filters for now, the first thing to do is make sure it isn't your test kit. Take a sample to the LFS and have them test it to make sure. If it does have ammonia in it then you need to figure out why, if you're on town supply then contact the authorities or if you're on rain or bore water check your source (dead bird in the water tank?). In the mean time keep using the RO water for your tank (watch the pH) until you figure out how to get clean tap water.
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X2, high amounts of detectable Ammonia is not OK.
 
Is that right that the pH is 9.7? Not a good combo. Even at a pH of 8.2, a reading of .5 is quite dangerous.

And this is not a problem rate for humans. It is due (likely) to runoff contamination from farm fertilizers in ground water or into the resevoir, etc.
 
Get some cheap fish to try strait tap water. Filtration unit if good should be able to filter it out.

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Another alternative, buy a 55 gallon food grade drum ($20-$40 investment). Add the tap water for your water change to the barrel, add an air driven, CYCLED sponge filter to the drum and always keep is submerged. Basically, fill the barrel, dose with Prime (1 cap), the next day add it to the tank. Repeat often to keep the sponge cycled..

I agree with everyone else though, you need to find the cause of the ammonia first and foremost. That is not healthy for you to consume despite your fish.
 
David R said:
Where is your tap water coming from? I'd be pretty concerned if the water I was drinking had detectable ammonia in it, especially if it was coming from a town supply.

Forget about buying RO filters for now, the first thing to do is make sure it isn't your test kit. Take a sample to the LFS and have them test it to make sure. If it does have ammonia in it then you need to figure out why, if you're on town supply then contact the authorities or if you're on rain or bore water check your source (dead bird in the water tank?). In the mean time keep using the RO water for your tank (watch the pH) until you figure out how to get clean tap water.
Click to expand...

I have tested several things to make sure it was not the testing kit (bought a new one, tested bottled water, tank water etc.) We just have a lot of chlorine in our tap water...
 
Our city says it is safe to drink and i drink it all the time it just has a lot of minerals and chlorine like i said above.
 
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