Ammonia in my tap water?!?! Help!

G

Gregorylampron

Detritus
#1
#1
Hi all, this is my first post,

I recently started the cycle on an aquarium. (10 gallon, penguin 100 filter with purigen, seachem prime as a conditioner.) I have been fighting an ammonia problem. I know that with a fresh cycle, there is bound to be ammonia issues with any fish in the tank, however, after switching to a better conditioner, added purigen, and very aggressive water changes with constant netting and substrate cleaning, my ammonia was stubbornly sticking at about .50! Seriously?!?! I checked my tap (virginia vale neighborhood) and the little rascal was at .5! What is my best option here? I have pretty much exhausted the realms of possibility with water changes, chemicals, and filter media additives. Maybe bottled water? Please nobody tell me it is time to buy an RO, I am so very unemployed. Help me!

Gregory
 
J

JodiI

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#3
#3
Seems like you have several issues. Is the tank not yet cycled at all? Or did it just finish the cycle recently?

If it's not cycled yet, the water changes will slow that down. What kind of fish?

If it did recently cycle, then +1 to the LFS selling water. It's cheap - like .50-1.00 a gallon. For such a small tank, that should be manageable for you
 
scchase

scchase

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#4
#4
I would go a different direction, namely your test kit is probably bad, highly unlikely you would get such consistent results across multiple water sources.
 
Catfish Charlie

Catfish Charlie

Angel Fish
#6
#6
Your water source is most likely using chloramine as a disinfectant, which is a bonding of chlorine/ammonia. When you use a "water conditioner" to remove chlorine it "brakes" the bonding and than will leave just the ammonia, but most good "water conditioners" such as PRIME will turn ammonia (NH3) to ammonium (NH4) which is harmless to fish. Almost all test kits reads ammonium (NH4) as ammonia (NH3). Although there are a few test kits that do not, usually electronic meters.
 
Fourthwind

Fourthwind

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
#7
The answer is in RODI. just no way around it on the front range. Likely if you test your hardness and TDS you will find it's full of nasty surprises which could include heavy metals as well. I remember back in the day when they put copper in the aquafer in CA and didn't tell anyone. Killed off a whole lot of reefs and invertebrates.
 
G

Gregorylampron

Detritus
#8
#8
Hey thanks so much for your advice, guys. I plan on starting a planted tank before the end of the year, and was waiting for somebody to tell me what I needed to hear. Are there places on masc that I can buy extra or used ro systems? Is there anyone who shares ro from perhaps producing too much? Water in my hometown was ro. Michigan got a couple things right.

Gregory
 
G

Gregorylampron

Detritus
#9
#9
Alright, so I give in. I am considering the apec top tier roes-50 system. Does anybody have experience with this system or guidance toward something better?

Gregory
 
timnem70

timnem70

Anthias
#10
#10
Go to any of the Local stores. Not sure where your neighborhood is but just take 3, five gallon containers and it's like 10 bux. Also, please wait til the cycle is over before adding fish to your aquarium. The up front costs associated with this hobby can be steep but well worth the cost when things begin to die.
 
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