GouramiGirl1221

After a few weeks of noticing a bit of elevation in my ammonia level at the beginning of the week (I do maintenance on weekends) I became suspicious and tested my tap water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I was absolutely shocked to find that my tap puts out over 1 ppm of ammonia! Obviously the bacteria in my tank become overwhelmed when I put this water in the tank on top of the waste my fish are already producing. What can I do about this? Is there a type of filter or something I can use to take the ammonia out? I'm really worried because I just got 2 rams today, and I know they're extremely sensitive to water conditions. My ammonia never raises above .25 ppm when I test it, but I'm worried that will be enough to have a relatively serious effect on my fish.

sirdarksol

There's a type of ammonia-removing resin that most fish stores sell (it looks like white activated carbon). The amount of ammonia the stuff removes depends on the hardness of the water and the quality/type of resin.

GouramiGirl1221

I got the resin and put it in a stocking behind my filter cartridges. How long should I leave it there? I don't want to make my cycle crash...assuming I still have a cycle. I'm so confused. I know I WAS cycled before I started adding fish, but when I did my water change I had readings of 1ppm ammonia (that's exactly the reading I got from my tap), 0 nitrites and about 15 nitrates. I tried treating the water before adding it to the aquarium, but the water running over the resin must have the effect because just adding the resin to buckets of water didn't produce any results. My ammonia has dropped to .5 ppm after leaving the resin in my filter for 24 hrs. Please help...I'm really worried about my fish and I don't know what other options I have...I feel like I'm either going to kill my fish of ammonia poisoning or cause my cycle to crash which would in effect kill my fish.

kacie

Will Stress Coat work on your tap water? It says it removes ammonia from tap water.
Is your town doing something to the water right now?

GouramiGirl1221

I do have stress coat that I'm using to help with some fin growth on my gouramis (had tears from nipping at the LFS) but I'm using prime as my water conditioner. I have no idea if there's something going on with the water...this is the first time I've tested my tap...don't know why I didn't think to do that before. I'll call tomorrow and check. Any other ideas? I'm up for anything at the moment...

Alessa

Prime should handle it while the biofilter takes it. I'd add prime monday after the water change to detoxify the ammonia until it is absorbed.

Peterpiper

You may want to look at getting a cheap filter and placing some ammonia-removing resin in it.
When you are preping water for a water change, place the filter in the tub with the tap water and run it for 24-48hrs, this should remove the ammonia.

GouramiGirl1221

Peterpiter, that is a great idea!! I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. I'll definitely try that this weekend.

Minnow

What is the resin called? I'm having the same problem as GouramiGirl.

I don't have one big tub I use during water changes, I use little buckets to fill my tank back up, so running a filter for a day on each one wouldn't be plausible.

If I got the resin, couldn't I just put some in my main filter? Also, would I have to replace it, like carbon? If not, I have light-colored gravel. Would I be able to mix the resin in with my gravel, or would that not do anything?

(Also, regular Stress Coat doesn't do anything about ammonia, but Stress Coat+ detoxifies ammonia for 24 hours. I think Prime does this also.)

GouramiGirl1221

The resin that I have is called ammo chips, made by API. There's dosing instructions on the box, but I put mine in stockings behind my regular filter cartridges so that it could be removed once my ammonia was under control. I don't think putting it in the gravel would work...I think the resin working has something to do with the water running over it , but I'm not positive. I know I tried just putting some of the resin in a bucket and that didn't work. Best of luck...if I find something else that works, I'll be sure to post.

Alessa

As I said, prime works by locking ammonia for 24 hours, enough time so that the biofilter takes it. The ammonia will still show in the test kit, but it will be harmless to the fish for that period of time. If it is still showing after 24 hours, I'd just dose again...

sirdarksol

The stuff I get just says "ammonia removing resin." I have the real word for it on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember.

GouramiGirl1221

I've found what I think is a solution! I bought a pur water filter from walmart this weekend, and it lowered the ammonia reading from 2 ppm to .25 ppm. Even though it doesn't take all the ammonia out, I think it's gonna be enough for the bacteria to process it in 24 hrs with some prime.

Minnow

I was thinking about getting Ammo-chips, but when I thought about it, it didn't seem like such a good idea, after all. If I have something that removes all ammonia from my tank, what will the bacteria use? I would never have a cycled tank, and I would have to rely on the resin forever, or risk going back to square one, since any bacteria I already have would starve. I think I'll just wait until my tank cycles on its own. My dad's tank can handle the ammonia in my tap water, so I'll wait until my tank can deal with it, too.

Gourami Girl, I'm glad you've found something that works for you! I hope your tank cycles soon.

Lucy

That's exactly right, minnow, the bacteria would starve.

GouramiGirl1221

Sorry, that post was a bit confusing. I bought a pur water filter for the faucet, not my aquarium, so I tested the tap water and it lowered the ammonia reading from the tap from 2 ppm without the filter to .25 ppm with the filter.

nemo addict

buy a ro/di unit and this would sovle any problems with your tap water

roy

so if i buy one of these "ro/di units" when i do my water change i just add the water, simple as that??