Ammonia in my source water! I'm scared! Help!

[Anonymous]

My corals had been looking unhappy lately, so I did the usual round of tests and found that my ammonia was at about .25ppm...not good. Then I found that both of my ten gallon QTs were also showing elevated ammonia. Since all three tanks were well cycled and all three even showed zero trates and trites, I tested my source water.

My source water is at about .25ppm ammonia...even after my RO unit, which takes out at least some of what is in the tap.

My reef tank reads lower than the source water because it is processing the ammonia added to it durring top off and water changes, but my two QTs are suffering.

Other than cut back on water changes, which I have done, and go buy water, which I will do, what else can I do?

Clearly this is a new developement, as none of my tanks have ever shown ammonia and I tested my tap water two months ago and it had zero ammonia.

Will a deionizer get rid of ammonia?

I need to do something quickly here and I would rather find a way to continue using my water, or else I wasted the money on an RO unit...any input would be great.

Thanks all,
Manny

p.s. I verified the validity of my test by testing store bought distilled water, which tested zero for ammonia.

 

[Anonymous]

I just tested my water BEFORE it goes through my RO unit and it tests at over 1ppm. 8O At least my RO unit is doing something. :?

What the hell am I going to do? I didn't spend all that money on a filtration unit to have to go start buying water. :x I'm going down to the bay with a bucket and bring home free salt water. :wink:

I feel very helpless here. Has this happened to any of you before?

thanks,

 

[shr00m]

what test kit are you using, i know the aqurium pharm test kits 0 ppm looks a lot like .25 a good way to see the difference is to put the tube next to a fluroescent light , usually this will make it more apparent which color it is, best solution is to get a better test kit, if all your tanks are testing the same, and your ro water is testing .25 you probally are seeing a 0 reading.... sometimes with cheaper kits its hard to tell, if the ammonia was .25 from your RO water and your tank is fully cycled then it should be taking the ammonia down to 0, so im pretty sure your seeing a 0 reading... but then again i dont know all the details , test kit, or exact situation, just giving you info from my experience.

 

[ReefMon]

You may need to replace or double up your activated charcoal pre filters.

Here's a good article on Chloramine and the Reef Aquarium

Happy Reefing!
Glenn R

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys,

I am using a Wardley ammonia test. There is a big difference between zero, which is piss yellow, and .25, which is green. I know there is ammonia because distilled water got a completely yellow reading. I've also used this test before on a cycling tank and watched the ammonia rise and fall with it.

I think the ammonia was up on all the tanks because I had just done a water change. Tha reef is processing it without a problem, dispite the fact that I'm adding a gallon of ammonia water to that tank every day as top off.

The thing about the filters is that I just replaced them all two weeks ago and this is a 5 stage unit. That's why I tested the tap water BEFORE it goes through the unit. I though the filter was adding it.

The tap water is at about 1ppm and the unit is taking out 3/4 of this. Is this good?

I read that drinking water safety standards are .5ppm for ammonia, making my tap water unsafe. I have registered complaints with several water management entities here and the environmental resource management department.

What can I do now though?

Thanks,

 

[cdeakle]

I would go in person to your local water management and sit there untill someone helped you. In the least they should come out and test and double check your water readings if your pretty sure its in the unsafe zone in ammonia levels for humans....

 

[Anonymous]

AFAIK, EPA does not have a limit for amount of ammonia for drinking water. Where did you read that the drinking water standard is 0.5 for ammonia?

Anyway, up to 4mg/L (4ppm) of chloramine is allowed, so it is very possible that the test kit is responding to the chloramine, not ammonia. I strongly suggest you read Randy's article in ReefMon's link.

 

[Anonymous]

AFAIK, EPA does not have a limit for amount of ammonia for drinking water. Where did you read that the drinking water standard is 0.5 for ammonia?

Anyway, up to 4mg/L (4ppm) of chloramine is allowed, so it is very possible that the test kit is responding to the chloramine, not ammonia. I strongly suggest you read Randy's article in ReefMon's link.

I may have read that article already...but I've read so many. Aren't chloramines harmful as well though?

The standard was set by my county's environmental resource management office and is not a law, just a recommended standard for safe drinking water.

I just read an article that someone linked me to on another forum about a possible ammonia contamination in the groundwater right around where I live caused by some industrial business that dumped some chemicals. Their tests are currently "in progress," but it looks like my tank saw the problem way before they did. :roll:

I guess it's amquel for now and store bought water if this doesn't clear up soon.

I'm going to plump in my DI chamber as soon as I stop being lazy and that should take out at least some of the ammonia.

 

[Anonymous]

I plumbed the DI chamber and it made a huge difference. Ammonia reads at almost zero...just a little bit of color. Much better than the .25 it was reading before.

The tap water still reads at 1ppm, so the DI must be doing it's job.

As long as this lasts, I should be ok.

I just hope the city stops putting so much ammonia in the water.

 

[Mouse]

Damn, i know chopping up those kids and flushing them down the loo would have reprocussions.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, being a charged molecule, ammonia can be easily eliminated by DI. Typically, use carbon if possible, since it is cheaper. If you want, try to add an extra carbon prefilter to see if it helps the problem... can make you DI last a lot longer that way.