Amonia in tap water

[TriggerTina]

I have a question about amonia in my tap water. I tried to neutralize it with some Amquel - but I tested it after adding 1 tsp per 10 gal like the bottle says - and it still tested for .25ppm. I then added a secound dose - and I still get the .25ppm.

I even waited a day to see if the test would change but no luck.

I have read a lot about mixing your water a week in advance - but will this solve the amonia problem?

What is the best way to get rid of amonia in your tap water? (besides buying a reverse osmosis system).

Thanks!!
Tina :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Ammonia is a tricky thing to get rid off, and there are some complication with chloramine , which is used in more and more places than ever before.

Anyway, amquel contains a ligand/chelating agent that neutralize the ammonia, not actually making it "disappear" as you expect. No matter how much you add, the ammonia is still there, and depends on your test kit, it usually will show up. This should explains what you observed.

Depends on what your setup, Amquel maybe is sufficient for you. In particular, if your setup is FS (fish only), then this is perfectly fine.

 

[Anonymous]

i was just curious - how difficult would it be for you to access an alternate water source, tina? say, filtered water? you could purchase one of those 5 gallon water bottles and take it to a store that offers ro (reverse osmosis) or ro/di water and use that instead. of course, this all depends on convenience but i believe you would benefit in the long run.

btw, welcome to reefs.org!

 

[AquaFX]

Just so you know, RO by itself will not remove the ammonia that is tied up in chloramine.
Actually the carbon in a RO system will remove the chlorine portion but not the ammonia. So if you go to buy RO water, it must not have been made from water containing chloramine (unless it is followed by DI.
It is the DI that gets rid of the ammonia.

 

[Anonymous]

The original poster never reply about the setup, so some of the discussion here may not be applicable.

Anyway, activated carbon (charcoal) is the weapon of choice against chloramine. Most literatures say that the mechanism by which it work is absorption. RO and DI is not effective for chloramine removal due to the size and charge property. Absorption agent does not break the chloramine into the chlorine and ammonia parts.

However, some literatures also view activated carbon as a reduction agent, and this is where confusion can come in. Nevertheless, DI does removes ammonia, but rather or not activated carbon can generate ammonia from chloramine I have no idea.

Randy has an old thread in his forum about this issue, and the general feeling that I got from it is that it is not a big problem.

 

[AquaFX]

loule,

We have done field testing on the GAC's that are claiming they are catalytically activated to reduce the ammonia, and found they do a VERY POOR job in filters the sizes this hobby uses. To get any effect you would need a 4-5 foot column of carbon and depending on the other contaminants in the water you would determine the effective flow rate.

So anyway, using carbon to reduce ammonia is basically useless in this application. Di is the way to go.

It does become more important with increasing ammonia concentrations in the incoming water. It is one of our most frequent questions.

 

[Anonymous]

Most people agree that contact time (essentially a function of path length and flow rate in case some people don't know...) is very important for the carbon to work well. Furthermore, GAC is much better than carbon-block that often used in the hobby, according to some opinions.

Chloramine behave differently from ammonia, and it is important to keep the distinction in mind in discussion.

Marianne, do you have any link or reference that say GAC can convert chloramine to ammonia? I am interested.

There is no doubt about the use of DI for ammonia removal, although in many industrial application, zeolite is used instead for economical and implementation reason.

 

[AquaFX]

I have done several field test, mostly with Discus breeders due to the sensitivity of the fish and the need for high volumes of water. Where DI becomes very expensive.

What happens with the GAC is the chlorine component of the chloramines is reduced to undetectable, but the ammonia remains. You are correct, it is difficult to determine the initial concentration of ammonia in the chloramines, so it is difficult to see what (if any) percentage has indeed been reduced. But certainly the GAC does not significantly reduce the ammonia.

Zeolite is often used as a trade name for resin in general. You can charge your resins with negative ion that will exchange for the N in ammonia, but you will be introducing something else. Just like DI.

PS I worked for the US Geological Survey Water Resources DIV as an Environmental Engineer. Studies and reports were the bulk of the work. Although I have not written this up formally it is good info on GAC for the condistions that were present.

I know there are always lots a variables

Thanks for a such a good discussion, if there are more avenues we can explore I like to go there.

 

[Anonymous]

(... actually, zeolite is not a resin-based ion-exchange filter agent. It is a group of natural aluminum-based mineral that goes by many other names and work by absorption, just like activated carbon....)

 

[ynd]

Don't know if this helps, I'm a newbie and all, but the way I get rid of ammonia in tap water is to set up another small tank, mix the salt and water, and run a small (established) powerfilter, and leave it for a week or so. Then add it to the main tank. This seems to work. If you guys see anything wrong with this method, please let me know.

 

[Anonymous]

Ammonia is *VERY* soluble in water, so it does not goes away like that. The filter just convert the ammonia to nitrate by the bacteria on it, so you essentially decrease the toxicity (nitrate is less toxic than ammonia), but the amount of nutrient is the same. For some applications, it does not accomplish anything...

 

[AquaFX]

YND,

How are your N levels, either form? I think your idea is great. Let me know your test results, please.

 

[Anonymous]

(... actually, zeolite is not a resin-based ion-exchange filter agent. It is a group of natural aluminum-based mineral that goes by many other names and work by absorption, just like activated carbon....)

I want to say that I just found out there is a zeolite-based ion-exchange "resin." Learning something new everyday, I guess.

 

[Anonymous]

Why do you have ammonia in your tap water?

 

[ynd]

AquaFX, my N levels in my main tank are all zero all the times I've tested it. Its only been up for two months tho. As for the "mix" tank, I've only tested for ammonia and nitrite, which are zero before I add the water to the main tank. I'll test the nitrate next time and let you know.

Bangbang, there is ammonia in the tap water here, can't explain why its there but its there. But phosphates and nitrates are zero, so I guess thats a good thing. Cheaper than RO/DI water.

 

[AquaFX]

YND,

The ammonia is probably from chloramines. Your idea is very good, for the ammonia.

Just so you know there are other reasons for RO water. TDS levels won't come down without either RO, DI or distillation. One of the best examples of a dissolved solid is salt, everyone knows it is hard to get salt out of water. As you incur evaporation you only lose pure water (water with no "salts"). As you top off, the "salts" concentrate. Some of the salts are Fluoride, calcium carbonate, sodium chloride....Just a heads up.