moved to a new city a month and decided to get back into the aquarium game after being out of the hobby for a couple years. Picked up a 120 gallon and planned on getting another black rhom. Got everything set up and found out my tap water had .50 ammonia and 20ppm nitrates. What are my options here? In the past I've always tried keeping my tanks under 20ppm nitrates and now it's what I'm starting with. Not too concerned with the ammonia part because i know a cycled tank will get rid of that. I'm also living in an apartment so installing some expensive water filter isn't really an option. What do i do? How do I make this work?
What city do you live in, and is the source surface water, or ground water?
I'd like to bring up the cities Drinking Water Quality Report to see what the chemists there report to the EPA. And....
Some cities use chloramine to disinfect the water supply, which is a combination of @ 4 parts chlorine with 1 part ammonia.
This sometimes colors aquarium tests.
I'd like to bring up the cities Drinking Water Quality Report to see what the chemists there report to the EPA. And....
Some cities use chloramine to disinfect the water supply, which is a combination of @ 4 parts chlorine with 1 part ammonia.
This sometimes colors aquarium tests.
Here is an example of the yearly Water Quality Report submitted to the EPA/DNR .
Omaha does use chloramine as a disinfectant, so a slight ammonia detect will be normal.
You will notice though, that the tap leaving the plant is less than 4ppm, so I suspect your test kit may be old, or something (maybe your cuvette retains a residual which boosts your findings)
The water has great buffering capacity and a pH of almost 9, perfect for rift lake African fish, or Central American. A bit over the top for Amazonian soft water species though
CCR2014.pdf
Omaha does use chloramine as a disinfectant, so a slight ammonia detect will be normal.
You will notice though, that the tap leaving the plant is less than 4ppm, so I suspect your test kit may be old, or something (maybe your cuvette retains a residual which boosts your findings)
The water has great buffering capacity and a pH of almost 9, perfect for rift lake African fish, or Central American. A bit over the top for Amazonian soft water species though
CCR2014.pdf
Nitrates are probably correct but most likely the ammonia is caused by the chloramine. When you dose your water with Prime, I believe it will break the chlorine and ammonia bond, and then I believe it has chemicals that will bond with both the chlorine and ammonia to render them harmless. The ammonia then gets used by the bio filter and I don't really know what happens to the chlorine at that point.
As for nitrates, I believe that 10ppm is the max legal limit for municipal water supplies. If you really have 20ppm then it should be dealt with on the city's side. You mention that you now live in Omaha and they do grow lots of corn out there. I think that agriculture in the area can cause spikes in the city water nitrates for periods of time, so it might not always be that high. Lastly, if you are using the API nitrate test then I would double-check the color since 10ppm and 20ppm are almost exactly the same.
As for nitrates, I believe that 10ppm is the max legal limit for municipal water supplies. If you really have 20ppm then it should be dealt with on the city's side. You mention that you now live in Omaha and they do grow lots of corn out there. I think that agriculture in the area can cause spikes in the city water nitrates for periods of time, so it might not always be that high. Lastly, if you are using the API nitrate test then I would double-check the color since 10ppm and 20ppm are almost exactly the same.
Welcome to the area haha, we're in farmland and you'll just have to deal with the nitrates. Prime will take care of the chloramine until your bio clears the ammonia. The LFSs around are almost all geared for Africans and salt. CA are not very common. SA are somewhat easy to get if they're common. It's quite hard to keep SA healthy in our crappy water. Would require RO to keep any of the less resilient SAs.
Yea I just found the chart too. It's brand new API test kit and I've checked expiration date. I'll clean them good and test tap water again.
So the ammonia reading in the tap water actually isn't bad for the fish?
I would like to add, that when I was a chemist at a drinking water facility, we rinsed all glassware at minimum 3 times with DI water between tests (Nitrate included) to totally eliminate any residual carry over, acid washed the glassware at the end of the day. And used a spectrophotometer that cost more than my truck to assure accurate results.
Omaha is large enough city to use similar gear, and follow similar standards.
Pet store and aquarium test kits in comparison not in the same class.
Omaha is large enough city to use similar gear, and follow similar standards.
Pet store and aquarium test kits in comparison not in the same class.
