My tap water has ammonia and nitrates

[duanes]

If tank water quickly drops in pH, its because acidification is coming from metabolism byproducts, and fish urine (uric acid) and not being buffered. Water changes dilute fish urine, and freshwater fish are constantly urinating.
The tube on the right appears to coincide with the water quality report pH (8ish) of the water leaving the purification plant.
If it was my tank, and I was looking at the difference in the pH in the test tubes between high pH tap water, and a much lower pH in the tank, I would consider doing more frequent water changes to maintain a more stable pH in the tank. This would also dilute those nitrates.
To me, the tank water dropped quite bit in pH over a short time (?) indicating the fish urine is overwhelming the buffering capacity of the water.
And from the alkalinity of the water tests done at the lab, the buffering capacity is quite good.

 

[duanes]

If tank water quickly drops in pH, its because acidification is coming from metabolism byproducts, and fish urine (uric acid) and not being buffered. Water changes dilute fish urine, and freshwater fish are constantly urinating.
The tube on the right appears to coincide with the water quality report pH (8ish) of the water leaving the purification plant.
If it was my tank, and I was looking at the difference in the pH in the test tubes between high pH tap water, and a much lower pH in the tank, I would consider doing more frequent water changes to maintain a more stable pH in the tank. This would also dilute those nitrates.
To me, the tank water dropped quite bit in pH over a short time (?) indicating the fish urine is overwhelming the buffering capacity of the water.
And from the alkalinity of the water tests done at the lab, the buffering capacity is quite good.

 

[1000ninja]

If tank water quickly drops in pH, its because acidification is coming from metabolism byproducts, and fish urine (uric acid) and not being buffered. Water changes dilute fish urine, and freshwater fish are constantly urinating.
The tube on the right appears to coincide with the water quality report pH (8ish) of the water leaving the purification plant.
If it was my tank, and I was looking at the difference in the pH in the test tubes between high pH tap water, and a much lower pH in the tank, I would consider doing more frequent water changes to maintain a more stable pH in the tank. This would also dilute those nitrates.
To me, the tank water dropped quite bit in pH over a short time (?) indicating the fish urine is overwhelming the buffering capacity of the water.
And from the alkalinity of the water tests done at the lab, the buffering capacity is quite good.

I have no fish in my tank lol

 

[duanes]

What about an old filter running filled with gunk, or detritus in the substrate?
There is usually something metabolizing to drastically lower pH.

 

[1000ninja]

What about an old filter running filled with gunk, or detritus in the substrate?
There is usually something metabolizing to drastically lower pH.

2 brand new canister filters. Media is new. Substrate is new.

No idea how it happened

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

2 brand new canister filters. Media is new. Substrate is new.

No idea how it happened

My guess is still off gassing of co2. The guys over on SimplyDiscus often have problems with this, especially in the winter time. They will do a water change and the water that they put into the tank from the tap will sometimes create a cloud of co2 bubbles. That's when they know that they need to age their water. Btw, dissolved co2 is usually a bigger problem in the winter because the normal tap water temp is lower. This causes more co2 to be dissolved in the water and then releases more when filling your tank with it. This is also part of the reason why high tech planted tanks usually have their co2 shut off with their lights. If they left it on with no light then it just accumulates in the water because the plants have to have light to use it. This causes the ph to swing a lot over night and then swing back the next day when the lights come back on and start using up the co2 again. Having said that, it is also bad because more dissolved co2 can displace dissolved oxygen and suffocate the fish. Both are problems if the co2 isn't shut off when the lights go out.

 

[Chockful O Phail]

My guess is still off gassing of co2. The guys over on SimplyDiscus often have problems with this, especially in the winter time. They will do a water change and the water that they put into the tank from the tap will sometimes create a cloud of co2 bubbles. That's when they know that they need to age their water. Btw, dissolved co2 is usually a bigger problem in the winter because the normal tap water temp is lower. This causes more co2 to be dissolved in the water and then releases more when filling your tank with it. This is also part of the reason why high tech planted tanks usually have their co2 shut off with their lights. If they left it on with no light then it just accumulates in the water because the plants have to have light to use it. This causes the ph to swing a lot over night and then swing back the next day when the lights come back on and start using up the co2 again. Having said that, it is also bad because more dissolved co2 can displace dissolved oxygen and suffocate the fish. Both are problems if the co2 isn't shut off when the lights go out.

I would agree with this because all the deaths happened just as winter started to get cold and The tap became super cold

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I would agree with this because all the deaths happened just as winter started to get cold and The tap became super cold

Just to clarify, you did match the temperature of the water, right?

 

[Chockful O Phail]

Just to clarify, you did match the temperature of the water, right?

Yeah, during the winter I have to spread out my water changes. The water heater just can't handle all 3 tanks lol. Summer I barely have to turn it on at all, and that's only to get close to the tank temp because my tanks run 80-81 w/o heaters

 

[1000ninja]

I left some water out in a bucket over night and will test it later to see if it has changed.This is all pretty annoying. kinda crazy to me how they're able to get away with that terrible tap water. May be reconsidering a black rhom but still undecided. I want something that's gonna be healthy with the waters parameters but I havent even thought of or considered anything else because I've been set on getting another rhom because I enjoyed the last one I had.