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Ammonia in the tap water........ | |
antman08015 Fingerling Posts: 34 Kudos: 17 Votes: 1 Registered: 05-Mar-2007 | I got 3 Gourami's alittle more then a week ago so I go out and buy a master test kit test Ph was 7.6 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrites 0 ppm and Nitrates 10 ppm and was wondering how my tank cycled in a week so I tested the water from the tap for ammonia and it tested at .25 ppm I was told since the water already had ammonia in it and I had the tank set up and running for a month before I put fish in it cycled already now here is the problem when I go to do water changes it's going to add more ammonia to the tank hellpppp what should I do????????? |
Posted 25-Jun-2007 22:01 | |
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004 | You might get away with just doing small water changes. If you change 10% at a time .25 ammonia isn't going to be real noticeable. Your only increasing the amount in the tank by .025ppm and it will get converted to nitrites and nitrates before causing any harm. Your real problem is going to be nitrates. You do water changes to lower nitrates but if the water contains ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates then you will be contributing to nitrate levels. I'm not sure how much nitrate .25 ammonia turns into. You may still be fine doing the small frequent water changes and stocking lightly to keep nitrates as low as possible. Otherwise you could add some fast growing plants like hornwort provided you have enough light. That would use up enough ammonia or nitrates to make up for the amount found in the tapwater. |
Posted 26-Jun-2007 00:12 | |
Callatya Moderator The girl's got crabs! Posts: 9662 Kudos: 5261 Registered: 16-Sep-2001 | Get a big tub or foodsafe barrel, and stuff it full of hornwort or other stem plants and then age your water in there. It should cycle itself somewhat and the plants should take up most if not all of the ammonia. When it comes time to changing water, just use the water from the barrel Not ideal as Sham said, it will still contribute to nitrate levels, but it is better than ammonia and nitrite, and gives you the option of larger water changes if they are necessary. Failing that, use bottled water. |
Posted 26-Jun-2007 02:47 |
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