# 0.25 Ammonia detected in Hamilton Tap Water?



## poverty (Jul 12, 2013)

Should I be concerned? Now if I test with the tap water that is treated with Prime it's definitely 0. Is this a false positive? I'm using an API test kit.


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## Rigio (Jul 23, 2013)

poverty said:


> Should I be concerned? Now if I test with the tap water that is treated with Prime it's definitely 0. Is this a false positive? I'm using an API test kit.


Test strips or liquid indicator? Perhaps the test on the untreated was the false reading?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Try testing again once or twice. If you still get ammonia readings on the tap water, it may be they are adding it to your tap water at the water plant. Some cities do use it, but not necessarily all the time. 

You could also call the local water utility and ask if they add ammonia to your tap water or the info may be online on the city website, possibly.

Be aware, what they use in tap water can change without notice, based on what's happening with the source water. I assume Hamilton gets theirs from the lake, like the rest of the GTA does ? Because it can change, it's not a bad idea to recheck periodically, especially during heat waves or if the source has algae, such as Lake Ontario gets, especially in hot summers, from time to time. Prime, in my opinion at least, is one of the best conditioners, and so long as the test reads zero in treated water, you're good.

You can get false readings, because there are two forms of ammonia.. you can look that up online and get a much better explanation of it than I can provide. Sometimes the one form is called free ammonia, and is the form that damages fish. The other form is bound up chemically so it's not an issue, I think. Don't quote me.. look it up to be sure of how it works. I have to look it up now and then to refresh my memory of how it works, because chemistry is not my best subject and it took me at least six months just to get the nitrogen cycle firmly implanted in my brain so I understood it well. Should have paid more attention in chem class.

Prime is great because it also binds chloramines, which are what you get when they add ammonia to the water, if memory serves me at all. Chloramines last much longer than chlorine does, so must be treated. I also appreciate the fact Prime does not cause foaming of the water, as some other products can do. Am Quel is another good one too.


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

Hamilton Drinking Water System - Woodward

http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/dwo/en/mapping/report/system?dws=220003118

Treatment Listing includes:
Chloramination: The process of using both chlorine and ammonia for disinfection. Chloramination keeps chlorine at a consistent level in large drinking-water distribution systems.

For sure the City of Toronto add ammonia in the last stage of water treatment, resulting in chloramines.


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## poverty (Jul 12, 2013)

*Water*

Thanks for the link! Does that mean the process of chloramination binds the ammonia up so its safe and prime should be enough? Doesn't a well balanced tank need ammonia as part of the cycle to maintain the ammonia consuming bacteria? Since I'm going to be running a Iwagumi style tank with relatively low fish load should I be concerned?


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## poverty (Jul 12, 2013)

Rigio said:


> Test strips or liquid indicator? Perhaps the test on the untreated was the false reading?


I tried two times on the tap. With API tests in drop form. I tested it against the office spring water as a reference and to be sure it wasn't my old eyes . The spring water was 0ppm and colour difference was very clear.


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## Rigio (Jul 23, 2013)

poverty said:


> I tried two times on the tap. With API tests in drop form. I tested it against the office spring water as a reference and to be sure it wasn't my old eyes . The spring water was 0ppm and colour difference was very clear.


Interesting, well seems like it's positive but if you use prime and it dissipates in wouldn't worry about it much.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

It is true plants can use ammonia as food. But ammonia is so very toxic to fish, you do not want any in your tank in the free form. As I said, water chemistry is not my best subject, so you'd have to look this up to understand it properly. Ammonia's presence and whether it is free or not is affected by the pH of the water, among other things.

But when you test tank water, it should not have any ammonia in it. Some test kits measure for both free and the other kind of ammonia. Seachem's test measures both free ammonia and the other kind. I am not sure if API's test does, but I don't think it does.

But thinking plants need ammonia is not quite right. They need a great number of things to grow well, but ammonia itself is not one of them. Instead they utilize nitrates, which come from the break down of ammonia and then nitrite, from the filter bacteria. Nitrates are far less toxic to fish. Levels around 20 ppm are fine, even a bit higher won't bother most fish, with 50 ppm being the upper limit of safety. That level might bother some fish, but not all.

In a very heavily planted tank with few fish, nitrates can also be zero at times, and need to be added for plant health. In those tanks, the plants use it all up. The more plants you have, the more nitrate will be used up. But unless it all gets used by plants, partial water changes are how nitrate levels are managed, so they don't get too high.

If you check Seachem's site, you'd find this. http://www.seachem.com/Library/SeaGrams/Ammonia_Management.pdf
Of course they're talking about their own products, but the explanation of the difference between free and the other ammonia is understandable. There are also much more scholarly articles online you can read that get into even more detail, if you're interested.


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## poverty (Jul 12, 2013)

Thanks, very informative. I already use Prime and it looks like it's already designed to break the chloramine bond and release the ammonia as well as bind to it making it safe. I'll just have to keep a close eye on it until I use up my API test kit as I found a Seachem thread which confirmed that the API ammoina based test will not distinguish between bound "safe" ammonia and the gaseous one which is toxic to fish. I might however double dose if after my tank is flooded and I still detect ammonia after my cycle. It might be awhile since I have about 16l of AS Amazonia in my 29g second week of DSM.

I was just testing tap water to pass the time and fruitlessly scratching the itch of my tank begging to be flooded.  I'll follow up with more tank maturity under my belt incase anyone else runs into this.



Fishfur said:


> It is true plants can use ammonia as food. But ammonia is so very toxic to fish, you do not want any in your tank in the free form. As I said, water chemistry is not my best subject, so you'd have to look this up to understand it properly. Ammonia's presence and whether it is free or not is affected by the pH of the water, among other things.
> 
> But when you test tank water, it should not have any ammonia in it. Some test kits measure for both free and the other kind of ammonia. Seachem's test measures both free ammonia and the other kind. I am not sure if API's test does, but I don't think it does.
> 
> ...


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I get the part where you hate to wait.. but it's always safer to be sure, rather than lose fish soon after purchase.


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## poverty (Jul 12, 2013)

Fishfur said:


> I get the part where you hate to wait.. but it's always safer to be sure, rather than lose fish soon after purchase.


For sure! I have some reef bg so I'm used to being patient. At that time I only used ro/di so I never encountered the tap water issue.

Cheers, and thanks for the input!


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Wish you success with the project.


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