AMMONIA in AquaSafe?!?

[jeffrey Warden]

Hi everybody,

I'm stumped.

I can't seem to get the ammo down in my 30G SW tank. I have changed the
water to no avail. My NitrAtes are nearly zero, but the ammo won't budge
from .5-1ppm.

I suspected my test kit was bad, so I tried three different bottles of ammo
test on the current aquarium water, and they all read .5-1ppm.

I have a new batch of aquarium water that I just mixed with tap water,
Instant Ocean and Tetra AquaSafe to SG of 1.023 @80degrees F. The power
head is mixing it up now for a 40% water change this afternoon. Guess what?
I checked the ammo level of the UNUSED aquarium water, and it is .5-1ppm!!!

I then tested plain water from the tap, and it reads 0ppm. No wonder I
can't get my ammo down!

To finish the experiment, I tested plain tap water with AquaSafe, and no
salt. High ammo.

Has anyone had this happen? Could this be a false reading, or is ammo
really being introduced with the Aquasafe? By the way, I just bought the
bottle of aquasafe today.

Thanks,

Jeff Warden

[jeffrey Warden]

Just threw out the SW from earlier, and mixed a new batch with StressCoat
substituted for Aquasafe. You guessed it, ammo reads .5-1ppm. Water with
no Stress Coat reads 0ppm.

I hate this hobby.

Time for an RO filter, I guess. I was looking for something to do with all
that "extra cash" lying around the house anyway, right? Why not just throw
hundred dollar bills in the aquarium? I'm sure the fish would like that.

Jeff

[Deb Hadford]

I have never tried stress coat but prefer to use dechlorinators with no
additives whatsoever. They just seem to cause problems.

--
Deb
www.members.home.net/dhadford

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?

- Charles DeGaulle

"jeffrey Warden" <jawa...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:jO2c5.69907$_b3.2...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...

[jl1...@webtv.net]

Why not just fill your holding tank with tap water and run an airstone
in it over night before adding the salt to remove any chlorine. Stress
coat and all that other stuff makes the skimmer go nuts. I always run a
small carbon filter and an airstone over night before adding the salt.
That seems to work best for me.. My 2¢ Jeff

[Cthulhu]

What test kit is it? I think AquaSafe has some fine print in the
back regarding testing it with cetrain test agent .....

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[jeffrey Warden]

I used Aquarim Pharm. and Wardley.

Just checked the Aquasafe bottle and could find no fine print.

Thanks,

Jeff

Cthulhu wrote in message <0bcf3210...@usw-ex0102-084.remarq.com>...

[jeffrey Warden]

Airstones would do this?

That's a new one on me. I agree that the skimmer goes into high gear with
the additives. Is there a way to test to ensure that the
chlorine/chloramine is gone with the airstone method?

Thanks,

Jeff

jl1...@webtv.net wrote in message
<17548-397...@storefull-261.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...

[jeffrey Warden]

Thanks Deb,

I'll try that with my next batch.

I noticed during my experiments yesterday that my water has a slight yellow
tint to it, out of the tap. I've never noticed before (probably because my
water mixing pails are blue). I don't know what causes the tint, but I've
convinced myself that I have "bad water", which can only be cured with a RO
filter. After all, the problems I've had in the past couldn't possibly be
my fault, now could they? ;o) It's that darn WATER!

I'll give my lfs a call tomorrow and see if they can do an analysis of the
water for me.

Anyway, can anyone recommend a RO filtration system suitable for a 30G
system?

Thanks,

Jeff

Deb Hadford wrote in message ...

[jl1...@webtv.net]

You can buy test kits for both.........Jeff

[Andreas]

Just letting the water sit will release the chlorine, faster with an air
stone. I've never used a chlorine remover, I just fill a bucket of water a
couple days befor. For my reef however I only use RO.

jeffrey Warden <jawa...@earthlink.net> wrote in message

news:1Sic5.71881$_b3.2...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...

[Cthulhu]

It said it can be use with test kit using Salicylate reagent but
not with Nessler reagents

Don't know what does it means, but someone else maybe able to
tell

[DefLizard]

Most municipal water systems in the US (I can't tell you of the rest of
the world) have switched from chlorine to chloramine, for water safety,
which does not evaporate (chloramine) when aerated. Using a chloramine
remover separates the chloramine molecule into chlorine and ammonium.
The chlorine is quickly dissipated, and the ammonium is a non-toxic
form, which is harmlessly absorbed by biological filtration. The problem
is that test kits still read ammonium as free ammonia. Once a tank has
cycled and matured, its really unnecessary to keep measuring ammonia and
nitrite, unless, for some unknown reason your losing livestock,
otherwise, your just looking for trouble where non exists!

Group: rec.aquaria.marine.misc Date: Sun, Jul 16, 2000, 9:44pm (PDT+7)
From: ast...@hotmail.com (Andreas) Re: The bitter saga continues...

http://community.webtv.net/deflizard/doc
regards, John

[Nick]

Hi,
Sure your not using a fresh water test kit? "one bottle of chemical"
Nick.
"DefLizard" <defl...@webtv.net> wrote in message
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