High ammonia right out of the tap

[Hanna87]

Hey all, I live in a little town in Iowa where the population is about 80 if that. The water here isn't that great. Testing the water for ammonia right out of the tap its at a 8 ppm. I've been scared to use the water for my fish tanks so I've been getting water from my parents house about 10 miles away. With winter here now I'd hate to keep doing that because were getting the water from an outside faucet. Freezing!
My question is, can I use my towns water even though the ammonia is so high?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; High ammonia in tap water sounds suspect to me. While I am not on top of the water chemistry involved, I seem to recall some discussion about water treatment chemicals that bind ammonia into an inert form but which still shows up when tested as ammonia. The source of ammonia in aquariums is cited as a waste by product (feces + urine) from cellular respiration of living things. Unless there is some other source or reason for the ammonia readings in the tap water, this would also likely indicate the possibility of waste contamination. Not a good thing for drinking water.
Before becoming overly concerned do some checking. Get a jug of distilled water (Not drinking water) and use your test kit on that. Distilled water should be neutral on the readings when tested. If not, review your water testing proceedure to see if the methods used allow for contamination of the test. Perhaps get a current test kit. The chemicals in a test kit can become out of date and give false readings The test strips are known to go bad over time especially if the cap is not secured. If the test kit is determined to read true, another thing is to call the water company and ask if there is some reason why your tap water should be indicating ammonia. Good luck.

 

[KcMopar]

OC has some stuff that she recommends for a water treatment but I can not remember the name of it. You could have ammonium NH4+ in you water that is pretty much harmless to your fish, if it is ammonia NH3 its deadly!! You might call your water company if its a municipal water and ask them. The stuff OC uses turns NH3 to NH4+

 

[Hanna87]

My test kit isn't even a year old yet and its a liquid test kit. Plenty of people in our town has sent letters to our town counsel complaining about the water and they just don't seem to care. I'll have to talk to my husband and see if he knows if there is even a water company here sence our town is only about 4 blocks. Pretty small.

 

[Hanna87]

Oh and we deffinently don't drink the town water! I buy bottled water.

 

[Thyra]

I suspect you have a community well. You must have to pay someone monthly for your share of the water. Depending on who owns the water source, there are usually state rules and regulations about public water supplies and the testing thereof.

 

[Hanna87]

I know we have a water tower and yes we have a monthly water bill. I don't think that theirs a water company though. Still have to do more checking on that. Is there something I could buy that would test the water to see if its NH3 or NH4?

 

[Thyra]

Just call the place where you send your monthly payment. I am sure if you have a water tower it is a public water supply and the state would require routine testing.

 

[Hanna87]

Anyone use reverse osmosis? We've been thinking bout just getting one of those. What are the pros and cons?

 

[KcMopar]

I use one. You need to add iron and what not back to it. I as Epsom salt, backing soda, and a little instant ocean to mine for my African tank. It works great!!! Ebay has some really good deals on them. This is what I use per 10G of changed water in my 75G African tank, Epsom salt@1 TABLE spoon, Backing soda@1 TEA spoon, and Instant Ocean@1/2 TEA spoon. The instant ocean provides the minerals and the Epsom salt helps buffer the pH and the baking soda raise the pH along with the salt. The baking soda could be adjusted or not used at all. Also you need to monitor the salinity, if it goes up past 1.002 you need to not use salt again until its down to zero.

 

[Thyra]

If you Google "ammonia in drinking water" you will find a lot of info. I gather from just glancing at it, its not dangerous in the small amounts we are talking about to humans.

 

[OrangeCones]

Are you using a dechlorinator on the tap water before testing it? If so, what brand?

Seachem's Prime is the dechlorinator I use, and it can bind ammonia. If you get an Ammonia Alert Disk, it will only indicate ammonia if the water has free (toxic) ammonia, and will ignore the bound ammonium.

 

[Hanna87]

No I'm testing right out of the tap. But the dechlorinator I use is stress coat. It says
"removes chlorine, chloramines and ammonia in tap water". That's why I got it, bit to me it doesn't seem like it works. Tested by filling a 5 gallon bucket then treating it with stress coat and letting it sit for 24 hours. Still had high ammonia. I know it probably converted the toxic ammonia into non-toxic. I guess I'm just paranoid.
Just looked up Seachem Prime on Amazon (I order everything on there) and they have a 2 liter bottle for $45. I plan on getting it but my question is does it have an expiration date? It treats like 20,000 gallons. Thanks for all your help!!

 

[OrangeCones]

I'd ask Seachem directly on that (888-SEA-CHEM), but that amount will last you forever!

To ease your mind, try the Ammonia Alert Disk. My LFS sells them for $6, and far cheaper and less hassle than testing your water for ammonia. I wish they made a Nitrite Alert Disk!

 

[Hanna87]

I will deffinently check into that. Thank you for all the help. Feeling at least a little bit better about using our towns tap water. I hate getting water from somewhere else and on top of that, it being outside in the freezing cold!!

 

[OrangeCones]

I hear ya! I escaped after a three-year stint in Iowa (don't mean to offend, just couldn't STAND the cold!).

 

[Hanna87]

Haha, no problem. We were pretty lucky though here, didn't have snow until yesterday. Up to then we had 40 to 50 degree days. Now I'm just afraid were gonna pay for it.

 

[OrangeCones]

Yea, my friends back in Des Moines have said the same. They enjoyed the mild start of winter, but fear it will make the last half bad, and into Spring too. I left the last week of March (almost a year ago), and spent an hr scraping snow/ice off my vehicle to get on the road!

 

[SlateSpider]

Where I am, for the last couple of days it hasn't gotten above 20 degrees Fahrenheit. We have only gotten about an inch of snow a couple of weeks ago, then It warmed back up to 50, then a couple of days ago, it went to below 20. Right now the temp is actually 31! Hey, it has almost warmed up to freezing outside!

 

[Thyra]

So you traded the cold for the heat! lol I have friends in Texas and they dread the summer - too hot to go outside and air conditioning costs more than heating the house.