The Puffer Forum

I have a bit of an NH3/4 issue. I age my tap water and dechlorinate it with prime in a 42 or 45g (cant remember) rubbermaid trash can. It's the same can I have used forever and has only had water in it. I circulate the water with a 700gph pump for at least 24 hrs. All my readings (NH3/4, NO2, NO3) are zero and my Ph is 8.1 out of the tap. However an hr or so after I mix my salt and get it adjusted I always get a NH3/4 reading of 1.0ppm and I can't figure out why. I mixed some salt in a glass jar with just tap water with a bit of prime and got 0 NH3/4, could it be the rubbermaid can? Anyone els have this issue?

Also this happened with both Instant Ocean and Coralife salt mix.

Sounds more like a tank issue than mixing or salt issue. What are your tank water parameters before water change? How often are you doing water changes? Are you rinsing your filter media during water changes? Stiring things up in the tank when you do changes?

[quote="Dadof4"]Sounds more like a tank issue than mixing or salt issue. What are your tank water parameters before water change? How often are you doing water changes? Are you rinsing your filter media during water changes? Stiring things up in the tank when you do changes?[/quote

This has nothing to do with the tank, tank is just fine and dandy. This is all before any water hits the tank. Fresh clean water + salt in mixing can = 1.0 ppm NH3/4??? could somthing be in my dechlorinated tap that releases NH3/4 after mixing salt?

It definitaly seems narrowed down to your container or the pump. Where do you store the pump when not mixing water? The only thing I can think of is maybe dead growth on the inside of the container or something in the pump, and both of those seem very unlikely.

Perhaps your water uses chloramines, in which case the ammonia test is being set off by the NH3 released when prime breaks off and neutralizes the chlorine component. Since you use prime, the ammonia should be safely nontoxic for longer than the biofiler will need to remove it.

LD50 wrote:

Dadof4 wrote:Sounds more like a tank issue than mixing or salt issue. What are your tank water parameters before water change? How often are you doing water changes? Are you rinsing your filter media during water changes? Stiring things up in the tank when you do changes?[/quote

This has nothing to do with the tank, tank is just fine and dandy. This is all before any water hits the tank. Fresh clean water + salt in mixing can = 1.0 ppm NH3/4??? could somthing be in my dechlorinated tap that releases NH3/4 after mixing salt?

Sorry, read that while I was at work and mis-read it as an issue after you add to the tank....

Dadof4 wrote:

LD50 wrote:

Dadof4 wrote:Sounds more like a tank issue than mixing or salt issue. What are your tank water parameters before water change? How often are you doing water changes? Are you rinsing your filter media during water changes? Stiring things up in the tank when you do changes?[/quote

This has nothing to do with the tank, tank is just fine and dandy. This is all before any water hits the tank. Fresh clean water + salt in mixing can = 1.0 ppm NH3/4??? could somthing be in my dechlorinated tap that releases NH3/4 after mixing salt?

Sorry, read that while I was at work and mis-read it as an issue after you add to the tank....

No worries

Bcummings8521 wrote:It definitaly seems narrowed down to your container or the pump. Where do you store the pump when not mixing water? The only thing I can think of is maybe dead growth on the inside of the container or something in the pump, and both of those seem very unlikely.

I always rinse out the container after use, towel it off and store it in a closet, pump stays in the can. Thankfully it is nether of those items. I gambled with eating ramen for the next week and got myself a RO/DI unit.....no more NH3/4 reading after mixing in salt. It was somthing in the tap water that Prime was not takeing care of. Thanks everyone.

Glad you figured out what it was.