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Can trash bins leach ammonia?


mari.harutunian

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How is your tank doing now?
 
I too had the algae die-off and have the cyano now. I haven't bothered doing any chemical tests because it is rather obvious what is going on in the tank. Basically, the tank is in the end of a very long, drawn-out cycling process, with the chemistry of algae die-off to complicate the situation. Since any damage was already done, I've been kind of letting the tank go through the process without going overboard on water changes, thinking too much of that would be more of an interference than a help. I just can't put anything new in the tank for a while that wants perfect conditions. I thought about setting up a temp tank for new stuff, if I want anything from ff.
 
 


I fostered some kittens in the adjacent room(i couldnt help myself) so the algae came back in strength and is now dying off and clogging filters this week. I havent done any chemical stuff either and am just keeping an eye on it while it goes through the uglies. Soon I’ll start up frequent water changes and hopefully it will look a little more normal. But for now it still looks like a dumpster fire. Im not super hopeful though. Of the 3 years I’ve had this tank it has just never been algae free, not even algae-low. 7a57fc9e7a1993b27e4b2997a8e2be42.jpg
Link & Zelda the foster kittens


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have you tried leaving out a sample of distilled water (or any store bought water), and then testing for ammonia? I really think you may have a chloramine issue.


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15 minutes ago, jhOU said:

have you tried leaving out a sample of distilled water (or any store bought water), and then testing for ammonia? I really think you may have a chloramine issue.
 

 

 

On 4/3/2019 at 12:54 AM, mari.harutunian said:

2 cleaned mason jars, 300 ml of tap water both tested at the start @ 6:35 pm 4/2 negative for ammonia. Jar #1 is in upstairs spare bedroom previously used as an area to mix water. Jar #1 @12:38am 4/3 registers .5 ppm already and even smells like ammonia. Jar #2 is on the floor below on the opposite end of the house and does not smell like ammonia or register any when tested at 12:50am 4/3.

Time elapsed is over 6 hours so could it be fair to say my tank could be taking in 1ppm ammonia every 12 hours??? How much ammonia gas does it take to make 300 ml of water get to .5 ppm ammonia in 6 hours????? Any chemists and mathematicians?
 

 

A similar experiment was carried out several months ago.

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A similar experiment was carried out several months ago.

I’d still be interested to see if those results would be the same with water from another source other than your tap. I could be totally wrong... but you’ve peaked my curiosity.


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On 7/19/2019 at 2:16 PM, jhOU said:


I’d still be interested to see if those results would be the same with water from another source other than your tap. I could be totally wrong... but you’ve peaked my curiosity.


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Mari and I have been having the same issue. Both of us have cats and litter boxes, which of course give off ammonia gas. The solution I chose is to limit airborne ammonia, prevent it from getting into the water, and use something that will take ammonia out of the water before the ammonia has a chance to feeds algae growth. The 40g new water container no longer gets an ammonia reading; I am not using any media in it, but keep the container covered. I am using the media in my sump, but not sure if I actually still need it because the water in the tank has always shown no detectable ammonia, because the algae was eating it up. I am assuming the algae die-off to be the result of a decrease in the addition of ammonia from the air. I had not a trace of cyano all the while that the algae was growing, but with the algae die-off, I now have the cyano. I believe as long as I keep airborne ammonia out of the tank, the tank will straighten itself out.

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I’d still be interested to see if those results would be the same with water from another source other than your tap. I could be totally wrong... but you’ve peaked my curiosity.


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I can redo the experiment with some bottled water or any other water but i performed the same mason jar experiment downstairs, outside, in the basement, in the garage, and in my room and it only acquired ammonia in my room. It’s definitely a weird phenomena to wrap your mind around, took 2 years of an algae filled tank to figure out.


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33 minutes ago, mari.harutunian said:

 


I can redo the experiment with some bottled water or any other water but i performed the same mason jar experiment downstairs, outside, in the basement, in the garage, and in my room and it only acquired ammonia in my room. It’s definitely a weird phenomena to wrap your mind around, took 2 years of an algae filled tank to figure out.


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You have done me and possibly a lot of other future hobbyists a huge service simply by posting about the problem! It really would be great if someone could do a formal article about airborne ammonia, sources, and how to keep it from affecting aquariums.

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I’m convinced now. I have a cat also, and make water in the same room as the litter box. So I just did my own experiment. I left an uncovered 16oz sample of freshly mixed water right next to the litter box over night... sure enough it measured .2 ammonia. I then measured the water in my mixing brute that i keep covered with a lid, and it was still 0. Could just be the difference of water volume in sample containers. The brute lid is nowhere near an airtight fit, but I’ve always kept my water covered (mostly for the cat hair and dust), and have never noticed any issues.


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I’m convinced now. I have a cat also, and make water in the same room as the litter box. So I just did my own experiment. I left an uncovered 16oz sample of freshly mixed water right next to the litter box over night... sure enough it measured .2 ammonia. I then measured the water in my mixing brute that i keep covered with a lid, and it was still 0. Could just be the difference of water volume in sample containers. The brute lid is nowhere near an airtight fit, but I’ve always kept my water covered (mostly for the cat hair and dust), and have never noticed any issues.


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Wow do you see any issues in your tank? I’ve had shrimp die, snails don’t last long, and a lot of hair algae. How far do you keep your tank from the boxes?


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You have done me and possibly a lot of other future hobbyists a huge service simply by posting about the problem! It really would be great if someone could do a formal article about airborne ammonia, sources, and how to keep it from affecting aquariums.


Thank you I’m glad it’s been helpful. I would loveeee BRS to do a formal experiment on YouTube. They have a great platform and I’m sure they’d have some better solutions and methods than i could ever think of. I also wonder about other sources of ammonia. I know broken fridges and cleaners can be a source but i wonder what else.


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Wow do you see any issues in your tank? I’ve had shrimp die, snails don’t last long, and a lot of hair algae. How far do you keep your tank from the boxes?


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I have a frag tank about 6 feet away from the litter box, display is in another room. Frag tank is pretty empty right now, basically just raising trochus snails. No issues with snails and no algae problems (probably thanks to the snails).


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All I can do now is emphasize the importance of research and communication in this hobby. I had purchased flucanozole for the algae before this thread started, which I not used because I was worried I'd screw up things. As it turns out, I doubt it would even have worked because of the ammonia problem. The communication saved me from possibly making a bad situation worse.

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26 minutes ago, treesprite said:

All I can do now is emphasize the importance of research and communication in this hobby. I had purchased flucanozole for the algae before this thread started, which I not used because I was worried I'd screw up things. As it turns out, I doubt it would even have worked because of the ammonia problem. The communication saved me from possibly making a bad situation worse.

 

Just here to say that there have been no negative effects of using Flucanozole, other than unless you nip the root problem in the bud, you're going to have alage come back. 

 

With the correct dosage and use, Flucanozole has rid many tanks of nuisance bryopsis. 

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All I can do now is emphasize the importance of research and communication in this hobby. I had purchased flucanozole for the algae before this thread started, which I not used because I was worried I'd screw up things. As it turns out, I doubt it would even have worked because of the ammonia problem. The communication saved me from possibly making a bad situation worse.


Fluconazole actually worked like a charm for me and the HA was nearly eradicated. The issue was alllllll of the HA grew back the following week in full strength even after a few(ammonia tainted) water changes.


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Just here to say that there have been no negative effects of using Flucanozole, other than unless you nip the root problem in the bud, you're going to have alage come back. 
 
With the correct dosage and use, Flucanozole has rid many tanks of nuisance bryopsis. 


Agreed. I had no problems with using it other than the unknown source of ammonia that never went away.


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Good to know about the stuff for the future, since I already have it. Thanks for the info.

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  • 3 months later...

When I took down my 50g a few days ago, I discovered unquestionable evidence that a cat was peeing in the sump (one of the 2 sumps was behind the tank, because the stand is too small inside for anything bigger than a 20). There will be two small sumps under the stand for the 75, closed in and not accessible to any cat, so hopefully the new tank will not get messed up like the old one.

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12 minutes ago, treesprite said:

When I took down my 50g a few days ago, I discovered unquestionable evidence that a cat was peeing in the sump (one of the 2 sumps was behind the tank, because the stand is too small inside for anything bigger than a 20). There will be two small sumps under the stand for the 75, closed in and not accessible to any cat, so hopefully the new tank will not get messed up like the old one.

 

We had an old member that also caught his cat peeing in the tank! Its a deep dig if I want to find it, but I think it was HappyFeet (username)

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