Ammonia

[syncro]

Here is an article from http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Ammonia. I post it here for beginners to reference and for anyone to help improve it. It is not much now but I hope it will get better and can help the next beginner after me. It was written and edited by several hobbyists. See A case for a wiki for more info.

See any mistakes or areas for improvements in this article? Post them in this thread or feel free to change it yourself at the wiki. I'll periodically refresh this first post with the latest version of the article. This article is intended for both salt and freshwater hobbyists.



Ammonia
Ammonia, in the aquarium hobby, refers to two chemical compounds, free ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4+) together. Ammonia is a food source for nitrifying bacteria and is toxic to fish, amphibians and invertebrates. It is a key input to the Nitrogen Cycle and an important parameter to measure when cycling a new tank.

What is it?
Free ammonia is a chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3. Technically ammonia in water is called w:Ammonium hydroxide|Ammonium hydroxide. In the aquarium hobby the term ammonia also refers to an ionized form called ammonium (NH4+). These are held in equilibrium in the water [Citation needed]. 'Total ammonia' (TA) or 'Total ammonia nitrogen' (TAN) refers to the total quantity of both NH3 and NH4+ in the aquarium water.

Where you have Ammonia, you will also have Ammonium. The ratio of one to the other varies on pH and water temperature. So it is important to know these two readings when measuring Ammonia in your tank to gauge how serious the Ammonia levels are. See the Links section for a Toxic Ammonia calculator. Here is a table showing the varying levels of ammonia against ammonium.

(table removed see wiki)


Sources of Ammonia
The primary source of ammonia in the aquarium are animals. Fish excrete free ammonia from their gills and ammonium in their urine. Bacteria release ammonia when consuming decaying food and dead tissue. Other minor sources include salt mixes and tap water.

Testing for Ammonia
The concentration of ammonia in water is easily measured with widely available test kits. There are two common methods for measuring ammonia:
Nessler measures total ammonia (NH3 and NH4+) and
Salicylate measures free ammonia (NH3). A test kit will use one or both methods. In the marine hobby if a test kit does not explicitly state it measures free ammonia then it is likely uses the Nessler method and measures total ammonia.

Some Water conditioners transform free ammonia (NH3) into ammonium (NH4+). As a result, Salicylate test kits will show a decrease in free ammonia while the Nessler test kits will not show any change in total ammonia.

The typical unit of measure is ppm (parts per million). In seawater ppm and mg/L are interchangeably since 1 ppm ammonia = 1.03 mg/L ammonia.

Toxicity
* Free ammonia is highly toxic to aquatic life. It kills in aquariums at very low amounts. Any level above 0.02 mg/l (ppm) is considered harmful.

*Ammonia causes gill damage, internal organ damage and eventually skin damage and death.

*In general, ammonia is more toxic at higher alkaline pH values and as the temperature of the water increases.

*Different species of fish and other aquatic animals have different tolerances to the level of ammonia in the water (in an ideal world this should be zero). Generally fry and young fish are more sensitive as well.

*In nitrogen sensitive fish like Trout, ammonia is about 6x more toxic than nitrite and about 13,300x more toxic than nitrate

*Ammonium may be toxic to marine fish, especially if the pH differs significantly from natural seawater (e.g. shipping bags)

*Ammonia is not toxic to plants in levels that would cause distress to fish, indeed of those plants tested, most preferred ammonia or ammonium as a food to nitrate.

Removing Ammonia
*Nitrifying bacteria will consume ammonia and convert it to the less toxic nitrite chemical. It can take many weeks to establish themselves in large enough quantities in a new tank.

*Perform a water change. This dilutes the total ammonia levels quickly and cheaply.

*Plants in a tank will soak up ammonia in order to grow. This works well but can take time.

*Some algae consume ammonia so ammmonia in an aquarium can cause a bloom.

*Add special resins or rocks which soak up the ammonia. These are reusable and relatively cheap. Typical resin product names based on zeolite are Ammo-Chip or Ammo-Carb.

*Ammonia in a freshwater aquarium can be rendered less toxic by adding a small quantity of salt to the water. See Salt article.

*Add a water conditioner that neutralizes ammonia. These can be expensive and can cause false readings in some test kits. But are virtually instantaneous in use and less work. <font color=red>Be very wary of water conditioners that just say they remove Chlorine or Chloramine. They often just convert chloramine into ammonia (they break the chemical into two parts, chlorine and ammonia, then just neutralise the Chlorine!). Buy a bottle that specifically says it removes ammonia as well as chloramine.</font>

Sourcing Ammonia
It is useful to add ammonia to a new tank in order to cycle it before adding any animals. There are products on the market which sell diluted ammonia as a cleaning agent. It is important to only buy a product with no additives (surfactants, perfumes, and colourants, etc.) that may pollute the water with other toxins. Usually the cheapest brands have the lowest additives.

*See article - Fishless cycling for details.

Typical examples:

*UK - Kleen Off
*USA - please add one
*EU - please add one

References
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Links
*w:Ammonia|Ammonia by Wikipedia
*[http://www.thekrib.com/Chemistry/ammonia-toxicity.html The Krib] - Ammonia Toxicity to Freshwater Fish
*[http://www.ornamentalfish.org/associ...ty/ammonia.php Ammonia in aquariums] and safe levels by the OATA
*[http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA03100.pdf Ammonia in Aquatic Systems] by Ruth Francis-Floyd, Craig Watson, Denise Petty, and Deborah B. Pouder of the University of Florida
*[http://web.archive.org/web/200503191...erivation.html How to calculate the level of free ammonia at certain pH and temperature in water] by [http://www.ccee.iastate.edu/who-we-a...e-alleman.html Professor James E. Alleman] (Archived link March 2005)
*[http://www.cnykoi.com/calculators/calcnh3c.asp Koi and Water Garden Society] - Free Ammonia calculator
*[http://www.dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/AmmoniaTox.html Ammonia Toxicity to fish Tables]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/200812250...om/ammonia.htm The ammonia/ammonium equilibrium] by Mr. Nielsen. (Archived 2008)

Category:Glossary