Amonia problems

Cal_stir · #2 11-02-2013, 03:43 AM

the human nose can smell ppb ammonia, can you smell it in your house?
Also ammonia is lighter than air so it would be concentrating in the higher areas.

makana · #3 11-02-2013, 05:51 AM

Ammonia can be smelt from the litter box in the basement if it's not kept clean. I assume that is where it is coming from. I don't know a lot about it but I would think the concentration would have to be a lot higher to smell than would be needed to show up in water.

HaZRaTTy · #4 11-02-2013, 05:54 AM

I remember seeing a post and something about litter boxes and tanks sometime ago on canreef maybe do a quick search.. I can't remember what it was about though.

Cal_stir · #5 11-02-2013, 02:08 PM

I work with ammonia and the human nose can smell it when concentrations cannot be detected with a ppm meter. Ammonia is readily adsorbed by water but I do not think it has an affinity with water as salt does so unless your litter box is right beside your storage container I would be skeptical that it is the cause, nitrates are a whole other animal that are not exported easily with conventional means and I hear of tanks with high nitrates that don't have a hair algae problem, I think po4 starts HA and then no3 can feed it, high nitrates need to be reduced with denitrators or WC's and then can be managed with pellet reactors and other forms of carbon dosing.

makana · #6 11-02-2013, 03:49 PM

I can appreciate the complexity of of the hair algea problem and nitrate problem. But if I am doing water changes with amonia levels between 1 and 4 mg/L then the end result of that amonia is going to be nitrates. Essentially my bioload is overloaded without adding fish.

For what it is worth I don't smell amonia on the top floor of the house and after 24 hours a cup of ro/di water tests at 1. If its not coming from the litter box then where else would it be coming from?

I guess all that really matters is how can I stop the amonia from getting into my water change water? The garage is the only spot I have found where uncovered water does not increase in amonia but it is going to be too cold.

makana · #7 11-02-2013, 06:18 PM

Is there an air purifier that removes ammonia? I am also wondering about the skimmer intake sucking ammonia into the aquarium. I was thinking about routing the intake line to pull in outside air but am wondering if that would have an impact on the temperature of the tank. Although that might actually mean my chiller won't have to run as often.