Amonia problems

[makana]

It seems I have amonia in my air that is getting into the water I use for top off and water changes. I'm not sure I've ever tested my water change water for amonia before but a week ago I was planning a large water change and decided to test everything. The amonia was at 2mg/L.

I started doing tests to try and eliminate sources. I started with a clean cup of ro/di water and it tested .25 with an api test kit. Not sure if amonia is getting through the ro/di or I am getting a false positive. I left the cup in the room with the aquarium and 24 hours later it tested at 2. I tried it again with the cup on the second floor of the house and the results where the same.

I tried it again with a small rubbermaid container with the lid on and the results showed .25 when I filled the container and .25 both 24 and 48 hours later. I wanted to rule out something in the water that needed exposure to air rather than the air in the house so I left the same container in the garage with no lid for 24 hours. It tested .25. I left it in the room with my aquarium for 1 hour and it tested at 1.

So I think it is safe to say that my battle with algea and nitrates are due to the fact that I am dumping amonia into my tank.

So now the question is, how do I prevent this? I tried a container in the one bathroom with the door closed hoping the air would be better as it has no vent. I had 1 mg/L in my one gallon top off container after 24 hours. I think that is better than not being in the room but not good enough.

Can I mix the salt with a lid on the pail? If not can I mix it in the garage for 24 hours then cover it and heat it indoors? I don't really want to try and heat it in the garage now that winter is almost here.