amonia in my rain barrel

[Doug Grinnell]

I was having a problem with an amonia spike and finally found the issue... it was in my rain barrel.  what would cause this?  I have plenty of algae coating the inside of the barrel and nothing dead in it  (I checked)  the rain is coming off my flat roof at the business. the water is very dirty when it gets into the barrel, but being on the main drag, I thought that this was understandable.  I don't know how to control the amonia, without setting up a grow bed for my rain barrel?  Any suggestions?

[Nick Rizzo]

rotting leaves that get stuck in the pipes can cause that

[Doug Grinnell]

That makes sense...  I cleaned out the barrel (did not find anything that stuck out , that would have made amonia) and have not had the issue since...