Ammonia Straight From Tap is .5 ppm

[jfclk33]

First of all, I have a 125 gallon tank. I started the filters and heaters on Saturday, then added some "bacteria in a bottle" and 7 fish, all 2" or less, yesterday. I figured I'd watch the levels and change water if I saw any spikes, which I don't really expect with such small stock in that size tank. BTW, I used this method to start my last tank and it worked out well. Anyway, I decided to check the levels today just to be safe, and the ammonia was at .25 ppm. At this point, I decided to check the level of my tap water, and, as the title says, my ammonia levels straight from the tap are at .5 ppm(checked it twice). This concerns me because whenever I do water changes, I'll be adding water that is dangerous to the fish straight from the tap. Is there an easy way to take care of this? Thanks for any help.

Jeff

 

[Malupoo]

I'm rather close to pumping station in Sydney so my water comes out at .5 as well. I haven't had any issues at all, I just always dose prime and usually more than needed. Let water stand for little while before changing. You could use RO water but that has ta monetary investment involved.

Someone with more knowledge can give some more I. Depth advice.

Only thing will have to remember is you will have a ammonia reading after water changes. Even though you may use prime it will just detoxify not remove ammonia so will still have a reading till it's converted.

 

[jfclk33]

Ok, thanks. I do use Prime already, so that's good to know. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it does.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[flitabout]

I definitely suggest adding a bit extra prime when doing water change. Test ago 24 hours after your water change and if you still have ammo in the water just add another dose of prime eventually your bb will catch up with the ammo from your water changes and you'll be golden.

 

[Fresh2o]

In 2012 the ammonia from my tap was 1 ppm (nitrates 5 ppm). I did not have prime at the time. I tried to keep weekly water changes to no more than 30-40%. The filter was established and I rarely detected any ammonia the day following a water change.
One day I was testing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and detected a random nitrite spike (0 ammonia, 0.25 nitrite, and 5 nitrate). Apparently I forgot about the high ammonia and did 75% WC. Parameters were normal by nightfall.
By 2013 the ammonia and nitrate from the tap went back to zero.