Need advice for Tap Water issues

[Enzo954]

So i've been fishless cycling my first tank for about a month (Fluval Edge 6 gallon). I've been dosing it with Ammonia and it's been dropping to zero within 12 hours which is great, but my nitrites have been through the roof for weeks. I've also seen the niTrates steadily increase which is positive.

I've done large water changes all week to hopefully get my nitrite level low enough, to get a somewhat accurate reading on my API liquid chart, but they just won't lower. So then it dawns on me that I never tested my tap water. Low and behold, I test my tap water and it's loaded with Nitrites, and is also showing some fairly high levels of Ammonia and Nitrates.

The tap's showing:

Ammonia = .50 ppm - 1.0 ppm
Nitrite = Somewhere around 2.0 - 5.0 ppm (Kind of hard to tell. Sort of a pinkish purple)
NiTrates = 5.0 ppm - 10 ppm

So knowing my tap waters essentially poison, how should I proceed?

Everything I've read about RO water or bottled water seems to be negative. (Lowers PH too much and is missing essential minerals etc.)

Can I can use Seachem Prime as a pre-water conditioner which will help detoxify the nasty stuff? Will using Prime screw up my cycle?

I added Prime to my API test tubes filled with my tested tank water, and it changed the colors to read 0 ppm to my amazement.

Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[jlk]

Are you in the US or another country? Do you have public or well water? Are you drinking this water?

The ammonia and nitrate levels are within EPA standards for drinking water but the nitrite levels are at dangerous levels for human consumption, particularly for infants, the elderly or anyone with a compromised immune system. Some more info will help!

 

[Enzo954]

Are you in the US or another country? Do you have public or well water? Are you drinking this water?

The ammonia and nitrate levels are within EPA standards for drinking water but the nitrite levels are at dangerous levels for human consumption, particularly for infants, the elderly or anyone with a compromised immune system. Some more info will help!

I'm in the US, South Florida to be exact. It's public water and no I'm not using my tap water for drinking water.

I ended up going to my local well respected fish store and was told that south Florida has issues with nitrites and nitrates in the tap water. She recommended that I try Tetra Safe Start because that's what they use on all of their tanks. I added it about 24 hours ago and my nitrites don't seem to be dropping at all. To say that I'm frustrated would be an understatement at this point.

 

[jlk]

Well, if its public water, there are some serious issues here. The legal limit set by the EPA for public water supplies for nitrite is 1ppm. I suggest contacting your municipality and checking online for recent water reports. Your water supplier should send someone out for additional testing at no cost to you. You can also contact the EPA's safe water drinking hotline for additional help: 800-426-4791

This aside, you should honestly consider looking into an undersink type RO unit and cutting your tap to reduce the toxin levels or reconstituting the RO and using only this. Your going to have a pretty tough time otherwise trying to properly cycle and maintain a tank using this water as water changes are going to be very difficult with such extreme nitrite levels.