Ammonia in tap water, prime, api testing…

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JerryO

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
33
So my cycle is complete. I rejoiced and added some fish (12 neons and 1 BN pleco to start). I started to see some ammonia show up, which I expected a little spike after reading the forum since there are now fish in the tank and the load is higher, so at .5ppm I did a water change and treated with tetra safestart like always for chlorine. An hour after the water change I checked my levels and was alarmed to find my ammonia was now at 1ppm!!! I retested and even resorted to double checking with test strips and 1ppm it was. I tested my tap water and sure enough 1ppm right from the tap. I ran to the pet store and got some prime to make things safe for the fish, but the question is now what….
I know the prime will keep my fish safe, but I also know it will give me false ammonia readings when I test with the API kit. So how do I deal with this and is there a test that will give me actual ammonia readings so I can see if my fish are in danger without just blindly trusting the prime is doing its job.
 
Just use the prime with each water change. If you fill up with a bucket, add the prime to the water and mix it up a bit according to how much water is in the bucket. If you use a python or something similar, treat with enough prime for the total amount of water in the system, not just the water you're adding. These products will nullify the ammonia. After about 24 hours your test kits should read normally again.
 
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