Water issues

[Tawls]

Heya,
Have a issue and could really use some advice.
Just moved to a new place and after testing the tap water before moving and setting up my tanks I found the water to be . 8.4ph .50ppm ammonia. .0 nitrites and 10 nitrates. called the water co and they are adding ammonia to be water to combat bacteria .
My old tap water had the same ph, but without having a RO system available to use in my apartment I am looking at using bottled waters as I am afraid the high lvl of ammonia will kill my fish. They are moderately planted tanks. Should I mix the bottled with tap for the minerals to help keep a stable ph?

 

[aqua_chem]

The ammonia that you're detecting is in the form of chloramines, which will be bound and detoxified by any good quality water conditioner. I wouldn't read much into the tap pH either as it will likely greatly decrease in the tank after 24h or so.

 

[Tawls]

Thanks for the info on the ammonia. Far as
The tap ph, here in central Indiana we have hard water with high ph. At home , my old tanks running for over a year and the non planted tank using well water was always around 8.2 ph. And I checked them weekly.

 

[aqua_chem]

Yea, my tanks would run at about that in hard water too. It's not actually as big of a detriment as most people would believe it is.

 

[Tawls]

Now here is another question, i am using seachem prime to condition the water and it's still showing ammonia in my tests, using the API freshwater test kit. Filled the tank 2 days ago with tap water and it's still showing up

 

[jcolon]

Now here is another question, i am using seachem prime to condition the water and it's still showing ammonia in my tests, using the API freshwater test kit. Filled the tank 2 days ago with tap water and it's still showing up

Perfectly normal ... the ammonia is bound into a non toxic form, but it's still in the tank available for your bacteria to consume, yet it will not harm your fish while bound.

As mentioned by Aquachem ... the Ammo is from chloramines so using Seachem Prime's the way to go.

 

[jlk]

Now here is another question, i am using seachem prime to condition the water and it's still showing ammonia in my tests, using the API freshwater test kit. Filled the tank 2 days ago with tap water and it's still showing up

Just keep in mind that Prime just temporarily detoxes ammonia by converting it to ammonium- it doesnt actually remove it. The Api test checks for NH3 (free toxic ammonia) and NH4 (ammonium) combined. It doesnt differentiate between ammonia & ammonium. Once your tank is cycled, it should convert any ammonia from tap/water changes pretty quickly and the prime will keep it detoxed during this time so your fish are free from harm.

 

[Tawls]

Thanks alot for the help and explanations =) , was worried and glad to see it was not as bad as I was thinking