Putting Ammo-Chips in tap water before WC help reduce ammonia readings?

[vundercoverdog]

I've had a .5ppm (sometimes 1ppm) reading of ammonia for some weeks now. I've do a 20% water change weekly. I have a 10 gallon heated(79F) planted tank. I recently had pesticides in my tank which i used a bag of carbon to clear up. I located the source of my problem, my tap water (1ppm Ammonia). Would/ could i put ammochips before doing a WC do get rid of the ammonia in the tap? If so , for how long before changing water?? Thanks!

Parameters:

.5ppm Ammonia
0ppm nitrite
5-10ppm Nitrate
7.4 PH


Occupant(s): 1 HM Betta & 1 Live Sword

 

[mfdrookie516]

You could... but that just means you have chloramines in your tap rather than chlorine... a good water conditioner like prime or novaqua will take care of that... and you'll still read positive for ammonia though it's not toxic to fish once the conditioner converts it to ammonium.

 

[vundercoverdog]

I use stress coat is that good ?

 

[mfdrookie516]

According to their website (Stress Coat® - API) it does... but I've never used it. I use prime because it lasts so much longer, and is cheaper in the long run (uses 5ml per 50g vs 5ml for 10g on stresscoat)

 

[BillD]

Regardless of the dechlor used, whether it be Prime or a basic Sodium thiosulphate type, once the bond between the chlorine and ammonia is broken, the filter will quickly take care of the small amount of ammonia.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Good point. Never thought about it like that. I suppose in a larger water change, it would be more important to have something that neutralizes ammonia... but for smaller water changes, that completely makes sense. Hmmm.