alexraj

Hi All,

I have been cycling my 29 gallon for a month now. My ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are 0.5/0.25/10. Yesterday I was testing my tap water to get a handle of how 0 PPM ammonia looks like, to my surprise I found ammonia is 0.25 ppm in my tap water. I tested nitrite and nitrate, and they are 0. Is it something normal? In that case a ammonia/nitrite/nitrate level of 0.25/0/10 be considered as cycling is complete? Should I be treating my tap water with anything to get rid of ammonia (of course I use dechlorinator to remove chlorine). Your help is very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex.

Chief_waterchanger

You might could find a dechlorinator that also lowered ammonia levels, but I am unsure. I don't deal with chemicals for our tanks since we are on well-water.

It is quite common for people to say their tap has ammonia in it when on a city-water supply.

jsalemi

My tap water has trace amounts of ammonia in it too, so after a water change, I usually add some AmQuel Plus to the water to kill the ammonia and keep the tank from going into a mini-cycle.

alexraj

So, should I be adding some AmQuel initially to the tank water, and then, during water change, add to the tap water before adding it to the tank.

Chief_waterchanger

I would just add it to the water you add back after waterchanges. It will slowly build up that way, not that it is that big of a deal, but anytime you can acclimate your fish to a situation rather than springing it on them it is good.

Windchaser

Same problem I discovered with our water. Hard to find a conditioner that takes care of ammonia instead of chlorine.

I was doing partial water changes weekly and trying to figure out why the ammonia was reading in the danger range area then I tested our tap water and found the answer. :/

mlinden84

I haved ammonia in my tap water as well. I've been using PRIME, which is a water conditioner and ammonia remover. I think it's the same as the AmQuel, just a different brand. I've been using it since July, and haven't had any fish problems related to the ammonia.