10 Gallon Tank Ammonia found in tap water when cycling is almost done

Hi all, I'm so confused and need your help
, so I have been fishless cycling my tank and it's at week 6 now and almost done cycling. My tank can handle ammonia 2ppm over 24hr period, there are nitrate in the tank. Only nitrite has not been to 0 so I'm still waiting before adding fish.

Long story short, today I decided to test my tap water again (I tested it one time back then before all the cycling process, it was all 0 ammo, 0 nitrite). Today my tap water shows 0.5ppm for ammo, 0 nitrite (could be that my city has been added more stuff to treat water for new season). I'm so confused, I also treat my tap water with Api conditioner. Does that mean I should not use my tap water anymore?

Option 1, I have a prime bottle in hand but I have never used it, and tbh I don't want my future betta to suffer from any high ammonia. I read that prime can detoxify ammonia for 48 hour and with a cycled tank, like my tank right now can process ammonia over night to 0ppm, but I'm not sure if this is good for long term.

Option 2, If I want to use spring water instead for my tank then will that disturb my cycling process now? Please advise, thanks all!

 

Spring water will not damage your cycle. The beneficial bacteria is on "things" in your tank, not in the water. It is in the media of your filter , it is on your substrate, it is on rocks, and plants. That's why a water change does not harm it. As for the ammonia, I would treat with prime and let it cycle though.

 

Any time I do big water changes I can read 0.5ish for a while afterwards, it’s normal. Some water supplies may have more chloramine, and it can vary depending on the season or due to changes at a local water treatment facility.

 

Lots of fish keepers have and use tap water with ammonia. Mine shows .5 - .7 the few times I tested it. An established filter will process it down quickly. Prime will protect your fish in the meantime. If you're really concerned then only perform smaller percentage water changes. I do up to 50% and never had a problem.

 

Lots of fish keepers have and use tap water with ammonia. Mine shows .5 - .7 the few times I tested it. An established filter will process it down quickly. Prime will protect your fish in the meantime. If you're really concerned then only perform smaller percentage water changes. I do up to 50% and never had a problem.

Thank you all, I'm such a chicken. I went out to get spring water but it's really not ideal as it's not cheap that way. Thing is my tap water is also high in pH (8.2) so I'm worried any ammonia will be even more toxic, sorry I've been reading too much now.

 

i wouldn't worry about a 0.5 reading sometimes it picks up slight traces of it in the water at certain times. i did a whole post a while back about how some readings aren't exactly accurate and sometimes it's hard to tell as far as the colors on the chart and how slight traces of it may read a .05 when it could still be a zero and visa versa. I would say as long as you're doing water changes with prime the levels should be ok.