Tap Water Nitrates And Ammonia - Which Is Worse?

So, the tap water at my house tests as
Ph less than 6
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 40-80

That's bad so I decided to test my moms tap water, the results are
Ph 7-7.2
Ammonia 1.25
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0

So my question is, which water should I use for water changes and such? Mixing them together gave me a still too low ph, and high nitrates and high ammonia. Which is worse, nitrates or ammonia?

I have a 10 gallon tank that while it has 2 small fish, is primarily a snail tank. If my fish die I won't be replacing them. I use tetra aquasafe plus (there are heavy metals in my tap) as well as ph up to make it better for my snails. Thanks.

 

Is your tank cycled?

To answer your question: Generally, ammonia is worse. Ammonia is immediately toxic to fish and should not be present in their water. Nitrate is less toxic, and is generally not harmful to most aquarium livestock in lower quantities (under 20ppm).

However... in a well-cycled tank, ammonia is quickly converted to nitrite and then nitrate. Nitrate, on the other hand, remains in the water (unless you have a heavily planted tank where the plants are using it up quickly). The only way to get rid of a lot of nitrate is to do water changes. But if the nitrate is coming from your tap, that isn't an option.

So in your case, I think your best bet might be to use your own water. Use Prime instead of the Tetra SafeStart, as Prime neutralizes ammonia into a non-toxic form. That way, you are not adding toxic ammonia directly into your tank, but your bacterial colony will still be able to feed on it and turn it to relatively harmless nitrate.

Your other option would be to purchase water somewhere and use that. Some fish stores sell RO water by the gallon, or you could purchase bottled water at a grocery store.

 

Is your tank cycled?

To answer your question: Generally, ammonia is worse. Ammonia is immediately toxic to fish and should not be present in their water. Nitrate is less toxic, and is generally not harmful to most aquarium livestock in lower quantities (under 20ppm).

However... in a well-cycled tank, ammonia is quickly converted to nitrite and then nitrate. Nitrate, on the other hand, remains in the water (unless you have a heavily planted tank where the plants are using it up quickly). The only way to get rid of a lot of nitrate is to do water changes. But if the nitrate is coming from your tap, that isn't an option.

So in your case, I think your best bet might be to use your own water. Use Prime instead of the Tetra SafeStart, as Prime neutralizes ammonia into a non-toxic form. That way, you are not adding toxic ammonia directly into your tank, but your bacterial colony will still be able to feed on it and turn it to relatively harmless nitrate.

Your other option would be to purchase water somewhere and use that. Some fish stores sell RO water by the gallon, or you could purchase bottled water at a grocery store.

My tank is cycled I think, as my ammonia and nitrites are always zero, but my nitrates stay at about 30-40 because of my water. I will get prime as soon as I can. Also, I heard that bottled water is not safe for a fish tank?

 

I would go with your moms water. Prime will make the ammonia safe long enough for your cycle to use it. If there is 1.25 ammonia and you do a 50% water change that 1.25 will be diluted to about o.6.

It depends on which bottle water you are talking about. You don't want to use distilled water because it lacks the minerals our water normally has and our tanks need but spring or just plain drinking water one can get from the dispensers at lots of big box stores is fine.

 

Bottled water is dangerous if it's had anything added to it, such as fluoride. Stay away from any "fortified drinking water." But just plain spring water shouldn't be dangerous.

 

You can use your tap water. You just need to have LOTS of plants in your tank.
Fast growing plants (vals, java fern, moss, etc) will soak up that extra nitrate for you! You'll have to trim them a fair bit but hey, that's a better problem to have.

 

Not always the case, but low pH often goes with low hardness. This is not great for snails, and also leads to less stable pH. I'd go with your mom's water (or the 3rd party suppliers described above).

 

You can use your tap water. You just need to have LOTS of plants in your tank.
Fast growing plants (vals, java fern, moss, etc) will soak up that extra nitrate for you! You'll have to trim them a fair bit but hey, that's a better problem to have.

Thank you I like this answer best lol. Do you have any tips on how to ensure that I don't fill my tank with pest snails on the new plants? I've heard there is a way to rid them of pests before adding them to the tank, just don't know what it is! I can't use anything to kill pest snails in the tank because it is a nerite/mystery snail tank.

Not always the case, but low pH often goes with low hardness. This is not great for snails, and also leads to less stable pH. I'd go with your mom's water (or the 3rd party suppliers described above).

I don't have a test for hardness, but I think my water is relatively hard. It's well water, and anywhere that it splashes and dries, it dries white. I heard that was a good indication of hardness.

 

Honestly I would use your own water with some nitrate removing crystals and media