.5ppm ammonia in tap

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stephybabe88

stephybabe88

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I know .5ppm is not crazy high for tap, but I did a 50% wc on Friday and it's still .25ppm. It's a well planted 55g, so I figured the plants would help. I did a double dose of Prime and added a gallon of drinking water (I know it's not much by comparison, but I've never added it before and was warned about making sudden changes). The drinking water says it's RO, does that count?

I can't think of anything else I could do. The only change was about 2 or 3 weeks ago I added 10 blue tetras, but I thought I would have recovered by now.

Oh, and nitrates were at 5ppm and 0 nirtrites (almost sounds like a mini cycle, maybe?)
 
StarSapphire22

StarSapphire22

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My tap reads 1-2 ppm. I have a near constant reading of .25 in my tank with my goldies. I'd just keep it primed, and you'll be fine. It doesn't sound like a cycle to me....but add some safestart if you think it is and want to speed it along.
 
countryboy

countryboy

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When using so much Prime you need to keep the water column oxygenated. :perv:
 
StarSapphire22

StarSapphire22

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Well, any amount of ammonia is toxic, but as long as you add prime every 24-48 hours, they'll be fine since prime converts it to ammonium. And yes, countryboy is right, make sure you have a bubbler or plenty of surface agitation from your filters to oxygenate your water well. :)
 
StarSapphire22

StarSapphire22

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Chloramine is still toxic to fish....
 
jpappy789

jpappy789

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StarSapphire22 said:
Chloramine is still toxic to fish....
Click to expand...
Yes, but I'm wondering if the OP had tested the tap water separate from the tank. In that case if they added Prime before testing the chlormine bond would be broken, showing an ammonia reading.

If they only tested the tank then I would not assume the ammonia is coming from the tap unless that itself was tested as well.
 
StarSapphire22

StarSapphire22

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Ah....now I get what you're saying. I know my API kit shows ammonia on just plain old tap water with chloramines, without breaking any bonds...but that depends on what kit she has I suppose.
 
stephybabe88

stephybabe88

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I tested the tank water. I did a water change 4 days ago. I also tested the water straight out of the tap, adding nothing.

I normally use strips, but I finally broke down and got an API liquid master test kit. I just bought it yesterday and tested the water just because.
 
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