I just noticed that my tap water contains Ammonia it is reading between 0.25 and 0.50
This is bad right considering i put this same tap water into my tank when i do water changes.

My tank has always been fine with a 0.0 reading, would that be due to the bactiera sorting it out?

I only decided to test the the tap water because i was soaking some driftwood to prepare it for the tank and decided to test the bucket water before i put it in the tank and noticed the ammo reading. After about 3 or 4 weeks of water changes and testing it still contained ammo and thought that maybe the wood was just not right for fish tanks but found that wierd because it came with the tank and the previous owners used it in the tank so thats when i tested the tap water.

What should i do in regaruds to water changes? Do i need to report this to someone? I live in Sydney Australia.

its happens to me as well over here. ive noticed that it usually in the spring and it only lasts about 1-2 weeks(for me anyway). all i do during this time is use ammo lock to detoxify the ammonia and keep testing the water from the tap. when it goes back to normal i stop the ammo lock.

Is ammo lock some sort of chemical?
I use Prime to treat my tap water and remember it saying something about ammonia on the bottle, would that help?

The bucket with the drift wood in it is now reading under 0.25 almost 0.0

bigtdotcom wrote:


ammo lock is a product made by api that converts ammonia into a less harmfull chemical make up. i also use prime for declorinating but when i get ammonia from the tap i use the ammo lock as well

Thanks heaps for the info....i better get me some ammo lock!

Ammonia is present in tap water in some places because water companies have switched from using chlorine, to chloramine which is actually a mixture of chlorine and ammonia. Apparently this is quite common and isn't actually as drastic as some people may think. If you've got a good filtration system, this should take care of the ammonia in the water. Prime is one product that actually detoxifies/neutralises chloramine, as well as chloride and, nitrite ammoniaa and nitrate (apparently) so this is definitely worth using if you've got this problem. It also goes a very long way so is another bonus if you've got a very large aquarium like me.

thanks for letting people know ill make sure i test my water

That has surprised me. I have never known tap water to have ammonia and would assume a problem with contaminated water. surely drinking ammonia can't be good for you??

marcus wrote:

we have the same line of thinking marcus. but when i inquire from the authority,
water company told me that it is true. in a place that have a lot of snow, this is normal