Ammonia in tap water

[john2436753]

Recently, there has been a large increase in ammonia in my tap water. I am accustomed to doing large water changes because of the stocking of my tanks. I always double dose Prime declorinator. Long story short, I did back-to-back water changes of 35%  each day to lower my nitrates. Two days later many of my fish were dying and I could figure out what the issue was since the tank was so mature. The only parameter that was high in my tank was nitrite. While there were no traces of nitrite in my water, I did find that there was 1 ppm of ammonia in the tap water. It seems to me that the prime did not allow enough time to allow for the full conversion of the large amount of ammonia. I guess what I am wondering is how could I continue doing large water changes without the high concentration of amonia. I really don't want to do RODI just because of the amount of water that I change between all of my fish tanks. Also, my water is already hard which seems to work well for my Mbu puffer and various rainbow fish. Recommendations on a good flow-through system that can handle 500-700 gallons per week would be very helpful. Thank you!

[Lennie]

I would personally keep an extra cycled filter on hand, let the new water sit in the bucket for some good time until all ammonia and nitrite clears up and water change after it has no ammonia/nitrite reading.

[john2436753]

I'm 100% with you except for the issue that I would need at the bare minimum a 400-gallon container to cycle the amonia out with the amount of water that I go through.

[Beckybettas]

I always have ammonia in my tap water. 0,5 , so not as high as yours., but my aquariums always tested at .5 to 1 ammonia. Ive tried all kinds of things that didnt work. I added 2 peices of co ops ammonia filter to a new HOB filter about 2 weeks ago and tonight it tested 0 for first time in 9 months! I dont have room for a RO system so can't reccomend one. Hope you find something that works for you.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2023 at 2:33 PM, john2436753 said:

I guess what I am wondering is how could I continue doing large water changes without the high concentration of amonia. I really don't want to do RODI just because of the amount of water that I change between all of my fish tanks. Also, my water is already hard which seems to work well for my Mbu puffer and various rainbow fish. Recommendations on a good flow-through system that can handle 500-700 gallons per week would be very helpful. Thank you!

One of the best ways is to precondition the water.  Using a "brute" trashcan from rubbermaid, which they do sell wheels for, you can fill that up with a good amount of water.  At the base of the can you'd fill it with lava rock or other media and use an airstone to circulate the water.  You fill that up and let it cycle.  Normally you can off-gas ammonia in ~1-2 days.

Size that up to ~700 gallons and you're looking at a much larger storage container, but the principle is the same.  Cory has videos in his old fishroom showing how he set his up.