Bottled Vs. Tap

[kkjones]

In a different topic I mentioned that my ammonia levels are pretty high, like between .5 and 1, and I hear that they should be zip zilch none nada and nothing even. So most people recommend water changes, so for kicks and giggles I checked my tap water and it has an ammonia reading of about .35 or so, yeah my water sucks. So I'm looking at buying bottled water, but the options are a little large, distilled, drinking, mountain spring, mineral, purified, sparkling, spring, I just don't get it! So any help would be great, or should I just take my risk using the bad 'ol tap? Thanks guys!

-Kara


p.s tank is 3 days old, jumped the gun and have fish already, ph is 8, nitrate is like 5, nitrites are 0, hardness is hard, and ammonia is about .8 . . .

 

[ImperfectFaerie]

I'd be willing to say as long as you add dechlorinator then your water is going to be OK after your tank gets cycled. Until your tank gets cycled (the beneficial bacteria can convert the ammonia within a day to zero) then you are going to have to do daily water changes.

 

[xostrawberryox]

You can buy something called tapsafe which takes the nasties out for you, or most LFS's sell reverse osmosis water which is your best bet as its purer than mineral water.

 

[Bignose]

Well, sparking would be definately wrong, fish don't take too kindly to carbonation.

Whatever you chose, I would call up the water company and ask them to check your water. You really should not be drinking ammonia in virtually any concentration. If your company used chloramines, they may have accidently used too much ammonia recently and it could be a one time thing, but long-term virtually any ammonia in your dirinking water is bad for you.

 

[woogrl]

Well I think you should call the water company as well about the ammonia in the tap, so now you have it comming from 2 different sources which is deffinatly going to make it high in a new tank which hasnt been cycled. If the fish are stressing from it do a small water change but pre treat the water with an ammonia remover/detoxifier to make it safe for the fish.