Strange Ammonia Spike

[stevek77]

hi just wondered whats up with my tank?, i have an api master kit been doing water tests once a week and all been fine amm 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10, ph is slightly high 7.6 but my tap water is 8.2, anyway did my wkly 25% water change and tested strait after (never did this before) and everything the same except amm its up to 050ppm , i used interpet bioactive tapsafe which i have always used with no probs, i know tapwater has ammonia in it but what do i do now?, i have just done water change and seems i have introduced large amm levels, last nite i tested and it was fine so has to be water change , do i leave it like i normally do and test again middle of next wk?, or is this normal?,

 

[the_lock_man]

Did you mean 50ppm, or 0.5ppm? Assuming it's the latter, test your tapwater for ammonia, and see what the reading is.

 

[stevek77]

Did you mean 50ppm, or 0.5ppm? Assuming it's the latter, test your tapwater for ammonia, and see what the reading is.

yes 0.5 ppm ammonia and yes tested tap water and its the same, so does that mean my tapsafe isnt neautrifying ammonia?

 

[Bignose]

I'm not sure I'd worry about it. Test next time you do a water change and see if it repeats itself. You gotta remember that you stir up a bunch of stuff, there may have been decaying food or leaves or similar that got stirred up. Also, it is not uncommon to have some in the tap water.

If it repeats itself, you probably will need to go to a schedule of smaller more frequent water changes. That said, if your filter is healthy, 0.50 ppm should be handled pretty quickly.