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Is my tap water ok.

Lee iley

Member
Joined
19 Aug 2018
Messages
383
Location
Preston
Hi guys I am new to the site.
I have put my post code in United utilities for a report on my water and it has come back has hardness Clarke of 7.14 slightly hard. Is this ok for red cherry shrimp, amano shrimp, neon tetras, and cardinal tetras and other types of tetras also I have attached the full report bit it doesn't tell me what the ph is any help would be great thank you.
 

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United Utilities water is described soft to very soft in most areas( watch the lather in the washing up bowl) so you can add a GH boost example TNC to remineralise or Seachem have similar product to re add calcium and magnesium to benefit. plants,coming from the wild quite a lot of tetras prefer soft water, many tank bred now are happy in soft and moderately hard.Take a look at the Journals quite a few tanks with shrimp.If you have any concerns UU technical usually helpful
 
I'm not that far from you and have very similar water and have kept all those species just fine
 
How can I find out what my tds is on my water results as I can't see it on the pics above I have posted. Thanks.
 
Hi
I have very good water too. LA4 postcode. Usually reads 45 TDS, 3 or 4 GH and 1 KH but since the drought these three values have doubled, I suppose it's being blended with harder water from another supply? It's starting to go down again now but probably take some time to clear the system.
cheers
 
Im in the same boat as you both... went a walk this weekend near a water reservoir. It was nearly empty still (though filling from previous visits) so it may take some time for the water values to get back to normal.
 
Hi
I have very good water too. LA4 postcode. Usually reads 45 TDS, 3 or 4 GH and 1 KH but since the drought these three values have doubled, I suppose it's being blended with harder water from another supply? It's starting to go down again now but probably take some time to clear the system.
cheers
I take it my water is near the same as yours then is it.
 
Hi all,
...but you have totally lost me with this haha
It is straightforward enough, but ppm TDS (parts per million Total Dissolved Solids) is a strange measurement.

To measure it accurately you have to filter the water and then evaporate a known weight of water to dryness. The water company will have done this, but usually ppm TDS is estimated from the electrical conductivity of the water.

If you took of a cup of sea-water, as it dried the sea salt (NaCl mainly), which had been in solution as ions (Na+ and Cl-), would crystallise out as the water (H2O) evaporated. The salt is a "dissolved solid".

It is the same process in fresh-water, but there are a lot less salt(s).

If you evaporate de-ionised water (pure H2O) you wouldn't have any dissolved solids, and it wouldn't conduct electricity (it doesn't have any ions), but usually what we call "water" is a dilute solution, with water as the solvent. In sea-water we have a lot of ions (salts in solution) so it conducts electricity very well. The electrical conductivity of pure water is 0 microS and sea-water is 53,000 microS, and it is a linear scale between 0 and 53,000.

Conductivity measurements only measures ions, but normally they are the major contributors to TDS. You can have a dissolved non-ionic solid (like the dissolved sugar in your cup of tea, or the tannins from bog-wood) but, because most of the dissolved solids in water are ions, conductivity is reasonably well correlated with TDS.

If you have 100 microS conductivity that is equivalent to ~64 ppm TDS, assuming that Ca++ and HCO3- (from limestone CaCO3) are the major ions in fresh-water (and that is a pretty fair assumption).

Your minimum, average and maximum figures for conductivity (in microS), in your water report, are 157, 250 and 405, which are approximately 100, 150 and 260 ppm TDS (157*0.64 = 100.5 etc.).

As @Parablennius suggests that is a lot of variation in water hardness, so you have supplies from more than one source. Because you have virtually no nitrate in your supply the harder water is almost certainly from a deep limestone aquifer, and the softer water from a moorland reservoir.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all, It is straightforward enough, but ppm TDS (parts per million Total Dissolved Solids) is a strange measurement.

To measure it accurately you have to filter the water and then evaporate a known weight of water to dryness. The water company will have done this, but usually ppm TDS is estimated from the electrical conductivity of the water.

If you took of a cup of sea-water, as it dried the sea salt (NaCl mainly), which had been in solution as ions (Na+ and Cl-), would crystallise out as the water (H2O) evaporated. The salt is a "dissolved solid".

It is the same process in fresh-water, but there are a lot less salt(s).

If you evaporate de-ionised water (pure H2O) you wouldn't have any dissolved solids, and it wouldn't conduct electricity (it doesn't have any ions), but usually what we call "water" is a dilute solution, with water as the solvent. In sea-water we have a lot of ions (salts in solution) so it conducts electricity very well. The electrical conductivity of pure water is 0 microS and sea-water is 53,000 microS, and it is a linear scale between 0 and 53,000.

Conductivity measurements only measures ions, but normally they are the major contributors to TDS. You can have a dissolved non-ionic solid (like the dissolved sugar in your cup of tea, or the tannins from bog-wood) but, because most of the dissolved solids in water are ions, conductivity is reasonably well correlated with TDS.

If you have 100 microS conductivity that is equivalent to ~64 ppm TDS, assuming that Ca++ and HCO3- (from limestone CaCO3) are the major ions in fresh-water (and that is a pretty fair assumption).

Your minimum, average and maximum figures for conductivity (in microS), in your water report, are 157, 250 and 405, which are approximately 100, 150 and 260 ppm TDS (157*0.64 = 100.5 etc.).

As @Parablennius suggests that is a lot of variation in water hardness, so you have supplies from more than one source. Because you have virtually no nitrate in your supply the harder water is almost certainly from a deep limestone aquifer, and the softer water from a moorland reservoir.

cheers Darrel
Youvreally do know your stuff that is for the reply I am slowly learning I have had fish for years but it's now I really want to get with it and have a nice planted healthy aquarium. So are ppm and tds measured the same. Is my water ok then as it is?
 
Sorry to be a pain guys were are you getting these figures from if I am to look at my report which ones to I look at to get the tds rating if you know what I mean. I really am sorry I'm just trying to learn
 
Hi all,
Youvreally do know your stuff
Thank you, it is part of my "day job". You don't need to understand all the science, but if you understand some of it it makes decision making a lot easier.

It is a bit like when your talking about football in the pub, you realise that some of your mates actually understand the game and some don't. So if any-one is a West Ham fan, you can't play Sanches, Noble and Wilshere in midfield together because they can't run.
Is my water ok then as it is?
Yes it is absolutely fine, the low nitrate reading tells you that it is a pretty clean supply.
which ones to I look at to get the tds rating if you know what I mean.
It is the conductivity reading in screen shot 2.
I have had fish for years but it's now I really want to get with it and have a nice planted healthy aquarium
That is the thing that a lot of fish keepers don't get, plants aren't just an ornament in the tank, they are the major factor that makes keeping fish easier.

cheers Darrel
 
I take it my water is near the same as yours then is it.
May not be. I think my water comes from Cumbrian tarns and they've recently been adding harder water from a river, maybe Yorkshire Dales area. Some of the streams there are very hard, through or across limestone.
 
Hi all, Thank you, it is part of my "day job". You don't need to understand all the science, but if you understand some of it it makes decision making a lot easier.

It is a bit like when your talking about football in the pub, you realise that some of your mates actually understand the game and some don't. So if any-one is a West Ham fan, you can't play Sanches, Noble and Wilshere in midfield together because they can't run. Yes it is absolutely fine, the low nitrate reading tells you that it is a pretty clean supply. It is the conductivity reading in screen shot 2.That is the thing that a lot of fish keepers don't get, plants aren't just an ornament in the tank, they are the major factor that makes keeping fish easier.

cheers Darrel
thank you for the reply means a lot. I'm glad the water is ok then. How would I work my tds rating out with the numbers on my chart to get the reading you got for me can I do it by calculater?
 
May not be. I think my water comes from Cumbrian tarns and they've recently been adding harder water from a river, maybe Yorkshire Dales area. Some of the streams there are very hard, through or across limestone.
Ah right fair enough I take it the hot weather we have had hasn't helped then
 
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