# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Anyone read thier city's water quality report?



## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Just pulled up my water quality report for my city and wow am I suprised. It is just about perfect. No signifigant levels of anything. Very soft, slightly acidis. Nothing to complain about.

Wondering if everyone has this experiance, or do some citys have different standards.


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Just pulled up my water quality report for my city and wow am I suprised. It is just about perfect. No signifigant levels of anything. Very soft, slightly acidis. Nothing to complain about.

Wondering if everyone has this experiance, or do some citys have different standards.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Yep. But it throws things out of whack when they pull water from the wells and not from the watershed.

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## IZM (May 24, 2003)

Our water report starts with a caveat that our water supply contains higher levels of calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese than may be found in water supplies throughout the country. They add chlorine to our supply also, so basically I never need to add traces. All I have to do is keep up with regular water changes :0)

The calcium and magnesium make the water kind of hard (KH16,GH14,PH8.2) but oh well...can't have everything!!


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## 2la (Feb 3, 2003)

Rex, perhaps we should've anticipated it what with the recent days on end of 90+ weather? I say this all in hindsight, of course. I actually welcome the extra buffering capacity, but I wish there was some general hardness added, too (came out at zero dGH as usual).

 
(Click for pics)


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Wow your city pulls from wells? How many and how big are these wells? I can't picture an entire city being fed of of wells. My city has 3 watersheds, all have a slightly different trace makeup, but very similar. Different turbidity as well. In the report they have a 51 parameter labratory tested years average of before and after treatment results. The water has very small amounts of most trace elements, I would believe most slow grow tanks would not need to add any traces, but keep up with water changes. The N,P,K leave something to be desired, but that is great for fish only tanks. Years average pH was 6.8 and Alkalinity as CaCO3 in mg/L was 6.2. How does that line up against your portland water supply? I understand all the items on the repots except 2. UV254in Abs/cm and UV272 in Abs/cm. Any idea what that is?


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Vancouver's water has a lower salt content than most municipal water supplies. That does not make it better for growing plants.

UV254 is a measure of dissolved organic compounds. I'm not sure what UV272 is. I suspect it is another measure of DOC.


Roger Miller


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## Guest (Aug 3, 2003)

Helpful link if you are interested in your local drinking water specifications.

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.htm


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Roger, What is a good measure of conductivity for plant growth?

My tap water Conductivity in umhos/cm is 23.

Thanks for the link Jay, I will check it out when I get home.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Conductivity is a measure of total salts content. There is only a very broad relationship between conductivity and plant growth. If conductivity is too high then the water is too brackish for freshwater plants. If the conductivity is too low then the water doesn't contain enough dissolved nutrients to support plant life. I don't think I've ever read any guidelines, but the range in which plants will grow well is probably something like 100 - 3000 uS/cm (microSiemens per centimeter).

Everything we add to a tank tends to raise the conductivity. In addition, conductivity of water in a tank should increase over time. The last time I dragged a conductivity meter home from the office I found that the conductivity in my old aquariums was running around 1000 uS/cm -- more than twice the conductivity of my tap water.


Roger Miller


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Roger Miller:
> Vancouver's water has a lower salt content than most municipal water supplies. That does not make it better for growing plants.


This comment is what made me ask the question, what is a good level. You said Vancouver is not salty enough, where is the line between not enough, enough and too much? I just assumed if you knew my water was lower, you knew what was right.

I am venturing to guess after we add all the nutrients to the tank, the conductivity would be plenty to support plant growth. I have never added salt and I am not having any trouble growing plants.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Justin604:
> Wow your city pulls from wells? How many and how big are these wells? I can't picture an entire city being fed of of wells. My city has 3 watersheds, all have a slightly different trace makeup, but very similar. Different turbidity as well. In the report they have a 51 parameter labratory tested years average of before and after treatment results. The water has very small amounts of most trace elements, I would believe most slow grow tanks would not need to add any traces, but keep up with water changes. The N,P,K leave something to be desired, but that is great for fish only tanks. Years average pH was 6.8 and Alkalinity as CaCO3 in mg/L was 6.2. How does that line up against your portland water supply? I understand all the items on the repots except 2. UV254in Abs/cm and UV272 in Abs/cm. Any idea what that is?


Actually we normally get all our water from the Bull Run watershed. But due to the heat and little or no rain this late spring/summer the reservoir was getting low so the city switched over to the backup wells much sooner than normal. We are receiving a 60/40 mix watershed/well according to the city.

Normally the water here is very soft less than one degree of gH and kH, very pure, hardly any minerals of any kind, and acidic but the city does buffer the water to keep the pipes from dissolving.

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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Justin604:
> You said Vancouver is not salty enough, where is the line between not enough, enough and too much? I just assumed if you knew my water was lower, you knew what was right.


Justin604, my comment was based on years of conversation with other aquarium keepers from Vancouver more than it was on a consideration of any limit placed on plant growth by salt content. Certainly there are many aquarists in Vancouver who have kept beautiful aquariums, but their water doesn't give them any particular advantage over someone in (e.g.) Dallas or Toronto.

There is no pat answer to "how much is right". Several of the plant environments that Kasselmann describes have water with conductivity comparable to the Vancouver water supply. In those environments the plants would get their nutrients from a biologically active, fertile substrate rather than from the water. Without the substrate plants would starve in that low conductivity water. If you want to use a fertile, biologically active substrate in your aquarium then your aquarium may also grow plants in very low conductivity water. Most aquarists chose not to take that route.



> quote:
> 
> I am venturing to guess after we add all the nutrients to the tank, the conductivity would be plenty to support plant growth. I have never added salt and I am not having any trouble growing plants.


The nutrients you add *are* salts. And you're right, the conductivity after adding the nutrients is high enough. Your water starts out low in everything. In order to get the right levels to support good plant growth you need to add more than most people.

Roger Miller


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Thanks for the info Rex and Roger. I think I get what you are saying.


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## Dr.T. (Jul 23, 2003)

I only wish I had good water around here - count your blessings...

Jeff (Dr.T.)

Tank info in profile


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

r/o right is a good way to add conductivity to the water.

72 Gal, 3 WPG PC 10 hour, pressurize co2 /w controller 1 bps, Fluval 404, ph 6.8
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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Dr. T, you have a PM.

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15XH, 36W PC, XP-1, Onyx Sand, DIY CO2

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