I ordered a drinking water quality report from my city water department. Now that I have it, I am uncertain how to interpret it. I have no idea whether the values are "good" or "bad", "high" or "low", particularly for secondary and unregulated water constituents. Is there anywhere I can look to find out what fish prefer as far as things like calcium, chloride, copper, magnesium, manganese, zinc, etc. are concerned? I am wondering if my fish would benefit from something like the trace elements product from Goldfish Connection, or if my tap water is providing them with what they need.

So. what does it say? I will try to interpret it for you, if you wish.

Thanks, Daryl!

Chloramine residual - 0.97 ppb
Nitrate - 0.09 ppm
Fluoride - 1.34 ppm
Chromium - 3.5 ppb
Ethylbenzene - 0.1 ppb
Total haloacetic acids - 1 ppb
Total trihalomethanes - 5.4 ppb
Chloroform - 0.24 ppb
Bromoform - 3.68 ppb
Bromodichloromethane - 0.34 ppb
Dibromochloromethane - 1.68 ppb
Aluminum - 0.007 ppm
Bicarbonate - 445 ppm
Calcium - 3.2 ppm
Chloride - 74 ppm
Copper - 0.023 ppm
Hardness as Ca/Mg - 13 ppm
Lead - 0.001 ppm
Magnesium - 1.2 ppm
Manganese - 0.0011 ppm
P. Alkalinity as CaCO3 - 1 ppm
pH - 8.1
Sodium - 266 ppm
Sulfate - 98 ppm
Total alkalinity as CaCO3 - 379 ppm
Total dissolved solids - 691 ppm
Total hardness as CaCO3 - 19 ppm
Zinc - 0.01 ppm

I am currently using NovAqua+ and AmQuel+ as water conditioners. I have ordered some Koi Clay. Anything else I could/should be doing to make this water perfect for my fish?

Chloramine residual - 0.97 ppb Bound up Chlorine - Not enough to worry about.

Nitrate - 0.09 ppm Low

Fluoride - 1.34 ppm Standard

Chromium - 3.5 ppb Average

Ethylbenzene - 0.1 ppb Not great - but tolerable.

Total haloacetic acids - 1 ppb Halogen acids - not enough to worry about - flourine will give you this much

Total trihalomethanes - 5.4 ppb Solvents - flourinated hydrocarbons...... usually cleaning fluids. Creeping up - but probably tolerable. This is a slightly concerning level - but probably quite common.

Chloroform - 0.24 ppb Probably naturally occuring

Bromoform - 3.68 ppb Once again - probably natural

Bromodichloromethane - 0.34 ppb low

Dibromochloromethane - 1.68 ppb This is again rather low - all the different ionozation states of the flourine and such - since they are capable of measuring them, they do. You should look up the detectability levels of these - they are probably reporting these because they can - not because there is much there. This is probably just into the detectability level of the substance - and since it is "detected", it is reported.

Aluminum - 0.007 ppm Eh..... ok.

Bicarbonate - 445 ppm Buffer - calcium - hard water

Calcium - 3.2 ppm Calcium portion of the bicarbonate

Chloride - 74 ppm Salt

Copper - 0.023 ppm 23ppb - we treat swimming pools with 3ppm - biologically active at that rate - so this is not much.

Hardness as Ca/Mg - 13 ppm Hard water - so what else is new.

Lead - 0.001 ppm Not good..... but still low - probably, again, just near "detectability".

Magnesium - 1.2 ppm Hardness again

Manganese - 0.0011 ppm Low

P. Alkalinity as CaCO3 - 1 ppm Calcium carbonate

pH - 8.1 Fine level

Sodium - 266 ppm No big deal

Sulfate - 98 ppm No biggy

Total alkalinity as CaCO3 - 379 ppm

Total dissolved solids - 691 ppm Pretty "thick" can you walk on this water?

Total hardness as CaCO3 - 19 ppm

Zinc - 0.01 ppm

Over all, I would drink this water and I would put fish in it. It is pretty hard - with a fair pH to it - so there will be some meds and such that should be used with caution, but overall, your water is about average for most. Ours is MUCH worse.

Thanks so much, Daryl. For future reference, which meds need to be used with caution in this water? Also, do you believe adding trace elements to this water would be helpful to my fish?

It's interesting what you say about this being "thick" water. For the first few years we lived here I thought we had very soft water. When you wash with soap in it, you have to rinse and rinse and rinse to get it off (not handy when you're bathing a shrieking toddler with soap in his eyes) and your skin always feels kind of slimey, never squeaky clean. I guess that this is because there is so much other stuff already dissolved in the water? The water tests as outrageously high KH, but very low GH. Is this in any way relevant?