Bear Creek, FL tap water
Supplied mostly by City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department, plus 1 other utility. Here's what the water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chloramine
Your water is treated with chloramine. Unlike chlorine, it doesn't gas off when water sits out, and many pitcher and fridge filters aren't rated to remove it. Conditioners that list chloramine on the label break it apart, which frees about 0.92 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
Estimate0.15–1.43 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.92 ppm
This is what a conditioner frees when it breaks the chloramine apart. A cycled filter clears it within a day; a big water change in a new or very small tank adds more of it at once. Some conditioners also bind ammonia for a day or so.
Estimated from the chloramine level City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department reports (2024).
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
1 ppm (Low)
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department's 2024 water quality report; City of St Petersburg, which supplies Gulfport Water System.
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.43 ppm (Worth knowing)
The 90th percentile of first-draw samples from homes: water that sat in household pipes for at least six hours.
Shrimp and snails are sensitive to copper. Water that sits in household pipes picks up the most; it drops once the tap has run for a minute.
Published by your utility: City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department's 2024 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.6–5.9 ppm
Typical 3.8 ppm
At tap levels, chlorine and chloramine are toxic to fish, shrimp and the bacteria in a filter. Water conditioners are made for this range.
Published by your utility: City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department's 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
165 ppm
Moderately hard. Great for livebearers, and most community fish adapt.
From City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department's 2024 water quality report; City of St Petersburg, which supplies Gulfport Water System.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
125 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
From City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department's 2024 water quality report; City of St Petersburg, which supplies Gulfport Water System.
pH
8.2
Alkaline. Many utilities raise pH to protect pipes. Stability matters more than the exact number.
From City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department's 2024 water quality report; City of St Petersburg, which supplies Gulfport Water System.
- City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department and Gulfport Water System soften their water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies Bear Creek, FL
- 2024 water quality report
City of St. Petersburg Water Resources Department
Serves 61% of residents · Buys water from Tampa Bay Water -Cypress Creek · Chloramine
Gulfport Water System
Serves 24% of residents · Buys water from City of St Petersburg · Chloramine
Our data comes from public records and is still incomplete. Many utilities don't publish every number, so we're adding more all the time. Your city's range is a starting point: testing your own tap is the only way to know exactly what's in it.
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Compiled by Shoal & Stem from public records. Free to cite with a link.