Bull Run Mountain Estates, VA tap water
Part of Bull Run Mountain Estates is supplied by Prince William Water, plus 1 other utility. Here's what its water means for your fish.
Disinfectant
Chlorine or chloramine
Utilities here use chlorine or chloramine, depending on which one serves your address. Chlorine slowly gases off from standing water; chloramine doesn't.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
Estimate0.15–1.02 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.75 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 Prince William Water reports (2024).
Nitrite (NO₂)
Up to 0.53 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.01 ppm
Essentially none, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From Prince William Water's 2024 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2024).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Up to 6 ppm (Low)
Typical 4.1 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From Prince William Water's 2024 water quality report; EPA monitoring data (2012–2024).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.18 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 the utility: Prince William Water's 2024 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0.6–4.2 ppm
Typical 3.1 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 the utility: Prince William Water's 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
Supplier's figure84–170 ppm
Typical 127 ppm
Moderately soft to medium. Suits most community fish and plants.
From the utility that supplies it: Fairfax County Water Authority, which supplies Prince William Water.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
Supplier's figure7–173 ppm
Typical 58 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From the utility that supplies it: City of Manassas and Fairfax County Water Authority, which supplies Prince William Water; EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
pH
Supplier's figure5.8–7.6
Typical 7.5
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From the utility that supplies it: City of Manassas and Fairfax County Water Authority, which supplies Prince William Water; EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
- Prince William Water adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Bull Run Mountain Estates, VA
- 2024 water quality report
Prince William Water
Serves 33% of residents · Buys water from City of Manassas · Chloramine
Bull Run Mountain/Evergreen (Brme)
Serves 23% of residents · Groundwater (wells) · Chlorine
We couldn't fully map which utility serves Bull Run Mountain Estates. These numbers come from the utilities we matched, which serve about 34% of residents.
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.