Columbia, SC tap water
Supplied by City of Columbia, South Carolina. Here's what its 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 0.66 ppm of ammonia here. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Ammonia (with conditioner)
EstimateUp to 1.09 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.66 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 Columbia, South Carolina reports (2025).
Nitrate (NO₃)
0.3–1.8 ppm (Low)
Typical 1 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0–4.5 ppm
Typical 2.7 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 Columbia, South Carolina's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
20–33 ppm
Typical 26 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
Published by your utility: City of Columbia, South Carolina's 2025 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
1 ppm
Little buffering. pH can drop quickly between water changes, especially with CO₂ or an older tank.
Published by your utility: City of Columbia, South Carolina's 2025 water quality report.
pH
7.5–8.6
Typical 7.9
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
Published by your utility: City of Columbia, South Carolina's 2025 water quality report.
- City of Columbia, South Carolina adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
Who supplies Columbia, SC
- 2025 water quality report
City of Columbia, South Carolina
Serves 94% of residents · Lake or river water · 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.