Greensboro, NC tap water
Supplied by City of Greensboro. 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 0.51 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 0.75 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.51 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 Greensboro reports (2025).
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)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0–3.1 ppm
Typical 2.1 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 your utility: City of Greensboro's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
34–51 ppm
Typical 43 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
Published by your utility: City of Greensboro's website.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
23–52 ppm
Typical 34 ppm
Little buffering. pH can drop quickly between water changes, especially with CO₂ or an older tank.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
pH
7.6
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
Published by your utility: City of Greensboro's 2025 water quality report.
- City of Greensboro adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
- City of Greensboro softens its water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies Greensboro, NC
- 2025 water quality report
City of Greensboro
Serves 95% 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.
Tap water lookup covers US cities only for now. Want to know why it matters? Read our story on tap water.
Compiled by Shoal & Stem from public records. Free to cite with a link.