Liberty Corner, NJ tap water
Supplied by New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System. 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 0.21 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 0.73 ppm (Low)
Typical 0.21 ppm
This is what a conditioner frees when it breaks the chloramine apart. A cycled filter clears it within a day.
Estimated from the chloramine level New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System 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)
1.2–11 ppm (Low)
Typical 4.7 ppm
Low, so water changes lower your tank's nitrate well.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.23 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: New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System's 2025 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0–3 ppm
Typical 0.8 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: New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System's 2025 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
52–342 ppm
Typical 197 ppm
Moderately hard. Great for livebearers, and most community fish adapt.
Published by your utility: New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System's 2025 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
71–159 ppm
Typical 102 ppm
Moderate buffering. pH should stay fairly steady.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
pH
7–7.9
Typical 7.3
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
- New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
- New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System softens its water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies Liberty Corner, NJ
- 2025 water quality report
New Jersey American Water – Short Hills System
Serves 77% 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.