Oak Island, NC tap water
Supplied mostly by Town of Oak Island, 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 0.55 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 0.84 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 0.55 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 Brunswick County Public Utilities reports (2024).
Nitrate (NO₃)
Supplier's figure7.1 ppm (Low)
Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From the utility that supplies yours: Brunswick County Water System, which supplies Town of Oak Island; Brunswick County Public Utilities' 2024 water quality report.
Copper at home taps (first draw)
0.05–0.3 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: Brunswick County Public Utilities' 2024 water quality report.
Chlorine or chloramine at the tap
0–3.4 ppm
Typical 2.2 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: Brunswick County Public Utilities' 2024 water quality report.
Water chemistry
General hardness
Supplier's figure26–43 ppm
Typical 28 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
From the utility that supplies yours: Brunswick County Water System, which supplies Town of Oak Island; Brunswick County Public Utilities' 2024 water quality report.
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
Supplier's figure10–19 ppm
Typical 16 ppm
Little buffering. pH can drop quickly between water changes, especially with CO₂ or an older tank.
From the utility that supplies yours: Brunswick County Water System, which supplies Town of Oak Island; EPA monitoring data (2012–2017).
pH
Supplier's figure7–8.8
Typical 7.7
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From the utility that supplies yours: Brunswick County Water System, which supplies Town of Oak Island; Brunswick County Public Utilities' 2024 water quality report.
- Town of Oak Island and Brunswick County Public Utilities add phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
- Town of Oak Island and Brunswick County Public Utilities soften their water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies Oak Island, NC
Town of Oak Island
Serves 81% of residents · Buys water from Brunswick County Water System · Chloramine
- 2024 water quality report
Brunswick County Public Utilities
Serves 9% 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.