Ridgewood, NJ tap water
Supplied by Ridgewood Water. 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 a little ammonia. Some utilities switch to plain chlorine for a few weeks a year.
Safety for fish and shrimp
Nitrite (NO₂)
Not detected (Low)
Not detected in testing, so any nitrite in your tank comes from the tank itself.
From EPA monitoring data (2015–2019).
Nitrate (NO₃)
13–23 ppm (Worth knowing)
Typical 15 ppm
Water changes can't take your tank's nitrate below this level.
From EPA monitoring data (2013–2019).
Water chemistry
General hardness
Supplier's figure52–154 ppm
Typical 52 ppm
Soft. Good for tetras, rasboras and most shrimp. Livebearers, snails and African cichlids prefer harder water.
From the utility that supplies yours: Passaic Valley Water Commission, which supplies Ridgewood Water (2024).
Carbonate hardness (alkalinity)
143–201 ppm
Typical 166 ppm
Strong buffering. pH stays steady and hard to lower without RO water.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
pH
6.9–8
Typical 7.3
Most community fish do well here. Stable water matters more than the exact number.
From EPA monitoring data (2012–2019).
Total dissolved solids
Supplier's figure80–445 ppm
Typical 80 ppm
A rough measure of everything dissolved in the water. RO water reads near 0, so TDS is a quick way to compare waters.
From the utility that supplies yours: Passaic Valley Water Commission, which supplies Ridgewood Water (2024).
- Ridgewood Water adds phosphate to protect pipes. It can feed algae in tanks without much plant growth.
- Ridgewood Water softens its water at the plant, so it may be softer than the local groundwater.
Who supplies Ridgewood, NJ
Ridgewood Water
Serves 98% of residents · Buys water from Hawthorne Water Department · 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.