brown tap water

[RyanH]

All of the rain we've gotten in west Michigan over the past couple of weeks seems to be affecting the water supply. I have been doing water changes this evening and I noticed that the water coming from the tap is a dirty brown color. It's city water so I'm trying to contact somebody to find out what's going on.

I am checking it for the usual stuff (ammonia, etc.) but I'm not sure if its even safe to drink much less put in my Discus tanks. >:(

[Carol_Roberts]

It may just be turbidity - a fancy word for muddy water - from all the runoff. If you can drink it it's OK for the discus.

[RyanH]

I talked to somebody from the city tonight and they said that it was actually iron rust that probably had broken loose in the pipes. Yuck.

I had the same a year ago.
It was iron rust that broke lose as a pipe nearby burst.
Luckily for me it was gone after a day.

Ronald

[Discusrite]

I have that all year round, sometimes tolerable, sometimes ridiculous.
Once I thought, "GOD! Blood is coming out of my shower head, and I am washing myself with it."
I'm using 2 prefilter to remove these rust sediments. Not sure how effective they are except visually, but it's the best I can do at the moment.