hard water

[Shaun]

Hi
Just a quick question on water softeners . The electronic are I suspect usless for tanks as they charge the salts preventing them forming scale but not removing them. The amber bead type remove the salts but replace them with sodium ions (back flush with salt to reactivate). My question is will the sodium ions be ok with the fish and has anyone got any idea who may sell the beads so I can make a layer for my external filter (UK).

[Aderynglas]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the kind of water softeners you suggest are very bad for fish:(.
Unfortunately there is only one thing to do to lower the pH in a hard water area - reverse osmosis water, whether you buy it in or fit a RO unit.

Why do you want to soften the water??
If you start this you will have a very high maintenance tank as any water changes will have to match the water in the tank.

There are 2 alternatives you could try,
1. Talk to your LFS, the fish they stock should already be acclimated to your water
2. Bone up on the requirements of the various different fish and only keep the fish which would be happy in your water.

I have the opposite problem to you and have found that even adding coral gravel to increase the pH is a bit of a pain because the water needs to be adjusted before hitting the tank.

I have gone with option 2 and now only keep fish that thrive in my insanely soft water. Since doing this I have found even the more delicate fish (Neons, Rams) are incredibly healthy and do not need medicating. :D

Good Luck with what you decide
Regards
Polly

[Shaun]

Thanks for the suggestions, I want to keep discus again but this area is medium hard water and they like soft. My PH from the tap is exactly what is recommended but we do get a bit of scaling in the kettle so I was just checking out the use of resins as my mate used to work in a brewery (why leave a job like that?) and they needed soft water and used amberlite (trade name I suspect) and was hoping I could use something similar. But thanks anyway (I may have to move house).

[Aderynglas]

Awww its not fair is it ?

If your water comes out of the tap almost right, try leaving it standing for a few days and then testing it, I did this and found that the pH dropped by 4 points (7.2-6.8) !! you may have a similar surprise :)

If your water is near enough neutral you could try filtering thru peat to get the right acidity. The discus may be happy enough with this, although breeding them requires far more perfect conditions.

I'm sure you'll get good advice on this from the Cichlid section :)

Good luck whatever you decide

Regards
Polly

[Faramir]

I'd have thought the water up there would be fine - straight off the Cheviots isn't it? Last time I looked the Cheviot was our entry for the Interational Year of the Swamp Competition....

What are the GH and KH you're reading?

[OrionGirl]

Keep in mind that water softeners do not reduce the TDS, and softening the water by increasing TDS will not help discus.

However, if you can find a local breeder, find out what water is being used for that. You may discover the breeder is using water with minimal alteration, so the fish will be happy with your water as well, even if it is slightly harder.

If you choose to alter the water to lower hardness without using a water softener, mixing RO water with your tap water will likely be the easier route to go. You'll have to find the right ratio, but the resulting water will have lower TDS in addition to having lower GH an KH.

[cpr4cpu]

and don't trust the simple hardness tests like GH when you run the water through a softener. Like oriongirl stated, the TDS is still there, only calcium and magnesium are replaced with sodium or potassium instead. Even though the GH is 48ppm, the TDS can still be 400ppm.

I use RO water, mixed with an RO additive (like Seachem Equilibrium) and target my ph at 6.5. (which I have yet to actually get there, but still working at it).