Water softeners

[reefkeeper]

Would a water softener remove "good" components in the water as well as the bad?

** If there is such a thing as a "good" component **

Thanks in advance..

[mogurnda]

In a reef, using hard water is probably a good thing, since most of us devote a lot of effort to keeping calcium carbonate levels up.

Most water softeners replace Ca with Na, so you lose Ca and end up with an excess of Na.

You're better off with RO water, or just using the stuff from the tap, in my opinion.