Looking to get a water softener - what to consider for my aquarium?

R

Rold Gold

AC Members
Nov 28, 2002
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I have rather hard water coming out my pipes. I can't remember the actual numbers, but I remember the GH being in the rather high range and my pH is high too (8.0 or higher). While the hardness might be good for pH stability, it's killer when the fish you want prefer a low pH, or at least something closer to neutral. All of the fish I have tried so far have died right away except some zebra danios and a corycat. (and I do take my time when acclimating the fish to the tank)

For other reasons as well, I am looking to get a water softener. Not knowing a lot about softened water, I initially thought that would also solve my water problems. After doing some reading, I am seeing people suggest that softened water isn't that great in an aquarium. So now I am in a quandary. Can I use softened water in a tropical tank? Would it help if I use potassium salt instead of sodium in the softener? Or maybe mix softened water from one tap and unsoftened water from a tap that isn't connected to the softener? A lot of people live in areas with hard water, so what do you do in this case?

Basically, I just want to have some pretty fish and not have them die on me. (not interested in cichlids though)
 
Yeah, reverse osmosis is probably the best way to reduce hardness. As you say, standard softeners rely on ion exchange, so they add (usually) sodium. With RO, you will either need to add something like "RO right," or just dilute your tap water with RO until you have an acceptable level of hardness.
 
different fish?

How about selecting fish that would like your water? Cichlids would be very happy.
 
With reverse osmosis systems, can you set them up so that they sit in a basement and you have a few faucets hooked up to them (for example the water line going to a fridge and a sink in another room), or can they only be run to a faucet they sit next to?

Cause now I'm wondering if I could get a water softener for most of the house and a reverse osmosis system for a couple of selected water lines. Hmm.
 
I agree with anonapersona Cichlids do well in hard water. Otherwise I have always used softened water that uses salt to soften the water with out any problems, some tropical fish like a little salt in the water anyway. For my cichlids I get the water out of a tap that doesn't pass through the water softener.
 
most community fish for the most part adjust to a higher ph. its not like they are swimming around saying "AAAAH TOO MUCH MINERAL CONTENT IN THE WATER!!!"
 
Salt exchange softeners produce lower GH water than the input, as they swap sodium ions for the existing calcium and magnesium ions which register on GH tests and make it difficult to produce suds with soap. The output water from the softener however is higher TDS (total disolved solids) than the input. This makes the water less suited for soft-water fish than was the original.

And no FW aquarium fish "needs" or wants salt in the water. That is mythology.

If you want lower TDS water, water with reduced mineral content, you can use RO or DI. But if you are not breeding delicate blackwater species (Discus and some Apistos and tetras), it is a waste of time and money IMHO. I specified "breeding", because the egg membranes are sensitive to dissloved minerals, where the fish are not paricularly.

HTH
 
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