super hard water. What can I do?

nothing you can add to your filter or tank will soften the water enough to breed rams like you want to if your water is very hard.

and as to the water softener idea let me explain how they work.
there is a resin that exchanges the salt you put in for calcium but the process is not perfectly eficient so you get more salt put in than you get calcium removed.

to breed rams you need water with low total disolved solids(tds) in it, calcium that buffers your water and makes it apear hard is only one componant of the tds. using a water softener reduces the calcium and makes it softer for the purposes of getting lots of suds when washing but increases the tds

the only feasable way to reduce the tds is to get a ro system or find a water source that is not have a high tds

Grt some African cichlids



Kim

Carbonate buffers the water, not calcium

The process is perfect, Calcium is a divalent cation, in english, that means it has a +2 charge. Sodium has a +1 charge. In any ion exchange (or reaction), the charges must balance, what this means is that for every Calcium ion you remove, 2 sodium ions are added. So total dissolved solids doubles.

If you're serious about wanting to breed the rams, you'll need an R/O unit. You can reduce carbonate content in your water by boiling it, but in the long run this isn't a feasable alternative.

No experience with actually buying one, but I've seen a bunch of RO units on E-bay. I have very little need for super soft water ( I wish my tap water was a little harder), but I do collect all of the distilled water my dehumidifier produces in case I need some. I get enough out of my dehumidifier that I could easily do water weekly water changes in my 20g without using any other water source.

Check Discus sites

On either SimplyDiscus or DAAH there is someone how sells "dirt cheap RO" units and I have heard good reports from the folks there who use that equipment. Discus often require some RO water to allow the eggs to hatch, then are raised in harder tap water.

But, you've never actually said how hard your water is. Can you tell us what the GH and KH measures? So often we have folks get online and compalin about how bad their water is and then we fins that they have 7.2 pH and a GH of 6 and yet they feel they need to change that water for something more perfect.

Anona, with tap pH of 8.2 and GH of 10, KH of 8 not breeding anything but plants and raising lots of cardinals and other tetras