Soft Water for a Marine Tank?

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Robojock

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Jan 7, 2007
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San Diego California
I need some help on this one. I just installed a soft water system in the house for my wife. I then realized that this might pose problems for my new tank. I just picked up a 180 gallon and am going to set up a reef tank. I have heard that the softener changes the ions in the water and will cause problems with the fish or inverts. Do any of you have any input on this one?
 

aykfc

Registered Member
Jun 2, 2006
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I screwed up and added soft water. My calcium seems to be alright as well as everything else. I added the salt already and it was really expensive so I would rather not dump my water out. Think I could be alright?
 

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
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Nov 8, 2006
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Blinky
I am not sure i would trust a water softner to generate any water for a fish tank..

As part of the water softening process, it gets sodium bicarbonate and potasium added to it and removes calcium and magnesium via ionisation...

I would have to say that RO or RODI water is a more suitable way ahead..

Is the tank a new startup? if it is, then keep what you have in there untill your cycle has finished. When finished, do a 50% water change with RO water, and use RO water from then onwards..Eventually, when you are doing your water changes as part of your maintenance cycles, the soft water will eventually get replaced..

Niko
 

Squawkbert

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Oct 3, 2006
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Softeners replace Ca & Mg (both of which your reef can use) with either Na (no problem) or K (may eventually be a problem) depending on the type of salt used. I would either get a RO/DI or just collect water upstream from the softener. Most softeners are plumbed to *not* send soft water to outside faucets or the cold side of the kitchen sink, so there's a couple more places you may be able to draw aquarium water.
 

SnowHeart

AC Members
Aug 27, 2005
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Washington, DC
I think the OP is asking whether running the softened water through the RO/DI unit would be okay. (I have no idea.) If not, then Squawkbert's suggestion of putting a tap upstream from the softener is a good suggestion. There probably should be some sort of faucet or connector you can tap into. But, it'd be nice to know if you can just put the softened water through the RO/DI unit.
 

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
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Nov 8, 2006
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Yes, putting the softned water through an RO or RO/DI unit is fine..AT the end of the day, what your after doing is removing all the impurities and metal content from the water...

So, either run an RO unit straight, or do as Sqwark suggested, put it upstream...

Niko
 

98cassandra

Registered Member
Dec 7, 2012
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I don't understand how soft water is bad for a saltwater tank, especially if you use sodium instead of potassium. Even if the water is deprived of calcium or magnesium, how is that any worse than RO water, which has absolutely no minerals? Won't the salt replace all needed minerals anyway?
 
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