Softened water, can I do cichlids?

[TXaggie]

Hi all, I was hoping for some advice on whether my water parameters would be reasonable to keep shell dwellers. We're on well water, and our water goes through a softener. Here's the results from a recent professional analysis we had done:

TDS: 507
Ca mg/L: 0.241
Hardness mg/L: 0.602
pH: 7.6

I think the hardness converts to less than 1 degree??? Is that possible? Any others with softened water able to advise? Thanks.

 

[ktomminello]

That's a tough one- do you know what is used as a softening agent?

 

[TXaggie]

We use those big bags of salt from the hardware store. NaCl pellets. I'd say I could just run water straight from the well but it's a good distance from the house and the whole house is on the softener system.

We also have a plethora of limestone so I could easily put that in the tank, but I don't know if that would stabilize things enough or if the softened water would be an issue.

 

[HUKIT]

I've run a water softener for years and I've bred over a hundred species including discus and rare wild caught fish so the answer is whatever you want. I think most people here can my attest to my breeding program in softened hard water.

 

[TXaggie]

I've run a water softener for years and I've bred over a hundred species including discus and rare wild caught fish so the answer is whatever you want. I think most people here can my attest to my breeding program in softened hard water.

That's great to hear! Would you recommend adding anything? Limestone/crushed coral to try to raise the pH for something like a shell dweller? I've been dubious in the past about trying to alter the base chemistry of tap water but I feel like I'm already up that creek with using water run through the softener....