How do I get my water softer?

[mrzap]

I live in South Florida and our water is very hard.

I did a test strip and it tested over 300 which is the max end.

The box says it should be between 50-150 optimally. What can I do to make it softer?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Take a sample of the water to the lfs and have them sample for GH and KH. The test strips are inaccurate for testing. The hardness that is ideal depends on the fish that you plan on keeping. Some fish can not tolerate hard water whereas some thrive in it. ie: African Cichlids need harder water than most fish.

Softening can be done by using RO/DI water or peat. Driftwood can be used, but you'd have to use alot of it to lower the level. Peat tends to be iffy and needs to be played around with before adding it to the tank. It will cause an instant drop in pH and hardness. When you use products to lower the hardness, you will also be lowering the pH. Chemicals should always be avoided.

 

[TankGirl]

You may not need to soften your water at all. Many fish do just fine in hard water. Many aquarium fish farms are in Florida and are bred and raised in hard, alkaline Florida water. Hard water is more stable than soft anyway, in terms of acidification from fish waste over time not causing the pH to drop.

If your tank inhabitants are doing well I'd ignore the "ideal" range on the test kit and go by how your fish/plants are doing.

Otherwise, follow FF's advice.

 

[Feeding_Frenzy]

PH controllers

 

[Guest]

welcome to florida.. LOL.. yes our water is very hard.. weather its city water or well water. I have used water softener pillows before with the best results. The peat and driftwood doesn't really soften the water, it adds tannic acid that lowers the pH. But really its easier just the leave it be and be really careful when accimilating the fish!
Also our water is great for livebearers and fish like african chiclids!

 

[willowthepoet]

my water's pretty hard too, but my fish seem to be tolerating it well so i'm not worrying.

buuuut.... a theory i had (that's probably dumb) is that adding a couple gallons of distilled water (opposed to tap water with pwc) would bring down the total hardness? yes? no?

 

[rich311k]

Yes it would. That is what Fishy said.

 

[mrzap]

Thanks, I was going to get some more distilled water.

 

[greenmaji]

what fish are you keeping?
if they are hard water fish this isnt nessisary..
some fish that are not hard water will thrive in hard water.. depending on how sensitive they are.. again there is a chance the water being hard is not a problem..
Ive lived in areas that had well water that tested about 500-600 ppm KH.. and most fish trived at these levels..

 

[mrzap]

Right now its just my beta fish, ghost shrimp, and 2 golden algae eaters.

I'm setting up the tank so I am still debating on whether I want to add tetras, white clouds, gourami, amd/or loaches in the future

 

[BGK]

My water is on the hard side as well and I have noticed that my plants aren't doing very well. Can hard water have a negative impact on your plants?

 

[greenmaji]

Right now its just my beta fish, ghost shrimp, and 2 golden algae eaters.

I'm setting up the tank so I am still debating on whether I want to add tetras, white clouds, gourami, amd/or loaches in the future

have you tested your PH with a liquid reactant testkit yet?
I would dare say that the majority of your fish would do fine.. where are you purchasing your fish? There is a good chance your fish are already acclimated to your local water supply..
the only iffy one might be the loaches.. but then again there are loaches that need a large tank so that might not be a good idea if you dont have an approriate sized tank in the first place..

My water is on the hard side as well and I have noticed that my plants aren't doing very well. Can hard water have a negative impact on your plants?

this question would be answered best in the planted tank area of the forum.. but Ill give it a shot..
from e-mailing and chatting with travis_simmons (one of our advisors that keeps a african rift lake cichlid tank thats heavily planted) He reports that some species of plants do poorly in his tanks hard water conditions.. you may want to give him a PM or post over in the planted tank area to get some responces from him about wich species did not do well for him.. HTH

 

[mrzap]

My PH was about a 7.2 with the liquid test

 

[greenmaji]

what about your KH?

sorry I mistyped above..