Water - from soft to hard, back to soft again

[Pugwinkle]

Hi Everyone, I will probably be moving around the end of June. Unfortunately due to all the rain we have been getting this Spring it appears that our new septic system will likely not be installed by the time I move therefore I won't have any plumbing working in my part of the house. This is an addition we are building onto my parents home. When we do have plumbing installed and working we will have soft water on our side of the house.

So in our house we are in now, we have soft water which is what my fish (6 head and taillight tetras and 1 bristlenose pleco) and my frogs and toads (4 African dwarf frogs, 3 firebelly toads, and snails) have been use to. When I move I will have to use the water from my parents side of the house which is hard water. Hopefully within a few weeks of moving we will have the plumbing working and then we will have the soft water again. However, I am wondering how the fish and frogs are going to do with these sudden changes in the water?
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[krap101]

just put them in a bucket and acclimate them. i usually dont acclimate my fish (i know im goign to get yelled at) but they live like 15 mins away and they prolly have the same awter. only diff is i live in country with my well and they live in the city. i usually just acclimate them to temps. i still needa find out their [acronym:20797d1d9b="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:20797d1d9b] because mines about 7 or 7.2

what do you mean by hard. usually means how many minerals are in the water. but some people think og [acronym:20797d1d9b="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:20797d1d9b] hard. if the [acronym:20797d1d9b="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:20797d1d9b] is high try using peat. if theres lotsa minerals u could try using some conditioner. personally i use aquaplus or stress coat.

hth

[Pugwinkle]

Originally Posted by krap101

what do you mean by hard. usually means how many minerals are in the water. but some people think og [acronym:7190278efd="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:7190278efd] hard. if the [acronym:7190278efd="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:7190278efd] is high try using peat. if theres lotsa minerals u could try using some conditioner. personally i use aquaplus or stress coat.

hth

When I say hard I mean that the water we have now is put through a softener so it has 0 grains of hardness. Where we are moving is well water and it is about 26 grains of hardness. The [acronym:7190278efd="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:7190278efd] is okay, at 7.5

[krap101]

you do have conditioner right? conditioner makes the water alot softer.

[Hilroy50]

Fish really don't see the effects of a water softner. It really is just an ion exchange process that takes the calcium and magnesium ions and exchanges them with salt ions. So if you do a [acronym:e4d50ebd36="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:e4d50ebd36] test it will be soft. The more important test is for [acronym:e4d50ebd36="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:e4d50ebd36] or carbonate hardness. I have a softner and my [acronym:e4d50ebd36="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:e4d50ebd36] is around 180ppm. My [acronym:e4d50ebd36="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:e4d50ebd36] is not measurable. This will normally result in a higher [acronym:e4d50ebd36="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:e4d50ebd36] if your [acronym:e4d50ebd36="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:e4d50ebd36] is high.

[TankGirl]

I would add crushed coral to the filter to raise the [acronym:8b3d622fcf="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:8b3d622fcf] of the "soft" water. It would be helpful for you to post the [acronym:8b3d622fcf="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:8b3d622fcf] and [acronym:8b3d622fcf="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:8b3d622fcf] measurements from a test kit for both the current water and your parent's water.

This is doable - so don't worry too much, but it is good to plan ahead.

[jsoong]

I 2nd the "don't sweat it" advice.

Water softener only exchange the [acronym:3c73cebba4="Calcium"]Ca[/acronym:3c73cebba4]/[acronym:3c73cebba4="milligrams or magnesium, depending on context"]Mg[/acronym:3c73cebba4] with [acronym:3c73cebba4="Sodium"]Na[/acronym:3c73cebba4], so even tho your [acronym:3c73cebba4="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:3c73cebba4] test says zero, the number of ions is the same before & after the water softener, so the fish won't really notice any difference.

At any rate, since you are doing only partial water changes, any change will be gradual in any event, and the fish will handle it just fine. If it makes you feel any better, you can add the change water slowly - eg. siphon it in using a small tube. If you add the "new" water over 1/2 hr or so, the fish will have plenty of time to acclimatize.