Water Hardness

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amaramwhite

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
Messages
26
My water hardness is at 300 ppm which concerns me because that is "very hard". What are the effects of hard water and how do I make it soft?
 
Peat moss and driftwood are two things many people say help reduce hardness. In my experience I went to cutting my tap water with ro water. My hardness was 240 out of the tap. But that's lead to issues getting everything stable time after time.

Fluval makes peat granules for their canisters. They come in a box, I had some success using that also. But I ultimately want to get the mix of tap and ro water , and methods I use for water changes down better.

Hope this is of some help, there are other things that can be done but this is what my experience was and what I know, hopefully someone else can add more information.
 
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I just bought some driftwood! I'm soaking it to release the tannins right now. Hope that works.
 
If you continue to get tannins in the water, seachem's Purigen will take the color out of the water in the tank. I use it instead of carbon which will take minerals out of the water, can't remember which minerals though. Many here don't use carbon in planted tanks, Purigen is an excellent alternative.
 
As said earlier, peat moss is a good way to do it. If you aren't feeling the effects of the driftwood, or need to lower your hardness in the future, buying some peat moss is a cheap and effective way to do so.
 
With this peat moss, where can you buy it? And where do you put it in relation to the aquarium?
 
You could buy it at most hardware-type stores. Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, etc should carry it. Make sure you aren't buying anything with fungicides or the like.

You can either put it in a fine media bag and have it in your filter or you could bury it under your substrate. The second technique could easily be done if you put in a media bag, or wet it first.
 
I have a filter bag that I just put some in and stick it in the filter behind the filter pad/cartridge on your quiet flow.
 
Peat moss, especially in relation to price, will do the job much more effectively than driftwood. Having some driftwood is nice though, so the purchase serves two ends.
 
Okay, thats the kinda of peat moss I was thinking it was. I just wasn't sure. Any idea where to get filter bags? I'm pretty new to all this.
 
I actually wanted to add a tidbit here if I may.
I bought an RO unit specificlly for my tank. I also bought a TDS reader and I worked with ratios of tap and RO water to get a good tds reading of around 100-150. This is the level that works for me with the tank conditions that I'm trying to achieve. No peat moss or driftwood releasing tannis in my tank for me.
But only downside is that I have to keep a tote for mixing water when I do water changes.

Just another option to think about.
 
An RO/DI unit is a filtration unit that essentially removes solids from the water and you get really pure water. It is largely unnecessary in freshwater tanks unless you are going for something you are trying to accomplish that would prefer softer water - like discus. In salt water tanks its necessary because of the naturally nutrient deprived reef ecosystems which cause algal blooms when there are increased nutrients, this can be caused in an aquarium by tap water.

RO/DI can be costly. A TDS meter is something you can get for relatively cheap. I have a handheld small one that looks similar to a thick sharpie and essentially the meter runs a small current between metal prongs and gives you a value depending on the amount of dissolved solids in the water. This is gathered by the varying conductance due to the dissolved solids. For example, distilled water will have a very low TDS, which might even be 0, which communicates something you might or might know, which is that pure water doesn't conduct electricity. However if you used tap water, your TDS value would be higher. If you test salt water, your TDS will be even higher once you add salt. If you are doing a high pH African tank, the TDS might be even higher.

You shouldn't need an RO or RO/DI unit unless your tap water is really poor. A TDS meter might be helpful for this, or you can use a gH kH pH testing kit, etc. A TDS meter can be fun to play with and it can be a useful tool once you get more comfortable with your tanks and can tell where your ammonia is over time and tracking the TDS can be somewhat helpful if you know what to do with it.

Sorry for the late reply!
 
My tap TDS in Folsom, California is around 30-40. It is really dependent on your water supply and your pipes.
 
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