New 45! Water Hardness Question

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USAFDave13

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
13
As posted just a while ago, I'll be moving up with my second setup. I just picked up a 45 and stand. New question though; I live in San Antonio with hard water (GH of 18 to be exact) and my home has a water softener that brings it down to between 0-2. I know there are minute amounts of salt left in the water from the ionization process. I CAN bypass my softener for cold water. I plan to start my cycle without fish, should I use the soft or hard water?! Thank you.
 
I forgot to mention, my water softener company recommended I bypass the softener and use warm water (would be half soft hot water and half hard cold water) to dilute any salt and keep some of those beneficial minerals from the hard water.
 
Probably not for any real quantity. The initial fill will be easy, I can bypass and let the water warm up during fishless cycling. I'm more worried about water changes. I had thought about taking my extra heater and heating a bypassed 5 gallon bucket for the water changes.
 
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