anyone use water from water softener in fresh water?

[Ram897]

I am having an issue finding information on whether using water from my inside tap is safe to use in my aquarium. We have a water softener in our house that uses morton solar salt with no additives. We originally used the water from the outside faucet to fill up the tank but in the middle of December in my part of the country that will propose an issue
Will the salt from the softener mess with my freshwater fish? Eventually we are going to try to have pictus catfish and convict and molly.
Thanks, any advice is appreciated

[Freakgecko91]

I use softened water and haven't had much issues. I am not able to keep panda Cory cats alive long term, but I keep several dwarf cichlids and have yet to have any issue my specific gravity sits at a 1.003 straight from my tank, so it's definitely still has some salt in it. Obviously it would be better if you could avoid using it, but it's not gonna be detrimental to your fishes health

[Ram897]

Thank you. Nice to hear from someone who has experience with it. Is there any other testing you do besides the pH/ammonia /nitrite /nitrate? You mentioned specific gravity?

[Freakgecko91]

It's a way to measure the salinity of water. Salt water sits around 1.025. Pure fresh water should sit at 1.000. Brackish water sits in between, usually 1.005-1.010. You can use a hydrometer or refractometer, although since your tap water naturally has salt in it bc of the softening, there's not really a point in checking. But I guess getting a reading would be beneficial to know if you should get a RO unit or not

[foster53]

I have been using water conditioned water for 30 years and never had any issues. I have kept and bred some delicate fish in the tap water in my house without incident.

[blert]

Switch to potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. It's better for you, your fish, your plants, your water heater, potentially your pipes and the environment.

[Ram897]

Huh. Potassium chloride. I will surely investigate that.

Thank you to everyone for all the great advice and explanations.