Well Water vs City Water

[corrado33]

Every time someone asks about setting up a new tank, we hear about their specific water parameters coming from the faucet. Well, what about well water? Would well water have chlorine in it? It's not added in any way. I drink the water coming from our faucet, so it's gotta be decently clean. Basically, the water gets pumped into the house, goes through a filter to filter out debris, goes through a water softener, then to our faucets.

So, do I even have to add dechlorinator to the water? Is there anything specific I should do to it? I'd say it's pretty dang natural, and a lot less treated than City water. The only "treatment" done is softening it, which I just read might add NaCl or KCl as "exchanger" salts (or something like that). Would tapping into the water BEFORE it was softened be better? It wouldn't be that hard.

I live in the boonies if you haven't noticed.

 

[HeathB]

Every time someone asks about setting up a new tank, we hear about their specific water parameters coming from the faucet. Well, what about well water? Would well water have chlorine in it? It's not added in any way. I drink the water coming from our faucet, so it's gotta be decently clean. Basically, the water gets pumped into the house, goes through a filter to filter out debris, goes through a water softener, then to our faucets.

So, do I even have to add dechlorinator to the water? Is there anything specific I should do to it? I'd say it's pretty dang natural, and a lot less treated than City water. The only "treatment" done is softening it, which I just read might add NaCl or KCl as "exchanger" salts (or something like that). Would tapping into the water BEFORE it was softened be better? It wouldn't be that hard.

I live in the boonies if you haven't noticed.

From what I've been told, yeah, you wana get the water before its been softened. I'd still add the treatment stuff as its supposed to get rid of bad heavy metals that may be in your water. The only pain I've met with is that my well water has loads of calcium and it tends to build up on my heater, just adding more cleaning to do on pwc day.

I've been wrong about stuff before though, so I'll let someone more experienced chime in about the heavy metals business.

 

[HeathB]

Another thing I think someone told me, is that clean for people and clean for fish are 2 completely different ball games.

 

[jsoong]

If you are drinking your well water, you would have had a professional test done at some point in the past, let the results guide you.

If your water is clean - ie no heavy metals, no nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, etc. then you basically can use it just off the filter. Adding a bit of Prime is a good insurance, but not totally necessary.

I would take the water before the softener. 2 reasons:
1. Na added in the exchanger is not good for the fish (or for you for that matter). If you have a K exchanger, that is not an issue.
2. Ca & Mg is needed in fish & plants (& esp. inverts like snails & shrimps.) The softener removes that.

 

[cabezon]

fish love well water, just like they like lakes, streams, and such.

 

[AgilityIG]

I have a water softener in the house I just bought last summer - It softens all the water in the house and is hooked up right where the water comes into the house - what do you do about something like that? I have been using this water for my fish. (sorry for the thread-jacking!!)

 

[jsoong]

I have a water softener in the house I just bought last summer - It softens all the water in the house and is hooked up right where the water comes into the house - what do you do about something like that? I have been using this water for my fish. (sorry for the thread-jacking!!)

Depends on your softener, is it an ion-exchanged based? If so, K or Na?

If you have a K ion-exchanger, no worries. If you have a planted tank, or keeping inverts, you would need to add a GH booster (CaCl2 + MgSO4) to that. <That is part of EI fertilizing for plants.>

A Na ion-exchanger is more problematic. Most fish will prob do OK in a small amount of Na. (Some fish are salt sensitive.) Plants, not so well. It depends on how hard the water is to start as to how much Na there is in the softened water, so hard to generalize there.

 

[corrado33]

If you are drinking your well water, you would have had a professional test done at some point in the past, let the results guide you.

If your water is clean - ie no heavy metals, no nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, etc. then you basically can use it just off the filter. Adding a bit of Prime is a good insurance, but not totally necessary.

I would take the water before the softener. 2 reasons:
1. Na added in the exchanger is not good for the fish (or for you for that matter). If you have a K exchanger, that is not an issue.
2. Ca & Mg is needed in fish & plants (& esp. inverts like snails & shrimps.) The softener removes that.

I believe we have a Na exchanger. We add NaCl to a big tank basically. I've been drinking the water for years? The water doesn't taste salty in any way. And I HATE salt (on my food), so I can pretty much taste it anywhere. (Then again, we're talking about Na, not necessarily NaCl) Either way, I'll just add an access point between the filter and the water softener. It'll be easy, as we have to turn the main off anyway to change the filter, all I'll have to do is turn the main off, do some plumbing, then it'll be fine. As of right now, I have access to the water BEFORE the filter, but it'll probably be all dirty.

I think I'm going to skip today's water change, as the fish will be fine. My nitrates never get very high. I'll test them to make sure. This week sometime I'll add that access point in.

Where do you get your water tested by a company?

 

[AgilityIG]

Where do you get your water tested by a company?

Couldn't you just take a sample to your local water department? Maybe a water supply place like Culligan?

 

[jsoong]

Depends on where you live. My inlaws had their well water tested at the local public health unit. This is an eg for Ottawa:
City of Ottawa - Free Well Water Testing

There are also private water testing services for a fee. <You might want to avoid the free testing by bottled water co. They have a vested interest in showing you bad results. I remember a TV investigation where they send in treated city water & the test came back with high levels of nasties & they want to sell you their water ...>

 

[jsoong]

I believe we have a Na exchanger. We add NaCl to a big tank basically. I've been drinking the water for years? The water doesn't taste salty in any way. .....

Cl is what gives the salty taste. High Na intake is associated with high blood pressure & heart disease .... depending on how much is in the water, may or may not be OK.

 

[corrado33]

Great... Looks like I'm havin my water tested ASAP.