Top-off water question

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jbowles

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
44
Location
Southeast Missouri
I am just wondering if there is anything wrong with using tap water to top off the tank? I have done this for years but now have started having problems with the health of the fish and the only thing that changed was the addition of a water softner system. So does that efftect the quality of the water or should i use the outside spiket so it is not tied into the softner?
 
While most tap water is perfectly fine for fish, you don't want to use tap water that has gone through a water softener. The softener just replaces the hardness with salts. While this feels softer to us, it's no softer for the fish and depending on what you're keeping they'll have varying tolerances to salt levels. Your best bet is to bypass the water softener for your water changes and top offs.
 
Purrbox, you don't know how sad I am to hear that. I have a water softener with salts, and I've been afraid since I moved here last year that this would limit what I could keep, fishwise.

I can't use the outside faucet here--soon, it's going to be winter.

There's a reason why I've opted for livebearers in my tank even though I prefer Amazonian fish.
 
I was just checking online--there's some suggestion that the kitchen sink is before the water softener.

If this is the case, I could move forward with my idea for a convict or earth eater tank.
 
I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but I'm curious to know what the alternative to tap water would be?
 
I see. Well, I know I am new to the forum and all of that but I've been using softened water for years with no ill effects. I even keep and breed cichlids in it. IMVHO, "salts" is a very very big subject and I'm sure that there is some sort fo salt in every natural body of water. In fact, the definition of "freshwater", in most cases, is not that it contains no salt, only very low levels of salt...which is the case with softened water. I think the more important thing to consider is that you are able to maintain situation where your fish are acclimated to what you are using and do your best to avoid making any large, rapid, and/or frequent changes in water chemistry.

Besides, if you use RO water, you would want to replace the trace elements in the right quantities by using a product like Kent's RO Right...which contains "major salts of sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium".
 
I've tried following up on this question a lot since I moved to this house, and from what I can tell, if the fish likes harder water and a touch of salt, softened should be OK. I'm just not confident about it.

Livebearers should be fine, but maybe I should forgo my GBRs until I used distilled in a tank from scratch.

To my excitement, kribs seem OK with salinity and hardness. Would convicts take a hint of salt?
 
I have my concerns: you'd have to top it off with some sort of additive to make it not too low in minerals and such.

I just have a hard time accepting that I'll never be able to do a true South American tank with GBRs. I'll just research, research, research for a safe way to do it without harming them.
 
R.O. Right does NOT show up on GH test kits. I would not recommend it simply for this reason.
 
I just have a hard time accepting that I'll never be able to do a true South American tank with GBRs.

I suppose that I might catch a little flack for saying this but I think there are a lot of ways that we can 'manipulate' our tap water to become more ideal for the type of fish we want to keep. For example, unless there is something extremely wrong with tap water (in which case, I probably wouldn't drink it anyways), you can:
  1. Utilize calcium carbonate (e.g. crushed coral substrate) to buffer/raise Kh and pH.
    • This is usually very effective and probably the majority of those with a SW tank rely on it.
  2. Using items such as Peat Moss, and even a specific type of substrate (I believe...can't remember what it is right now for some reason :D) can help soften water.
    • This is also pretty effective and from what I have noticed within some magazines, it seems as though there is a reoccurring theme of using this sort of tactic to create a more ideal situation for discus.
  3. Of course, there are a lot of 'buffer' products on the market that one can use...but I don't recommend them for at least two reasons:
    1. They tend to 'wear off' quickly, making it necessary to become a slave to a test kit. Conversely, the products make it easy to change the pH very quickly and dramatically when they are added, which can be hard on our fish.
    2. IMHO, it is never a good idea to become a complete slave to any sort of product other than dechlor conditioners because it simply costs a lot of money to accomplish something you could do for free using other methods.
Lastly, I think we also need to put some of this in perspective as well. For example, many of the FW fish we purchase have been bred and raised in captivity so there is a good chance that the fish you are bringing home have never spent a second in their native habitat, or even in any tank that completely mimics that habitat. I'd also point out that the vast majority of us are keeping fish that would otherwise never cross paths and probably originate from natural habitats that have dissimilar types of water chemistry. So, if that is possible, then I think there is a good argument to be made in favor of the ideology that maintaining a constant and steady pH, Kh, and Gh is more important than maintaining any specific set of numbers so long as we help our fish acclimate themselves first...which is an ability nearly all FW fish have.
 
I think there is a good argument to be made in favor of the ideology that maintaining a constant and steady pH, Kh, and Gh is more important than maintaining any specific set of numbers so long as we help our fish acclimate themselves first...which is an ability nearly all FW fish have.

I agree 100% with TG

After many years of doing things wrong :rolleyes:, I now focus on stabilizing my water parameters, properly acclimating new fish, and keeping up with PWC. Keeping fish alive and healthy has been much easier ever since.

The only exception MIGHT be if you are trying to breed. But then sometimes that doesn't even matter.
 
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