Getting Soft-water system soon...

[undertow]

W/ in the next month or so. As some of you may know, the tap water here in Vegas and other surrounding areas is VERY hard. When I asked a guy at the LFS if it was neccesary to add some water-softening pillows to my GT's tank, he told me it wasn't. Telling me that they use the reg.tap water for there tanks, even for soft-water species! Most notable to me was the discus. He said they 'got used to it".Hhmmm


Since my GT seems to be acclimated to the hard water, might it have a bad affect on her when we install the SWS?? She's currently in a 43g and is looking great. Hope to post pics soon...

 

[rus]

i dont think you can use a water softing system like the one they sell at lowes or home depot for fish. something about the way the system does the ion exchange.

 

[125gJoe]

4 Stage Reverse Osmosis / DI Water

I'm using R/O DeIonized water for my Discus and they are thriving in it...
http://www.aquariumwaterfilters.com/RODI/Barracuda.html

 

[Jukax]

RO filters work wonders.

As to the guy at the store who said that Discus' adapt to hard water, I find that hard to believe. Discus' need soft water, acidic water to thrive just as much as Africans need hard, basic water.
That's one reason Discus' are so hard to keep; they require EXTREMELY strict water parameters and need extremely high quality water - that's why many discus breeders do 100% water changes daily.

 

[undertow]

Culligan or Kinetico, and I believe
Kinetico has a free trial period. Besides the health of my fish(which of course is the main concern for fish freaks like us! ), Im tired of EXTREMELY dry skin after getting out of the shower!


But back to my ?- Could it affect my GT in a negative way since she seems to be acclimated to the hard water??

 

[Harry Tolen]

A significant question here is whether you are talking about traditional water softeners (which simply exchange sodium ions for calcium, and do not help the fish at all) , or reverse osmosis, which will in fact reduce total dissolved solids and thus the KH of your water.

For most fish, the sodium/calcium exchange system does not work well (and for discus and other sensitive species it can be a disaster). Reverse osmosis water cannot be used exclusively, but it makes an excellent blending component for softwater species.

BTW, rumors notwithstanding, fish do not adapt to water conditions that they are not used to in nature. That would require millions of years and an evolutionary process that simply doesn't occur in aquaria. Less sensitive species may endure water parameters that are outside their natural preferred range(s), but osmotic and other pressures will always impair their immune systems and shorten their lifespans under those conditions.