Anybody?
I have been using Wondershell in all my FW tanks for years** and I have noticed the difference. It brings up the hardness, buffers the water against swings, and right away the snails started growing thicker.
Until this, I had tap water which was too soft (and unstable) but I didn't understand the issue. I raised lots of very common, locally bred fish. Theoretically they were accustomed to the local water, but I was still unhappy with the looks and development of them. I was always having to add salt to drive off minor issues. I chalked it up to me being a poor fishkeeper, but the fish were less important then. I had children, and was still working 8~5.
Now this was 30 years back & I'd had fish about 15 years. At the time we had bought a water softener on the old house and this made things worse. I much later (like 10 years) figured out one problem was too-soft water. Even worse, the installer had the system cranked up too high. (It was on this "new" house as well)
I wasn't testing for anything but pH & ammonia in those days and I often did it by nose. I had deep under-gravel filters with big powerheads. If I smelled the tank, and maybe my big pleco had been spooked and stirred up the bottom, I'd smell it & change water. If I did tests it was because a fish was sick or dead. I'd siphon every 14~30 days, and water my flowers. They were nice. Fish not always so nice . . . Sometimes fine. Urk.
Back then I wasn't thinking about hardness and fish, or nitrites. Anyhow, I stopped using the softened water, and went to RO + bottled drinking water. I was doing more siphoning and changing water more. I only had 40 gals in those days. It was still a pain and it wasn't working.
What did work was, we moved to a town with slightly harder water, and a house where the softener wasn't working right. The fish were great, until the softener got moved, and repaired.
Phooie! . . . You know what happened. ;(
I was running more and more tanks, with different filters, fish, plants . . . all different, but the same water.
Comparing results, doing much testing, using RO + bottled water (and later, using RO Right too) but nothing improved consistently, because of instability issues. I had played around with various things like liquid buffering agents, but until I started using Wondershell I didn't know the issues with constant buffering were so important here.
I still change much water, but buffering the water helps there too, as there's a swing whenever you change it. That swing might be in the "right" direction, but it's still undesirable for parameters to change.
In an ideal world, they never would, but I am not there. . . not close at all. This is my crutch. LOL
(**I do not profit from the sale of wondershells. They profit from me. All my fish have profited as well. Some 6 months ago I started a brackish tank, but with half a bag of Instant Ocean in there adding a Wondershell didn't seem kosher. I have them in 5 other tanks, but not with the bettas.)
I have been using Wondershell in all my FW tanks for years** and I have noticed the difference. It brings up the hardness, buffers the water against swings, and right away the snails started growing thicker.
Until this, I had tap water which was too soft (and unstable) but I didn't understand the issue. I raised lots of very common, locally bred fish. Theoretically they were accustomed to the local water, but I was still unhappy with the looks and development of them. I was always having to add salt to drive off minor issues. I chalked it up to me being a poor fishkeeper, but the fish were less important then. I had children, and was still working 8~5.
Now this was 30 years back & I'd had fish about 15 years. At the time we had bought a water softener on the old house and this made things worse. I much later (like 10 years) figured out one problem was too-soft water. Even worse, the installer had the system cranked up too high. (It was on this "new" house as well)
I wasn't testing for anything but pH & ammonia in those days and I often did it by nose. I had deep under-gravel filters with big powerheads. If I smelled the tank, and maybe my big pleco had been spooked and stirred up the bottom, I'd smell it & change water. If I did tests it was because a fish was sick or dead. I'd siphon every 14~30 days, and water my flowers. They were nice. Fish not always so nice . . . Sometimes fine. Urk.
Back then I wasn't thinking about hardness and fish, or nitrites. Anyhow, I stopped using the softened water, and went to RO + bottled drinking water. I was doing more siphoning and changing water more. I only had 40 gals in those days. It was still a pain and it wasn't working.
What did work was, we moved to a town with slightly harder water, and a house where the softener wasn't working right. The fish were great, until the softener got moved, and repaired.
Phooie! . . . You know what happened. ;(
I was running more and more tanks, with different filters, fish, plants . . . all different, but the same water.
Comparing results, doing much testing, using RO + bottled water (and later, using RO Right too) but nothing improved consistently, because of instability issues. I had played around with various things like liquid buffering agents, but until I started using Wondershell I didn't know the issues with constant buffering were so important here.
I still change much water, but buffering the water helps there too, as there's a swing whenever you change it. That swing might be in the "right" direction, but it's still undesirable for parameters to change.
In an ideal world, they never would, but I am not there. . . not close at all. This is my crutch. LOL
(**I do not profit from the sale of wondershells. They profit from me. All my fish have profited as well. Some 6 months ago I started a brackish tank, but with half a bag of Instant Ocean in there adding a Wondershell didn't seem kosher. I have them in 5 other tanks, but not with the bettas.)
