Salt water running in house?

[AquariumHabit]

Hello, to make a long story short me and my wife are moving into a new home soon, the current owner decided to install a salt water machine in the house so all the water running through is obviously salty. Now my wife likes the idea of it but me not so much since I keep fish. I was wondering is their anything I could purchase to install under a specific sink that will "detroy" the salt and make it safe for freshwater fish?

This may sound dumb but honestly never encountered a house with a salt machine...

Thanks in advance.

 

[tlindsey]

Never heard of that but a Water Softener yes lol.

 

[tlindsey]

Ok just looked up Water Softener and yes salt is added to the system some use for laundry. You probably could call in a plumber and have him hook up a separate faucet for your aquarium.

 

[AquariumHabit]

Yes that's correct a water softener! forgot what he called it. I've heard of little ones that connect to particular sinks but to have a giant one running through the whole house??

 

[AquariumHabit]

so that's why I was thinking it wouldn't be good for the fish given that their is alot now I'm wondering if they have some machine that can be hooked up to a sink and clear out the salt?

 

[tlindsey]

so that's why I was thinking it wouldn't be good for the fish given that their is alot now I'm wondering if they have some machine that can be hooked up to a sink and clear out the salt?

A plumber should be able to hook you up a separate water line.

 

[Drstrangelove]

I've run freshwater tanks using softened water with no problems. Otoh, I've used unsoftened water as well and did not care for the stains on my glassware, dishes, pots and pans, nor the difficulty in actually cleaning things with soap. Glass was difficult to impossible to clean without chemicals and minerals continuously crusted up and powdered on anything the water touched.

It would not be my preference to use hard water in my tanks, but it's certainly possible to set up a second line that bypasses the water softener.

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

What are you keeping? When I was younger my parents house had a water softener, and my fish did fine.

 

[Brettnewell4454]

The salt in the softener doesn't come into the house. It's used to clean the resin that is in the canister. It runs saltwater thru to flush the resin and drains out of the back.

 

[duanes]

What the salt in a water softener does, is exchange the calcium ion in hard water, with the sodium ion making the water easier to create suds for washing clothes or dishwater, it doesn't really make water salty.
Certain fish may find the sodium ion stressful, but the tiny amount usually doesn't matter to your average aquarium fish.
Those sensitive species like Altum angels or Uaru fernadensepizzi might, but they would also find the hard water stressful, again most common aquarium species do not.
If you don't want the sodium, just don't put salt in the softener.