Very soft water

[Little_Scrapper]

It has been a very long time since I kept any tanks and now I need to relearn everything I forgot. I have an overstocked gold fish tank that I am doing 30% water changes on fairly regularly.

I am just using softened tap water that is very soft and Seachem Prime to remove chloramine. The ph is probably about 8.0-8.4. Not sure just yet because the test kit I got only goes up to 7'something. I will get a real test kit soon.

I usually always do my own leg work but simply asking is faster I'm sure. Is that pH level (8'ish) bad for the gold fish and is there anything I need to know about using soft tap water in the tank. I will be researching whilst I await answers. In the mean time he fish seem to be doing fine. They seem to be getting big fast and act really excited to see me when I feed them. LOL.

Thanks guys,

Little_Scrapper

 

[duanes]

A pH level in the 8s is not harmful to goldfish.
However many soft water systems use salt to "soften" water.
What it does, is replace the calcium ion with a sodium ion.
If it were me, would use the hard water tap for water change water, as opposed to the softened water.
Water softening often removes the calcium, which helps buffer the urine fish produce. That calcium helps neutralize the fish urine between water changes.