water softener

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Chizzle

Piranha
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Jan 30, 2011
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So my parents decided to get a water softener put in. It uses salt.

Is this going to affect my fish tank when I do water changes?

I looked up some old threads and the answers were ambiguous and inconclusive.
 
No. I worked for Culligan Water for many years, and have personally worked with water softeners. They will add no salt to the water, however they will remove some minerals in the water that can be beneficial to fish and plants. It will not be harmfull at all to use softened water but i would just use regular water if you can to provide your fish and plants with more of the needed minerals.
 
I set my dad up a tank and they have a water softener. I researched it a bit but never found anything conclusive as far as how it would really affect the fish. Can anyone go into more detail? Wonder if I should add some sort of RO supplement for minerals lost...


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Not safe for use with a fish tank. Essentially takes out what keeps the water hard and prevents pH from dropping. Causing very unstable water that can crash. Most systems should have a way to get water before it goes through the water softener.
 
I agree with pharmacopia, the softener replaces the calcium ion (and other mineral ions) with sodium ions, which can lessen the buffering capacity of your water, and create a situation where pH/ alkalinity can quickly drop.
Most softeners are not (or shouldn't be, whole house). Use a tap in the house (or out)with un-softened water for your fish if possible.
I am a former water chemist/analyst from a major drinking water producer.
 
I'm planning on using cold water from the hose which doesnt pass through the water softener and warm water from the kitchen sink which does. Will this be alright?
 
duanes said:
I agree with pharmacopia, the softener replaces the calcium ion (and other mineral ions) with sodium ions, which can lessen the buffering capacity of your water, and create a situation where pH/ alkalinity can quickly drop.
Most softeners are not (or shouldn't be, whole house). Use a tap in the house (or out)with un-softened water for your fish if possible.
I am a former water chemist/analyst from a major drinking water producer.
Click to expand...

^ This. And for this reason you should have a water softener installed with a bypass line where you can get pure tapwater.
 
It's a very large house and the water softener is whole house, so not sure exactly what I can do. Funny thing is the fish have been doing very well for 2 years, growing, breeding, and just look great. The only fish that didn't do well were angelfish (just figured this was bad genetics from crappy LFS stock), but severums, acaras, tetras, corydoras, etc. all appear healthy.

So, if getting water from another source isn't an option, what could I treat the water with? Buffer and some sort of mineral supplement?


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