Water for Tropical Fish

[badlad.biz]

I have water hardness problems when changing water in my aquarium and buying RO water is expensive. Does anyone know if I can use water from a water softner?

[hammerman]

What exactly are the problems with water hardness ? what fish are you trying to keep in soft water ?

Some idea of the above may help before you start altering things and chucking chemicals in etc

[badlad.biz]

Hi Hammerman,
I have a huge Parrot Cichlid who goes off coulor when I change the water in the tank. I live in East Anglia which has the Hardest Water in the Kingdom. When using RO water I don't have this problem. A friend suggested using Softened water, and I must admit, I've tried it once (changing 20galls in my 300gall tank) and it worked, but I'm a bit concerened about doing it on a regular basis.

[hammerman]

Have you thought about mixing tap water with water from the softener 50/50 and seeing how that goes.

I've heard of people using water softners with no effecrs but i've never used them myself preferring RO.

I'm a member of http://www.totalfishkeeping.com/index.php? ....either join up and ask on there or i'll do it for you....it'll have to be tomorrow now as i'm just off to play football.

[hammerman]

I was given this link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20 070105221627AAcUXfZ

[badlad.biz]

Thanks Hammerman,
I think I know where I'm at now.
A tiny amount of salt is supposed to be good for some fish such as Cichlids according to my local Aquarium Shop, and your idea of mixing Softened Water with Tap Water sounds promising. I'm going to try it a little at a time and watch the results.

[badlad.biz]

Hey, I've just thought of the ideal solution, if you excuse the pun.
I'll put my Dehumidefier outside overnight and use the water from that.