Hard water vs Soft

[fender316]

WIth all the water discussions, i figured i'd start a new one!  What should i expect when i switch my tanks from hard water to soft?  Absolutely nothing?  ANyone use softwater?  hard supposedly has more magnesium and calcium, its better for human consumption.  not good for cleaning though, soft water is better for soap, skin and laundry.  fishies will just have to get used to the soft water, or i'll be a sad man

[dan2x38]

water in our area, Centretown is 6.5 most of my fish are South American & Asian which is mostly softwater... of course FW tanks... they all seem quite happy and healthy...

[fender316]

i never even thought of PH, i'll have to check what its at, i was more into the general makeup of the water.  soft water feels weird to me, im used to hard though.  the Ph out of my tap is over 7 last time i checked.  hopefully the soft water isnt to low.  I guess the alkalinity test which comes with the PH test will come in usefull to get some idea of what the water is like.

anything over 17.1 PPM dissolved minerals is considered hard.  now i wonder what makes the well water soft in the house im looking to buy.  i didnt see a water softener machine, the ground soil should technically make it hard i thought

heres a quote

"What is hard water?
Water from aquifers and other underground sources collects dissolved minerals from rock--particularly calcium, magnesium carbonate, and manganese.

These minerals give water undesirable characteristics that are dubbed "hardness."

The severity of hardness is measured by grains (of mineral) per gallon (GPG) or, in some cases, by parts per million (PPM). These two measurements are related: 17.1 PPM equals 1 GPG.

"

[dan2x38]

pH of our city water here is approx. 7.5... since I inject CO2 I have to lower my pH to the tanks 6.6-6.8 so there is no pH shock... but the KH is on the low side 3.5 so I add some sea shells in my filter to stablize so there is no pH swings... so far works OK...

[Alchemist]

The major difference for your SW tanks will be what amounts of supplementary calcium and other ions to add won't it?  You may have to add more to soft water.

[Julie]

I use hard well water and never add calcium.  Only disadvantage is I'm sure it is high in phosphates, which contributes to algae.

[Alchemist]

Those phosphates are more likely from run-off from agricultural use rather than anything to do with the hardness though.

[Julie]

What about detergent, soap.... grey water run off?

[dan2x38]

Wow these water threads are hot topics and very informative!!! Take me days or weeks to research this much data!

[Alchemist]

What about detergent, soap.... grey water run off?

Yes that too...depends where you live I guess.  Septic systems leech material into the soil too.  Are there sewer pipes in place or not?