Softened Water + Freshwater Aquarium

[101DalmatianMollies]

Hello there!

We just bought a house in Kemptville, and are very excited to move. The house we bought has a water softener, and it doesn't appear to have a bypass tap, and we're unsure where we can find water that isn't softened coming from any of the taps in the house.

Is this an issue? I imagine it is, but what do I do about it?

thanks!!

[Holly]

What type of softener is it? Try tracing your outdoor tap to see where it is connected. Most outdoor taps will bypass the softener.

[Mike L]

Just add a line from the supply line that goes to the softener.  What are you keeping. Maybe the softened water is what you want.

[101DalmatianMollies]

What type of softener is it? Try tracing your outdoor tap to see where it is connected. Most outdoor taps will bypass the softener.

I didn't think about that! I Could fill a large container with water from the outdoor tap and keep it indoors to allow it to warm up to room temp for water changes. I'm not sure what the type of softener it is - we haven't moved in yet.

Just add a line from the supply line that goes to the softener.  What are you keeping. Maybe the softened water is what you want.

In my 33 gallon I have 6 Corydoras, 3 lampeye/redeye tetras, 5 silver tipped tetras, 3 zebra danios, 3 albino bristlenose plecos (babies), and 2 nerite snails
In my 10 gallon I have 3 adult albino bristlenose plecos and a ton of babies
In my 2.5 gallon I just have plants but it's reserved for an eventual betta
and in my BF's 10 gallon we have cherry shrimp.

[wolfiewill]

I look after a tank in North Gower which also has extremely hard water and with the plants and fish chosen there have been no issues. In the beginning, I was concerned that there would be and, coincidently, I was also researching brackish water plants for another client. It dovetailed nicely in that the plants I used for the North Gower tank were all on the list of plants suitable for a brackish water tank. Many plants are just fine in hard water, in fact some experts have written that plants have had to adapt to soft water conditions. They enjoy the minerals available in the harder water. The TDS in North Gower is in the range of 550 to 650 out of the tap after softening. I also checked the water before the water softener and found an result almost identical. Water softeners only replace the calcium and magnesium ions with sodium. Many fish species are also uneffected.

[101DalmatianMollies]

Thank you for all the detail! I have some water samples from the house and I checked the pH, and it was all around 7.4. I should probably also check the PDS? I'm going to be carting their existing water from where we live to the new home, so they'll get a slow introduction to the new water through water changes. I imagine if there's an issue I'll see it pretty quickly?