Ammonia dilemma

[Murf.]

To start off and not waste answers that I am not going to do. I'm not buying water or a RO water system. The choices are well water or softener water. So please keep the answers with this in mind. Thanks.
I have a 10 gal cherry shrimp tank and a 29 gal fish tank. Both well established and everyone appears healthy.
0 Ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10-20ppm nitrates, 75 hardness, 300 alkalinity, 7.4ph

I have been using the water from the water softener for water changes. After a water change, I fill the buckets with water and treat with Tetra Aquasafe plus. So the water sits and ages 1 to 2 weeks before my next water change.

I have been reading on water softeners and how they add sodium (not salt) to the water in small amounts that may have a long term affect on fish. Also, the softener removes calcium and magnesium, which is needed by shrimp.

So I'm thinking I should maybe start using the hard well water instead. I decided to test the well water for ammonia and it is at somewhere between .25 and .50 with API liquid test.
I left it sit over night in the pitcher I drew the water in. When I got up in the morning I added aquasafe to it and waited until it had been 24 hours since first test. Tested again hoping ammonia was gone, but no, still the same ammonia reading. Here's where it gets weird. I draw softened water straight from tap and tested it - 0 ammonia! Water softeners do not remove ammonia.
Not sure what to make of that.

So do I keep using my soft water and throw a cuttle bone in shrimp tank to ensure there is enough calcium in the water?
Or
Do I use the hard water and presume my well cycled tanks will quickly dispatch that small amount of ammonia in the water?
Or
Do I use a mixture of soft and hard water to get more calcium in the water and less sodium (and what percentage of soft versus hard)?

Which is the best options given these choices?

Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

It sounds like the well water is contaminated by something, either agricultural runoff from fertilisers, or there is a dead animal in it.

Is the house using well water too?

Can you put some well water in a plastic storage container and put floating plants in there to use the ammonia. When the ammonia is 0ppm, you can use the well water mixed with softened water (50/50 mix) for the tank.

The 50/50 mix would be determined by the GH and KH of the well water and what fishes you keep.

-------------------
If you live in a warm climate you can make a solar still to get pure soft water.

You can make a solar still out of a plastic storage container, plastic bucket and a couple of non porous rocks.

Put the plastic storage container outside in the sun or in a warm room and half fill it with well water.
Put a rock in the bucket and put the bucket in the storage container. The rock in the bucket should stop the bucket moving around.
Put the lid on the storage container and put a small rock on the lid, but in the middle of the lid.
The small rock causes the lid to sag in the middle and any water that has collected on the underside of the lid, will drip into the bucket.

The water that collects in the bucket will be pure water and can be used to dilute the well water.

 

[Murf.]

Thanks for the reply.
I live in a rural area. There is a dairy "factory" farm within 2 miles of me, fields all around me, I have 3 goats, a juliana miniature pig, and 2 horses. So yeah, a lot of agriculture around me.
The house is on soft water via water softener. The outside faucets are on hard water.
I wonder how many plants and how long it would take to remove it from 4 gallons.
And what would be a good hardy plant to do that.
Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

It's probably from the cows at the dairy. They pee on the grass and it soaks into the ground and contaminates the ground water. And farmers using fertilisers to grow the grass for the cows to eat.

You should have a government department that regulates this and they need to be informed that the dairy cows are probably contaminating the ground water and potentially any rivers or creeks nearby. The water corporation/ company or department of environment, or even the local council might be able to help.

-------------------
Any floating plant will do the job but Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) or Duckweed are both good to try.

Set up a couple of big containers (50 gallon or more) outside. Fill them with water and put the plants in it. Floating plants can remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrate pretty quickly, usually within a day or two, depending on the levels.

When you use some water for your tanks, just top the container up with new well water and leave it until you need to do another water change.

 

[Murf.]

The cows you describe would be the lucky ones with normal family owned farms. Not so with Factory farms (that the government wants all farms to go to so they are in control via government policies - putting family farms out of business). There is no grazing pasture for these cows. They stay in the "factory" 24/7 waiting to be milked. They are fed some type of feed.

Thanks for the helpful info.