Colorado's Water Hardness...

[onidrase]

I had to take some fish back to the LFS the other day that passed. And they do the water check to make sure it's their fault they sold me diseased fish that died rather than my fault the water is so bad.

Everything tested fine, as expected, but she said "The water is really hard" in which the manager replied "Colorado's water is always hard. That's normal."

I asked how hard it really was, but didn't get a response. I use API Water test kit, so I don't have a way to test it myself.

Moving on to the point, the fact the water hardness raised concern under the water quality testing, even though it is natural for Colorado (my dad said the same thing this morning when we were talking about fountain pumps getting busted up all the time) I wanna know if there is any natural way to lower it. Such as decorations or substrate. I don't want to resort to chemicals for this. Not a fan of chemicals. Unless there is some sort of instant way like a special sort of water dechlorinator or the like.

I'm gonna bring in some water today or tomorrow for them to test the hardness. So I'll get back to you guys on what it is exactly.

 

[ctsv510]

A reverse osmosis type filter is your best bet, there is no other "silver bullet" for softening water other than removing the minerals. RO itself is not good for your fish, so you would need to add back certain minerals to make it work. If you NEED soft water, you can do that, or try to find another source other than tap such as spring water.

Most people will probably recommend that you stick with your tap water and just keep fish that are meant for hard water.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Ultimately, the fish you get are probably acclimated to the water in your area, so it probably is not an issue at all.

How big is your tank? Most livebearers are extremely well-suited to hard water. Mollies in particular are perfectly suited for hard water. If you aren't interested in them, you might want to look into Malawi cichlids. Of course, all this depends on the size of your tank.

 

[onidrase]

Ultimately, the fish you get are probably acclimated to the water in your area, so it probably is not an issue at all.

How big is your tank? Most livebearers are extremely well-suited to hard water. Mollies in particular are perfectly suited for hard water. If you aren't interested in them, you might want to look into Malawi cichlids. Of course, all this depends on the size of your tank.

Right now I've got a 37g with tiger barbs and a convict, a 20 g which is just a quarantine tank at the moment (though I'm thinking about getting a smaller tank for quarantine and turning that one into a betta/platy tank) and a 55 with nothing but a JD and Firemouth. I'm no expert on water hardness, though. I was just worried it could ultimately lower the lifespans of my fishes.

 

[ZoddyZod]

are you in a relatively low pollution area? i.e. are you out in the country or in a major city?

If you are out in the country, and live in a house with a fair size roof, you could try collecting rain water by attaching a water butt to your guttering. Quite a bit cheaper than the RO route.

 

[onidrase]

are you in a relatively low pollution area? i.e. are you out in the country or in a major city?

If you are out in the country, and live in a house with a fair size roof, you could try collecting rain water by attaching a water butt to your guttering. Quite a bit cheaper than the RO route.

We're about 10 minutes away from the true mountains (I live in a foothills like area, about 5700' elevation), so closer to "country" than city. We also get snow up until about May then rain until October

I read something about putting "peat" or something in the filter to help, but I have no idea what that is or what other effects it can have on the tank. Ultimately, I really just need to find out just how hard the water is, and decide if I wanna do anything about it from there.