Important Question About Water

[confused mermaid]

I have a 46 gallon with several small community fish. I live in the country so we have well water. Well, due to my fishtank I haven't been putting salt in the water softener. However, now our tub and dishwasher and even our hair has become grubby from having such hard water. I test my tank every week and tests (except for PH...is usually around 8) always come out fine. I do about a 40 to 50% water change usually once a week as tank is slightly overstocked and I wanna make sure it stays clean. Now my fiancee says we need to put the salt back in the water softener before the rust destroys everything. My fish seem to be fine on the sink water as tests are good and I havn't had any major losses. I'm afraid something bad is going to happen after adding the salt back in the softener. I have no choice tho because I'm about to get laid off the job and I can't afford to bring bottled water or get a water purifier. I use the water conditioner that is supposed to get rid of chemicals, but do you think it will take care of any affects from the water softener salt also? Is there any other cheap steps I can take to make sure this stuff doesn't kill my tank? I finally got it fully stocked and beautiful and all the fish are happy. I shall be very upset if something happens.

Advice please? Thanks

 

[ILuvTropicalFish]

The real question here is how much salt gets added to the water. I would think the amount of salt would be negligible. Some salt naturally occurs in even freshwater. I would suggest testing the water after the change is made and before you actually use it. I hope someone with some more knowledge will come along and shed some better light.

 

[timbruun]

most water softeners don't really add salt to the water. they just use the salt and make brine to clean the filter and run water through. you're better off using conditionned water than straight well water.

 

[OldMan47]

The calcium and magnesium salts that are in the well water are replaced by sodium salts. The water from a domestic water softener is nice to use for showers and laundry but is full of sodium salts, not minor traces. Most water softeners that are installed professionally will have left the outside spigots on well water instead of on soft water because the salt is also not good for your garden, it is also a huge waste to treat water that is not being used inside the home. You might look into how your water is piped from the softener to its ultimate uses. Chances are good the outside spigot has raw water going to it and could be used after the salt is put back into the softener as it should be.