New tank - cycled media - wrong water!

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Lee171181

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So I purchased a 2nd hand tank which was all cycled etc, it was emptied & refilled within a few hours & been left for a few days now.
I have just done a water test & discovered it’s been filled with soft water through our water softener & not the standard tap water! (Company told us the outside tap was left off the softener but turns out it wasn’t).

Question now is what can be done to rectify?

Is it going to mean a complete water change, or can it be fixed by adding something into the current water? Was hoping to start adding fish this weekend.

Readings are:
Nitrate 25
Nitrite 0
GH 3 (53 ppm)
KH 20 (357 ppm)
PH 8
Chlorine 0
 
So in future, all of your water will be soft?

I suppose you could make it hard...give it tattoos and a bad attitude, or just focus on soft water fish.

If you have access to 'normal', unsoftened water, then a 75-80% water change should be fine. Remember that your beneficial bacteria will be in the substrate and on the items you bought with the tank and not in the water and, assuming you're using a water conditioner, it should be okay.
 
No, I wasn’t intending to use the soft water as was told it was a bad idea so would turn of the softener each time for water changes etc, the problem is that then we’re right at the other end of the scale as live in a really hard water area, hence the softener in the 1st place.
 
No, I wasn’t intending to use the soft water as was told it was a bad idea so would turn of the softener each time for water changes etc, the problem is that then we’re right at the other end of the scale as live in a really hard water area, hence the softener in the 1st place.
Then a big water change would solve your problems. Just keep an eye on your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels and the closer you match your fish to your water hardness and pH, the less work you'll have to do.
 
The problem with a lot of water softeners is that they use salt which replaces the hardness minerals with sodium, and soft water fish have not evolved to cope with sodium in the water.
I always understood that humans shouldn't drink this water either so there has to be a bypass tap for human consumption? Or is the softener not the salt type?
 
The problem with a lot of water softeners is that they use salt which replaces the hardness minerals with sodium, and soft water fish have not evolved to cope with sodium in the water.
I always understood that humans shouldn't drink this water either so there has to be a bypass tap for human consumption? Or is the softener not the salt type?
Yes there is a separate tap for drinking water, that is softened water and then goes through a brita style filter which puts whatever it is back into the water making it suitable for consumption. Wasn’t sure about using that as it’s been filtered & changed so could cause further problems. The softener can be turned off completely
 
I used to have a Brita jug, and back then the FAQs on Brita's website said not to use the water in aquariums. They also said, back then, that the ion exchange resin in the cartridge swapped the hardness minerals for hydrogen ions. The problem with that is that hydrogen ions are what pH is. The more hydrogen ions there are, the lower the pH (it's an upside down scale). The jug filter dropped my pH from 7.2 to off the bottom of the scale (under 6.0)
If your filter works the same way as my old Brita jug, the softened water will have low pH compared to unsoftened tap water.
Is there anything in the instructions or the manufacturer's website which says how your softener works?
 

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