Rate to harden water

[Murf.]

Newly cycled 10 gallon.
2 small zebra danios, 1 small otocinclus, 1 small cherry shrimp, 1 large amazon sword, 1 small crypt wendtii.
I get my water from a well after it goes thru a softener. My tank water hardness is very soft / 25 ppm.
I am thinking I can harden it up by getting my hard water straight from the well, adding Tetra Aqua Safe plus, and add it on next water change.
My question is how much hard water should I add at a time without "shocking" or stressing the living things in my tank?
Thanks

 

[FFGuest6357]

I cannot for the life of me remember which member has the best answers, and similar experiences to explain it further, but water coming from a softener it’s not good for aquarium fish.

I believe that essentially the water becomes saturated with sodium ions and that’s not good for the fish.

Im not an expert of water chemistry so I can’t explain it, but mechanically softened water isn’t good for fish

I learned this one the hard way, pun intended.

 

[itiwhetu]

Are all the fish happy if so let it be.

 

[StevenF]

My question is how much hard water should I add at a time without "shocking" or stressing the living things in my tank?

The safe way to do this is to gradually change the water at each water change. I am assuming you are using 100% softened water. So at the next water change mix well and softened water so that 10% is well water. They at the next normal water change using 20% well water. Keeping doing this until you reach your target GH and KH. For cherry shrimp and otocincluse 3 degrees G (about (50 ppm) should be all you need for these animals.

Long term you might want to install a RO system that would take softened water and convert it to water with a Very low GH and KH and use a mixture of RO and well water in your tank This would give you better control or your water parameters.

I believe that essentially the water becomes saturated with sodium ions and that’s not good for the fish.

Water softeners contain a resin which causes a reaction between sodium chloride and and calcium and magnesium carbonate in the well water. So basically the reaction is CaCO3 + NaaCl results in caCL2 and NaHCO3 which is calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. The calcium chloride is later discarded when the resin isrechaged. The sodium bicarbonate stays in the softened water. This basically reduces GH and replaces it with KH.



So people fearful of to much sodium replace the sodium chloride in the softener with potassium chloride. most people think this is good because plants andmals need potassium .

Fish like people need sodium to stay healthy but too much can be fbad for you and fish. Same goes for potassium foo much is bad. ideally the water s should have some sodium and potassium in the water. In soft water streams the amounts of sodium and potassium are variable . Sometimes mostly sodium and other times mostly potassium. But rarely do you see water with just sodium or just potassium.

 

[Colin_T]

You keep soft water fish so don't raise the GH.

However, you should find out if the water softener is an ion exchange unit that swaps calcium for sodium, or if it's a different type of water softener. Sodium isn't the best for soft water fishes.

 

[Murf.]

Thanks everyone. Will water at my current hardness be detrimental to shrimp (and maybe a single future snail) ?
Will it effect shrimp molting or shells?

Thanks

 

[FFGuest6357]

The safe way to do this is to gradually change the water at each water change. I am assuming you are using 100% softened water. So at the next water change mix well and softened water so that 10% is well water. They at the next normal water change using 20% well water. Keeping doing this until you reach your target GH and KH. For cherry shrimp and otocincluse 3 degrees G (about (50 ppm) should be all you need for these animals.

Long term you might want to install a RO system that would take softened water and convert it to water with a Very low GH and KH and use a mixture of RO and well water in your tank This would give you better control or your water parameters.


Water softeners contain a resin which causes a reaction between sodium chloride and and calcium and magnesium carbonate in the well water. So basically the reaction is CaCO3 + NaaCl results in caCL2 and NaHCO3 which is calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. The calcium chloride is later discarded when the resin isrechaged. The sodium bicarbonate stays in the softened water. This basically reduces GH and replaces it with KH.



So people fearful of to much sodium replace the sodium chloride in the softener with potassium chloride. most people think this is good because plants andmals need potassium .

Fish like people need sodium to stay healthy but too much can be fbad for you and fish. Same goes for potassium foo much is bad. ideally the water s should have some sodium and potassium in the water. In soft water streams the amounts of sodium and potassium are variable . Sometimes mostly sodium and other times mostly potassium. But rarely do you see water with just sodium or just potassium.

That hurt my head, thanks for the explanation, again

 

[Colin_T]

Thanks everyone. Will water at my current hardness be detrimental to shrimp (and maybe a single future snail) ?
Will it effect shrimp molting or shells?

Thanks

Shrimp can draw calcium out of their old shell just before they moult so should be fine in soft water.

Snails will be fine as long as the pH is 7.0 or above.