Water Hardness

[barb-e]

is it true that seashells make your water hard. If so is there a way for me to make the water soft without removing the shells? I actually got the shells from the aquarium store and the package was for aquariums so I thought they would be okay. Also is it okay to use rocks that I found on the beach or will they do the same thing to the water. I will be getting harlequin rasboras soon and I heard that they prefer soft water.

 

[backtotropical]

If they are real sea shells, they will leach calcium into the water making it hard. A good way to test if you are unsure is to take a shell and drop a few drops of vinegar onto it. If the vinegar fizzes, they will make your water hard. If not, they are probably inert.

Rocks etc from the beach, same story.

If you want soft water, try using bogwood. Be warned though, it turns the water kinda yellow / brown. I have it in my tank and dont like the colour of the water so just do water changes to get rid of it.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

It is true that seashells can make your water hard because they slowly dissolve in freshwater. If you want to keep the seashells nice looking you can try coating them in an aquarium safe epoxy which should help prevent them from leeching a lot of minerals as well. Please note however that coating the shells in something may change how "glossy" they are, so it would be a good idea to test it first.

Secondly, rasboras will be fine in slightly harder water so don't stress out over changing your natural tap level of hardness. Minerals leeching from the shells is bad because it will cause gradual increase however. Do you know how hard your water is naturally?

Finally, bogwood or driftwood will not lower the hardness of your water, only the pH. The only way to make hard water "soft" is to remove the mineral buffers via filtration.

 

[barb-e]

will rocks leech minerals just like shells?

 

[barb-e]

anymore answers?

 

[Matty P]

Yes rocks leak minerals as well. If you are going to use bogwood you will need to clean with hot water before putting it in your tank.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Well you could look into getting an RO/De-ionizing unit, and mixing half de-chlorinated tap. This would work best out of anything, but it can get a little pricey. Best bet is to filter the water through Peat Moss first, if it doesn't have the desired effect, then I would look into buying one of the units I stated above.