Water

[folyet]

We have a water softener in our house, and all the water gets treated.
I was told by the LFS not to use that water when I do water changes in my tank as that is not good for the fish.
One person said there is salt in the water...but I am not sure if this is correct as salt is used to remove minerals from the water, not actually put into it

Does anyone know for sure if this type of water can be used in a freshwater tank for tropical fish?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, it can't. Domestic water softeners replace calcium ions with sodium, so the water behaves as if it's softer, but the amount of dissolved solids stays the same, and salt isn't good for freshwater fish.

If your water is very hard, then look at stocking with fish that prefer harder water.

 

[raptorrex]

No, it can't. Domestic water softeners replace calcium ions with sodium, so the water behaves as if it's softer, but the amount of dissolved solids stays the same, and salt isn't good for freshwater fish.

If your water is very hard, then look at stocking with fish that prefer harder water.

nuf said.

 

[ainsy]

You could consider an RO unit if you really want to keep fish that prefer soft water.

 

[OldMan47]

There is salt in water coming from a domestic water softener. It is some of that salt you add to the brine tank to regenerate that softener. As others have said, you do not change the mineral content with a domestic system, you merely replace calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions.
The practical answer for a typical fish keeper is to do your water changes with water from the pipe before it gets to the softener. There is almost always at least one faucet connected ahead of the softener because that salty water also kills house plants. People care about their house plants even if they have no fish.

 

[Fintastic!]

I have an artificial softener too! Now I'm worried.

 

[TheMaEsTrO]

We learned the hard way that the household softened water is not good for fish. As stated previously, calcium ions are replaced with sodium ions, and this happens in the resin exchange. We can bypass our softener making all our taps non-softened, but you have to run them for a a few mins to clear out the soft water. Of course, you have to remember that the water sitting in your hot water tank is also softened, so you cant really use it to mix the water to a warmer temperature. This leaves you with really cold water. I purchased a wheeled plastic green bin (for food wastes) that holds 45 l of water (about 12 gallons), and I purchased an inexpensive aquarium heater. After filling the bin with cold water, I condition it and then put the heater in and let it sit. It usually takes a day to heat the bin, but as Im cycled, I do a weekly change so I usually will fill the bin after I do a water change and let it sit during the week. It has a locking lid, so no contaminates to come in. The wheels make it is to move, but you have to go slow so as not to tip it! I used a container to bail the water into the aquarium, but I purchased a marnineland water pump and I use that at the bottom of the bin, plug it in and it fills my aquarium without splashing in about 5 mins. Its a hassle to have to heat the water, but its the only way around the softwater in the hotwater tank issue... But I can get water changes done fairly quickly this way.

 

[DrRob]

+1 to pretty much everything said above. We have stupidly hard water here, and can taste the brackishness of the softened water. We also have a couple of taps that feed off the system before the softener and some systems are set up this way, but from what you say yours isn't.

I'd guess your options are, as above, to bypass the softener and then fill a container, to put in a tap before the softener and use that one, or to use RO.

I use RO, but feed the unit off the system before the softener, otherwise I'm paying to exchange the calcium and then to remove the salt as well.