How to rise water hardness

[joeyr188]

Does anyone know how i can rise my water hardness it is soft and I would like to make it harder any tips?

 

[Alice B]

I'd like to keep mollies and I know better now, so I am following this thread. Has to be easier to raise GH than lower it

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I used epsom salt in my rainbow tank. My town has extremely soft water, and my rainbows were prone to columnaris infection if I let the hardness get too low. It worked and kept the fish healthy , but I didn't like that it only added magnesium, not calcium. Eventually I switched to "cichlid salt," (designed for rift lake cichlids) which did a better job. I understand seachem makes some good products that will raise hardness in a more balanced way. The cost might be prohibitive long-term.

Joey, I don't know your situation, but I always recommend changing your stocking to suit your tap water, rather than the other way around. You'll probably be happier in the long run.

 

[biofish]

Trade water with me

My tap is really really hard and it’s a fight keeping it in a respectable range and my taps ph is like 8.4

But I’m all seriousness, I think seachem or crushed coral is your best bet.

 

[Rocky998]

Limestone also works really well...

 

[GaryE]

Using limestone, coral etc works well, but you don't drop the stone in and get the hardness right away. Rift lake salts are good, but not cheap. Plus you will need to experiemnt and test the water a lot (for hardness) to keep it stable. If the hardness bounces around, that isn't good.

I used to put broken up sea shells in my filters, and add epsom salts when I had a lot of molly species and very soft tap.

 

[Byron]

It would be worth knowing why you want to increase hardness. What fish do you have/intend having? And what is the GH, pH and KH of your source water? The latter is the starting point. Changing water parameters is not as easy as it might at first seem; the source water has a set of values (GH, KH, pH) and affecting one of these means affecting two or all three, depending. And preparing water outside of the aquarium for every water change is more work than being able to use the source water.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Is your water naturally soft? Please tell us it's not from a water softener. If so, crushed coral may be your most cost efficient method. But as @Byron asks, why?.... as it's always better to just use the water you have, rather than chase your tail to try and make a different water chemistry.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have soft water and I mostly keep fish taht do well in it. However, I have some heavily planted tanks with both snails and shrimp. My water tends not to provide as much of the things they need in terms f hardness because the demand is excessive. About a year ago I began adding SeaChem Equilibrium. However, I do not use this as suggested to target a specific gain in hardness, I am adding a bit to make up for what I need. I only use this in 3/8 of my planted communities.

From https://www.seachem.com/equilibrium.php

Years ago I did it differently trying the raise hardness to simulate the dry season. There I used 3 things. I added Epsom for magnesium. To add calscium I ran a lot of crushed coral in a the changing water for 18-24 hours. This added some, but not a lot of calcium. Finally I added a pinch of baking soda. Add much of this and you raise the pH which I wanted to avoid for the most part. I used a TDS meter to check the hardness: HM Digital TDS-3 Handheld TDS Meter With Thermometer. The temp on this is in C not F. Do I had to make a conversion chart to get to F. Shop arounf for this as the price cam be close to $10 if you find the right sites.