Softwater to Hardwater

Pineapple swordtails, red wag swordtails, guppies, and a Dalmatian molly. They are smaller than neon tetras. @Colin_T
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Just use rain water..can't get any softer then that. this pandemic has cleaned our air..you never said how large a tank..
Wif all the snow you got recently just start filling buckets:rofl:
 
I'm moving next week from Long Island to New Hampshire. I was planning to set up my tanks there next week but I just realized that the water in New Hampshire is very hard. Is there a water softener that I should use or a natural way that I can bring the water hardness down? Thank you!
I have wondered this too since we have a water filter in our house but the water is naturally hard. I use Neutral Regulator by Seachem to keep the pH at neutral. The label says that it softens the water also. Seachem also offers Acid Regulator and Alkaline Regulator. I haven't used either but I'm hoping that the Seachem Neutral Regulator is adequate for this problem. I read that there are natural items you can put in the tank such as coral and driftwood to change the hardness/softness. ALso baking soda. But I'm not comfortable tinkering much with the water chemistry since when I play with the tank, "things happen"!
 
Generally speaking, livebearers do well in hard water, and egg layers do best in soft water. However, the water is a bit muddy in this area (forgive me for being punny).....
Many of the fish we have these days in the hobby are bred and raised in a very wide range of water chemistries. Assuming a fish type requires a specific water chemistry...well...may just be the wrong solution with the best intentions.
If it was me, unless the new water is so hard we'd call it 'liquid rock', I think I'd acclimate the fish to the harder water and monitor closely to see how they're doing. I'd do this before jumping through hoops to match a water hardness that just maybe the fish don't really need.
(footnote: My water is neither hard nor soft, and I have livebearers and egg layers that do just fine.)
 
Just use rain water..can't get any softer then that. this pandemic has cleaned our air..you never said how large a tank..
Wif all the snow you got recently just start filling buckets:rofl:
I have a 10 gal, 20 gal, and 30 gal. It might be a little hard to melt all that snow.
 
I have wondered this too since we have a water filter in our house but the water is naturally hard. I use Neutral Regulator by Seachem to keep the pH at neutral. The label says that it softens the water also. Seachem also offers Acid Regulator and Alkaline Regulator. I haven't used either but I'm hoping that the Seachem Neutral Regulator is adequate for this problem. I read that there are natural items you can put in the tank such as coral and driftwood to change the hardness/softness. ALso baking soda. But I'm not comfortable tinkering much with the water chemistry since when I play with the tank, "things happen"!
Long Island naturally has soft water so I always added a little bit of baking soda to increase the water hardness. I have driftwood and sand which is supposed to help keep the water neutral.
 
Generally speaking, livebearers do well in hard water, and egg layers do best in soft water. However, the water is a bit muddy in this area (forgive me for being punny).....
Many of the fish we have these days in the hobby are bred and raised in a very wide range of water chemistries. Assuming a fish type requires a specific water chemistry...well...may just be the wrong solution with the best intentions.
If it was me, unless the new water is so hard we'd call it 'liquid rock', I think I'd acclimate the fish to the harder water and monitor closely to see how they're doing. I'd do this before jumping through hoops to match a water hardness that just maybe the fish don't really need.
(footnote: My water is neither hard nor soft, and I have livebearers and egg layers that do just fine.)
I breed my livebearers so acclimating them to hard water is not an issue, however, my neon tetras a very sensitive to water change and I also have a betta. Also, I'm setting the tanks up and then going back to Long Island for three days and I don't want anything to happen to them when I'm gone.
 
I breed my livebearers so acclimating them to hard water is not an issue, however, my neon tetras a very sensitive to water change and I also have a betta. Also, I'm setting the tanks up and then going back to Long Island for three days and I don't want anything to happen to them when I'm gone.
Food for thought - If possible, take enough current water for 50% or more, and finish filling with the new NH water. So it will only be a little harder than your current water. Then as partial water changes progress, old water chemistry will slowly be replaced with new - you can always introduce bottled or RO as/if necessary.
 
Food for thought - If possible, take enough current water for 50% or more, and finish filling with the new NH water. So it will only be a little harder than your current water. Then as partial water changes progress, old water chemistry will slowly be replaced with new - you can always introduce bottled or RO as/if necessary.
I'm in NH filling up the tanks right now. I brought 50% of the old tank water from my 30 gallon. That's the one the fish are going into. The kh and ph are high but the gh is low which I thought was strange.
 
Regarding distilled vs. reverse-osmosis water: It should be relatively easy & inexpensive to get RO water. I get it at the grocery store. They have a station where you can refill your 1 gallon or 5 gallon jugs for 39 cents/gallon. Better than buying distilled water in single-use plastic jugs.
 
(Why can't I edit my reply? The buttons are grayed out.) As you can tell, I'm not familiar with the functionality of this forum, so I actually wasn't sure you were addressing me.
 

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