Softwater to Hardwater

[Silencedogood]

Pineapple swordtails, red wag swordtails, guppies, and a Dalmatian molly. They are smaller than neon tetras. @Colin_T

 

[Airwreck]

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

 

[ameliaturtle]

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"!

 

[AbbeysDad]

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.)

 

[Silencedogood]

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

I have a 10 gal, 20 gal, and 30 gal. It might be a little hard to melt all that snow.

 

[Silencedogood]

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.

 

[Silencedogood]

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.

 

[AbbeysDad]

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.

 

[Silencedogood]

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.

 

[Teresa R.]

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.

 

[Silencedogood]

Are you in the US?

 

[Teresa R.]

Are you in the US?

Are you asking me? Yes, I'm in Minnesota.

 

[Silencedogood]

Are you asking me? Yes, I'm in Minnesota.

Yes sorry that may have come off as rude, I just never heard of an RO water fill-up station.

 

[Teresa R.]

Not at all! Filtered water stations are common in grocery stores in the Twin Cities area.

 

[Teresa R.]

(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.