The best way to soften water?

[Bamf Comics]

Mine cranks out a nice steady supply every time the AC or Heater comes on. It's not enough for large tanks getting weekly but for smaller needs it's a viable alternative and/or supplement. That's one of the problems with a hobby that in general is harmful and wasteful to the planets water reserves which, as you should be aware, are not endless and becoming scarce in many locations. We're always walking that fine line between can we and should we. I don't like the no change options but I can see how some would prefer them and some locations may eventually legally mandate them if not banning wastes of potable water entirely which hobby fish keeping falls under. One of the reasons I closed my first store was to go full time into my parents well drilling business since a major drought was starting up and thousands of wells were failing. Part of me wants to go bigger, more and everything. Another part thinks I shouldn't be touching this hobby with a 10 foot pole for the sake of the planet. At least dehumidified water if collected in a clean manner, is moisture that's not taking away from alternative sources that may not last.

 

[Bamf Comics]

Everybody says buy a RO unit to get rid of my well water nitrate problem and water hardness. However I need 25 gallons of water a week for water exchanges. The only place I can put a R/O unit is in the basement. How do I lug 25 gallons of water up a flight of stairs.

That's when you have to ask yourself, if your water supply isn't good enough the way it is, why get into something that requires it? Generally it's best to find what will live in your water and to schedule a conversation or two with water treatment specialists in your area that can offer alternatives that will be legal for your area and the best options for you. There are other alternatives that have no waste water whatsoever you can do upstairs most likely. But don't take our word for it, schedule a couple conversations with the specialists in your area that can actually help you figure what's best for your situation. I'm solidly in the find what'll live in what you got camp or try something else that doesn't require lots of water as a hobby. I wouldn't take up ice sculpting if I lived in a hot desert type environment. Maybe your solution is to simply put a pond outside and plant it heavily to exhaust the nitrate then pull the water from there as your starting point. Think outside the box.

 

[Bamf Comics]

Do they still make this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/125709028192?msockid=2bf6ebb9a3c968cd3f15f9cfa2db6934

Deionization unit, zero waste water.

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The application of ion-exchange to water treatment and purification:
There are three ways in which ion-exchange technology can be used in water treatment and purification: first, cation-exchange resins alone can be employed to soften water by base exchange; secondly, anion-exchange resins alone can be used for organic scavenging or nitrate removal from water; and thirdly, combinations of cation-exchange and anion-exchange resins can be used to remove virtually all the ionic impurities present in the feedwater, a process known as deionization. The deionizer purification process results in water of exceptionally high quality.

That's the type of options a number of specialists can help you set up upstairs. The API option used to be a bit pricey but it was as simple as shoving the tubing onto your sink and collecting what comes out the other end. Larger option from the specialists in your area should be faster, more economical per gallon and may offer additional uses for your home.

 

[Colin_T]

Everybody says buy a RO unit to get rid of my well water nitrate problem and water hardness. However I need 25 gallons of water a week for water exchanges. The only place I can put a R/O unit is in the basement. How do I lug 25 gallons of water up a flight of stairs.

Use a water pump and length of hose, or move the aquarium into the basement.
Maybe use a pully system.
If you have kids, lots of buckets and a whip
Only kidding on the whip part but use a bucket brigade.
Good exercise walking up and down stairs with 5 gallons of water.

Reverse osmosis units can be attached to most taps and don't have to be plumbed in. You might be able to change the tap fitting upstairs and have the r/o unit attached to that when you need to make water, and take it off the tap when you don't.

Don't use ion exchange units to remove minerals. They get rid of calcium and maybe magnesium but usually replace it with sodium, which is more harmful to the fish.

 

[Bamf Comics]

Don't use ion exchange units to remove minerals. They get rid of calcium and maybe magnesium but usually replace it with sodium, which is more harmful to the fish.

The amounts of sodium added is not harmful to the fish but as already mentioned, using potassium chloride for your recharge instead of sodium chloride gives you an option for something plants and the environment in general can use. As mentioned, RO WASTES as much as 4 gallons of water to make 1 usable gallon of water. That's an extremely bad thing for the planet, especially in an area that already sound like it's having a shortage of high quality potable water to begin with. It may be only 25 gallons a week desired but that could be wasting another 100 gallons a week just to get that. 400 gallons a month wasted. 5,200 gallons wasted a year for a single fish tank. Add in the 25 gallons and now an area with a limited, questionable quality water supply is now wasting 6,500 gallons a year combined for allowing someone to keep one fish tank. Imagine if every house on the block decides they want just one similar fish tank. Imagine if he decides he wants 2 next year. This is the type of nonsense that forces governments to step in and pass laws to protect limited resources from the wasteful misuse of others who are being careless. Even here we had state wide bans on what we could and couldn't do with the water left available during the drought in early 2000's.

Most well and water treatment services are listed in your local advertising sources. Most offer some type of in home free consultation. Finding out what is best for this individuals problem and best for their particular area could be as simple as taking a few minutes to schedule a couple free appointments.