Softened water question

[Hop]

OKay so I need a little advice.

Our house had very hard water when we purchased it and after talking to the neighbors we found that it was taking out pipes and water heaters pretty quick. So we installed a water softener. I have been keeping low light tanks for years and I did not notice a difference in those tanks over the past two years. I just took the leap into higher light tanks and have two that are set up with CO2 and more intense lighting. Currently these tanks are only moderately planted, but I'm planning to add more as they become available.

I did my research and found that the water from the softener is not recomended for planted tanks so I started doing about a 50/50 on my water changes with soft and hard water.

So my question is becuase my two higher light tanks are only two weeks old should I go 100% with the hard water or keep doing the 50/50. I have not noticed any deficencies (spelling) in my plants yet, so I was just looking for some advice.

Thanks!!!

[Overfloater]

With soft water, it's possible for a high light tank to show Calcium/Magnesium deficiences, at least in my experience. When you say hard, how hard is hard. Give us a reading, either PPM or degrees.

[Rolo]

My observation has been: the harder, the better! I have very hard water, GH and KH = 17, and the plants love it. I experimented once by bring the hardness down to 4 each, and I noticed less vitality structurally, less robust health, if not a little bit of deficiency showing through.

Yes, I would go with 100% tap.

What is your 100% tap water's current hardness?

Using soften water, containing Na, is not a good idea anytime. Highly unnatural to fish and plants.

[ninoboy]

Yeap, I was worried before with my hardwater. No problem at all so far. All the GH requirements listed on some plant profiles are BS. I have some plants those listed under soft water thrive in my tank that has 300ppm GH.

[Hop]

Thanks for the response.

I just went and tested my current non-softened tap and the readings are: PH 7.7, GH 14.0 and KH 8.0. This time of year we are getting spring run off and the water is a little better. Last summer I tested the parameters and they were PH 7.9, GH 19 and KH 14.

I went ahead and did a 50% waterchange this afternoon with 100% non-softened water. The only hassle with this is the only tap I have thats not softened is outside and the water is a lil' chilly for the kids in the tank.

Thanks again for the advise. Is there any thing I should do aside from the norm with these water conditions?

[Rolo]

Originally Posted by Hop

Thanks for the response.

I just went and tested my current non-softened tap and the readings are: PH 7.7, GH 14.0 and KH 8.0. This time of year we are getting spring run off and the water is a little better. Last summer I tested the parameters and they were PH 7.9, GH 19 and KH 14.

I went ahead and did a 50% waterchange this afternoon with 100% non-softened water. The only hassle with this is the only tap I have thats not softened is outside and the water is a lil' chilly for the kids in the tank.

Thanks again for the advise. Is there any thing I should do aside from the norm with these water conditions?

I hope you aren't assuming that a 50% water change now makes your tank water 100% hardwater. You probably didn't anyway. I don't understand how people think hardwater is worse. To plants it's better.

Have you tried your kitchen tap? That's a common place people happen to miss as a hardwater source.

[ninoboy]

Good point Rolo, kitchen tap usually is not connected to water softener. I think the hardwater issue is created by those plants profiles. When I first started, I looked up some plants and many nice plants showed in the profiles showed the requirement of softer water and were given some GH range requirements. I almost gave up planting my tank until I found Planted tank forum and another one :lol:

[Hop]

Thanks Rolo,

Nope, don't think that the 50% change means 100 percent hard water. I didn't wan't to spend the hours catching all the little critters and moving stuff for the 100% change. Correct me if I'm wrong but if I do a few more water changes (in the 50-60%) range over the next few weeks I should slowly get the majority of NA out. And yeah every place in my house, except one out door spicket that ties in with the sprinkler system is on the softener and house filter.

And I guess that the hard water-bad idea initially came from reading poor articles. I've learned a lot here over the past few months. I used to get an unbeleivable amount of lime and calcium scale on my tanks... But the main issue was the hard water in the house and on my childrens skin. They were suffering from dry skin problems. Really the softener was for the family and not the tanks.

Thanks again 8)

[Rolo]

Oh, I totally agree. I hate hard water b/c of what it does to your skin, and making soap lather impossible. Love it though for the plants.

After a few week of 50% water changes the Na (sodium) concentration will decrease significantly. Basically the concentration halves every time. So say it was 10 degrees originally, now it's 5. Next time 2.5, then 1.25, 0.625...and you get the idea.

[Overfloater]

I never understood how HW was bad for the plants. I have water with a hardness of 3 degrees and while it's great for soap lathering, it's terrible for plants. I have seen plants showing severe calcium deficiencies. I have to add Calcium/Magnesium to the tank. One positive thing is a lack of hard water buildup on the tank/equipment.