wantsfish Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 hi all just wondering what the most effective way for soft water.??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumpie Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 wat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wantsfish Posted May 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 soft water hard water i know timber can soften the water, but is there anything else to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanwatts Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 live plants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coryfan Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 Hi Dave, I read peat moss will soften water. or RO water. Cheers :wink: p/s: how is ur skin now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbeer Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 There are many myths about how to get soft water. Driftwood, peat moss are two of the myths. Both will decrease pH, but neither will actually soften water. You can also get "water softening" pillows - these replace calcium with a range of other ions - and again are of little real use. Typically if you really need soft water Total Disolved Solids are more important anyway and replacing one ion with another does little. To actually soften water live plants will help as Ryan said - but need a lot of plants to effectively natrually filter out the salts. Alternatives are RO or rain water. However what are you keeping that you need soft water for. Often the softness required can be overstated - especially in commonly bred species..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savage_roo Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 May be you can set up a hidro filter system That way you can filter your tanks as well as get soft water with out planting out your tanks I will find the link and put it up in a sec http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/20 ... lters.html this will give U a small idear or you could just run the water through storm water pipes Roo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 Great Link there roo! I use this system on my pond.....but.... Sorry it doesn't soften water to any great extent filters out nutrients so keeps water top quality. So food feed to fish is excreted as nutrients that the plants use. Best way to create soft water is as gingerbeer explained...Rainwater or RO water.... Rainwater being the most environmentally responsible....as RO water creates a lot of waste water.....ok if you can use it....just keep 4 times as many rift lake fish as soft water ones! You don't need soft water to keep or breed most fish......however some species(rams) the eggs will only hatch in soft water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wantsfish Posted May 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 thanks for the info every-one. i have a royal whiptail female that may be eggbound. have been told by keeping her in soft water may help....??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
