water from water softener safe?

[shrimpy1]

Hi All,

I just moved to a new place, and there is a water softener installed. Is the water safe for hardy fish/inverts?

Thanks

[Meric]

Hi All,

I just moved to a new place, and there is a water softener installed. Is the water safe for hardy fish/inverts?

Thanks

A water softener replaces Calcium and Magnesium Ions with Sodium or Potassium Ions depending on whether you use Sodium Chloride or Potassium Chloride.

So softened water will generally have a GH of 0 to 1 ppm, a KH of 0 to 1 ppm and a Calcium Level of 0 PPM, also a Magnesium level of 0.

A water softener does not remove Phosphates, Nitrates, Chlorine, Ammonium, or any heavy metals from the water.

Think of it as Tap water without any GH or KH. So you will need to buffer the water before adding it to a tank.

I have a water softener and I use Potassium Chloride to soften the water. The water comes out of the Tap with a PH of 9.4 and no hardness. However when I add the unbuffered water to my fresh water tank the PH drops very rapidly. Down to about 7.0 within 48 Hours.

Go to this link for more info than you really need.

http://www.hydronics.org/articles/wa...tersoftene.htm

[Poseidon]

First of all....

Meric welcome to Reefland. And excellent answer, I use water from my softener everyday. It goes from well to softener, to RO/DI to Kalk mix to tank...

So yes it is safe, but MAY need to be buffered first.

[shrimpy1]

First of all....

Meric welcome to Reefland. And excellent answer, I use water from my softener everyday. It goes from well to softener, to RO/DI to Kalk mix to tank...

So yes it is safe, but MAY need to be buffered first.

Thanks for the great answers. It sounds like I'm better off bypassing the softener. Is this right?

[Poseidon]

Nope.

Just check the pH AND Alk before you add it to the tank. My water is actually still pretty "hard" coming out of the softener. pH is about 8.0 and DkH is 11!!! So that works very well. Trouble is there are also lots of Phosphates to cause an Algae bloom, since it is well water. My Honest advice is to buy RO water from the grocery store until you get an RO unit of your own...