What's the difference between soft from hard water?

Question

I'm using it for my aquarium and books say this are factors need to be considered. Is there really a difference? It is really necessary, because I’ve been using regular water for sometime now, all my fishes seem fine!

Answer 1

It depends on your fishes really. If you are keeping the hardy kind of fishes it doesn't matter. However if you are keeping sensitive fishes like freshwater stingrays etc it makes a difference as they die if your water conditions are not right and pristine.

Hard water have a high pH value and soft water low. Just get a pH tester kit you can purchase from the aquariums if you want to find out.

You can buy the chemical water conditioners to make your water harder or softer but I don't recommand it.

The natural way for soft water is to add driftwood or peat moss in the water. For hard water, add in crushed coral.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

I have no direct experience with regard to using soft or hard water in aquaria but...

Since hard water makes it hard to produce lather while with soft water you waste so much just to rinse off the lather, and considering that the former contains plenty of minerals (such as calcium and magnesium ions), it looks like hardwater at extreme could damage the pet fishes over a prolonged period of time. Using soft water, on the other hand, easily renders the water in the aquarium murky and appearing dirty.

Since you said that you use regular water, I would presume that it is direct from the tap. For that, you'll have to consider the chlorine content level which could also be damaging for the fish. In some instances, fresh treatment of chlorine makes the process uneven such that you could distinctively smell the chlorne in the water. When there is so much concentration, the health of the fishes are threatened.

... Now, it will be an entirely different matter altogether if we would use heavy water in our aquaria... imagine "radiating" fishes.

Answer 3

Hard water is has a high mineral content; soft water has a low mineral content. It's called "hard water" originally because it made cleaning difficult. The minerals in question are compounds of calcium and magnesium. Some hardness can be removed by boiling or by the addition of lime (calcium hydroxide). As far as what effect it has on fish not sure. Maybe it wouldn't, maybe the effect would be on the aquarium itself.

Answer 4

Hard water has a variety of minerals in it that soft water does not contain. If your fish are doing fine, then I wouldn't worry about it .. have your tank water tested for free at any PetCo or PetSmart.. just bring a small sample into the store .. they will tell you if there is any kind of chemical problems with your tank. If you are still concerned .. when you do a water change to clean your tank .. instead of house water from your tap ... spend a few dollars on distilled water (not drinking water) .. from your grocery store. Even though it is distilled water, I always add the usual "conditioning" additives as sold at pet stores. Check with the aquatic dept. to make sure you are adding the correct additives for your tank . Good luck ! :)

Answer 5

Soft water is water that has been treated by using salt. I am thinking that hard water is that which there has been no treatment added. You cannot use tap water that is softened or the fish will die. Checking the ph in the water is a good thing to do. You can buy kits at the pet store that will test the ph of the water.

Answer 6

Soft water has many minerals and most undesirable tastes removed by passing the water through a resin that attracts them. The resin is cleaned of impurities by back flushing the resin with salt water brine. The water produced after the back flushing process contains salt washed from the resin. This salt may be too much for some fish. Your best bet is to get water purified by reverse osmosis which removes the minerals and contaminates.

The water machines you see where you put in your container and buy the water for about $.35 are reverse osmosis units.

Answer 7

The difference is the amount of minerals(specifically calcium and magnesium) in the water. You'll know if you have hard water if there's a whitish build up in you sink/shower/tub...those are the mineral deposits.

For aquariums, it does matter, and you can get test kits. Here's a good one http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13526&N=2004+113074

How much does it matter is a question of what kind of tank are you planning. Salt/fresh -- planted/reef

General you can raise KH, by adding chemicals, but this is usually pretty expensive over time.

Here's a good article ->
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/hardness-larryfrank.html

GOOD LUCK
-dg

Answer 8

You want a simple answer.... hard water WASTES soap. When our family moved to a hard water area from a soft water area, our consumption of soap trebled. It wasn't that my kids suddenly discovered where the bathroom [rest room?] was, just it needed more before it lathered and washed properly. Why? The dissolved Ca and Mg compounds that cause hardness react with the soap to form Ca or Mg stearates, which are insoluble. These are commonly seen as SCUM in the wash basin and why basins need cleaning. For even better SCUM try washing with soap in a bath full of hot hard water. Drinking or just putting your hand in each will reveal......... exactly NOTHING. They'll appear identical. Straightforward enough?

Answer 9

It all has to do with your pH (Acid vs Alkalis), gH (General Hardness), and kH (Cabonate Hardness).

Generally this is important in aquariums because certain fish species fair better with different pH levels. 7 is what is considered to be a neutral pH level with anything below 7 being considered acidic, and above 7 being alkalis.

The best way to test you water quality is with a water test kit. The one from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is probably one of the better ones on the market (because it also includes tests for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates). Here is a link for a fairly low cost purchase place...
http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewitem.aspx?idproduct=AP3321

This all comes into play also if you decide to setup a freshwater system with plants using CO2. CO2 will always wind up lowering your pH so it's important to keep this in mind for not only the kinds of aquatic plants you might want, but for the fish that will be living in the aquarium. OTS (Old Tank Syndrome) is based on pH gH and kH factors over periods as short as 12 months. Here's a better reference for you on these 3 parameters.
http://www.purchon.com/chemistry/ph.htm

Both of these links are also in the sources. Good luck!

Answer 10

Hard water is water that has a high mineral content (water with a low mineral content is known as soft water). This content usually consists of high levels of metal ions, mainly calcium and magnesium in the form of carbonates, but may include several other metals as well as bicarbonates and sulfates. While it is not generally dangerous to safety or health, it does generally cause potentially costly nuisance problems in the home and in industry. On the other hand, hard water is considered to be ideal for brewing certain styles of beer. Kentucky's distinctive Bourbon whiskey owes its flavor in part to the high calcium content of its groundwater (compared to the pilsener style of beer, the brewing of which requires very soft water). Some hard water chemicals, particularly silicates and calcium carbonate, are also effective corrosion inhibitors, and can prevent damage to pipes or contamination by potentially toxic corrosion products.

The simplest way to determine if water is hard or soft is the lather/froth test. If the water is very soft, soap will tend to lather up easily when agitated, whereas with hard water it will not. Toothpaste will also not froth well in hard water. More exact methods of hardness detection use a wet titration method to determine hardness.

For many uses, including drinking (aside from the taste), it does not matter whether water is hard or soft. For instance, to put out fires, water a lawn, or wash the mud off the streets, water would have to be very hard to cause a problem. But for bathing, washing dishes and clothes, shaving, washing a car and many other uses of water, hard water is not as efficient or convenient as soft water. Hard water can cause limescale deposits in kettles, washing machines and pipes.