Hard water solution?

Question

I thought about mixing in a few gallons of natural spring water (like they sell at WalMart for 88 cents a gallon) with my tap water to fill my tank. The tap water alone is very hard. Will that work? It's a 30 gallon tank. What ratio would be good?

Answer 1

Hardness refers to the calcium and magnesium content in the water (there can be other minerals, too, but these are the two that are most frequently measured).

The trouble with using spring water, is that it can naturally contain these minerals as well. You wouldn't know unless you bought a jug and tested the water (and then, you wouldn't know if the amount stayed constant without frequent testing).

A better solution would be to use distilled water (condensed steam, so it's only H2O) or reverse osmosis water. If your WalMart has a self-serve bottled water dispenser, this is RO water. Once you buy the jug, refills are $0.25, so this would probably be easier and cheaper for you in the long run.

The ratio you need would depend on just how hard your water is and the conditions your fish like. Find a fish website like this one http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=830 that gives an estimate of hardness preferences for the species you're keeping (remember, these are general ranges, you don't have to be exact!).

EXAMPLE: If your tapwater is running 100kh, and your fish are in the range of 30-60kh, if you use equal amouts of tap water (100kh) and distilled (0kh) you should end up around 50kh (100 + 0 /2) . One part tap to 2 parts distilled/RO would give you 33kh, 1 part tap to 3 parts distilled/RO = 25kh, and so on. Just use the numbers from your own tapwater and figure proportions till you get into a range your fish (and you) like.

Answer 2

Best thing to use in an aquarium is distilled, reverse osmosis, or deionized water. Natural spring water isn't much better than tap. It's a little expensive and if your going to use tap water to top off your tank and do water changes with it will be wasted in the long run. Don't waste the money unless your going to keep doing it. Pretty much with any water make sure your pH and temperature are right before adding it in.

Answer 3

My tap water is so hard I splashed my face with it and knocked myself out. I use it all the time in the tank,but I do use a water conditoner called tap water conditioner made by API got it at petsoulutions.com but I'd bet a good pet store would have it.