How to make hard water soft..?

Question

I checked my freaswater fish tank and I have very hard water. Is there something I can do to soften it a little?

Answer 1

You can soften a little buy adding peat moss to the filter or placing driftwood in the tank. There is also a product called blackwater extract that basically does the same thing without the peatmoss on the filter.

There are water softeners available on the market but that really aren't a good option as they only reduce the carbonate hardness without having significant impact of general hardness. They work by replacing the carbonates with sodium so that it no longer shows up on a KH test. This also will more often than not mess up your pH and require you to add back some carbonates to stabilize the situation.

If you need a significant reduction in hardness, the only real options available are an R/O unit or distilled water. Either of these can be mixed with your tap water to achieve the hardness you desire for the tank.

All of that said, unless you are attempting to keep very sensitive fish you are far better off leaving your hardness where it is and the fish will adjust to it. Anything you do to alter hardness (especially carbonate hardness) is going to also impact the pH of the water and you will have to adjust that as well.

MM

Answer 2

General Hardness can be lowered with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Water Softener Pillow. The ion exchange resin in the Water Softener Pillow lowers GH by removing calcium and magnesium ions. The Water Softener Pillow will not lower KH. Partial water changes with deionized water will gradually reduce GH to the desired level.
Most aquarists don't like to mess much with the chemistry of their water though. It is generally thought to get fish that are more adaptable to your water. If you have very hard water, African cichlids (ranging from shell dwelling species at 2" to the frontosas at 12"!) will love it :)
Here is a general guide for what fish like what..then measure yours and work it in:
GH & KH Range - Aquarium Life:

* 0°-3° (0-50 ppm) discus, arowanas, elephantnose, neons, cardinals, live plants
* 3°-6° (50-100 ppm) Most tropical fish including angelfish, cichlids, tetras, botia, live plants
* 6°-11° (100-200 ppm) Most tropical fish including swordtails, guppies, mollies, goldfish
* 11°-22° (200-400 ppm) Rift lake cichlids, goldfish, brackish water fish

Answer 3

putting peat moss in your filter and/or real driftwood in your tank will work to soften your water, nothing drastic.. but it helps.

Also mixing R/O (reverse osmosis) water with tap water can help. You can get R/O water at a grocery store for about .50/gallon.

Answer 4

Well I have well water, so I don't need to worry about anything cause I got a water softener. You don't really have to worry about the hardness though...

Answer 5

buy a heater
it helps alot