water conditioner - will the salt/minerals harm the fish?

Question

It turns out my water is hard...whatever that means, and pet owner says I need to put 3 teaspoon of water conditioner in the tank...But I got a really small tank...about 6 litres of water... my tank measure: 29x17x12cm /1000=6L

The package says to add 2ml for 10 L....so that means I should add 0.2 ml of water conditioner?

How much is 0.2ml? would that be equivalent to a tiny drop?

Answer 1

Hardness is the measurement of minerals dissolved in your water. There are different measuremtns that are used, with total hardness (everything that's dissolved) and carbonate hardness (calcium and magnesium) being the most common used.

Using a water conditioner won't affect the hardness, it's only used to remove chlorine/chloramine from the water. Sometimes the conditioner will only remover one or the other, or if it removes both, you need to know which you have since the dosage will be different. Also, be sure the conditioner says it removes or neutralizes the chlorine or chloramine - some actually don't!

If you have a 6L tank and you need to use 2ml for 10L, you actually need 6/10 = 0.8ml.
High water hardness would only be a concern if you are keeping fish that require very soft water.

ADDITION: Yep, Kay's right - that should have been 0.6ml. This calculates to about 10 drops (about 20 drops = 1 ml).

Answer 2

Test the general hardness (GH ) and carbonate hardness (KH) of you water first to determine exactly how 'hard' it is (either in ppm or dKH) as well as whether or not your fish are suited or can tolerate it (some fish such as certain tropical livebearers and cichlids actually thrive in hard water conditions), and others can adapt to non-ideal water hardness. You may not need to do anything at this point.

If 2ml is required for 10-liters you need to add 1.2ml of water conditioner for a 6-liter tank, which amounts to one-quarter of a teaspoon.

Edit: hey copperhead, your math is a little off.

Answer 3

Just put 1 teaspoon and that should do it.

The conditioner neutralizes the chemicals in the water to be more safe for the fish to swim in.