# how to make water softer?



## pennyls9332 (Aug 24, 2013)

i have a 55g south american community. it currently houses barbs, angels, cories, peacock eels, and a bgk(6 in). im having to do multiple water changes bc my fish are dying from what i think may be dropsy. well when i finish i will need to lower my kh,gh, and most likely pH. what are my best options for doing this and having stable results?


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## henningc (May 20, 2013)

Seeing that most folks don't have RO water, use a could of gallons of distilled water from the store. It has zero hardness.


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## beaslbob (Oct 17, 2012)

pennyls9332 said:


> i have a 55g south american community. it currently houses barbs, angels, cories, peacock eels, and a bgk(6 in). im having to do multiple water changes bc my fish are dying from what i think may be dropsy. well when i finish i will need to lower my kh,gh, and most likely pH. what are my best options for doing this and having stable results?


 
First high pH is not a sign of hard water. KH and gh are the hardness parameters.

my planted tank always have a ph of over 8 (api high range test kit) yet fish like neon tetras and hatchetfish that require soft water live for years and years.

IME having some peat moss in the substrate keeps kH and gH from rising.

my .02


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## pennyls9332 (Aug 24, 2013)

i know the difference between the 3, but i do need a lower pH for my angels and black ghost knifefish. but thank you for the suggestion i will get some in a few days


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## Tolak (Nov 13, 2012)

What is you pH & hardness now, and what are you aiming for? I've seen RO units as cheap as $50 on sale, depending on what you pay per gallon for water at a shop as well as your tap this may be a cheaper option.


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## pennyls9332 (Aug 24, 2013)

what is RO water? everything is still changing since im doing wc every other day to get rid of the nitrates but ph is about 7.2 and everything else is neutral. i have access to ground water wells for free so will that work? i guess i would have to get some and test it to see tho


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

I have it on good authority that "distilled" water these days is actually reverse osmosis (RO) water. What was your pH before you started doing frequent pwc's ? If it was lower, what were you doing to keep it acceptably low? How critical is the pH level for those guys?

What do you consider unacceptable nitrate? Commercial aquariums with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of livestock frequently measure nitrate >100ppm


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## Roccus (Nov 1, 2013)

pennyls9332 said:


> what is RO water? everything is still changing since im doing wc every other day to get rid of the nitrates but ph is about 7.2 and everything else is neutral. i have access to ground water wells for free so will that work? i guess i would have to get some and test it to see tho


reverse osmosis.... a prosess in which the water is forced though a membrane to remove unwanted minerals and salts ( most not all.. the final process can be finished with a DI cartritge )... some caution is needed when using distilled ( which containes no buffers) and R/O water .. you need to know KH and GH... or you possibly could make matters worse...

have you had any tests donr on the well water? ... sometimes city tap water ( once the chlorine is removed) can be a better choice...


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## pennyls9332 (Aug 24, 2013)

my nitrates was upwards of 80 and i have 3 fish die so its what the fish want and not me lol
my pH was around 7.0-7.2 and they were perfectly fine but it is suggested that they have lower pH seeing as they are south american to be at optimal health right? but i was mainly concerned about the gh and kh bc the bgk is more sensitive to those than ph i believe, but i could be wrong i guess...


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## Flear (Oct 5, 2012)

lowering the dissolved nutrients and such in the water through water changes is one way, ... are there any other options ?


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## beaslbob (Oct 17, 2012)

Flear said:


> lowering the dissolved nutrients and such in the water through water changes is one way, ... are there any other options ?


 
One other option is to balance out the tank to prevent the build up of nutrients and such in the first place.

Then water changes are irrelvant. :lol:

my .02


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## UncleEasy3000 (Nov 5, 2013)

A lot of good information here! :-D 

I have really hard water and high PH at my house and I love soft water fish.. 

I'm probably the least knowledgeable person contributing to this thread but I do a few things while monitoring my PH GH and KH. I use a Water Softener pillow in my filter for 48 hours to help drop hardness (recharging it in aquarium salt before using it again.) I use driftwood as decor (It looks nice, and helps lower hardness and PH) and I will add a gallon or two of distilled water to my water changes.. Its a little trial and error for me but I have a good routine down now.


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## UncleEasy3000 (Nov 5, 2013)

Its too late to edit my last post, but I may be wrong on driftwood lowering hardness, I'm pretty sure it lowers PH though. Maybe someone can clarify this for me..


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## pennyls9332 (Aug 24, 2013)

thank you for all the wonderful advise im thinking im gonna test the ground water and get some peat moss.
i also prefer to slightly overstock my tank since its in the living room and nicer to look at so i do weekly water changes and filter cleaning at least once a month, and it also lowers my chances of having another nitrate explosion!!  again thank you everyone i really appreciate all the help!!


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