Question: What Water Source is best for Bettas?

son · September 20th, 2009

Hi,
My tap water is very hard therefore I have a water softener to soften the water. I also have an RO unit to make the softened water drinkable. What water source would be the best choice for my betta?

Shawnie · September 20th, 2009

welcome to fishslore!!!
I use my tap water and it has a softner

do you know the pH of your tap? most fish will acclimate to different types of water as long as it doesnt change drastically in short periods of time..the most important is making sure your tank is cycled for your betta....good luck and share pics when you cAn!

ABCDemily · September 20th, 2009

I have very naturally hard water (super duper off the scale hard) and my betta does fine with it. Most fish are easily acclimable to different pH and hardness/softness levels. I don't like to mess with the pH or hardness of my water as it can make it unstable, as you probably know it does lol. I'd just go with conditioned tap water IMO

Martinismommy · September 20th, 2009

I have over 400 Bettas and mine are ALL in tap water treated with Prime..

Angelwhispers · September 20th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinismommy

I have over 400 Bettas and mine are ALL in tap water treated with Prime..

Over 400?? Where on earth do you find the space for them all??

Martinismommy · September 20th, 2009

350 of them are in grow out tanks right now..I have an entire room where I keep my bettas and have a very orginized set up...

Angelwhispers · September 20th, 2009

I can't even IMAGINE the work that must take! You are one dedicated mommy!

COBettaCouple · September 20th, 2009

I use tap water treated with prime and fish protector for our bettas. Have you done a pH test on your tap water?

son · September 21st, 2009

Thanks for the feedback. All water sources seem to have the same PH ... 8.0 to 8.2. I have no hard water source in the house (have to use the outdoor taps for that). As winter approaches I would prefer to used the softened tap water ... with conditioner of course.
Regards

chickadee · September 21st, 2009

The only time I have ever done anything but used treated tap water was when our tap water was unusable for some reason (high nitrates, or when the water supply was contaminated temporarily one year due to a breach in the system) normally I use Prime or NovAqua+ as my conditioner. I never ever change the pH of my water in any way with buffers as it is always better to allow the fish to adapt to it than to try to change it and make the mistake of having it fluctuate on you.

Amanda · September 21st, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinismommy

I have over 400 Bettas and mine are ALL in tap water treated with Prime..

*falls off chair*

Red1313 · September 21st, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amanda

*falls off chair*

I'd probably have more of a

responce but...

COBettaCouple · September 23rd, 2009

When we were in Florida, we had 7.8 pH and it's close to that here. They do adjust and keeping the pH steady is pretty important.

chickadee · September 24th, 2009

Keep in mind that the softened tap water can contain depending on what kind of system you use .... salt. This may not be the best for the fish in the long run. I do not know as I have not had experience running softened water through a tank. So do be cautious and if there appears to be a problem you may have to do an emergency change in a big way. Is there anyone who has run artificially softened water in their tanks? I personally would be hesitant to do it on a regular basis. The regular addition of salt to water for freshwater fish changes the osmosis of the salt to water chemistry in the fish's system and can cause health problems and/or dehydrate them.

Rose

Shawnie · September 24th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickadee

Keep in mind that the softened tap water can contain depending on what kind of system you use .... salt. This may not be the best for the fish in the long run. I do not know as I have not had experience running softened water through a tank. So do be cautious and if there appears to be a problem you may have to do an emergency change in a big way. Is there anyone who has run artificially softened water in their tanks? I personally would be hesitant to do it on a regular basis. The regular addition of salt to water for freshwater fish changes the osmosis of the salt to water chemistry in the fish's system and can cause health problems and/or dehydrate them.

Rose

I do run a softner on my well water tank ...and my ph is 7 out of the tap but the ph in my tanks run anywhere from 6.8 - 8.2(african tank with crushed coral) ...but we use potassium chloride additives in the softner.......

Red1313 · September 24th, 2009

I looked into a water softener (wanted dward cichlids) but I realised that it wasn't the pH that was the big issue it was the amount of stuff that was dissolved in the water (minerals etc) my water's almost off the chart for that and all most softener's is remove the minerals are replace them with something else.

whisper · September 24th, 2009

I like to use Natural Spring Water but when I don't have it I use treated tap water.

chickadee · September 25th, 2009

Your freshwater fish can adapt to a pH better than they can to additives that you add to water any day. The fluctuation of additiives is much more dangerous to them chemically than them having to adjust to the natural pH of a systems own water. I have seen fish that are normally needing a pH of about 7 adjust to a 8 or higher easily if they do not have other additives to deal with, but human added things are hard for them to deal with. The water softener will be hard for them to handle.

Rose

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