Convert From A Water Softener To An Ro System

Does anybody here currently use softened water in their tanks?

I have a potassium chloride water softener, and I was recently told water softeners are bad for fish. (We’re on a well water is actually very hard)

I have a basic ten gallon Betta tank.

If you us RO water for a freshwater tank, how do you replenish it with correct minerals? How difficult are water changes? Has anyone had to do this?

Is the Bettas long term health affected by the use of water softener so that it becomes absolutely necessary to switch to something else? How do you acclimate fish and tank to a new water source?

Thanks!

 

You can use things like the Seachem buffer line to add minerals back. It's not super hard, but it can be harder/more inconvenient than using tap water.

You can acclimate them by doing water changes with the new water - this will, over time, convert the tank to the new water.

Is there any way you can get water that hasn't gone through the water softener? Then it'd be easy, just mix that water with RO water for water changes. No need for buffers at that point.

 

You can use things like the Seachem buffer line to add minerals back. It's not super hard, but it can be harder/more inconvenient than using tap water.

You can acclimate them by doing water changes with the new water - this will, over time, convert the tank to the new water.

Is there any way you can get water that hasn't gone through the water softener? Then it'd be easy, just mix that water with RO water for water changes. No need for buffers at that point.

Unfortunately, no, all faucets are connected including the outside spigots. I should be so lucky. Would 25% be too much at once or would you go slower. Also how do I find out which buffers to use? Is Seachem Replenish the wrong product? I guess you’d get a separate heater to get the water to the correct temp.

 

Is the tank planted? If so, you'd want Equilibrium instead, I think. That and Replenish both raise GH, but Equilibrium is supposed to be better for plants. You'd also want to use a combination of the alkaline and acid buffers to raise KH (unless you don't care about pH, then you can just use the alkaline buffer - bettas are adaptable to a range of pH, so you'd be fine to just use the alkaline buffer to raise KH).

 

Is the tank planted? If so, you'd want Equilibrium instead, I think. That and Replenish both raise GH, but Equilibrium is supposed to be better for plants. You'd also want to use a combination of the alkaline and acid buffers to raise KH (unless you don't care about pH, then you can just use the alkaline buffer - bettas are adaptable to a range of pH, so you'd be fine to just use the alkaline buffer to raise KH).

I see, and just to be sure I don’t shock my fish. I normally take out/replace 2.5 gallons for water changes. Would using this new mixture as I normally have been my tap water be too much at once? Are there precautions I should take as I get the tank adjusted from the tap water to “custom” water?

 

Maybe instead of 1 25% change, you could do 2-3 10% changes during the week? This should be plenty slow for acclimation.

 

Maybe instead of 1 25% change, you could do 2-3 10% changes during the week? This should be plenty slow for acclimation.

Ohhh. Yeah that makes sense. I guess I’m off to look at/order seachem stuff. Forgive me repeating it back to you, I just want to make sure I understand.
Seachem equilibrium, with Seachem alkaline buffer. (Two products, possibly three if I want to make it an exact science) Is storebought RO water okay while I set aside funds for a unit?

 

Yep, storebought RO is fine! And that sounds good to me! Seachem website and Seachem site forum posts helped me with specifics

 

Yep, storebought RO is fine! And that sounds good to me! Seachem website and Seachem site forum posts helped me with specifics

Awesome! Thank you so much for the help!

 

I have a water softener and also have extremly hard water. Have kept fish for years with no issues from the softener.
Even after softening though the water is still hard. white vinnegar is supplied in my house in gallons to clean the Ca/Mg/Fe deposits off of anything touched by the water.

 

I have a water softener and also have extremly hard water. Have kept fish for years with no issues from the softener.
Even after softening though the water is still hard. white vinnegar is supplied in my house in gallons to clean the Ca/Mg/Fe deposits off of anything touched by the water.

We do the same. Vinegar is this house’s best friend. It’s good to know that it can be done. Truthfully I’m kind of afraid to get into mixing my own special brand of water if the fish is so far fine. Seems like maybe my messing with it might be riskier than my leaving it alone. The Betta seems unaffected by the water softener. On a side note, pottasium chloride was chosen over salt due to the fact we are also on a sceptic and a salt softener would kill the bacterial system of a sceptic system, including the plants the rest of my family enjoys keeping. With this in mind it strikes me the potassium softener may not be so harsh on eco-systems including the one in my fish tank. Still, trying to figure out what makes the most sense. Definitely hoping to avoid mixing too many things if I can help it, so much chance of error/miscalculation.

 

Yea honestly, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.
Also, I've always felt that the moment I have to change my water for the fish and complicate te process of doing a water change, I am simply doing it wrong. changing water chemistry on that scale is risky, expensive and time consuming.

I think we use potassium chloride too but I am not certain, I'm not the homeowner. I will take a look later.
Also on the septic system, and also keep hordes of terrestrial plants, so if that is true than most likely KCl as well.

The only water chemistry changes I do is carnivorous plants require distilled water, which a gallon jug costs $1 at wal-mart. But requires no mixing of other compounds and products so it isn't a burden of any kind.

 

Some fish require more specific water parameters, rendering these complicated water change procedures necessary, but I agree with the above - if your betta is fine and thriving, I wouldn't worry about it If you do want to go that route just for the experience, now you know how!