Need Your Expertise

I have a Clown Loach tank and they like the water soft. I have hard to very hard water. I only use my utility sink in my basement to fill up the tank. I was thinking bout hooking up a Reverse Osmosis system to that sink—I know it would help soften the water but I’ve read a RO will also take out other minerals that my freshwater fish and plants need.
What should and could I do?

The only fish in the tank are Clown Loaches and I will be adding silver tip tetras as dithers.

Thank you for your help.

 

Fun fact, soft water fish will do perfectly fine and be healthy in hard water. This is because all of the minerals and nutrients are still present in harder water. You would only need to worry about anything if you had hard water fish, but really soft water. In that case the fish do not have all the minerals and nutrients they need to function properly.
In short, you don't really need to worry about it

 

You need a TDS meter to know if you need to mix RO with your tap .
I have had my clown loaches for 15 + years and they have gone from hard well water [with Tanganyikan cichlids] to community tank with medium hard municipal water [350 TDS] .
I never thought about cutting my water for them but I do for other fish ...
You could choose a TDS amount you and the fish like and then always mix your water to be the same ..
I use the HM3 TDS pen and would be lost mixing water without ..

 

I have a water softener and it has a bypass valve. if RO system doesn't have a bypass valve, you can add one on the intake pipe. and mix RO with regular tap water to get the right softness while having some minerals.

 

Fun fact, soft water fish will do perfectly fine and be healthy in hard water. This is because all of the minerals and nutrients are still present in harder water. You would only need to worry about anything if you had hard water fish, but really soft water. In that case the fish do not have all the minerals and nutrients they need to function properly.
In short, you don't really need to worry about it

Thank you so much—you’re a genius. That makes perfect sense.

 

Thank you so much—you’re a genius. That makes perfect sense.

I wouldn't say genius, just a fast learner. Happy to help