water treatment questions?

[Jenny]

Wondering about various methods to treat your water for hardness?
We have hard water from our well, and the only thing that it leaves us with
is a high GH and KH rating, which also affects the PH.

Do aquarium stores sell products to deal with your water for water changes?
I do use the liquid treatment during water changes to minimize stress, and
protect my fish.
All other aspects of readings are fine (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc)

Just curious about how or if you treat your water (deionizing) before use,
or if you don't bother?

There is a lot on the internet, and certainly some systems are very
expensive to set up.
Is there another way to deal with hard water in your tanks, other than
prefiltering it?

Benefits?
Detriments?
Many thanks for any offered information .
Jenny

[Toni]

"Jenny" > wrote in message
. ..
> Wondering about various methods to treat your water for hardness?
> We have hard water from our well, and the only thing that it leaves us
with
> is a high GH and KH rating, which also affects the PH.
>


You didn't mention any firm numbers so it is hard to comment on your
particular issues.
What are your waters parameters, and what fish are you having difficulty
keeping?

By and large though I find it best not to mess with things unless it is
absolutely imperative. Most fish species acclimate quite easily to less than
perfect conditions, and complicating water change procedures usually just
postpones the water changes in my experience.

I keep Discus and other soft water loving species in out-of-tap water and
they have adjusted beautifully- even hatching fry.
I do own a reverse osmosis/deionization unit for my marine tanks but do not
use it for any freshwater tanks.

If I did ever decide to soften my water I would do it in the most easily
replicable way possible- that is mixing RO and tap in whatever ratio
produced the numbers I was chasing. You need it to be easy to duplicate so
that water changes remain simple.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm