Jump to content

Tom G
 Share

Recommended Posts

16 hours ago, Tom G said:

Yes, the bypass on my softener is there. And, I'm using it. Problem is that the GH and KH are off the charts w/well water. And the water is 50 degrees as it bypasses the water heater too.

Solution right now though is two 32 gallon garbage cans, a portable RO filter and a 20 gal spare tank w/a heater. I've made about 60 gallons of RO water, kept in the garbage cans. I mix the RO with well water 50/50 in the 20 gal tank, with a heater. Use that for small water changes on my 75 gal. If I need a big WC, I just drop a heater in a garbage can, mix that 50/50 with the well water and I'm good. Seems to be working fine. I just run the RO filter over night from the well and it's working. 

I finally tested mine about a week ago.  Using the API liquid test kit it took 16 drops to get the KH test to change colors, and 20 for the GH.  And that's after passing through the citric acid softener cartridge (which needed changing; I plan to test it again soon).

I do nothing to try to change it, and I have a wide variety of plants, fish, and invertebrates doing just fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting conversation. I LOVE having a water softener finally, although now that my hair isn't rust-stained, it turns out that I have some grey lol. No more orange laundry or constant repairs to plumbing. But I've been using the hard water for my aquaria, and I'm kinda curious now to experiment with plants in the softened water... maybe after the current batch of fish is out of quarantine. Although I'll probably keep carrying buckets for the bigger tanks rather than buy minerals to add back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh P.S. for @Tom G - I use a bucket heater from Tractor Supply Company (or similar stores) to more quickly warm up my well water. I got two 5-gallon buckets with screw-on lids (also TSC) and I typically fill them and bring them into the attached garage until the snow melts and they're dry on the outside. Then they come inside, ideally a day or 2 before I need them, to come up to room temperature. We keep our house pretty cool so I still warm it up before adding to tanks, but if I don't manage to get the extra time and I need to get it from winter well temperature to tank temperature, that bucket heater is great. They're safe to use in plastic buckets, but not meant to be left unattended. When I got tired of waiting and figured I had time to eat lunch, my water got up to 86F in the bucket and I had to put it back out in the snow for a bit! 😂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I too have a softener, and since there seems to be no *clear* answer, out of caution I bypass it before adding to the tank. Since the entire hot water heater is filled with soft water, I have to bypass the cold line, fill my buckets, let sit a day to come close to tank temp, then I use a cheap submersible pump to get the water to the tank. It’s actually not that bad, and hopefully with a planted tank my changes will be less frequent. 
 

I’ve considered bypassing and then taking a long shower to empty the softened hot water tank so I could more easily re-fill with the Python and temperature-adjusted water, but then I couldn’t pre-Prime the new water without dosing the entire tank (which, honestly is there any reason to condition my water if there is no chlorine or nitrates out of the tap? What heavy metals could be in my water that I wouldn’t want in a planted tank, that Prime would neutralize?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...