In house water softener?

[logan5]

I'm thinking of getting one for the house.  It's the standard kind that swaps calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions.  So, of course I have to wonder if that's going to be bad for my tanks?  I certainly can't afford to get an RO filter for the house.

Thanks
Logan5

[guppymax]

Re: In house water softener?

I do not know. It will be different so you may see a change in the biology in your tanks. Why would you want to change their water? You could just use the water upstream of the water softener which I assume is the water that you have always used. I think you mostly want to soften the washing machine, dishwasher, kitchen sink water. Why soften the water for the yard or toilet? If you have a septic tank you may want to ask the seller about that too because you will be changing the biology there as well. Well my answer is beginning to sound not fishy enough, good luck.

max

[logan5]

Re: In house water softener?

The wife wants to get one ... she's tired of seeing all of the white scum in all of the sinks and showers (even though I'm the one that does all of the cleaning), plus it's supposed to be easier on the clothes and taste better(?).  Anyway, I know my water here is pretty hard to begin with, but I'm just concerned with what this will do to the fish and plants.

I guess I could just use the outside spigot to get water for the tanks, but that would be a pain.

Logan5

[wvgdiscus]

Re: In house water softener?

I have been thinking of going with a water softner for the house to.
I have discuss this with others around the country. They are saying if you do you will need to do a slow change with the fish a little at a time.
In other words when you 1st get it installed you should chage the water with softer water a little at a time. Like do a 50 % W C  with 20 % S W with the rest of tap water with increasing the S W  a little more at a time untill you have them on the S W.

Max the S W in the toilet will not cause the brown staining you get with tap water.
The yard I would not waste the S W on. But you will have to do the right plumbing to by pass the softner. So either way you pay.

Walter