[Vpaw]

I would like to make my water softer in the 65 gallon as most of the inhabitants are soft water fish! Plus many of them don't have as bright colors as I like (unless I'm feeding them frozen food in that minute) and my angelfish aren't growing much and the pinoy isn't developing color. I thought about peat moss but I wasn't able to find it anywhere, plus I'd probably have to use a lot.
How much would a system cost?
How would it work?
Is it worth it?
I have a place where we get our drinking water and it's RO, I could just use 3 gallons of that per water change but it probably wouldn't make a big difference.
would I have to add things for the snails if I start doing this?
Is it safe to use just RO water?
I have a system made where the water drains directly outside and water from the hose goes back from the system and to my tank, I could maybe attach it to that if it's possible.



65 gallon:

2 angelfish (they're not really growing well and the pinoy isn't turning blue)

6 black skirt tetras

1 red tailed black shark

4 nerite snails

Some trumpet snails

1 dwarf gourami

2 mollies (that I'll probably rehome soon but they are good for my water..)

Gh- 12

Kh- 7

Ph- 8.2

 

[lilnaugrim]

I can't answer all of them but you don't want to use any sort of water softeners made for our tap, like Brita filters, they aren't water softeners but softeners generally contain salt to soften the water. In turn, it makes the water unreliable since you won't have any alkalinity either which means your pH will be very unstable and swing all over causing stress. R/O water is fine to use but if you do, you'll need to either mix it with some tap still to keep the minerals you need (you can't use pure water which is what r/o is) or get something to dose the minerals like SeaChem's Replenish.

If you do do this, yes you'd have to add some calcium for the snails.

Have you also thought of the possibility that the Pinoy isn't changing because of it's genetics, not every single fish from the spawn will turn out perfect or like it is suppose to so you might not have the "best" of the spawn if that makes sense, you know? Angels generally go through different growth periods too, sometimes they grow fast and then other times they'll slow down in growth and then speed up again. That's really true for any fish though.

 

[Vpaw]

That's good to know so I don't get the wrong system. My pinoy was $25 and from a lfs instead of Petsmart like I usually buy. And the other one, not a koi but looks like it, was a lot smaller than the pinoy when I got him, and is now almost the same size, it's been several months though. They both grew at least a little but not fully.

Are all the fish other than mollies gonna be good with soft water other than the mollies? Also I could deffinalty add tap water as well as ro if I get the system.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Yes, all of your fish would appreciate the softer water. As for your Pinoy, just because he costs more doesn't mean too much other than he probably has good genes, but again, he still might be the "runt" of the spawn so to say.

In the end, I'm not entirely sure if the R/O system would be worth it, they are cheap enough to buy on Ebay and Amazon but the higher pH shouldn't hinder your fish so much if they were acclimated properly to your water. Especially if you area is all hard water/high pH, fish from your LFS might have been bred in your area so they could already be used to it. It's all up to you in the end and what you want to do, you can cater to your fishes needs or get fish suited for your water, you know?

 

[Vpaw]

I have 3 other tanks and most of them are hard water species, this is the one tank I'd like to have some nice soft waters for, would it be worth it? What changes would it make?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Yeah, that's fine. As I said, it's all up to you in the end ^_^

How do you mean what changes?

 

[Vpaw]

Yeah, that's fine. As I said, it's all up to you in the end ^_^

How do you mean what changes?

Like what would I need to adjust. What % RO water in water changes, how would the fish act, anything I need to do?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Oh got it, yeah that part I'm not entirely sure about. But if the fish were acclimated to it properly they shouldn't act any different technically.

 

[Vpaw]

Now I'm thinking RO unit is too expensive... But pear moss might do well. Can anyone recommend a good seller? What kind is best? How will I do water changes without fluctuating things too much?