bypassing water softner

[bcb]

I have read a few things about not using the water softner (by-passing) in the house for water changes and maintaince. Anybody out there know the pros and cons or have experience with this? One point made was that the water introduced was in more of a "natural" state than running it through a water softner many houses (mine) has. How would this affect the pH of the water, fish, and live plants?

[MatsP]

The simple type of water softener that is plumbed into most houses, is a ion replacement unit, that essentially replaces the calcium and carbonate ions with sodium or potassium and chloride ions. That's why you "charge it" with common salt. Realistically, this is not too bad for the fish unless you have VERY hard water, on the other hand that's usually the case where these units are installed.

If you have fish that prefer soft water, the salt in the water is AT LEAST as bad as the hardness if you bypass the softener - and quite likely WORSE for the fish.

For fish that prefer hard water, it's probably also worse for the fish to have salt instead of calcium and carbonate in the water.

The pH will be affected towards 7 by having the water softened - hard water in general is above 7 with few exceptions.

Plants, in general, do not like salt water. It does, however, depend on the level of salt in the water (which in turn depends on the hardness).

If you want soft water for your fishes, then using the softened water and running it through a Reverse Osmosis filter would be the right solution.

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Mats

[bcb]

Thank you for the response. In terms of R/O filter what are some opitions that are simple and don't break the bank. I thought house R/O units are usually pretty pricey. Do you know of any off hand? Or is there something that I could use in combination with my python and have it be worth while? If I am able to accomplish this how would it affect buffering capacity or should I even worry? I have city water-usually means high content I believe. I just don't want to worry about keeping it stabilized or have high fluctuations. I would love to achieve a pH of around 7, no lower, without using any chemicals at all. If you can help point me in the right direction I would be greatful.
Thank you
Bryant

[MatsP]

RO water has very low buffering capacity, as the water output from an RO unit is 95% "purer" than the water you put in - meaning that 95% of the minerals you put in [that is, the minerals in your tap-water] have been removed. This means that you have to put back some buffering capacity one way or another. Some people use tap-water mixed with RO water. I tend use additional minerals from the shop, that replenish the buffering and other essential mineral content to the water.

As to pricing, the RO units aren't that bad (unless you want hundreds of gallons per day) - unfortunately, the ones available here from www.ro-man.com, for example aren't any good in the US - I'm sure someone sells the same stuff in the US, but under a different name. The RO system itself is actually fairly simple. The expensive and advanced bit is the RO membrane itself. It is high-tech stuff, and there are not that many companies that do that sort of high-tech equipment on a large scale.

Besides the RO unit itself, you will need a holding tank to hold the filtered water, and probably also a heater to make sure that you can fill it into the new tank without mixing it with warm water.

[RO water is used either directly, or to feed into De-Ionization units for chemical and closely related industry, as well as it's use for aquarium purposes].

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Mats

[Birger]

I would love to achieve a pH of around 7, no lower, without using any chemicals at all

What are your water parameters at right now...before water softener and after water softener, you should be able to get a reading from your municipality for the before part.