# New House, Water Softener Issues?



## LongLungLarry (Nov 17, 2019)

Hey guys,

I just bought a house in Aurora and I'm thinking about getting back into the hobby. My house has a water softener installed. 

-Is this going to give me problematic water parameters or fluctuations?

-Do water softeners affect all water outputs in the house? Hot and cold? Could my basement laundry sink be unaffected?

-I know there is a bypass valve on my softener. How does this work? Is this a solution?

Thank you for any insight any of you might have.


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## iamaloner (Dec 20, 2014)

What type of tank are you going to keep? What species of fish or is it going to be plant heavy?

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk


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## LongLungLarry (Nov 17, 2019)

iamaloner said:


> What type of tank are you going to keep? What species of fish or is it going to be plant heavy?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk


Well I haven't decided any of that yet. I am first trying to figure out my water quality and then I will work with what I have. I have had heavily planted dirted tanks in the past.

I am thinking I need to figure out bypassing the water softener but I'm not sure how any of this works or what's my easiest/best approach.


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## Jhw1126 (May 17, 2019)

I am also in aurora, with a central water softener installed. It really depends on how the softener is installed. The water enter the water meter splits in to two, one goes to the softener for the whole house water supply. The other one goes to my fish room. 
It really comes down to what you are keeping, If you keep African cichlids like I do, the liquid rock coming out from your tap is what you want.


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## LongLungLarry (Nov 17, 2019)

Jhw1126 said:


> I am also in aurora, with a central water softener installed. It really depends on how the softener is installed. The water enter the water meter splits in to two, one goes to the softener for the whole house water supply. The other one goes to my fish room.
> It really comes down to what you are keeping, If you keep African cichlids like I do, the liquid rock coming out from your tap is what you want.


Hey, thanks for the reply.

Ideally I would just use my softened water but I was told that's no good because it has to much sodium in it, and also the fish in the area will be in hard water and not do well with the switch.

So as far as I can tell, my water comes into my house and goes directly into the water softener. There are no taps untreated. Except possibly my exterior hose line. But it's not a good idea to use that in the winter regardless.

So you have a tap on your system that is before the softener? Did you install it yourself?

And how do you deal with temperature if you only have the one cold water tap?


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

I've kept fish in softened water a few years back. Those day's I tended to keep hardier community fish. I like most fish keepers, lost fish for one reason or another sometimes for reasons unknown. For the most part I don't think the softener was doing the fish any harm I can't say for sure but I kept fish in softener water for years without issues. 

plants were a different story. I had a much harder time keeping plants healthy. I eventually started using ro water for my planted tanks. 

I've since moved to the Mississauga and no longer use a softener.

If it were me I'd look at teeing off your water for your tanks before the softener as a precaution.

In my house the water comes in from the city though the meter which has a shut off valve. I'd split it from there but that's my house. I don't know what you have going on at your place. 

aging the cold water for a day in a barrel or spare tank to let the rise to room temperature then throwing a heater in the barrel the day before a water change is what I would do if I had only the one cold water tap.


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## Jhw1126 (May 17, 2019)

My water meter was leaking last summer, I scheduled a appointment with the city water provider and they send someone to replaced it, the plumber was kind enough to installed the tap for me while he is here. Fairly simple job tho

I don't heat my water, I kept a 55g conatiner as water reservoir for my general aquarium use

All of my aquarium are set up for auto water change to draw water from it slowly. I treat and test it everytime I refills it.

Pearonsly I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing this, since I have bad experience with city water. I lost quite a few fish back in may, No direct proof since I didnt test the water back then, but it happened after a few day I set my auto drip system, soooooo you be the judge


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## Jhw1126 (May 17, 2019)

Personally I have never kept fish with soften water, since most fish I kept require hard water.

Before it was splited, I use the by pass valve on the softener then do my water change which is alot of work.


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## LongLungLarry (Nov 17, 2019)

Jhw1126 said:


> My water meter was leaking last summer, I scheduled a appointment with the city water provider and they send someone to replaced it, the plumber was kind enough to installed the tap for me while he is here. Fairly simple job tho
> 
> I don't heat my water, I kept a 55g conatiner as water reservoir for my general aquarium use
> 
> ...


So you are saying not to trust city water? Where do you get your water from then?


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## Jhw1126 (May 17, 2019)

LongLungLarry said:


> Jhw1126 said:
> 
> 
> > My water meter was leaking last summer, I scheduled a appointment with the city water provider and they send someone to replaced it, the plumber was kind enough to installed the tap for me while he is here. Fairly simple job tho
> ...


Don't trust city water dosent correlates with not using city water. Test the water more frequently and make note of the changes from city water suppliers is my point.


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## LongLungLarry (Nov 17, 2019)

Jhw1126 said:


> Don't trust city water dosent correlates with not using city water. Test the water more frequently and make note of the changes from city water suppliers is my point.


Ah ok, I understand. Thanks for all the information!


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## Student Of The Game (Sep 30, 2020)

I'm on a well and a softener is necessary. I'm keeping rams and apistos with no problem


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## kharmaguru (Jan 6, 2013)

LongLungLarry said:


> Hey, thanks for the reply.
> 
> Ideally I would just use my softened water but I was told that's no good because it has to much sodium in it


It's ion exchange. The salt content of your softened water will essentially match whatever the calcium/magnesium was in your water. If your TDS is 200ppm then that will be your approximate sodium, if it's 70ppm then obviously the sodium after softening is much less as well.

People treat parasites in fresh water with levels up to 13ppt (13000ppm!) for several weeks. This would be a quarantine setup not a main tank. There is so much debate on what is a tolerable amount of salt for a display tank but 1ppt (1000ppm) is considered by nearly everyone to be a "small" amount of salt and safe for pretty much all fish. The odds your water has a TDS of 1000 before softening is quite low. My well water has TDS of 250. I suggest you measure your tap water with a TDS meter before you even start worrying about how mush salt is "too much".


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## Iris Thomas (Sep 13, 2020)

One of the most important issues of water softeners is lifespan. Generally, water softeners last from 3 years to 30 years. This wide range of lifespan is due to a lot of factors. And this already considers the quality of various water softeners in the market today. The cheaper ones may not last long, and this may be due to incompatibility. On the other hand, high-end ones that usually entail a more complicated installation process generally last longer. They are, however, more expensive.


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## jamesph (Jul 29, 2021)

I have a Whirlpool WHESFC pro series and it doesn't affect our hot or cold water. The emollient works well and the water is obviously instantly soft. Would recommend this water softener to anyone.


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