# rocks that soften water?



## Kyle Lambert (1 Feb 2015)

Hey there ladies and gentlemen. Im looking to get back into the game soon (and have eyed up a freaking lovely 135l tank with which to do so) and i have the misfortune of living in a hard water area. If i could afford the RO kit id be going for it without question but its not an option for me.

I was just wondering if there are any easy to attain rocks or stones that make for good hard scape and that help lower the PH of the water? I would love the help!

Also a little plug for Fintasia in Braintree... had a walk about there earlier today and there was some cracking offers in there today and some really, really nice bits of redmoor (i may have picked up rather a lot of it for some future endeavours).


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## ian_m (2 Feb 2015)

Not sure there are any rocks that do this, it is usually calcium carbonate in limestone rocks that dissolves to harden the water.

Why do you want to soften the water ?
Why do you want to lower the pH ?

It is millions of time easier to just work with the water you have got and get on with it. I have 22 Clark hard water, leaves scale everywhere, yet have no trouble breeding simple fish and growing all plants.


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## parotet (2 Feb 2015)

Not sure but, while there are rocks that harden the water, I think there are no rocks that soften the water... maybe they can change your pH, but this is probably useless for your purposes.

But as mentioned by Ian, why do you want to lower de pH or soften de water? I use only tap water (GH 26 and KH 11 to 14ish, depending on the season) and I can grow plenty of aquatic plants. I would even say that for the ones I have not been able to grow it was not a matter of the water chemistry but something related to my still poor skills. There is only a very restricted list of plants which are supposed not to do well in hard water (curiously one of them, Rotala macrandra, is growing very healthy in my tank... while others that were supposed to be easier are not thriving ).

It is something very discussed in a local forum where I live (you know... RO defenders vs tap water defenders) and even if some plants may prefer or do better in soft water (my guess is that it is just easier to get good levels of CO2 with lower CO2 injection or worse performance), what really makes the difference is the tank owner and his/her skills regarding critical issues in the tank management. Folks need to understand that switching to RO does not imply automatically a lush tank (it is the same with CO2, people think that bubbling CO2 means that you are going to solve automatically your algae problems and most of the times it is just the oposite). My position as a hard water plant grower is: Let's see what you can do with this hard water, and if you finally find the need to switching to RO because you cannot achieve what you want, well... then do it. And during the last year I have considered to buy a unit twice, but with a little bit of perseverance (and asking to UKAPS members quite a lot ) I have realized each time that it was not a matter of water chemistry but of other issues.

If you want to breed soft water fish it makes sense, but RO units are expensive and water changes are much easier using only tap water. Not sure if you have experience with planted tanks but unless you want to do something very peculiar I would give a try to your hard water.

Jordi


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## Kyle Lambert (2 Feb 2015)

Its not just down to the plants, im looking at maybe going for a group of discus or getting back into groups of appistos like i used to. Eventually id like to be able to breed them too. Im fully aware its not ust down to water hardness and that other elements factor into it but im looking to perfect every aspect of the hobby!

im also fully aware that 136l isnt large enough for a good group of breeding discus but its more than good enough for A. Macmasteri breeding groups.


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## dw1305 (2 Feb 2015)

Hi all, 
Kyle is rain-water a possibility? I use it for my fish, and it is soft enough to breed non-blackwater _Apistogramma _like_ A. macmasteri. 
_
You can get "active substrates" that will soften water by ion exchange. Have a look at this thread <"Asian Cube">

This is a poor photo of a sub-adult male holotype _Apistogramma agassizii. _They were spawned in 100% rain-water (our rain-water still has some dKH), the only down-side was that all the fry turned out to be male. It doesn't do him justice, he has a really good turquoise sheen to the body.




 

cheers Darrel


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## Edvet (2 Feb 2015)

RO or rain it is then


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## Kyle Lambert (2 Feb 2015)

rain water will be a possibility if im allowed to install a water butt at the new property. I dont really fancy leaving loads of buckets on the patio as i kinda like keeping things tidy. Its certainly a possibility if i can though. 

Isnt there a risk with disease and pathogens from bird blahblahblahblah on the roof/gutters though?


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## kirk (2 Feb 2015)

I've no idea where you are but Daniel is selling a very cheap ro unit he's even changes the di etc so what he's asking is cheap. He may post if you ask him nicely. It's in the forsales section.


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