Softning water now that Mardel discontinued SOFT Tank Product

[RC-Fish-Fan]

I need some help. For over two years I have used Mardel's product called Soft Tank to reduce hardness of my Tap Water. Now Mardel discontinued the product and I am wondering what should I do that is practical and doesn't add too much to my routine for preparing the water.

The water I get is hard obviously and I soften it with 3 capfulls of tank soft per 5 gallons to a semi soft range that is perfect for my Severums, Angel fish, Blue Gouramis, and doesn't cause deposits on my tanks' frames and top. (I wish there was another similar product to soft tank)

I have 4 tanks (one 55-G, One 46-G, two 10-G) I do weekly 25% water changes.

I tried before filtering the TAP water but it is slow and adds too much effort. (I own the Aq Ph Tap water filter product which is small but produces approx 1 Gallon per minute).

Any advice you can give me is appreciated.
Thanks *SUNSMILE*

 

[SoulFish]

how hard and what is the pH of the water when it comes out, none of the fish you listed need to have exact pH, unless it is very high id do nothing, or you could let it sitin 5 gallon buckets over night with some peat in it and have driftwood in the tnak

 

[RC-Fish-Fan]

Thanks SoulFish for your reply to my question about softning aquarium water without using Mardel's product Tank Soft.

It has been a while since I measured the hardness of my tap water. I remeber it was Hard but not in the highest range. Enough to form really bad deposits on the tank frames and leave white spots on the tank covers.

I target a PH of 7. I got it down to an exact result, 5 gallons of tap water, 15 ML of Tank Soft, 1/2 tspn of Seachem Alkaline, and 1/4 tspn of Seachem acid buffer. I let the water sit 10 to 12 hours and vuala, the PH is exactly seven. (I also use tap water conditioner, PRIME, and BioCoat).

It turns out that Mardel discontinued Tank Soft in sizes 16 Oz and 8 oz. They are still selling it in 4 Oz bottles which makes inceases the price I have to pay for it. Therefore, I am searching for a practical and not too expensive way to soften the water.

Your idea of using peat in the 5 gallon bucket is appealing. Do you have any idea of how much the water is soften overnight doing this?

5 ml of Tank Soft softnens 5 gallons of water approximately 30 units of hardness. To get my tap water to semisoft hardness, I need to lower 90 units of hardness (sorry I forgot the hardness unit name).

Thanks for your help.

 

[RedTurquoise]

How about a suggestion! Dont change the ph or hardness at all! Its cheap and easy this way! The fish do not really care if the ph is at 7.0 exactly or 7.6! The most important factor is keeping the ph absolutly steady. I use my tap that has a ph of 7.6 to grow out my discus. I also leave the water in a holding container with aeration and heating! I will only change water parameters if Im breeding.

However, Im not sure what your hardness is so it is difficult to assess the situation. My hardness is around 150ppm!

 

[notavip]

i'm not sure how soft your wanting to go but i've used mardel water clarifier before and it has water softening properties to it. now how much, i can't say because i don't have a test kit but have really hard water as well (local water report says 18ppm). it helps with mine so you might look into it.

 

[RedTurquoise]

Im assuming you meant 180ppm and not 18ppm! LOL!
My tank has moderatly hard water as well, around 150ppm! I do not add anything to soften the water as there is no need to.

 

[RC-Fish-Fan]

Thanks to all the repliers.
It is tempting not to change the hardness of my tap water. As RedTurquoise pointed out, it is less expensive.

2.5 years ago I didn't change the hardness and the tanks looked very messy with white deposits etc. It was a lot of work to keep them looking pretty. I also remember the PH swings that occured in the first 72 hours after a water change. I then started using a phosphate buffer to avoid the PH swing but the phosphate caused algae.

One day I started using Tank Soft and it simplified the whole thing by softning and buffering the water to a point where a 2 parts Alkaline buffer per 1 part of Acid buffer gave me a constant very stable PH of 7 with no phosphates, no algae problems, and no heavy deposits on the tank tops and frames. I forgot about the whole thing and started some new tanks because I had a tank maintenance routine that allowed it. Until Mardel discontinued the 16 Oz and 8 Oz packages of Tank Soft.

Since I now have several tanks (One 55G, one 46G, two 10G, one 5.5 g, and one 2.5 g) I am saving a lot of work by using Tank Soft. So it's not just the fish it's also me. I also think that the Gold Severum and Angels do need water that is not in the very hard range (I target a hardness of approximately 85 PPM very well buffered. My tap water is 180 to 200 PPM.

Thank you for all the suggestions, I will try them to see if I can create a new easy routine. In the mean time I will buy some time by paying for the 4 Oz size of Tank Soft for my two large tanks until I identify another strategy that works for me and my fish.
*celebrate

 

[RedTurquoise]

In my experience when I first started growing out discus, I was under the impression that I must have soft water plus a ph under 7.0! I tried lots of things and spend a lot of money until I met a few discus breeders.

First, the ph swings! My tap water starts out at 7.0. I have a 50G holding barrel when the water gets heated and aerated for 24 hours. The ph rises to 7.6! Therefore, no ph swings and I do 100% water changes daily in my grow out tanks!

The white stuff! With a hardness of 150-160ppm, my tanks doesnt get it for some reason! My growout tanks I wipe the glass daily and my planted tanks get wiped weekly. Maybe thats why I dont get the white deposites!

On the other hand, if you are happy with it and no side effects, there is no reason you can not use it! However, now that its discontinued, Im not sure what can replace it. Maybe look into a RO filter.

 

[RC-Fish-Fan]

Thanks RedTurquoise, I see what you are doing now. So you let 50 gallons of water sit in a special drum, you heat and airate the water and wait until the PH becomes stable (Approx 48 hours) before you use the water.

So you keep yur tanks at 7.6 PH and your new water is also at 7.6. Good idea.

When you are breeding your Discuss, then you change the PH gradually to provide the fish the proper PH for mating.

How do you make the PF changes?

When I buy new fish and they come in water with PH 7.6 I set a receiving aquarium with water at 7.4 and same temperature, then every 48 hours I reduce the PH by 0.20 until I get them to ph = 7. Since I keep them for 4 weeks in the receiving tank, I have plenty of time to acclimate them slowly.

Is that similar to what you do?

Sounds like you have a lot of Discus. Do you sell them?