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I've been reading about how there's a lot of toxins that come out of a hot water tank. Especially during the winter when you have to mix a lot more hot water during a water change. (I use a python straight out of the tap) I'm not ready for an expensive RO system which takes out almost all the bad stuff and they requies you to mix a correct balance of RO water with tap water???? etc. So I'm wondering if I hook up a water softener will it remove a lot of the harmful chemicals from the hot water tank. I would like to continue my python method and not have to mix RO water or have to warm cold water in buckets. I now have two quite large tanks to maintain. Any advice please?

120 GAL. Community Freshwater (2 huge mated angles, 2 German rams, Red tail shark, 2 Pearl Grammies, 3 Bushynose Plecos, Swordtails

110 Gal. (3 Koi Angles, 3 black marble viel tail Angles) 20 Neon tetras, 1 red tail shark, 3 clown loaches, Platys

All a water softener does is exchange calcium and magnesium for sodium. It will lower your gh and increase the salt level in the water. The addition of salt has been argued as bad but the amount really isn't very noticeable. I test a salinity of 1.002 and around 1.005 is usually the level of aquarium salt people add. It won't though remove anything harmful or really do anything to improve your water unless you have really hard water and want the gh lowered.

The main reason not to use hotwater seems to come from when copper piping was used. The hotwater would pick up heavy metals more easily than coldwater. Most houses now are made with pvc plumbing or at least not copper so most people don't seem to consider it an issue anymore. However I still cannot use hotwater because the heater reacts with sulfer compounds in the water to create deadly hydrogen sulfide. Our hot water kinda smells like rotten eggs sometimes. I always use cold water and just let it sit until it reaches room temp and use it that way. Our water also has plenty of other problems that makes it impossible for me to use a python unless I was doing very small water changes. I've pretty much given up on the idea.

Bar-B,

What harmful chemicals are in your hot water tank? Have you had a sample tested at your local university or seller of soft water systems?

The problems that rise from water in a water heater are generally due to dissolved minerals in the local water system that precipitate within the tank and form a sedimentary layer in the heating vessel. Much of this gunk is eliminated if you drain one to two gallons per month from the bottom of the heater. When you drain from the bottom of the tank, you eliminate this build-up.

Will this have a significant effect on water quality? No, since you do not draw hot water from the bottom of the tank. However, it will improve the water quality slightly and the life of your water heater by quite a bit.

I do perform that task each month. I also do heavy water changes on my discus tanks using a python and tap water. I consider 50% daily water changes to be "heavy". My water is relatively hard and alkaline. I also have a water softener on the system. So...

I have just had my third spawn in as many weeks in my alkaline, hard discus tanks that have been filled with "softened" tap water. My nitrates are under 10 ppm, my pH is 7.5 and my hardness is 8 dGH. No measurable salinity in the tanks.





__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

I've never had my water tested by a water company, I just do the regular tests myself..nitrate,ammonia,etc. My water seems good I think, I've had my community tank set up for over a year with no problems. I have 4 beautiful large angels along with an assortment of other community fish. I do a 25% waterchange every 6-8 days. I keep the nitrates below 10 ppm but my water is hard here, it's 8 GH and the KH is 11 the PH is 8.5 My angels are locally bread and used to this water.I would really love to have discus in my new 110 I 'm setting up, but I'm concerned about my hard water here. What do you think? I really don't want to start with buying an RO system so I just thought a water softener would improve my water a bit.

120 GAL. Community Freshwater (2 huge mated angles, 2 German rams, Red tail shark, 2 Pearl Grammies, 3 Bushynose Plecos, Swordtails

110 Gal. (3 Koi Angles, 3 black marble viel tail Angles) 20 Neon tetras, 1 red tail shark, 3 clown loaches, Platys

That's not hard. I just tested mine at 16 dgh and usually it's 18 and sometimes over 20 with a ph of 8.4-8.6. I'd be so happy with 8dgh. Angels should have absolutely no trouble with that since they survive in my water fine although your ph is surprisingly high. With that kh and gh I'd expect it to be more around 7.8-8. Probably wouldn't take much at all to lower it if you wanted. A tiny bit of peat would do it. I don't know how much discus would care since I've never considered keeping any and it's pretty rare to see them around here.