Reaching neutral water in my tanks

[bettaMagenta]

Been slowly blending in RO for almost a month now, doing 5-gallon water changes at a time to take it easy on the fish. Things are finally starting to take shape... my pH was way off the charts at 8.4, but it's down to 7.0 now. Next step is to try and lower it even further than the RO water. My GH is less than 25, which is a big improvement from before. I had some major issues with alkalinity, but it's reading at 120 now. Still, I'd like to see that come down a bit more. The fish have adapted really well, especially considering they were used to my super alkaline house softened water.

[TankWarrior]

I'm not trying to discourage your efforts, but I think you're overcomplicating things. Most aquarium fish can adapt to regular public water supplies just fine. They aren't picky about the chemistry, they just need it to be consistent. You can achieve that by doing regular water changes - like 50% every few days. If you do that, you'll be golden. Your fish will be healthy, your tank will be healthy, and you won't have to worry about water problems.

[bettaMagenta]

I've got extremely hard alkaline water here, and with a personal well, we had to install a whole house softener years ago. It was a must to prevent all our fixtures from turning brown. The thing is, it's tough for me to get water that hasn't been through the softener. Problem is, many of the fish I'm into are soft water fish, and I learned the hard way with my Angel fish - they didn't last long. I always say, "anything worth doing, is worth doing right." So, I've taken the plunge and installed RO in my fish room now.

[TankWarrior]

Hello. I'm astonished. It seems you're the rare exception, unable to thrive with typical tap water. Most fish adapt just fine to standard public water supplies. I still maintain, a steady water chemistry is key, and that's achieved through regular water changes.

[bettaMagenta]

My rainbow tank's still on the house tap water, but the plants are really struggling to thrive. I'll eventually get around to running an RO line to that tank too, it's just a matter of getting to the other side of the house.

[Clack]

I'm not trying to discourage your efforts, but I think you're overcomplicating things. Most aquarium fish can adapt to regular public water supplies just fine. They aren't picky about the chemistry, they just need it to be consistent. You can achieve that by doing regular water changes - like 50% every few days. If you do that, you'll be golden. Your fish will be healthy, your tank will be healthy, and you won't have to worry about water problems.

Honestly, I think it's just a matter of personal preference.

[TwinTankman]

I'm not trying to discourage your efforts, but I think you're overcomplicating things. Most aquarium fish can adapt to regular public water supplies just fine. They aren't picky about the chemistry, they just need it to be consistent. You can achieve that by doing regular water changes - like 50% every few days. If you do that, you'll be golden. Your fish will be healthy, your tank will be healthy, and you won't have to worry about water problems.

I dug up a water softener survey from 2004, and I think it's relevant here. The greater Phoenix area had around 3.2 million people back then. Let's assume that's double the amount of people in the survey, with an average of 5 people per home. That's 320,000 homes. According to the survey, 1/4 of those homes had water softeners, which is around 80,000 homes. Not exactly 1 in a million, huh? Looks like I need to rethink my previous statement.

By the way, I also stumbled upon a 2021 survey by the University of New Hampshire's Casey School of Public Policy that asked some interesting questions. One of them found that 10% of people think the Earth is flat. It's amazing what people believe, isn't it?