Lowering water hardness
Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 6:15 pm
does any one know of any ways to lower the water hardness? chemical or natural?
The easiest way is to dilute the hard water with distilled/deionized/reverse osmosis water.
To lower the hardness naturally, you can also filter your water through peat. This will lower the hardness and the pH. It will also tint the water yellow-brown, but adding carbon to the filter will take care of that. Of course, if you are using a shrimp-friendly sponge filter, these addition are may not be possible.
There are a variety of chemical water softeners, but I don't know how shrimp-safe they are. Most replace the 'hard' calcium and magnesium ions with 'soft' sodium or potasium ions.