How To Get Water Hardness Down In Aquarium

It can be hard to maintain the right h2o hardness in your aquarium, but this article will provide you with some tips on how to decrease it.

Naturally lower your aquarium hardness by soaking dechlorinated tap water in peat moss, Indian almond leaves or driftwood. A more precise method would be to dilute tap h2o with reverse osmosis (RO) or distilled h2o or to use remineralized RO water.

In this article, we'll explain the benefits and risks of each method and so you lot successfully and safely lower your hardness.

Contents

1 How to decrease your aquarium water hardness
two How to naturally decrease your aquarium water hardness
- two.one Peat moss
- ii.2 Indian almond leaves
- 2.3 Driftwood
3 Popular methods for decreasing aquarium hardness
- 3.i Use a reverse osmosis arrangement
- iii.2 Dilute your tap water with RO h2o
- iii.3 Dilute your tap water with distilled water
4 How do yous remineralize RO water?
- 4.i Mix with tap water
- 4.2 Utilise reminerlization products
five The quickest method to subtract aquarium hardness
6 How to lower general hardness (GH) without lowering KH or pH

How to decrease your aquarium water hardness

To decrease your aquarium hardness you must remove dissolved minerals from your tank water. The term "hardness" refers to two types of h2o hardness: full general hardness and carbonate hardness.

Full general hardness, or GH, is lowered by removing calcium and magnesium. Carbonate hardness, or KH, is lowered by removing carbonate and bicarbonate ions.

In that location are situations where information technology makes sense to lower your GH, such as wanting to keep certain fish species that require a specific amount of calcium and magnesium for proper body function.

There'south mostly little benefit to reducing your KH though. The higher your KH, the greater your aquarium'due south power to resist pH swings.

And then when nosotros talk near lowering our tank's hardness we are usually referring to just general hardness. Some methods will lower GH, KH and pH together, while other methods are capable of only reducing GH.

At that place are fewer methods for reducing an aquarium's hardness than there are for increasing information technology. As well, the methods are unremarkably more complicated.

Let's swoop in:

How to naturally decrease your aquarium water hardness

There are a few natural methods for reducing water hardness. The drawbacks are that these methods are not permanent, they exercise not lower the hardness quickly and they don't work for all tanks.

Peat moss

Peat moss releases humic acid and tannins that lower pH and hardness.

You can add peat moss with a product like Fluval Peat Granules or by calculation real peat moss from a local nursery.

If you choose the nursery route, brand certain you boil the peat moss first to remove contaminants.

1 benefit of using peat moss is that it decreases hardness and pH slowly over several days. This helps reduce fish stress due to rapidly irresolute water chemistry.

A couple of drawbacks are that ane) information technology's non a precise method for decreasing GH, and 2) the tannins will crusade your water to look like steeped tea.

Also, conducting water changes with hard tap water volition cause your tank's hardness and pH to ascension before the peat moss tin can slowly lower it again over several days.

This fluctuation will cause fish stress and increase the probability of your fish catching a illness.

The best method for using peat moss is to soak it in dechlorinated water before adding it to your tank. This volition allow you lot to more closely match it to your tank's existing water parameters to foreclose drastic fluctuations.

Indian almond leaves

Indian almond leaves are generally used to lower pH past releasing tannic acids into the water. They're also used by some fishkeepers to treat some minor bacterial infections in their freshwater fish.

But some studies accept found that Indian almond leaves besides subtract water hardness.

One study, in particular, saw hardness lower from 180ppm to 108ppm when semi-stale almond leaves were added.

Indian almond leaves can be easily purchased from your local fish store or online from most aquatic retailers.

Driftwood

Similar to Indian almond leaves, driftwood lowers pH and hardness past releasing tannic acids into the water.

Popular methods for decreasing aquarium hardness

Employ a reverse osmosis system

Reverse osmosis water, or RO water, uses high pressure to forcefulness water through a semi-permeable membrane. The water can penetrate through the membrane while calcium carbonate, carbonate and bicarbonate ions and other minerals are filtered out.

What's left is h2o that is close to pH seven.0, 0 GH, 0 KH because there are no minerals or carbonates to add h2o hardness.

Reverse osmosis water filter — Contrary-osmosis water filter

About plants and tropical freshwater fish species thrive in soft water aquariums where the pH levels are betwixt vi.five and 7.5. But the lack of KH volition cause the pH to fluctuate. Therefore, it's important to raise KH.

It's besides important to have some GH. Many fish species do well in three-5 dGH. Some species crave more than, such as livebearers and African cichlids.

As a result, some RO systems comprise remineralizing cartridges that add alkalinity and other minerals to the filtered water.

This allows yous to have difficult tap water and precisely convert information technology into softer water with your desired amount of hardness.

These systems are available at some specialty fish retail stores and online. A reverse osmosis unit typically costs between $200-400 USD.

Dilute your tap water with RO water

Instead of remineralizing RO water, you tin increase its harness by mixing it with hard tap water.

For example, if yous mix equal parts of unmineralized RO water and tap water, your h2o hardness volition be reduced by fifty%.

Dilute your tap h2o with distilled water

Distilled water is water that has boiled into vapor and is so condensed into a carve up container. The evaporation removes the h2o from the minerals.

The result is purified h2o without any hardness or other impurities.

Similar RO h2o, distilled water has no hardness which means you must not utilize it on its own. Instead, it's best to use it to dilute your tap h2o.

What'due south neat is that you tin purchase distilled h2o at most grocery stores in 4L jugs, which makes information technology accessible. Likewise, each jug unremarkably merely costs a dollar or ii.

Despite this, it can become somewhat expensive over time if you have a large tank or many tanks.

For example, if yous have a 75-gallon tank and perform 15% h2o changes, each water change will crave 21L of distilled water and 21L of tap h2o (bold you're using equal parts).

That's a little more than than four water jugs for each eater alter. Not to mention the 35 h2o jugs required to set up up the tank initially.

The betoken is that it'south a lot of work.

If you have a 10-gallon tank and then a 20% water modify would only require approximately 1 4L water jug and ane jug of tap water. This is more sustainable and not overly expensive either.

Each water change must maintain the same pH, KH and GH each time if y'all're keeping fish. Fluctuating water quality will cause fish stress.

How practice you remineralize RO water?

Mix with tap water

If you're looking to decrease your water hardness then you probably have difficult tap water to begin with. So a great way to remineralize RO water or distilled water is past mixing information technology with your tap h2o.

Make sure your resulting mix contains the same pH, KH and GH earlier adding it to your tank.

Employ reminerlization products

Seachem Equilibrium is a liquid product that increases your h2o'south general hardness by adding calcium and magnesium ions.

Seachem Alkaline Buffer increases your h2o's carbonate hardness or alkalinity. This too increases your pH equally well.

Seachem Acid Buffer is used in combination with Alkaline Buffer to lower your pH while increasing hardness.

These products tin be bought at most local fish stores and online. Follow each production's dosing instructions advisedly to achieve your desired water hardness.

The quickest method to decrease aquarium hardness

Diluting your existing tap water with distilled water is the quickest mode to subtract your aquarium hardness because you can easily and quickly purchase 4L distilled water jugs from your nearest grocery shop.

This method is not recommended if you lot have fish in your tank though because it's difficult to accurately and slowly subtract your hardness without harming your fish.

Just if you're starting a new aquarium and are looking for a quick method and so this is a proficient option.

Also, if you are using distilled water to dilute hard tap h2o, you may non be required to remineralize your water similar you would if y'all used 100% distilled or RO water.

This is because your diluted tap water will likely still incorporate sufficient GH and KH to sustain a healthy tank. This is bold yous don't dilute your tap water as well much.

How to lower general hardness (GH) without lowering KH or pH

In my opinion, the only accurate way to lower GH without affecting pH or KH is by diluting your tap h2o with remineralized RO water.

However, when you lot practise this you must remineralize your carbonate hardness (KH) to match your electric current aquarium's KH value, but not remineralize your full general hardness GH).

As an case, let's say your tap water has 8.0 pH, 6 dKH and ten dGH. Fresh RO water will have a 7.0 pH, 0 dKH and 0 dGH.

If you mixed equal parts of these two h2o sources they would rest out to approximately 7.v pH, iii dKH and 5 dGH. In otherwords, each of our pH, KH and GH decreased.

To keep your pH and KH the same, you must first remineralize your RO water to eight.0 pH, half dozen dKH and 0 dGH – matching the pH and KH to your tap water.

When combined, your water would now have eight.0 pH, 6 dKH and 5 dGH – a lower GH than before but the same pH and KH.

If you wanted to lower your GH further y'all would have to increase the proportion of remineralized RO water to tap water.