water softener

[aykfc]

I have a water softener and we put potassium and sodium in our water softener. To your knowledge would this have any effect on fish? I have some damsels and they seem to be doing fine. I asked a local marine biologist and he said very low amounts of potassium were found in the ocean and had no idea how it could affect them. Any ideas? I am going to be doing corals soon but for now its a fish only tank. Need to save up for the lighting.

[i have crabs]

iremember reading that its not a good idea to use a water softner but i dont remembey why, i think it has to do with water hardness and how stable your ph is.

[harif87]

yeah i dont see any reason to add any water softner, the water in the ocean is fairly hard and therefore bufferd at pH around 8.2, adding water softner will not only cause your pH to drop, but it will fluctuate which is dangerous. The key to this hobby is consistency. You dont want any sudden changes. I would get rid of the water softner via small water changes. Either that or do a large water change and re-acclimate your fish n inverts.

About the potassium... how much did you add? In salt mixes therese something like 400 ppm of K found in its composition, so i wouldnt say its useless. But then aggain it also depends on how much more you added

[mr.dark-saint]

I'd be more "worried" about the heavy metals, not Iron Maiden which is now considered "Classic Rock" (times sure has changed).

Most of the "Water Softeners" use resins that needs to be charged and the salt and Potassium is flushed away after the resin got charged up. Just go R/O and worry not. Some "WS" comes with under the sink R/O units but I suppose you made no mention of this so, you ain't got one. R/O unit is what you seek.

[aykfc]

Thanks for your help. How much do RO units run usually?

[harif87]

Depends on the quality of the device. But also one thing you should be keeping an eye on is your tanks calcium levels. If you mess around with your KH your indirectly messing with your calcium concentration.