"Eoghan" wrote in message
...

I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

You can mix your water with distilled water from the store but that can get
costly. You can buy products online that soften water that are
cleaned/recharged with salt and used over and over. You can by an Reverse
Osmosis unit and make your own soft water. The best thing to do in many
people's opinion is try and acclimate them to your water or keep fish that
thrive in your water's hardness instead.

My Tank has been set up now for over a year, even when I out weekly
partcial water changes the hair grass algae has not subsided. My
stocking levels are low and I have even used remedies to combat the
problem but nothing seems to work

I've always kept plants in my tanks that competed with hair algae so it's
not much of a problem. More partial water changes or larger water changes
should help. Feed carefully so there's no excess food rotting on the gravel
or in the filter. If you're using an UGF try and remove the mulm that's
under it with a siphon hose. Remove as much of the hair algae as you can
with a clean old toothbrush.
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

Listening to Koi Lo aka Carol Gulley can and usually does result in
havingproblems with yur fish i the long run as she does ot have a clue
what she is talking about. She has given out nfo on more than one
occassion that cost folks their fish and plants.

A simple google search of Koi-Lo or Carol Gulley will reveal the
person for what she really is........trouble with a capitol "T" no
matter where she goes or whatever info she gives.


On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 15:56:36 -0500, "Koi-Lo" wrote:


"Eoghan" wrote in message
.. .

I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

You can mix your water with distilled water from the store but that can get
costly. You can buy products online that soften water that are
cleaned/recharged with salt and used over and over. You can by an Reverse
Osmosis unit and make your own soft water. The best thing to do in many
people's opinion is try and acclimate them to your water or keep fish that
thrive in your water's hardness instead.

My Tank has been set up now for over a year, even when I out weekly
partcial water changes the hair grass algae has not subsided. My
stocking levels are low and I have even used remedies to combat the
problem but nothing seems to work

I've always kept plants in my tanks that competed with hair algae so it's
not much of a problem. More partial water changes or larger water changes
should help. Feed carefully so there's no excess food rotting on the gravel
or in the filter. If you're using an UGF try and remove the mulm that's
under it with a siphon hose. Remove as much of the hair algae as you can
with a clean old toothbrush.


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Eoghan(It's the irish way of spellin owen)


--
Eoghan

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:03:39 +0100, Eoghan
wrote:


I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Eoghan(It's the irish way of spellin owen)


Reverse Osmosis is the most reliable.

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:03:39 +0100, Eoghan
wrote:


I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Eoghan(It's the irish way of spellin owen)

Why do you want to soften your water? What problem are you trying to
solve? Hard water is not a problem, it is a condition. You can
change the condition or you can change the plants or fish to suit the
condition.

dick

Why are you dissagreeing with the information Koi Lo aka Carol Gulley
put out. Its of no concern to you why he wants the water soft, only
to answer how and Carol Gulley already came to his rescue. Dick you
are a dumbass.



On Fri, 16 Jun 2006 05:17:44 -0500, Dick
wrote:

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:03:39 +0100, Eoghan
wrote:


I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Eoghan(It's the irish way of spellin owen)

Why do you want to soften your water? What problem are you trying to
solve? Hard water is not a problem, it is a condition. You can
change the condition or you can change the plants or fish to suit the
condition.

dick


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Dick" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:03:39 +0100, Eoghan
wrote:


I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Eoghan(It's the irish way of spellin owen)

Why do you want to soften your water? What problem are you trying to
solve? Hard water is not a problem, it is a condition. You can
change the condition or you can change the plants or fish to suit the
condition.

dick
====================
He want's to keep the tetras that do best in soft water, but his water is
hard. Some aquarists will just keep fish that thrive in their particular
water conditions as you know. Others try and acclimate their fish to their
conditions if not ideal. I've had angelfish and fish like bettas adapt to
my 300+ calcium rich hard alkaline water but they don't breed or the eggs
don't hatch. The smaller sof****er, lower PH fish don't live very long for
me, usually less than 6 months, so I don't get them anymore.
--
KL.......
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

yet more bull shit from Carol Gulley

On Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:18:51 -0500, Köi-Lö ¤1¤ôx@ôÜ1Ô.ôôô wrote:


"Dick" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:03:39 +0100, Eoghan
wrote:


I was wondering if there was an easy way of softening my water.
Maybe fiter media or anythin, except rainwater(dont trust it).
I want to keep cardinal tetra, rams and rummy-nosed tetra but my water
is to hard.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Eoghan(It's the irish way of spellin owen)

Why do you want to soften your water? What problem are you trying to
solve? Hard water is not a problem, it is a condition. You can
change the condition or you can change the plants or fish to suit the
condition.

dick
====================
He want's to keep the tetras that do best in soft water, but his water is
hard. Some aquarists will just keep fish that thrive in their particular
water conditions as you know. Others try and acclimate their fish to their
conditions if not ideal. I've had angelfish and fish like bettas adapt to
my 300+ calcium rich hard alkaline water but they don't breed or the eggs
don't hatch. The smaller sof****er, lower PH fish don't live very long for
me, usually less than 6 months, so I don't get them anymore.


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Sof****er fish live and breed fine in hard water. The eggs will not
be fertile though. If you're not breeding them it is of no concern.

I could be wrong of course, but that's what I've noticed in 30 years
of doing exactly this. Just another data point.




--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Sof****er fish live and breed fine in hard water.

Everyone's experience may be different Richard. Small soft-water acid-water
tetras have seldom lived longer than 6 months for me. Our water is off the
scale for hardness and the PH can reach 7.8 - 8. The larger more robust
fish would adapt.

The eggs will not
be fertile though. If you're not breeding them it is of no concern.

This is true but I have yet to get bettas to even spawn in these waters,
whereas in NYs soft acid water it was a snap. Many males don't even make a
bubble nest to speak of. I never had tetras to spawn here in TN but they
did (in the tank's plants) in NY. But again - this is just MY experience.
Bettas do adapt and live fine in my water otherwise. If a person is not
interested in breeding then they should give it a go. I believe their
electrolyte balance goes off then forced to live in hard alkaline water and
that eventually causes their deaths.

I could be wrong of course, but that's what I've noticed in 30 years
of doing exactly this. Just another data point.

And it goes to show you how different things can be from one person's
aquarium to another's aquarium..... :-)
--
KL....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

In article ,
Köi-Lö ¤1¤ôx@ôÜ1Ô.ôôô wrote:

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Sof****er fish live and breed fine in hard water.

(snipped: but they need soft water to produce fertils eggs)

Everyone's experience may be different Richard.

Charlie Drew has been breeding neons for 30 years this way. His
tapwater is 375ppm carbonate. He breeds them in soft peat water.

JJ Scheel documented the same thing in _Rivulins of the Old World_.

The McInnery book also says the same thing. The Authors have bred
thouands of neons anf other sof****er fish this way.

And I've noticed it's true too.

Ron Harlan who used to sell RO filters back in the 80's
had 20 years of similar experiences.

Just because you can't keep them alive for six months doesn't
really invalidate this 150 man years, just a small slice,
of empirical evidence.

--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Carol Gulley is always gong to be a horse of a different colkor, as
she is extroadinary and only certain thngs can happen to or with her
and do not apply to mere mortals as others are in her eyes. Now you
went and stirred up a hornets nest by dissagreeing with the greay
Koi-Lo aka Carol Gulley

On Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:54:46 +0000 (UTC),
(Richard Sexton) wrote:

In article ,
Köi-Lö ¤1¤ôx@ôÜ1Ô.ôôô wrote:

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Sof****er fish live and breed fine in hard water.

(snipped: but they need soft water to produce fertils eggs)

Everyone's experience may be different Richard.

Charlie Drew has been breeding neons for 30 years this way. His
tapwater is 375ppm carbonate. He breeds them in soft peat water.

JJ Scheel documented the same thing in _Rivulins of the Old World_.

The McInnery book also says the same thing. The Authors have bred
thouands of neons anf other sof****er fish this way.

And I've noticed it's true too.

Ron Harlan who used to sell RO filters back in the 80's
had 20 years of similar experiences.

Just because you can't keep them alive for six months doesn't
really invalidate this 150 man years, just a small slice,
of empirical evidence.


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Hi Richard..

Nice to read you..
[...]
No doubt about it: (Red) Neons _are_ soft water fish(es)..!
--
cu
Marco

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Köi-Lö ¤1¤ôx@ôÜ1Ô.ôôô wrote:

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Sof****er fish live and breed fine in hard water.

(snipped: but they need soft water to produce fertils eggs)

Everyone's experience may be different Richard.

Charlie Drew has been breeding neons for 30 years this way. His
tapwater is 375ppm carbonate. He breeds them in soft peat water.

But we're talking about HARD ALKALINE water.

JJ Scheel documented the same thing in _Rivulins of the Old World_.

The McInnery book also says the same thing. The Authors have bred
thouands of neons anf other sof****er fish this way.

And I've noticed it's true too.

Ron Harlan who used to sell RO filters back in the 80's
had 20 years of similar experiences.

Just because you can't keep them alive for six months doesn't
really invalidate this 150 man years, just a small slice,
of empirical evidence.

Exactly! That's why I said everyone's experience is different. I'm sure
somewhere out there someone bred neons in water even harder than 375ppm
softened and acidified by peat. I didn't soften the water or lower it's PH
with peat. I hoped the tetra's would adapt to my "natural" water
conditions. But while all those fish that preferred harder more alkaline
water flourished and thrived, the low-PH, soft-water fish faded away. Again
I'm talking about *MY* natural water conditions without bothering with peat
to soften and acidify the water.

--
KL....
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

"Marco Schwarz" wrote in message
...
Hi Richard..

Nice to read you..
[...]
No doubt about it: (Red) Neons _are_ soft water fish(es)..!
--
cu
Marco
========================
And although the soft water fish thrived for me when I had soft acidic
water, they did not when I tried keeping them in hard alkaline water.
Breeding them was not the reason I bought them.
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*