I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften it ?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened but it is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000 gallons of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house water
after doing an initial fill with well water.

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:17:50 -0500, "Mickey"
wrote:

I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften
it ?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened
but it is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000
gallons of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house
water
after doing an initial fill with well water.

I dont know why i looked this up when the pros will be here soon....

Microbe-Lift/Barley Straw Pellets - Pond Conditioner -

Microbe-Lift/Barley Straw Pellets are a safe and cost effective pond
conditioner. Natural barley straw and peat has been processed and
packaged to make them easy to apply with no mess. The many benefits of
barley pellets is its ability to provide sustained release of natural
chemicals. Included in this is hydrogen peroxide which is an oxidizing
agent used to keep water clear. Barley pellets contain humic acid and
peat which is used to soften pond water and reduce negative effects of
phosphates while improving water quality without harming fish.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sounds interesting I have used barley straw in the past might have to try
this also. I would like to keep the water clear and not use a UV filter.

"jammer" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:17:50 -0500, "Mickey"
wrote:

I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften
it ?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened
but it is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000
gallons of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house
water
after doing an initial fill with well water.

I dont know why i looked this up when the pros will be here soon....

Microbe-Lift/Barley Straw Pellets - Pond Conditioner -

Microbe-Lift/Barley Straw Pellets are a safe and cost effective pond
conditioner. Natural barley straw and peat has been processed and
packaged to make them easy to apply with no mess. The many benefits of
barley pellets is its ability to provide sustained release of natural
chemicals. Included in this is hydrogen peroxide which is an oxidizing
agent used to keep water clear. Barley pellets contain humic acid and
peat which is used to soften pond water and reduce negative effects of
phosphates while improving water quality without harming fish.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------

hard water is superb for goldfish and koi. is there a problem with your hard water?
Ingrid

"Mickey" wrote:

I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften it ?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened but it is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000 gallons of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house water
after doing an initial fill with well water.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

"Mickey" wrote:

I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften it ?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened but it is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000 gallons of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house water
after doing an initial fill with well water.

What makes water hard is that it just has dissolved calcium compounds in
it. Water softeners just replace the calcium with sodium which is
harmful to many living things. I would much rather have the calcium
than sodium. Calcium is beneficial to many living organisms. Softened
water is toxic to many living organisms.

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

When you say your water is "hard", what do you mean? What is your KH and GH
levels? The reason why I ask is that fish *like* hard water; so do the
biobugs in your filter. Most of us end up putting baking soda into the water
to increase the KH, especially if you have a bead type filter, which needs a
KH of over 200 in order to properly "feed" the biobugs - so that it will
function to optimum. With well water, you need to be more worried about
things like iron and sulphur - not to mention that there's no oxygen in well
water and it needs to be aerated.

But to answer your original question: initially I thought that if softened
water was good for me, it would be good for the fish. Then their coloring
started to suffer, and investigation into possible reasons led me to bypass
the softener when I do water exchanges, etc.

Lee

"Mickey" wrote in message
...
I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften it ?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened but it
is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000 gallons of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house water
after doing an initial fill with well water.

sodium levels after typical water softening wont hurt fish at all...except need to
put the calcium buffer back in to prevent pH swings.
aluminum sulfate can be used to precipitate the calcium out of the water if really
necessary. Ingrid

What makes water hard is that it just has dissolved calcium compounds in
it. Water softeners just replace the calcium with sodium which is
harmful to many living things. I would much rather have the calcium
than sodium. Calcium is beneficial to many living organisms. Softened
water is toxic to many living organisms.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I get a white mineral build up on everything in the pond. The iron levels in
the well water are around 25ppm enough to leave a ring of rust around
anything. The minerals also build up in plumbing and in the pump. I don't
need really soft water I would just like it if everything did not turn white
from mineral build up. I will get a sample tested to see what the numbers
are exactly.

"Lee B." wrote in message
...
When you say your water is "hard", what do you mean? What is your KH and
GH
levels? The reason why I ask is that fish *like* hard water; so do the
biobugs in your filter. Most of us end up putting baking soda into the
water
to increase the KH, especially if you have a bead type filter, which needs
a
KH of over 200 in order to properly "feed" the biobugs - so that it will
function to optimum. With well water, you need to be more worried about
things like iron and sulphur - not to mention that there's no oxygen in
well
water and it needs to be aerated.

But to answer your original question: initially I thought that if softened
water was good for me, it would be good for the fish. Then their coloring
started to suffer, and investigation into possible reasons led me to
bypass
the softener when I do water exchanges, etc.

Lee

"Mickey" wrote in message
...
I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften it
?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened but
it
is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000 gallons
of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house
water
after doing an initial fill with well water.

The iron is a problem: do you have a degassing tower? A green sand filter
for the iron? There are folks around here that "specialize" in water - maybe
you need to open a new thread asking for help specifically with the iron
properties of your water. Do you have a water analysis from a lab that may
set forth what all is actually IN your water????

Lee

"Mickey" wrote in message
...
I get a white mineral build up on everything in the pond. The iron levels
in
the well water are around 25ppm enough to leave a ring of rust around
anything. The minerals also build up in plumbing and in the pump. I don't
need really soft water I would just like it if everything did not turn
white
from mineral build up. I will get a sample tested to see what the numbers
are exactly.

"Lee B." wrote in message
...
When you say your water is "hard", what do you mean? What is your KH and
GH
levels? The reason why I ask is that fish *like* hard water; so do the
biobugs in your filter. Most of us end up putting baking soda into the
water
to increase the KH, especially if you have a bead type filter, which
needs
a
KH of over 200 in order to properly "feed" the biobugs - so that it will
function to optimum. With well water, you need to be more worried about
things like iron and sulphur - not to mention that there's no oxygen in
well
water and it needs to be aerated.

But to answer your original question: initially I thought that if
softened
water was good for me, it would be good for the fish. Then their
coloring
started to suffer, and investigation into possible reasons led me to
bypass
the softener when I do water exchanges, etc.

Lee

"Mickey" wrote in message
...
I have hard well water that is not softened. Is there a way to soften
it
?
have thought about using the water from the house that is softened but
it
is
city water and that might get expensive fast I have about 3000 gallons
of
pond water. Maybe I will start topping off the pond with soft house
water
after doing an initial fill with well water.