Loaches Online Forum

Has anybody used the Water Softener Pillow made by Doc Wellfish? If so, should I expect to see any other water parameter changes by adding this into the mix?

Thanks

Short answer no.

I mean it will have a small affect, but hardly worth the effort. You will have to constantlly recharge it in salt water. I mean they are a pain in the butt. By the time you get some of the hardness out of the tank you are doing a water change and right back to where you started.

JD

Thanks for the reply. Do you happen to know of a better way to soften the water?

Thanks

JonGuerriero wrote:Do you happen to know of a better way to soften the water?

This actually depends on what you have and what you are trying to achieve.

OK, here is the list of methods I know of, some tried, some not.

1. Pillow -- as JD said, lots of work for little gain. Maybe in a 5g....
2. Bogwood.
3. Blackwater extract.
4. Peat in the filter.
5. Changes with distilled or RO water (proportion depends on the sit).
6. RO machine.

Some of these also will alter other parameters, like pH.

2.,3.,4. make sense if you are looking for a small adjustment (for example, I'm not fully happy with my gH of 8, I think I would prefer 5 in some situations, so I played with the stuff).
6. is the ultimate weapon if your water is really bad (some people have gH of 20 or more). This allows to have the water you want no matter what you start with, but this is the heavy artillery.

What Mike wrote, very well said.

My first question is why do you want to reduce the hardness?

JD