I've been purchasing spring water for my little Martin. I have well water that is very hard. I've never had it tested, all I know is it's a pain because I have to scrub my shower, sinks and white dishes allll the time because they get stained orange I've heard conflicting stories on the water conditioners that are out there, but I'm not sure if they work for hard water anyway? If they do in fact work, I could fill jugs up at with town water and use the conditioner. What are some good brands?
I do not think conditioners lower the water hardness. I have slightly hard water which I use for all my bettas and they seem to be fine. I use TopFin conditioner but there are a lot of good conditioners out there.
Is your well water drinkable? The orange makes me suspect that it's really high in iron. I would get it tested just in case, though. Another solution is to purchase R/O water or get an R/O unit in your house. However they are expensive and require upkeep.
It is a not a good idea to use bottled water because this deprives your betta of necessary minerals. Treated tap water that sits out for 24 hours is cheaper and a better alternative.Water conditioners are very important. The two I normally use is Nutrafin betta plus and Splendid Betta Complete Water Conditioner.
Some of us must use a good brand of bottled water because the water is nearly un-potable where we are. I've got a PH of 8.6 to 9, ridiculously high calcium levels (to the point where I'm forever scrubbing white build-up from my sinks) and 50ppm+ of nitrates straight out of the tap. Definitely not exposing my betta to that. The first thing I noticed when I moved here is that the locals never drink out of the tap, which is a bad sign to begin with.
MissLyss, try testing your well water or calling the board of water supply for information, but it doesn't sound too good.
It's distilled water that has no minerals, not bottled spring water. It's okay to use bottled spring water (you still MUST MUST MUST condition it!!!), but it's expensive to keep that up. Prime is a good conditioner brand that removes everything and is the best bang for your buck. You need ~2 drops per gallon (using more is fine, too, but you don't need to) and it lasts forever. When you use a water conditioner, you don't have to let water sit out for 24 hours (that does nothing, anyway... as letting water sit only lets some of the chlorine evaporate, but leaves behind chloramines, ammonia that might be in the water supply, and heavy metals). Water conditioner works immediately. Just mix it up.
If you can get city water and condition that, it'd be fine. But try testing your well water, first! You might be able to just use that (still have to condition it!).
I use seachem acid buffer to lower the water hardness for my crowntails. We have VERY hard water as well, which cichlids at my work love, but not so much my poor bettas.
@Everybody replying: Using conditioner and/or distilled/spring is not the main issue here. The main issue that OP is having extremely hard water and an orange residue forming on their bathtubs/sinks. Simply dropping in some Prime will not magically remove iron from the water.
@OP: Is there a filter in your house for your well water? Or are you saying that your town-water is orange-y? I currently suggest continuing to use spring water until we can figure out a safe way to repair your tap water.
@Everybody replying: Using conditioner and/or distilled/spring is not the main issue here. The main issue that OP is having extremely hard water and an orange residue forming on their bathtubs/sinks. Simply dropping in some Prime will not magically remove iron from the water.
@OP: Is there a filter in your house for your well water? Or are you saying that your town-water is orange-y? I currently suggest continuing to use spring water until we can figure out a safe way to repair your tap water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissLyss1024
I've heard conflicting stories on the water conditioners that are out there, but I'm not sure if they work for hard water anyway? If they do in fact work, I could fill jugs up at with town water and use the conditioner. What are some good brands?
I assumed she was asking if Prime would work on hard water because the city water (which she'd be getting presumably from somewhere other than her home, well water tap, is very hard). The spring water issue arose when someone tried to say spring water is bad for fish, when it in fact is not. Misinformation is never good and should be corrected, especially in this case where bottled spring water is a necessity right now. No one said Prime would magically remove iron. Just that it would work on hard, city water. At least, that's what I gathered.
Thank you everyone for the advice. I decided against using my tap water. Although we do have a filter, our water is so bad it needs to be replaced every 2 weeks if not more often. We don't drink the water, and I don't even like having my dog and cat drink it either so I'm not going to have my betta live in it. I bought some Prime water conditioner and I will be going to my MILs house to fill jugs with town water and adding the conditioner to that. It beats buying endless jugs of spring water.
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I've heard conflicting stories on the water conditioners that are out there, but I'm not sure if they work for hard water anyway? If they do in fact work, I could fill jugs up at with town water and use the conditioner. What are some good brands?
