I have a fairly new aquarium.
We have extremly hard water here in zurich. the petshop guy said i could use tap water plus a few drops of a conditioner. Inspite of the conditioner the water is leaving white scaly marks in my tank and white deposits seen on aquaplants. I also read up that the kind of fish i have (tanichthys albonubes) prefer softer water.
Any advice or experiences greatly appreciated.
cheers
sups

Now I know nothing about fish.That said, hard water is a ph level problem in the water. In swimming pool terms you adjust for the hardness in the water with EXTREMELY LOW levels of hydrochloric acid. Now Im not suggesting you chuck a few drops in to the tank while your fish are in there, but possibly if the pet shop can`t help, a pool shop maybe able to. Otherwise you need a watersoftener installed, because in any case, if its doing that to your fish tank, imagine what its doing to yr dish washer/washing machine/kettle etc etc
hope it helps

If the tank and plants are showing scale deposits, then the water is too hard (Very high Calcium and Magnesium levels).

Adding a 'conditioner' (an acid) will only reduce the pH but won't affect the hardness of the water.

You will have to look for a filtration system capable of removing the calcium and magnesium from the water to reduce the scaling problem...... this will be expensive, so your budget will have to be the limiting factor here.
Either consult a fish shop that specialises in Fish only, or alternatively, contact a plumber or a plumbing supply store to see what is commercially available for you.


A long shot -
Try the water from various places around the house. If there is a difference in the age of the plumbing (eg. a renovated bathroom) chances are that the water quality could be better.
(this is actually the situation in my house)

the minnows are perfectly happy in a ph range of 6 >8 and a gh of 5-20.
before worrying about anything have you measured your water?

Could you buy a Prix-Garantie water filtering jug from the Coop and do a liter each time?

http://de.shopping.com/brita-tischwa...merch/produkte

thanks for all the answers...
rob1:No i havent really measured the water levels but i tested all other levels eg pH, Kh, no2,no3 etc. lately i bought a coffee maschine which provieded a strip to check water hardness and it showed the hardest possible.
yes the white clouds are fine in this water but the tank and plants no longer look very pretty with those white scaly lines.

grumpypit...adding HCl to the water is going to give them an acid wash...no way..lol

billhardie:filtering the hardness is going to be a real expensive affair.

I have however heard adding drift wood to the water or peat moss to the filter might help...anyone with this advice and by the way what would peatmoss be called in german?

Hi . I use a product called( ESKLARIN ). with Aloe vera. Made by , Tropical ,.
I have used it for a few years , works well.

My fish are perfectly happy with pure Zurich tap water. I have and had various species that are quite closely related to yours and they lived long and lively in hard water. Feeding and plants are way more important in my eyes.

Activated charcoal in the filter system will do the trick.

Nelly...where can one buy activated charcoal..in pet shops?

Sorry for the late reply but yes normally the activated charcoal is with the other aquarium goodies in the pet stores. It's normally a good idea to put a 1cm layer in the bottom of a corner filter, underneath the filter wool. If you replace the water in the aquarium then put "fresh" charcoal in and run the filter for 24-48 hours then replace and check water acidity before putting the fish back in. Always worked well for me.

thanks Nelly...
added activated charcoal...now water soft, fish happy and me happy too.