Re: whole house water conditioning and aquarium water

[Jeff Coart <rapdfire at pacbell_net>]

FWIW, the water quality where I live is so hard (over 24 dh) that we put
a water softener on our house which exchanges calcium and magnesium ions
for sodium making the water a bit salty. Besides the high TDS we also
have relatively high nitrate levels (over 20 ppm) so I use reverse
osmosis water for my tank and have been doing so for over 18 months now.

Conditioning the water is simple - I use Kent RO right at a rate of 2
tsp per 10 gallons of RO water. To add carbonate hardness I add 1 tsp
sodium bicarbonate per 10 gallons to get a KH of 5.

The water is stored in a 55 gallon plastic (high density polyethelyne)
trash can. At water change time I attach a Rio pump to my Python siphon
(the Rio 2100 just happens to thread perfectly onto the Python) and do
the water change. It takes about 15 minutes to change 25 gallons.

Just make sure you don't forget to start making water far enough in
advance of your water change day!