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Re:Ion exchange softened water vs. RO water.




> My main question still remains unanswered though.  Is the sodium in ion 
> exchange softened
>  water detrimental to the plants or fish?  Can I use a combination of ion 
> exchange softened
>  water and non treated hard water to reach my target hardness of less than 
> 100 ppm and be
>  okay as far as the fish and plants are concerned?

The "experts" are now tending to believe that conductivity is more significant
for happy fish than hardness, and replacing one Ca ion with two Na ions
increases rather than decreases conductivity.

There are ion exchange units that will replace the + ions with H+ ions, and
the - ions with OH- ions, resulting on basically distilled water.  But the Na
ions in general are not particularly hard on plants or fish, and they prefered
Na-softened water to the hard stuff straight out of the tap.

Bob Dixon