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Whats the difference between soft from hard water2007-11-24 23:43:32

The water machines you see where you put in your container and buy the water for about $.35 are reverse osmosis units.

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The difference is the amount of minerals(specifically calcium and magnesium) in the water. You'll know if you have hard water if there's a whitish build up in you sink/shower/tub.those are the mineral deposits.

For aquariums, it does matter, and you can get test kits. Here's a good one http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pr.

How much does it matter is a question of what kind of tank are you planning. Salt/fresh -- planted/reef

General you can raise KH, by adding chemicals, but this is usually pretty expensive over time.

Here's a good article ->

http://www.thekrib.com/plants/co2/hardne.

GOOD LUCK

-dg

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I have no direct experience with regard to using soft or hard water in aquaria but.

Since hard water makes it hard to produce lather while with soft water you waste so much just to rinse off the lather, and considering that the former contains plenty of minerals (such as calcium and magnesium ions), it looks like hardwater at extreme could damage the pet fishes over a prolonged period of time. Using soft water, on the other hand, easily renders the water in the aquarium murky and appearing dirty.

Since you said that you use regular water, I would presume that it is direct from the tap. For that, you'll have to consider the chlorine content level which could also be damaging for the fish. In some instances, fresh treatment of chlorine makes the process uneven such that you could distinctively smell the chlorne in the water. When there is so much concentration, the health of the fishes are threatened.