Bicarbonate for soft water?

[Zalth]

Hello. My tap water is a bit on the soft side, and a guy in my local pet store told me to add bicarbonate to harden the water.

Could this damage the axies?

 

[cml]

Hello. My tap water is a bit on the soft side, and a guy in my local pet store told me to add bicarbonate to harden the water.

Could this damage the axies?

I have heard this as well but I live in Gothenburg which is supposed to have quite soft water, but our Axies doesnt seem troubled by it at all, they show no signs of stress, are very active and healthy. My guess is they'll be fine without you adding anything to the water =).

 

[Zalth]

I live in Kalmar, unfortunately in the specific soft water area. Just a few kilometres from here and I would have quite hard tap water. But well, neither have I been noticing any health problems, also I find my axies quite happy. But since I'm new into this, I wasn't sure if this could be causing problems in the future.

How long have you had your axies for? :happy:

 

[cml]

Not that long, a month and a half. Very interesting and fascinating creatures, I am enjoying keeping them ^^. Hope everything works out with the water, but as I said I dont think it will be a problem.

How bicarbonate works with Axies I dont know, but with fish it isnt a problem (a tip i got from a friend was to mix it with some water in a bottle and add a little at a time until you reach the water hardness you're aiming at).

I'd wait and see if anyone else here on the forum answers though, since i havnt got a clue if its harmful to axies, everyone here is very helpful and nice!

 

[Zalth]

Ah, I've had my golden albino for about a month and a half too, my wildtype for almost three weeks.

But the bottle idea seems as a good option if this isn't causing damage!


aaanyone?





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everyone here is very helpful and nice!

I totally agree!

 

[carsona246]

I wouldn't add baking soda. Ph is something you really don't want to mess with unless you have to. I had a problem with my water, that I "think" was contributed to soft water a few years ago, so I usually have a bag of crushed coral in my tank to saftely raise the ph, and buffer the water. I would avoid messing with your ph if you're not having problems, but if you really want to raise it, crushed coral has always worked for me. I would not use baking soda. Just to add some tips for using crushed coral if you're going to, try to match the ph of the tap when it first comes out, that way there won't be any ph fluctuations when you do waterchanges. For instance, in my tap water I have a ph of 7, but after a few days that drops below a 6. If you have a ph of 6.4 out of your tap, I'd still try to match your ph in your tank to a 6.4 instead of the supposed "ideal" 7.0.

 

[Zalth]

But it is the kH being low. Do coral still help?

But yes, I guess I shouldn't need to change anything if it's not causing harm.

 

[carsona246]

It's my understanding that CC raises the kh, and gh.

 

[Zalth]

Oh, thank you for your help!

 

[MooncakeMyDudecake]

Never had an issue using bicarb for my tank. In fact someone recommended it. You have to calculate how much to put in using a specific calculator bit if you can work it out from mine; my tank is 86 litres, I remove 50% during water changes, use dechlorinater (seachem prime) and add 17 grams of bicarb to my water (not sure if my water is soft or hard but it always creeps up in pH if I don't add it) let that settle in for an hour or so before putting my axie back in her tank. So for 25% water changes I do half of that (8 grams bicarb)
Limestone is apparently really good for keep the pH at manageable levels.

 

[wolfen]

bicarbonate of soda is used in holtreters solution as means of controlling and buffering both ph and kh which in turn helps balance the gh. soft water which is undesirable because of its tendency to become acidic and have ph swings. calcium carbonate can also be used but will give a cloudiness to the water until it is settled, also crushed coral can be used but this requires being placed either in the tank or in the filtration unit and will still require topping up as it is depleted. limestone can also be used as it will leach into the water and help buffer the ph whilst balancing the kh. having good kh and gh is important in keeping the ph steady and stopping a sudden ph drop when there is a increase of nitrates. also axolotls originate from an area that is fed from mountain streams that are slightly brackish but high in minerals, so are moderate to hard water dwelling animals.