Question: Salt water softener?

I just moved and found out that the water in my house is well water and it passes through a salt water softener...what would I need to do to make this safe for my axolotls? is it even possible to make it safe for them?

shanna1010 said:

I just moved and found out that the water in my house is well water and it passes through a salt water softener...what would I need to do to make this safe for my axolotls? is it even possible to make it safe for them?

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Is there a tap before the softener? I've read that salt-softened water isn't ideal for outdoor watering (lawn, garden, etc) so do your outdoor taps pull water from before the softener?

If your well water is pretty close to Newmarket's municipal water, then based on my understanding, it's pretty much ideal out of the well at a KH of around 10 degrees of hardness and a GH of around 8.75 degrees of hardness. pH is a bit high at 8.1, but not really that far 'out of range.'

Since a sodium content above 200 mg/L is 'noticeable by taste,' it's unlikely that your softener inserts more than that. For what it's worth, the salt solutions that people often add to their axolotl water add a substantial amount of sodium - John's Solution, for example, adds 1 gram per litre, which is 1,000 mg/L, which is likely over 5 times what's coming out of your softener.

But adding limestone to a water-softened tank is apparently a bad idea - as mentioned in this article - so you would have to be rather thoughtful about what other items you add to the tank.

All that said, I'm not a chemist and I don't play one on TV, and despite having done tons of research, I am very new at this, so hopefully someone with more experience - or who plays a chemist on TV - can provide some more clarity for you.

wow thanks for all the info.
I actually didn't even think of outdoor taps. I'll have to ask but it wouldn't make sense for the softener to be linked to outside water so hose water would be fine i'm guessing..and then i could just treat it with the normal chemicals like usual.

I'd just have your water tested and see what you're looking at.

I have well water that is softened (I forget how, it was a while ago I had to go talk to everyone about it), but it was no issue. I have had to add the minerals back in though.

If you have well-water, you shouldn't need to treat it with anything.

I pull my water from outside taps, which come before the water softener.