Water hardness adjusters

I have a water hardness (GH) of 3dH and want to adjust this to make it more suitable for my larvae.
What method/shop bought solutions would you recommend to increase the water hardness?And what dH would be the most suitable for larvae and is this the same as for juvinilles and adults?
Thanks,

(Sorry if this is in the wrong area!)

I am not a fan of chemical additives and prefer the more natural methods. To soften I like to use peat and to harden I like crushed limestone, crushed seashells etc. Place any of these in the media chamber (s) of a canister filter and rock and roll. You may have to play with the tank though as depending on the species the effluent may need to be diverted / diffused. The nice thing about these methods is the change is gradual and stable so there is little danger of shock. The only drawback of this method is that it may not alter the water enough within your timeframe.

For most species, I don't think the water hardness is important. What species are you raising?

Sorry probably should have mentioned the species!
Its axolotl larvae and i have read that water hardness is important for them. As im changing the water in there little tubs everyday i was thinking i either needed to add a chemical type thing or dissolve CaCO3 into the water to bring it up. When they get bigger and move to the big tank i will use the filter method you suggested.

I agree with Jen, the hardness of your water shouldn't be play much of a role in the raising of your axolotls. You are more likely to cause problems if you begin playing with the water chemistry. Sudden changes in dissolved solids can cause stress and possibly larva fatality and it is pretty easy to not get identical water chemistry batch to batch.

Considering you are doing daily water changes I don't think you have anything to worry about. When the larvae get bigger and are set up in their permanent tanks I don't think it would be a bad idea to add some calcium carbonate (crushed limestone or seashells) to their filter to give the water a little better buffering capacity.

MRIGUY, crushed limestone, seashells, etc do add to the hardness (and buffering capacity) of the water but peat moss does not soften water. Peat moss acidifies which is quite different. The only way to soften water is to strip it of its ions by reverse osmosis, distillation, deionization or precipitating out the solids.

Thanks for the help.I think will just stick with decholorinated tap water for now if it is unlikely to cause problems and sort out some limestone for when they are all grown up!

I agree with Abrahm's advice on the larvae - you are better off using your water as-is for daily changes. In long-term aquariums, you might want to consider hardening the water a bit using the methods suggested by MRIguy in order to buffer against the inevitable decrease in pH that occurs in established tanks.

Axolotl breeding labs combat the problem of variable water by using distilled water and adding a mixture of salts in precise quantities. Recipes for this can be found at the AGSC website. But I doubt that you want to go to this much trouble.

I'm not sure that you are entirely correct about the function of peat moss, Abrahm. There are resin products sold for aquariums that do, for sure, remove calcium and magnesium ions, exchanging them for sodium ions. There are a lot of online articles that claim that peat moss actually does exactly the same thing. I'm not enough of a chemist (or peat moss-ologist?) to say for sure if this is true. It's either true, or it's a very well established urban myth.

Jen, you're correct, I retract those previous statements. I even spent the time and effort looking into exactly why Peat functions like it does and then I go and forget it. One of the properties of peat is ion exchange of Ca and Mg for H+ which explains the acidification and the reduction in hardness. Sorry MRIGUY. I would definitely want to keep an eye on pH as that may drop quite quickly as you are adding an acid and removing your main buffering system.

I'm curious about the resins. I know that home water softeners work in the same way (Ca and Mg for Na) but it doesn't really reduce total hardness, just your carbonate hardness. Not knowing the system it seems it may add even more ions to the water (Na being monovalent and Ca and Mg being divalent.)

Thanks for calling me out on that Jen, that was bad information on my part.

Nobody will mess with me now that Jenn has my back

Besides, it is entirely possible that I am wrong at any given time. If my wife is right I am actually wrong all the time but that may be different. If you want me to be correct all the time ask me about MRI Physics or beer.

Happy Friday.