water softner and discus

[mousley]

I am seriously thinking about setting up a new Discus tank soon. I have generally been into planted tanks but have done a lot of soft water habitats and Angelfish.
I am currently working on a 20 gallon bowfront w/ high lighting/heavy planting..and I am thinking of adding a pair of small Discus w/ nothing else but a couple of ottocinclus and some snails. Any thoughts?
I have some concerns about my water source because it is softened water. It has a GH of o degrees and a high KH. I am currently lowering the Ph using Seachem Acid Buffer but wonder about the Sodium from the softner? Any dialogue would be great...thanks!

[mousley]

Anyone know about using tap water from a softener? The GH is 0 and the KH is usually high. The water is likely higher in sodium because it is filtered through salts. Does anyone keep Discus in this type of water from their tap?

[mistakes r crucial]

Not to my knowledge Mousley unless your water out of the tap is similar to RO. If it is you're going to have to add minerals to your water. I don't understand what you mean by filtered through salts? What type of salts? If you can get hold of a TDS meter it will give you an indication of total disolved solids in the water but it won't tell you what those solids are. Any reading above 2.5 - 3 I'd say you'd have to work on your water before keeping/breeding Discus.
MAC

[Hobbs]

I believe mousley has RO water and softened water confused. Softened water is softened thru salt. RO was uses no salt but has metals and minerals removed thru another process.

[mousley]

Our water is softened but that is all I know. Our local water company is Greene Co. Soft Water. The water I would assume is filtered through Sodium and likely leaves NA in the water. Like I said the GH is 0 according to my Aquarium Pharm. test kit but the KH is high at about 12-15 degrees and the Ph is higher end to....like 7.5 or so.
How do Discus feel about Sodium in the water?

[FishLover]

The house hold water softener based on soudium is not good for discus because it exchange Ca in the water with socium. Discus don't like that.

I'm not sure how you can remove it from the water.