Well Water

[TonyAPBTx]

Hey, I'm a new member with a question!

I've read a couple posts where folks here have well water and I have a couple questions.

If you have well water is that what you use for your fish water? How does that work out for you?

My grandparents and one of my close friends have well water, so there will be some transport involved and it will be a bit of a pain in the neck. BUT if its for the fish! The water seems to be VERY soft, as in you are washing your hands and it feels like the soap is still on your hands. I'm thinking that would be perfect for discus.

I would also think with all the minerals from the earth the water would be super awesome for the plants too. I just wonder if the pros from using well water outway the risks. It just seems like a better and more stable option than tap water.

I tried to do a search on well water and couldn't find anything that came up, so sorry if there is a duplicate post somewhere.

Thank you in advance for your time.

[Darrell Ward]

I've used well water for about a decade now. I can't speak for everyone, but my water is soft, with a PH of 6. It works great for my discus right out of the faucet. Discus eggs seem to hatch in it just fine. If I were you, before I used a new source water, I would run a series of tests on it to find out exactly what I had. Don't forget nitrate tests as well. Nitrate levels in well water vary widely. Even if nitrate levels are 20 or more in the water, you should still be able to grow discus in it just fine if you keep up with water changes, and not let organics build up in filters.

[TonyAPBTx]

Thank you for your response, tried to PM you directly because it was your post I had read, but apparently I haven't made enough posts for that, hah.

Do your plants seem to resopnd better to the well water?

[Darrell Ward]

I don't grow plants in my tanks anymore, but when I did, they did OK.

[ref0716]

I use well water exclusively - no choice, it's what we have. It works great for fish and plants, too. That being said, I second the motion that you should certainly check into what the water parameters really are, because well water will vary significantly from place to place. I wonder especially about the degree of hardness you illustrate with the soap on hands analogy. My water is extremely soft, and soap lathers and rinses very well. At another house I had well water that was much harder, and it was difficult to get a soap to lather well and to rinse thoroughly. Does this help?
Richard

[TonyAPBTx]

Yes it does! I have heard that well water here in WV is pretty hard because of the type of rocks in the ground.

At my grandparents, it feels like the water is very very soft on your hands. Making it feel like you still have soap on there its so soft. Or maybe that is because it doesn't lather well?

I have a test kit, so off to the grandparents I go this weekend!

[Jhhnn]

Unless your tap water is truly horrible, which is unlikely, I'd offer that anything interfering with large and frequent waters should be avoided.

Discus thrive in clean, consistent water of almost any pH and hardness, within reason, of course. They'll even breed in hard alkaline water, but egg hatch rates may approach zero. Test yours and consult with your provider for answers. Some providers, like mine, have very good websites with huge amounts of data and information...

[babillba]

Yes it does! I have heard that well water here in WV is pretty hard because of the type of rocks in the ground.

At my grandparents, it feels like the water is very very soft on your hands. Making it feel like you still have soap on there its so soft. Or maybe that is because it doesn't lather well?

I have a test kit, so off to the grandparents I go this weekend!

Tony, I can't speak specifically about well water (city h2o here), but was more excited to see you're from WV. So am I and you are the first "fellow hillbilly" I have met on here. Welcome from another relative newbie to SimplyDiscus.

[TonyAPBTx]

Hey, wow! Another WV discus member is awesome. It is very hard to find anyone around interested in discus.

I'm from Huntington, live in Charleston. How far off are you?

[Jhhnn]

One of our sponsors, James Wicks, aka WV Discus, is definitely from WV, even though he currently resides in a Denver suburb. I didn't know why he chose the WV label or what it meant until I talked to him on the phone. We've never actually met...

[nc0gnet0]

I would stick with what you have out of the tap, the well water might be better (then again maybe not), but, eventually Murphy's law will sneak up and bite you in the you know what. I am picturing a late night emergency, and you need to do a major water change, and low and behold, no stored well water.

[TonyAPBTx]

Thank you for the response. Both the sources of the water are kind of far away.

I think tap will be better and tap is very close to the same pH as where I am obtaining my discus.

Thanks for the answers guys.

[gwrace]

I use well water here in south Texas because it's all that is available to us. The source water is very hard and high in alkalinity. We pump and store the water in a 2500 gallon above ground storage tank. I then filter and soften the water before adding to fish tanks. I also add water treatments just to be on the safe side.