Alum to soften the water

[santanu18]

Hi friends,currently I am using borewell water for my discus tank.But water is too hard here(don't have the test kit but getting huge amount of calcium deposits on glasses). After using the water for 2-3days the aquarium glasses becomes almost whitish red(due to iron).

I tried using aging the water in a storage for 24-48hrs but that didn't helped much.

All the fishes are becoming stress(all 1.5-2inch). Day by day their appetite is getting lower.

So for last 2days I am using alum in my water storage.I am adding about 1-2spoon alum in 120ltr of water and kept it for 24hrs. And after 24hrs I found a lot of whitish stuff got precipitated.The bottom of the storage is completely white.After keeping it for 24hrs I siphoned the water into my tank.But took only 50% of the water so that any white stuff didn't entered into the tank.

For the last 2days my fishes are behaving happy.They are swimming well and eating also.


So please suggest me should I continue this.

Thanks.

[Skip]

i have never heard of ALUM to soften water.. where did you get the information?

ALUM for waste water treatment.. but it does not soften.. it may coagulate particles.. hence the "white stuff" at bottom..


i use alum 2 table spoon per 1 gallon to kills snails when introducing new plants..

[santanu18]

the alum is reacting with the Ca,Mg and Fe present in the water.After reacting it produces CaSO4,FeSO4 etc. which aren't soluble in water.So they get precipitated.

Thus amount of Fe,Ca getting lowered.So the water must be softer than before.

It also lower the pH.

[Skip]

the alum is reacting with the Ca,Mg and Fe present in the water.After reacting it produces CaSO4,FeSO4 etc. which aren't soluble in water.So they get precipitated.

Thus amount of Fe,Ca getting lowered.So the water must be softer than before.

It also lower the pH.

interesting.. cuz i googled it and could not find anything..

carry on

ps.. welcome to SD :)

[nwehrman]

Hmm intresting


Nicole

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[Hogman]

Alum was and sometimes still used in surface water treatment plants as a primary coagulant for floculation to take place in a clarifier. Furic acid was used to lower PH below 7 as alum works best in slightly acidic water for coagulation to take place. Alum requires rapid mixing and primarily used to remove organic material from raw water. Synthetic compounds such as D-floc are used more often now. Just wanted to give a quick overview of it. It may collect some stuff in your water column in whatever you use to store water and settle it to the bottom but all your doing is adding aluminum to your water. Alum is and was not designed to soften water and highly recommend not using it for this application. Especially for aquarium use

[lipadj46]

the alum is reacting with the Ca,Mg and Fe present in the water.After reacting it produces CaSO4,FeSO4 etc. which aren't soluble in water.So they get precipitated.

Thus amount of Fe,Ca getting lowered.So the water must be softer than before.

It also lower the pH.

MgSO4 and iron(II) sulfate are soluble in water. Alum is a flocculant that forms Al(OH)3 in water that gels and surrounds suspended particles in water and settle and removes them. It should also react with Ca2+ and ppt out CaSO4. Not a common use for it but if you aren't adding too much alum as to be toxic and no discus are dying stick with it I suppose.

[DiscusDrew]

RO unit.... $100..... idk I just feel like if your going to do it and want good fish out of all this, why not do it right? Im sure theres plenty of fish or equipment that have cost over 100 bucks right? Idk it just doesnt seem worth the risk to me, I mean maybe short term while an RO unit is shipping...