I live just outside London, where the water is chalky, to say the least. My house came with a fitted mains water softener, essentially ion-exchange swapping calcium and Mg for sodium using salt tablets.
I don't have a test kit as such, apart from the one that came with the softener, which needed 18 drops before it changed (KH18?) which was near the top end of the chart.
I understood from the builder that the kitchen tap is plumbed in separately, before the softener, as this is the one used for drinking water and softened water tastes bad and is not that healthy given the high level of sodium. the tap pH is about 8.2, which suggests the water is hard as I understand it. Is it correct to assume that the softened water would have a lower pH? I know alkalinity and hardness are not the same thing, and pH tests alkalinity and not hardness.
I ask this because I'm kicking off a large, EI-dosed tank that will be taking larger 50% water changes, and I don't want to use the softened taps to refill it, as this isn't good for fish.
I suppose I could alternatively find the softener test kit and test the various taps using that.....
I don't have a test kit as such, apart from the one that came with the softener, which needed 18 drops before it changed (KH18?) which was near the top end of the chart.
I understood from the builder that the kitchen tap is plumbed in separately, before the softener, as this is the one used for drinking water and softened water tastes bad and is not that healthy given the high level of sodium. the tap pH is about 8.2, which suggests the water is hard as I understand it. Is it correct to assume that the softened water would have a lower pH? I know alkalinity and hardness are not the same thing, and pH tests alkalinity and not hardness.
I ask this because I'm kicking off a large, EI-dosed tank that will be taking larger 50% water changes, and I don't want to use the softened taps to refill it, as this isn't good for fish.
I suppose I could alternatively find the softener test kit and test the various taps using that.....