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do you have any advice for dealing with hard water? the deposits floating on top that look like snow and coat the poor turtle (I keep scrubbing her off with a toothbrush and distilled water) are driving me crazy. she's in a 60 gallon aquarium with a canister filter and the water is crystal clear except the white crap on top. I've added tetra beneficial bacteria and water balancer but it keeps coming back. As a last resort I bought drift wood from a pet store but the detaining prssoaking has me intimidated. any ideas? I have many pics on my phone but it won't let me upload them. luckily my turt doesn't seem to care and is using the opportunity to guilt me into giving her treats.

Are you sure it's hardwater? Any build up will show more on the tank sides, heater, filter nozzles and basking area. Whatyou describes could be shed skin and fungus. If you cant upload it directly, I would recommend www.imgur.com to host.

Hard water deposits normally with all the minerals in it attach to solid objects as Steve states not float. If you live in US it’s law water company’s must provide water quality report to you. Most mail it to you once every year and it's online too. You need this to know what you are starting out with so you know what to do to get the end result you want.

What are your “GH” and “KH” numbers ?

May be as Steve states or even a protein buildup….picture’s of setup and more detail will help a lot.
I have “very” hard water out the tap 5.0-9.5gpg and being a long time turtle keeper never use “any” chemicals to get what I and Piggley want/needs. Never know what you get mixing chemicals…. I do everything the natural way , nature is wonderful.

If you want to use chemicals I would start reading the “MSDS” and or “SDS” on them. Not all tank chemicals are safe for turtles !