General Care Discussion :: soft water

[Starchick]

Hi guys!

I'm home at my parents house for the Thanksgiving holiday, and decided to bring Napoleon and Moxie with me, as the heat at my apartment can be fussy and would require Michael to check on them every day. Unfortunately I forgot that my parents have soft water. A quick google search seems to indicate that this isn't great for turtles? I'm currently trying to fill their tanks with water from the bypass, but can only do a little at a time, and it's only cold water so it'll be a while before I can put them in. Would soft water really be harmful for a few days?

Update: my dad tells me that the water from the bypass also undergoes conditioning, then reverse osmosis to remove all impurities, so it's basically distilled water, which I've heard is also not good. Apparently our outside hose goes to a regular water supply, so I can use that if you all think it's a better choice.

Thanks!

[Jeff]

You should be okay, just use water conditioner and do the following steps...

If I were you I would use both of the water sources. My house water is softened, but the water from the outside hoses are unfiltered hard water. When I refill my really big tank I use a hose from the outside, which is unfiltered, but it is really really cold...so I use the outside water for most of the water, and then use buckets of hot water from the "filtered" tap water. This creates a good mixture of unfiltered and softened water. But make sure you mix up the water by hand or let the filter run for a couple hours because hot and cold spots can seperate themselves.

You can use more hot water than cold though....it's always eaiser to cooler water off then to heat it up in the winter.

If I didn't make sense let me know, I'll try to explain a little better!

[mikee]

Soft water is just fine for turtles. I have been using it for years. There are fewer minerals and a very small amout of salt. No problem! Go for it! m.

[TheComputerGremlin]

For a short period of time, any type of water should be fine. It's only when you are talking weeks on end that you even need to consider things.