API Aquarium Canister Filtration Water Softener Pillow

My water hardness was off the chart, followed instriction, worked great. It also helped to balance pH and KH. Althought initial charge of this pillow lats 48 hours (recharge needed with API salt, purchased seperatly), but my desired level was achived within 2 hours, therefore PLEASE CHECK EVERY HOUR, otherwise water will become too soft. 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼EDIT: Few points in relation to the bag/size: - The bag is a bit big for someone like me, so, i purchased them small mesh bags with zip (very fine mesh made from plastic meterial and MUST have zip, not string lock), search for: [ZEYIYER 10PCS Aquarium Mesh Bag]. - - If you are unable to fit the bag in your filter ( path of water flow in the aquarium filter), then you can just drop the bag in the aquarium. But this way will be slow to achive the desired level of GH, but it will work. As i said above, you must check hourly where possible, and not to leave it overnight as water may become very soft. (Ideal is 100-200ppm in comunity tank) - You can buy a seperate cheapest filter (may AliExp/Temu etc) and just use this bag, or your own bag inside the filter and drop the filter anywhere in the tank as this is work faster. Recharge / salt: As directed in the packet, you will need to use salt to recharge, and it does last long application after application. If you are worried about salt, worry not, as small amount of salt in freshwater tank will not harm fish/plant. But if you are really worried, after recharge, you can rinse the bag in tap water for 1 to 2 minutes. General Hardness: What i learned that the ideal level of GH is 100-200ppm in comunity tank. But i live in London, and I realised almost ALL aquarium shop the GH in their tank is very high, so most fish are bread/born in hard water. So check the water GH when you buy fish (you can test the water in the bag the fish came in). Most i tested was well above 400-600+ppm. So, it is important, in my openion, not to lower your ppm directly to, for example, 200ppm, but slowly day-by-day. Therefore, use the Softener Pillow bag, take it out, let the fish settle, and try again after a day or two to get the water level to 100-200ppm which will keep fish/plants healthy.

Simply, it works after 1 Day with only one in my filter cartridge it nearly halved my GH from over 600ppm (30 degrees) to 350ppm (17 Degrees). Considering this treats only 70L of water and my tank is 110L and it was only in there for 24H im very impressed. After adding another one and after 48 Hours it went down to 142ppm (7Degrees) Only reason for 4/5 Stars is its kinda expensive considering you have to replace it after 3 uses but honestly the most expensive part is the salt you have to buy to recharge em. Kinda wish API would do a little kit with the pillow and the salt for a small discount

This pillow has been in the external filter of my 25 litre nano tank for only about 12 hours, and it has lowered the GH from at least 180 mg/l (the highest my test strips can measure) to approximately zero! In a normal size tank it wouldn't have quite such an extreme effect as this. As I expected it has no effect on KH: this pillow performs ion-exchange of the calcium and magnesium ions, replacing them with sodium ions, but has no effect on the carbonate and bicarbonate ions - hence the reduction in GH but no effect on KH. If your aim is to reduce KH (and hence reduce pH) then this isn't the right product for you. In future I might not keep it in the filter because I don't really want zero GH, and instead drop it into the bucket of water overnight before doing a water change. My tank is newly set up and currently doesn't have any fish in it, so I'm experimenting with my water management. The instructions say to recharge it using a salt solution (sodium chloride), but I intend to try recharging it with a solution of potassium chloride instead. I think this should work, and will result in the pillow releasing potassium ions into my aquarium instead of sodium ions - which will be good for the plants and better for the fish.

I'm not sure if ir works. I checked water quality before and after use. Didn't see big difference. Not sure maybe I put it not in a right place in the fish tank. Used it in filters compartment. Anyway just saying that didn't work for me.

Didn’t work in my tank

Active ingredient is an orangey powder in a sealed muslin bag, and packed in a sealed plastic pouch for shop sale. When I opened the plastic, all the powder was loose because the muslin bag had split open. Had to repack into the muslin and try to close the bag by rolling slack end tightly It is reducing hardness but dont see how I can re-charge it will have to buy another, hence only 2 stars.

Just, WOW... My GH water levels were dangerously high, to the point that the test strip was leaking purple, far passing 28. In AN HOUR AND A HALF, I REPEAT... AN HOUR AND A HALF my readings dropped to 7 in a 45l tank! Minimal interference with PH, KH, nitrate and nitrite. I'd also like to add that I ordered this product in the morning and it was delivered and fish tank fixed in the same day! My Beautiful Betta Boy already seems much happier, alot less glass surfing and colour coming back on underbelly! Miracle product would highly recommend to anybody suffering with high GH. The only thing i would strongly suggest is to do regular checks on your tank while the water pillow is in use in the filter. Maybe every 45 mins/ hour. I wouldn't leave unattended as the product might work too well 😉 I don't even mind that I have to spend extra on aquarium salt to be able to reuse the product. The fact it's reusable is fantastic in itself. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm genuinely impressed 😂

Got great results and the desired GH, The fact it is rechargeable makes it excellent value 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟