If you boil the water too long yes, concentration due to evaporation will counter (and ecceed) any precipitation that is occurring. Precipitation of calcium carbonate occurs during boiling which is what causes the water to become softer, this is because once calcium carbonate precipitates, it will not dissolve back into solution. It is the scaling we get in our hot water heaters and white waterline in our pots where we boil water. But you can only precipitate so much, keep boiling and evaporation will indeed counter this effect.
The paragraph on Temporary Hardness explains this process better than I can:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water
Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio
--- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, "William M" <dreammaker2623@...> wrote:
>
> If you boil the water, only the water will evaporate and leave the rest behind so in effect, it will make the water harder. This is how they get sea salt, by evaporating the water.
>
> --- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, tuvix72 <no_reply@> wrote:
> >
> > Welcome to the hobby!
> >
> > Boiling will drive out any chlorine in much the same way as agitation or aeration would. Some precipitation of carbonates will also occur so yes a minor drop in alkalinity (KH) will also occur... but probably not enough to make the ordeal worth your while. There is also chloramine and heavy metals which would not be reduced by boiling, forcing you to still require the use of a water conditioner.
> >
> > Do you know the KH of your tap water so that we can understand the magnitude of the problem?
> >
> > Most fish can adapt to a wide range of water hardness and the numbers we may see in a fish database are only referring to the natural habitat where these fish were found, not necessarily the conditions they were born and raised in in captivity.
> >
> > Usually the common approach is to try to host fish that are a good match for the chemistry you have from your tap water, this greatly simplifies water changes and maintenance, usually leading to a more successful setup.
> >
> > I would use something like Tetra AquaSafe which takes care of heavy metals, chlorine and chloramines. If you do need to soften the water, the best solution is to get an RO filter and cut the tap water as needed to reduce hardness. Or perhaps collect rainwater to cut the tap water with... if you go down that route, make sure you know what the rainwater is falling on, for example avoid using rainwater that is collected off a shingled roof... a ceramic or metallic roof is best.
> >
> > Hope that helps
> > Giancarlo Podio
> >
> > --- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, "thingyoh" <thingyoh@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi, I'm completely new to this hobby so I hope you'll forgive me for
> > > asking stupid questions... I've just set up my first tank - fishless for
> > > 7 days ph, nh3 etc all ok. I've introduced 2 mollies to get things going
> > > & don't plan to make any further changes for the next 6 -8 weeks. My
> > > question is this -is it feasable to boil the water I plan to use for
> > > weekly water changes? as far as I can see this would offer some
> > > advantages
> > >
> > > 1 Boiling will drive off chlorine
> > > 2 Will ensure sterility (chlorination does not guarantee sterility)
> > > 3 Boiling then cooling will remove temporary (bicarbonate) hardness - I
> > > live in a fairly hard water area, so hopefully this would help prevent
> > > limescale deposits around the waterline (don't
> > > think fish like cilit bang limescale remover!!!)
> > >
> > > The only downside apart from time and trouble I can think of is boiling
> > > might concentrate any nitrates present in the tap water and would also
> > > drive off disolved oxygen.
> > >
> >
>
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