APIAquarium Canister Filtration Water Softener Pillow

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

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

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.

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.

Did absolutely nothing. If you want low pH and low GH water, get an RO unit. Many affordable options of RO units on amazon. This just is messy to use. I ended up putting it in a bucket of water from my tap just to see what the difference will be. No or negligible difference after 48 hours with a liquid GH and KH test

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.

This does what it says but having to recharge after every 2 days is a bit tedious, especially as by the time you get the water parameters correct it's now time to do a water change and you have to start over again 🙄Look into a RODI water filter if you have hard tap water and can't be bothered to rip apart your filter every 2 days wasting lots of salt in the process

Very good item does help keep the The water elements to an acceptable level for live plants and the fish only problem I have is you have 2 recharge every two days that can be a pain Getting the pump out every two days