Making water softer?

A quick tank update. All my fish are doing great after I got rid of the worms. My jungle val is growing out of control so I had to cut a lot of it back. I stopped using DIY CO2 and going to switch to Seachem Excel.

Now for my real question. I've had some Blue Rams for a few weeks now. They're eating great and swimming up to the front of the tank often. I can usually find them with my red phantom tetras or the keyhole cichlids. However, their colours aren't as bright as when we bought them. I thought they needed to adjust and would colour back up but so far they haven't. I've been thinking maybe it's because my water is too hard and the pH a little too high. I was reading about using peat to lower the two but was hoping someone could shed some more light on the topic.

Is it necessary to soften the water and lower the pH? Is so what's the best way?

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Comment by Robert Jango on February 27, 2013 at 12:57pm: Sounds like your Rams are going to get Spring Fever! You're smart to add it gradually, but next time don't mix it with tap. Just do a 25% water change with all rain water and continue the water changes until you have all rainwater.

Four things worth mentioning:

1) At the start of the rainy season PH in Discus waterways have been known to go from the 8s to the 4s. Far from being harmful this signals breeding. But your instincts to stop using chemicals to do this was wise. Good for you.

2) I don't know what other fish you have in your tank. For some fish rainwater/RO water is poisonous. I tried keeping female Guppies in my Ram tank to afford them a supply of live food (guppy fry) but the guppies died. So I'm just talking about Rams here.

3) Some knowledgable people tell me straight rainwater is not a good idea and that PH in rainwater can vary widely from one rainfall to the next (true). I don't agree with them (that its harmful) but I respect them enough to mention this. In my experience the more rainwater I added the more colorful my Rams got.

4) If you live next door to a coal firing power plant, acid rain could conceivably be a problem, but I seriously doubt it. As far as I know the only problem areas in the USA are the Wyoming/Montana border and, believe it or not, Dustin's neighborhood. In Canada, I think the regulations on pollution are so strong that you could keep a tank on the roof a power plant. But again, just thought I mention this to be safe.

I'll to leave you alone now, but can't wait to here about the results this spring.

Comment by Jessica on February 27, 2013 at 10:01pm: Thanks again. I did some research before I did it on my other fish to see what their optimal water parameters would be. All of them had soft water so I didn't worry about the rain water, so hopefully they will be ok.

I probably will mix rain water with tap water just because I don't want huge fluctuations and if doesn't rain for awhile it won't be a big deal if I use only tap water.

I will be sure to update with my results. Thanks for all your help :)