Don't get a softner, they add salts to the water to make it soft. You want an RO (reverse osmosis) system. You can get a good price on ebay. I use distilled only because I already had it. Sears about 100 bucks has distiller. If you get a PPM meter you can check water from dif places. I know of one that uses a britta on the tap water and PPM's come way below 100ppm's. Wally's water is better for now. And change your res every 10 to 14 days. Some go longer but if you have a meter you can put clean water in like a flush and watch the PPM's go up, the plants give off toxic salts that poisin the water that's why we change so much. You will see your plants slow down the longer they go in the same water.