you'll make my day if you can help me figure this out

Keep it simple. remove the carbon from filter.

First off, your water is hard, not soft...

Your primary issue (based on the info you have provided) is that you are not providing CO2 injection. No one should have anthing over 2 watts per gallon (you have over 3) without injecting CO2...unless you really want an algae tank as opposed to a planted tank...lol

Think of it this way...your plants need everything to be balanced...light, co2, micro/macro nutrients, temp...

If you are missing one, all other 'ingredients' cannot be taken up into the plant.

Check out www.plantedtank.net/forums

Thanks,
Steve

Are you using any fertilizers? The curly scarred leaves may be symptoms of nutrient deficiency. Also, the ferts may help the plants out-compete the algae. this will be a delicate balance to find though without CO2 in the tank. . .

What, exactly, is a sodium tank?

I think he means the water softener uses Na+ (sodium) in exchange for Ca2+ and Mg2+ (calcium and magnesium).
I heard plants do not tolerate much sodium in their water, but I don't how true that is.
My water is also quite hard but my plants are doing really well.

I also agree that CO2 would really help in a situation like yours.

Graeme

Switch your water softener to Potassium instead of Sodium and you've got a perfect source of water. Potassium is one of the most overlooked macronutrients since Nitrates and Phosphates come from fish food and waste. Your hard water will trade Magnesium and Calcium ions for Potassium ions, which will be readily used by your plants.

Aren't Ca and Mg important nutrients as well? I think that trading one for another is going to cause the same problem you have now.

I agree that K is an important and often overlooked nutrient. I believe it is called the universal cation.

But rather than going through all of this, would it not just be a simple matter to collect water before the softner? Some simple plumbing could get you an 'aquarium only' tap source for water. A connection with the Python and you're going to be standing in tall cotton, so to speak.

HTH

PP

yvonnedono - I have the same water softener setup you are speaking of, an ion exchange softener system. After much research of my own, I have found it best for me to stick with using rock salt over potassium chloride.

a) Cost: Potassium is over 4x the cost of rock salt per 50lb bag, making it a very expensive choice.

b) Health: We have our grandfather living with us. Potassium is not healthy for elderly people in the quantities they would consume with it being in the water system. I've also confirmed this with his doctor.

c) Aquaria: I've done just fine with my time tested methods of using both direct moderately hard well water in my planted and breeder tanks as well as using water from our softener system. Never had problems with the salt levels affecting plants. The direct well water is 0.4pH higher than the softened, still, nobody seems to mind.

I'm rather happy using my current method, and I still use softened water in my heavily planted tanks. Although due to convenience I use straight well water in my breeders, only because I have a faucet that bypassed the softener in close proximity to the fishroom. After playing with both for a few years, I haven't noticed a difference in how my breeders or plants have reacted. However, keep in mind that I do dose PMDD in my planted aquaria.

If you would decide to bypass the softener system, and still wish to have softer water for the aquariums... you can always, very easily, make a setup that runs the incoming water through a container of peatmoss.

Regards,
Raithan O. Ellis

Mg and Ca are indeed needed by plants. They're actually a macronutrient, like potassium, although most planted tank hobbyists mistake them for being micronutrients. I have found it fairly easy to meet the Mg and Ca needs of my plants with occasional tap water use and via trace element supplementation (Seachem Flourish, Tropica Master Grow, Plantex, etc.). Potassium, on the other hand, is a little more difficult to maintain. K2SO4 is not nearly as readily available as Epsom Salts or calcerous rock. I have to dose Potassium weekly, while I seldom need to dose Mg or Ca.
I simply figured that using the KCl softened water would make dosing Potassium easier. But if the 4x cost or other unusual health factors are an issue then the decision is pretty easy to make.