Params?

C

catfishcity

AC Members
Dec 19, 2008
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I have a 20 gallon tank that i just redid to be a planted tank. i used old filter, part of the old water, and used some of the gravel to seed the new gravel. i just took my params and they are:

Nitrite 0-.5
Hardness (GH) 300 ?????
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity (KH) 80
PH 7.4
Nitrate 20
Ammonia 0

There are no plants or fish in the tank right now but a am getting a plant package delivered to me tomorrow so there will be a couple plants in tomorrow. will these params be ok for the plant. Why is my Hardness so high, what should it be at and how do i lower it.
 
Yes the plants will be fine and will help cycle the tank. Tap water in certain areas is harder than others. My water is also on the hard side. The easy way to soften it up is to buy driftwood. The driftwood has tannins in the wood. Those will leach out of the wood and help soften the water. It is a good idea to either boil the wood for a few hours before you put in the tank. Otherwise the water will be tea colored. Its not a bad thing and if you like it thats fine too. Wood will leach out tannins for months and even years.
 
thanks for the info blown i am definately going to get some driftwood when i go to my LFS. i am going to be keeping 10-14 neon tetras, 5 corys, 1 dwarf gourami
 
catfishcity said:
I have a 20 gallon tank that i just redid to be a planted tank. i used old filter, part of the old water, and used some of the gravel to seed the new gravel. i just took my params and they are:

Nitrite 0-.5
Hardness (GH) 300 ?????
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity (KH) 80
PH 7.4
Nitrate 20
Ammonia 0

There are no plants or fish in the tank right now but a am getting a plant package delivered to me tomorrow so there will be a couple plants in tomorrow. will these params be ok for the plant. Why is my Hardness so high, what should it be at and how do i lower it.
Click to expand...

300mg/l for GH or 16 degrees doesn't sound right when you have 4dkh.
I would retest or obtain a water quality report from your local water districts web site for a base reference.
20mg/l of N03 is really good. You will also need to know FE and P04 levels of your source water, if you are going to supplement nutrients. Those can also be obtained from said report.
 
It's not uncommon. Lots of magnesium sulphate in the water will have that effect. My water is GH9 KH4.
 
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