David:
I don't have really good water, I have GREAT water. Out of the tap my pH is about 7.4, add co2 and it becomes 6.4. My water is as soft as it gets. KH is nearly 0 deg out of the tap, GH is 2 deg. Great water. No RO needed here.
I do add GH/KH booster to my tank, to get KH up to 4, GH 6, for my plants, but the fish don't seem to mind.
BK:
The macrandra's doing pretty well. Starting to really show more red. Raising my GH has really started to improve my red plants. I think I need new bulbs, but other than that they are growing great. However, I haver discovered that macrandra doesn't like bing sprayed with Excel, which brings me to the next topic.
I still have a small bit of algae on some of the plants, but in the rest of the tank it's under control. I started spraying down the tank surfaces with a 3:1 dilution of Excel during water changes. Kills the algae, but my Macrandra, Bolbitis, and Reineckii melt if they get sprayed.
That's interesting about how fast your Red Macrandra grows, other than my Rotala Colorata, it's my fastest grower.
