naturalizing my aquarium

[jemanser]

I have 55g FW aquarium and removed the plastic plants and planted the real McCoys. I have learned a lot by reading various articles at this site and referenced articles. My aquarium is over a year old and I have 11 fish all growing well(3-koi angels, 2-congo tetras, 1 flagtail, cory, and african knife, & 3-red rainbows). My plants c/o 3 amazon swords, 4 javas growing on Malaysian driftwood, 2 apon. 1 ludwigia,, 2 hygrophilia & Italian vallisneria, and 4 anubias. My lighting is a 192 jbj system and my substrate is 60/40 gravel/eco-complete mix. Immediately I saw nutritional deficits in my swords. They developed pin holes which expanded and the older leaves had yellow areas, consistent with what I believe is a potassium deficiency. I did more reading and discovered that my softner although lowering my GH from 200 to 20 was also replacing all minerals in my county water with sodium/chloride and thus starving my plants. Questions: #1- Should I forget the softner all together? My raw water's pH is ~7.2 ,KH~160 and GH ~200. I have already bought flourish and given my lighting at almost 4watts/g, I am thinking of adding co2 either bought or a DIY. I want my plants to thrive. I just bought a fluval 304-not set up yet- and I guess I can play with the filter media (ie peat) to soften the water( that"s why I used the driftwood). Question #2- Which is better for the plants(and fish), Soft water with minerals and K added or Hard water with similar minerals added? Question #3- Do the experts use carbon in their filtration systems when growing aqautic plants? P.S. I would like to keep this simple if possible.

 

[Sully]

simple it will be.

your "raw" tap water is fine for your fish. You do not need the softened water.

peat is an interesting additive to utilize. in either the filter or as a compnonenet of the substrate. It is organic. it decays. because of the ion exchange (the process which softens the water) you also run the risk of hydrogen sulfide in your tank. very, very bad for your fishes. I would nt bother with trying to soften the waater a bit.

Start with the tap waer and see how the plants do. are you certain that the leaf problem with pin holes is not really something to do with your angel fish? I know my angels always nibble on sword leaves. They munch a bit and they clean the leaves for spawning purposes.

Carbon. it is one of those things that i think of as evidence of the manner in which the lfs preys on the new hobbyists. Carbon is not required--and definitely not in a planted tank. you wanted it simple so i will not get into much discussion at all.

You can achieve the same end by performing large volume weekly water canges as you do with carbon. For a whole lot less money.

hope that helps--if you want we can--and i am certain several others on this board can--discuss it in greater depth.

 

[Roan Art]

I have 55g FW aquarium and removed the plastic plants and planted the real McCoys. I have learned a lot by reading various articles at this site and referenced articles. My aquarium is over a year old and I have 11 fish all growing well(3-koi angels, 2-congo tetras, 1 flagtail, cory, and african knife, & 3-red rainbows).

Are those Irian rainbows? If they are they grow to 6". You might want to keep that in mind if you are thinking of adding 3 more for a full school.

As for the plants: you might want to post a copy of this in the Plants Forum as well as here.

Ditch the softened water. You're right, you are starving the plants. They need the minerals and stuff that's in your tap water. Just use regular tap water with a conditioner (Prime is very good). Dunno about your KH and GH because those numbers are different than what I work with, but your pH is fine at 7.2. You don't need to lower it.

As for the rest, I could hazard a guess and I think I'd be correct, but I won't be able to explain *why*. Ergo, you're better off posting in the Plants forum and/or waiting for someone more knowledgeable to pick up on your post.

Roan