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Re: hardness shock for plants??




Darrell Roze writes:

> With all this discussion on pH shock for fish, I thought I would throw
> in a bit of a twist.  What about hardness shock for plants?  An article
> in FAMA a few years back stated plants can be shocked by changes in the
> hardness of the water they are placed, and that the "shock" could be
> mitigated against by slowly introducing the plants to the new environment 
> - sounds suspiciously similar to floating fish.  The statement was not made
> toward one type, or family, of plants.  Do you think this is correct,
> or could it be the excrement I suspect it is?

You must have a good nose for excrement :-), I think you found some.

At my favorite LFS the tap water they use in their tanks runs 6-7 dGH.
The water in my tanks run 1-2 dGH.  I move plants back and forth and
have never seen "shock" at either end.  I imagine that big changes in
salinity might shock plants, as when plants grown in fresh water are
abruptly moved into a brackish water tank.

What do you suppose would be the symptoms of hardness shock?  The victim
turns green and emits oxygen bubbles?

Plants do seem to react - in fact to adapt - to different water
conditions, but I don't see a "shock" effect.  Whatever the changes are
they seem to happen over a fairly extended period, from weeks to months
- maybe even years.


Roger Miller