Re: Scarlet Hygro and slow growth of plants without water changes

["Alysoun McLaughlin" <alysoun.mclaughlin at ncsl_org>]

>You have all the classic symptoms of a shortage of calcium. I always use
>calcium carbonate even if it dissolves slower than CaCl because the high


And it just hadn't occurred to me to draw a parallel between the rotala's
growth and the roots of the hygro...

Calcium carbonate is just limestone, right?  Should it should still be
leaching out of lace rock, even if the rock's been in a tank for a few
years?  We cannibalized most of our lace rock when we set up a paludarium
(the nooks and crannies look great, covered in java moss), but I should be
able to scavenge some more of it.

I've always been wary of limestone, because our water comes out of the tap
with a high pH to begin with, and medium to high hardness (depends on what
time of day).  I've got bogwood in the tank and peat in the filter, to make
some effort at keeping the apistos comfortable, but the pH doesn't go below
7, maybe 6.8.  I also plan on setting up CO2, so I'm sure that will help to
counteract the effects of the limestone.  I haven't killed a fish through
ignorance in a long time, and I don't want to do it through
experimentation -- especially since my taste in fish is a lot more expensive
now than it used to be.

Well, it looks like it will be another one of those fish tank weekends.

Thanks, Steve.

Alysoun McLaughlin
alysoun at planetall_com
In the Maryland suburbs of D.C.
The Potomac Valley Aquarium Society is having a mega-auction in Gaithersburg
on Sunday -- if you're in the area, you should check it out.   For more
information, go to http://www.pvas.com/auctions.htm

---

• Prev by Date: Re: Lighting problem
• Next by Date: Re: SAEs and Aggression
• Prev by thread: Re: Scarlet Hygro and slow growth of plants without water changes
• Next by thread: SAEs and Aggression
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread