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Substrate idea and water quality questions



I am thinking about trying a new substrate clay in lieu of laterite.  It is 
pyrophyllite clay, as described on the web at:
 http://www.genhydro.com/pyroclay.html
It is supposed to slow-release a wide spectrum of nutrient minerals, which 
should help my otherwise pitiful water to support life.

I am using Natural Gold now, and the improvement over other things I have 
been trying is minimal at best.  I just got the latest water quality report 
of inorganic contaminants, and it is amazing what is NOT in my water.

I'll just say what is---Na 17.6 mg/l ; Flouride 0.35 mg/l ; Sulfate 4.0 mg/l ;
 Chloride 4.0 mg/l ; Hydrogen Sulfide 0.68 mg/l ; Fe 0.19 mg/l ; Mn 0.14 mg/l 
;
Silica (as SiO2 ) 42.2 mg/l ; Color (whatever that means) 8.0mg/l

Here's one of those weird things.  Mg is 4.01 mg/l, Ca(as CaCO3) is 26.4 
mg/l, Hardness(as CaCO3) is 70.7 mg/l, and KH (as CaCO3) is 90.2 mg/l.  I 
thought there should be  a closer relationship amongst these readings.  Since 
Barium is listed as ND (not detectable), I would think that if hardness and 
alkalinity are both listed in terms of CaCO3, then there should be a very 
similar reading for all of these things.  There isn't enough sulfate showing 
to account for the high alkalinity, and the calcium and magnesium don't add 
up to the hardness.  Strontium isn't listed, could there be that much of it 
in my water?  The amount of Fe, even if at a plus2 valence, is not enough to 
get it that high.

As for N-P-K, neither potassium nor phosphorus are listed as being or not 
being detected.  NO3, NO2, and NH3/4 all show as ND, so my fertilizer/plant 
food needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Now, mind you, some folks on this list keep fish in their tanks for the sake 
of providing food for the plants.  I, on the other hand am trying to grow 
plants to keep the nitrates and algae under control, and my fish a Amazon 
drainage soft-water critters.  This means I don't want to get too much Ca or 
Mg or CO3 in my tanks, and I would like to keep conductivity down, which may 
be difficult when providing for the needs of the plants.

I ordered the six-pack from Homegrown so I can mix some PMDD based on my 
water, and my goals of keeping the water soft, yet getting plants to grow.  I 
paid for two-day shipping, and it left Tuesday, but UPS didn't have it 
delivered as of Friday.  Typical for Boise.

So now I'm not sure what I need to do here.  I don't want to increase Ca, Mg, 
or CO3 content.  I should have enough coming into the tanks during weekly 
water changes, based on what's in this water report.  I have pumice, redart 
(No it isn't Red Art- it's not even pronounced like Red Art) clay and peat in 
my current 30-gallon plant tank, which has been my test tank.  I want to get 
this one working, then set up the others based on the success of this one.  
The redart drives my Fe readings up to .5mg/l.  I am thinking of setting up a 
second 30-gal with this pyrophyllite clay in place of the redart, and perhaps 
using twice the recommended 10 gr/gal.  It should according to the web site 
article provide a broad-spectrum of nutrients.  I suspect that conductivity 
will rise, and if so, I will deal with that when I come to it, or just ignore 
it and keep fish in this tank for sake of the plants.

So, now this post is certainly long enough.  I welcome any and all 
comments/feedback, from esperts and novices alike.

Bob Dixon
(the threads from this one should get R. Miller's plant discussion ratio back 
where I think he wants it)