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Re: water hardening / wallichii follow up
My tap water is extremely high in phosphates and
nitrates. Must be some farm runoff or something. I
can't use it without getting lots of hair algae. I
could invest in a ton of phosphate absorber or
reconstitute...
I've been using those calcium carbonate diet
suppliment pills. You're right, they don't dissolve
very easily. But, I've noticed that soon after I add
it, the hardness registers higher than it eventually
will. That is, the hardness has tended to decline,
not rise.
I guess what I'd rather do is switch to something more
reliable for reconstitution. So far, I have been
unable to find an exact water change size and exact
recipe to leave me with exactly the same water
parameters before and after a change. Now that
Seachem's Equilibrium is reformulated, I may give that
a try. From what little experience I have, I think
that the ratios of calcium and magnesium are
important, though I can't say why. You may remember
my tiny leaf problem from a while back. While
somewhat reliable, my current formulation has solved
that problem. From here, I move on to what is
described in the second sentence of this paragraph.
I would like to shoot for a hardness of 6-7 dGH. I
have found that my wallichii tends to better when 1)
the hardness is 8 or below, even when there has been
no imput of calcium for a long time, 2) when my co2
level is adequate (rare), and 3) when micronutrient
levels are raised a bit over normal. My tank
conditions are unstable now, but I can definitely see
it grow better when all those conditions exist.
Letting it grow long before trimming also helps. I'll
bet that if I can keep the hardness where I want it,
set up my high pressure system, and keep up with the
nutrients, my wallichii will do well. I don't think
there's any magic bullet for keeping this plant. A
few factors play a part. Thoughts?
I also have some rams in the tank, and some Eusteralis
stellata on the way. The one true soft water plant?
6-7 seems to be a good hardness to satisfy one and
all, does it not?
Speaking of hardness, I was looking through Nature
Aquarium World today. Almost all the tanks have a
hardness of 2 dGH. 2! Why so low?
Look at the wallichii on pages 11 and 67. It's alive
and growing, but could look better. Now look at the
stuff on pages 124-125 in the top center. THAT'S what
it should look like.
Thanks so much, Cavan
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