Bert2oo1
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2016
- Messages
- 2,562
Yes this water is soft. I turned to RO water for a couple reasons.
I had read long ago that I would want to keep my TDS around 150 for best results but I am on well (rock water).
I have a softener on the system as well. I caught water from the tap prior to the softener and the GH was like 27 best I can remember so I decided to go to the RO water and use GH booster to elevate the TDS of each jug of water to 125-150 prior to water change.
But your description of what your plants are doing is spot on with this tank but mostly effects the AR in this one.
In my 90g I face very similar issues as well with considerably more of the melt.
Both tanks I use the RO water in.
The 90 I have reduced the CO2 in due to when the CO2 ppm hit at the recommended count of 35 ppm my PH dropped to like 6.4 which is pretty low. I melted a lot of my plants there.
Maybe I should take your recommendations and consider dropping micros to every other day and start doing 25/75 with tap (25rock) and 75 RO water change and see if the added GH will settle things out better in both tanks.
I was planning to add shrimp to the 20 long once I start my 40b and move my cardinals out of it.
Wouldn't the GH/KH and TDS be out of line for them at those levels? How would I balance the planted tank and have water quality for the shrimp as well?
I know this is a lot but I'm trying to ask while my mind is fresh or I'll forget....lol
Thanks for all the help guys!
That's still considerably soft at 75. I've never kept shrimp so I'm not really sure to be honest.
Dropping the co2 isn't a great idea. If the melt is worse due to the co2 then that means nutrients are being blocked by something (over dose of micro's or another nutrient). I really struggled to find a balance in both my old and new tank. I'm growing the best plants I ever have in this 60g but it's still not perfect.
In the end I got so sick of chasing the micro issue that I added soil under my Eco so I never have to dose it lol. I've found its made balancing a lot easier. Me and caliban07 had a hell of a time trying to work out the right fert dosages etc with soft water and Eco complete. Both ended up with soil and looked more into hardness.
Barr and the big wigs at planted tank etc can preach all they like about micro's not causing
toxicity but I believe it is very common in tanks with soft water.