Plants in Softwater tank

[anewbie]

@anewbie : Let's be clear, your tank is definitely true softwater but not blackwater. Also you have quite high stocking densities, and consequently a lot more nutrients coming from fish food and wasteproducts.


Interesting, because the bottles listed Ca just two years ago (that's when I bought the last bottle myself), so they must have changed the ingredients.

Well - the ec is below 30 and the ph below 6 so by those definitions it is blackwater. Not sure on the density thing as the dithers in this 29 are all under 1/2 the size of a n. margitas but i will take your word on the density.

 

[Phil_1983]

@anewbie
That is an interesting thread. I will read through it since you are discussing a lot of topics that I am actually thinking about right now, as well.

@Mac
I guess they must have changed. I checked on my bottle if there are any differences between the declaration and the one on their website, but it really seems like they got rid of the Ca.

 

[MacZ]

Well - the ec is below 30 and the ph below 6 so by those definitions it is blackwater. Not sure on the density thing as the dithers in this 29 are all under 1/2 the size of a n. margitas but i will take your word on the density.

Blackwater is defined by EC under 10µS/cm and pH under 5 with a . Clearwater goes up to 20µS/cm and a pH of 6 and Whitewater up to 50 and 7.5. I've reiterated this over and over here. All of these fall under "softwater".

I guess they must have changed. I checked on my bottle if there are any differences between the declaration and the one on their website, but it really seems like they got rid of the Ca.

That's really unfortunate, I liked that stuff because it was (for once!) a good all-in-one.

 

[anewbie]

Blackwater is defined by EC under 10µS/cm and pH under 5 with a . Clearwater goes up to 20µS/cm and a pH of 6 and Whitewater up to 50 and 7.5. I've reiterated this over and over here. All of these fall under "softwater".

I surrender but i want to stress for @Phil_1983 that what makes the plants do well (specifically soft water plants) is the low ph as it allows them to suck up nutrients more efficiently (at least that is what i read). As for my actual ph - i have no clue what it is - it could be as low as 4.5 - or as high as 6 - i take this from the aquariums i do monitor where the 'blackwater' tank thinks it is about 5.5 and the discus tank think it is at 4.6 but i really don't trust these ph pens. I do have a hand held ph pen and i can see what it sez but again i don't really trust it - when i go down later today i'll try api test if it is still good though again it is all a bit of black magic. I don't remember the par i set this aquarium to - i want to say it is between 30 or 40 at the bottom. Most of the aquariums i had re-adjusted the light to be below 20 at the bottom but as i noted left this one a bit higher for the s. repens. I know a couple of the aquariums have almost no light at the bottom including the 20 with frog bit (shown earlier in this thread) and the 65 which has a thick nest of vals at the top.

The point is that if you start to get algae (esp hard alage) on the plants or glass you need to turn the lights down as not so much light is needed if the ph is low. However if your plant transition from a previous environment you will get hair algae and i would just remove it duing water changes until things become stable which can take 6 months depending on the type of plants and other conditions.

On the 29s i do between 35% and 55% water changes weekly so they usually have fresh water.

 

[Phil_1983]

Thanks @anewebie. I didn't know these connection between light and pH. Really interesting.

For now I do not see any algae and just limited growth. Especially the nymphaea lotus is kinda producing a new leaf every other day.
But, to be honest, I do not know the par I offer my plants, since I do not have a measuring device, but I run the 48W RGBW at max 50% for most of the day, which does not seem bright to my eyes due to the dark stain of the water.

 

[anewbie]

Last post for the record i doubled check the numbers - the api test said the ph was around 6.4 and the ec pen said the ec was 32. The ph pen said 5.9 to 6.1 (it kept oscallating) but in the discus tank it said 3.9 and the discus monitor said 4.6 so i think it was reading low. So i will go with the api test and said the ph is higher than i want which means i'll be adding more leaves - i did then immediately test several other tanks in the room (there are 15 downstairs) and i only tested 3 and they were all lower ph but most had been setup for longer period of time.
--
With regards to the light and 48 watt (a) eyes can be deceiving and esp phone camera as they auto-correct (b) the height of the tank plays a big role on light at the bottom - i don't see the height and if i did i wouldn't know off hand however lily are a special case as they will send the leaves higher and higher until they reach the surface and then the light is much stronger. As i noted i am not a fan of lilies and over time they become unmanageable - combined with their unexpected dormant periods you never know if you will have a tank stuff full of lily or bare - i definitely avoid most lilies though i have one that is much more controlled in a fashion called Nymphaea micrantha.

 

[Phil_1983]

Okay, I understand what you're saying. I will keep an eye on the lighting situation.

Regarding lilies... I really like them, even though they can become a pest. I had this issue with a discus aquarium a long time ago. If they start to take over, I will intervene somehow. For now, I'm just happy to see something happening in the tank.

I have attached a picture taken yesterday, immediately after changing the water. I still have some smaller pieces of driftwood and twigs in a bucket of water. Once they have sunk, they will go into the tank too.


You can really see what you were talking about. The camera makes the tank look much brighter than it does in real life.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Yes, I read parts of it and I like it so far. I was just curious, because the Tropica Specialized fertililzer doesn't mention Ca in its "list of ingedrients".

It probably won't include calcium (Ca), mainly because calcium sulphate (CaSO4.2H2O) is insoluble, which limits the salts (MgSO4.7H2O etc) you can use. I've got hard, alkaline tap water so I can use that to add calcium and bicarbonate (dKH). If I didn't? I'd use calcium chloride (CaCl2.nH2O) or calcium sulphate as my calcium source.

Cheers Darrel