# plants cultivation and hard water



## Marek B. (Jan 22, 2005)

Is it possible to grow successfully plants including the difficult ones in hard water of 20gH and 10 kH provided that all other water parametres(nutrients), CO2 and light are at the correct level? What I mean by successfully is no algae and perfect plant condition.Have you any positive experiences?


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## alexperez (Oct 8, 2004)

I had well water in North Carolina that had a KH of 12 and a GH of ~13 (it went up or down by a few degrees depending on water levels).
And I was able to grow most plants without any trouble. Some plants that
"need soft water" did not do so well, while others that "need soft water" did geat. IMHO I think you should go ahead and try the plant you want to grow
it might do better than you thought or it might not?


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

You will have a hard time with Toninas and related plants, but other than that, most other difficult, "soft water" plants will do just fine.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I have KH of 16 in my 55G tank and I have no problem growing common plants like Hygro, Sag, Rotala, Giant Hairgrass and others. I've never tried the hardier to grow plants with high KH.


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## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

I've been able to keep all sorts of supposedly soft water plants in KH 12-14, GH 16-18, pH 7.2 water (an African Rift Lake cichlid tank) with CO2 supplementation. Compared to my grow-out tank, which has much softer water but nearly identical lighting and CO2 levels, the plants in the hard water seem to grow a bit more slowly but do just fine otherwise. I'm currently keeping Rotala macrandra, Myriophyllum matogrossense 'Green', Didiplis diandra, and Cabomba furcata in my ARLC tank successfully.


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## iris600 (Feb 12, 2004)

I grow in hard water, and I have no problem with crypts, riccia, pellia, rotala indica, marsilea crenata or minutua, didiplis diandra, several types of moss, hemianthus microanthemoides, chain swords, micrograss, nymphae, stargrass, etc.


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## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

I agree completely. I have my doubts about many plants being 'soft water only'. There may be some plants like Ludwigia 'Panatanal' that require something different but I'm not sure about it yet. I've never tried to grow Tonina but L. 'Pantanal' basically dissolved in my tank. Don't take that as a testament to the fact that it can't be grown in hard water though, it could easily have been my calcareous substate that killed it. There were too many other factors involved for me to say objectively that it was hard water that was the cause. I had no success with R. macrandra at first, but after I learned more about nutrients, CO2 and light levels, it just took off. I've heard Mr. Barr make statements to the same effect (although I hesitate to quote him in any case  ). His knowledge of the way hard water affects plants is miles above my experience. Maybe plantbrain can give some feedback to my inexperienced observations here


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

Jeff Senske and Luis Navarro live in Houston, and Luis told me they have really hard water there. Their plant options don't seem too limited, right?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

There are very few plants that NEED soft water to thrive. In my experience it's hasn't been that they need soft water either. It seems to be that they prefer the acidity that the soft water has so using an acidic substrate like Flora Base or Aquasoil will do wonders. I'm growing Tonina in my well water that comes out at 12 GH and 3 KH in aquasoil just fine. I tried it in another tank that uses the same water and has Flourite and it slowly melted away.


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

I often hear low kh is more important than low gh for Toninas. Anybody growing Tonina well at kh>=6? t. fluviatilis did ok, not great for while when my tank kh=4, now that kh increased to 6, it pretty much died. I kept ph the same 6.6-6.7(so more CO2 now).


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

It does well in my tanks, grows 2-3" a week(both species).

If I had a nickel for every person that claimed each plant was a soft water plant, I'd be very rich today.

I got into the hobby and there were like 20 plants available, then 40, then 60, then 100, now there are 300+ species.

Each new weed that came down the pipe had all sorts of "special needs".
I've been hearing the same thing for the last 15 years and everytime it's been wrong.

Blah..........

I do feel some plants(many 3-5 species out of 300+) do "better"(they still grow in harder water) in KH ranges of 3-5, but less is certainly never needed.

regards, 
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
[email protected] Get connected
www.BarrReport.com Get the information


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I have no trouble growing both Tonia species at a KH of 3-5 in plain old flourite, grows 2-3" weekly.

I've heard soft water plant stories since I started in the hobby as a kid 30 years ago. I sold lots of water sprite(It must have aged rain water to grow! I was told, I used the Indiana limestone tap water).

In the late 70's and 80's folks had about 30-40 species available via MO.
These all had "special needs" soft water etc back then as well.
Then 50-75 species in the early 90's and 200+ after the late 1990's.
Each new plant had "special needs".

I've heard substrate stories, I've heard tannic acids, I've heard low/no PO4, I've heard soft water stories about every one, I've heard heating cables are needed, pH controllers, anything above 15ppm CO2 will kill fish, excess this or that will kill the plant.

I'm still looking for this plant that is so wimpy.

Some plants, perhaps 3-5 do better in KH's of 3-5 degrees, but not many, about 1% of the plants available to us.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
[email protected] Get connected
www.BarrReport.com Get the information


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