Well this sounds like very good news for me. I have almost 0% interest in
breeding. So that is not a concern I was only fearing that some of the fish
may die from the high pH. On the bright side its very stable and I doubt it
will fluctate much even when I start adding CO2 which I will start when I
get 1 more watt per gallon and a plant that does not grow insanely fast like
the 2 kinds I currently have.

Its good to hear that it was a myth that plants "need" low pH, cause I was
looking at a plant distrubutors site and they only listed like 2 or 3 plants
that would be ok in higher pH. Thanks for taking the time to respond as I
wanted to know now before I spead too much time and money only to find out
that my garbage can turned into a storage container for dead plants.


" wrote in message
om...
For the fish you want to keep: you don't need the RO, unless breeding
is a serious desire.

Use the tap, it's fine. Add CO2 and don't worry about PO4. You may
need to add PO4 in relatively small amounts, the PO4 they add to water
systems/or that may be present in well water etc is not enough to have
a significant effect on the pH/KH issue except perhaps in very extreme
cases.

Using pH buffers is complelety out for a simple reason, plants do not
grow on "buffer" and plants are not made up of 40+% dry weight
"buffer", they are made up of 40% + of Carbon.

So add what the plants need, CO2, the plants do not care about pH,
they do care about good CO2. A plant will grow just as well if not
better at a pH of 7.4 and a KH of 20 as it will at a pH 6.4 and a KH
of 2.

Both pH/KH's above have 24ppm of CO2.

It is a _myth_ that plants "prefer" soft water.
If you want the plants to grow better, add CO2.

You may want RO for the fish, but it's not anything anyone needs for
the plants.

I've been through this with dozens upon dozens of people over the
years and they now have plain tap water, Cardinals, Rummy noses all
doing great in their hard tap water, and my own tanks have had very
hard tap water in the past also and these same fish.

Some folks needed me to tell them you don't need RO 25x before they
got it, but a few years later they thank you.

I've done this myself and am not citing some myth ridden books of
years past. If you claim to know of a soft water only true submersed
growth plant, I'd like to hear about it. I've raised 250+ species and
ain't found one yet.

Regards,
Tom Barr