Setting up a plant tank(90G)...

I was curious about using some rock that I've had for 10 years(in
cichlid tanks)...

Its cave rock. My LFS has highly recommended that I NOT use it in the
plant tank because the water would leach minerals and stuff out of it
and harden my already hard water. I used a large portion of RO water to
soften my water a bit and the LFS store guy added that it would increase
the leaching even more...

Anyone got any ideas? I'm looking at going with Lace rock if it turns
out that plants dont like this rock..

Greg Dalton wrote:

Setting up a plant tank(90G)...

I was curious about using some rock that I've had for 10 years(in
cichlid tanks)...

Its cave rock. My LFS has highly recommended that I NOT use it in the
plant tank because the water would leach minerals and stuff out of it
and harden my already hard water. I used a large portion of RO water to
soften my water a bit and the LFS store guy added that it would increase
the leaching even more...

Your fish store guy seems to be under the impression that hard water is bad
for plants. This is not the case. Although some of us choose to have soft
water tanks for SOFT WATER FISH, the vast majority of aquatic plants do
better in hard water than soft.

What are your water parameters?

Greg Dalton wrote in message

I was curious about using some rock that I've had for 10 years(in
cichlid tanks)...
Its cave rock. My LFS has highly recommended that I NOT use it in the
plant tank because the water would leach minerals and stuff out of it
and harden my already hard water. I used a large portion of RO water to
soften my water a bit and the LFS store guy added that it would increase
the leaching even more...
Anyone got any ideas? I'm looking at going with Lace rock if it turns
out that plants dont like this rock..

Hi Greg,

You can use pool acid, eg HCL, muritic acid, to test the rock for
cabonates. Foam= carbonates, mostly CaCO3.
I use rocks that have limestone and other pieces of shell etc in them
without issue, but if you plan a lot of it, it might cause some rise
in KH/GH.

But soft water or RO water was and is not needed for a nice planted
tank, that is simply put, one of the largest myths about planted
tanks.

Plants want CO2 and nutrients, not soft, poorly buffered nutrient poor
water.

Frequency of water changes also plays a role here. The more you do,
the less it will effect the tank. CaCO3 in a big block is very slow to
dissolve.

RO water taste good, but it's not useful for plants, perhaps for a
very few fish species, but it causes more problems and work for
planted tank hobbyist concerned with the plants themselves.
My GH is 25, KH was 10, plant did great, eg to the level of Amano's
pictures. So................

Planted tanks need at least 3 KH and GH. Why take it out then add it
back again? You can blend it with tap water to get whatever KH/GH you
want for your fish.
Tap water is full of plant nutrients in most cases.


Regards,
Tom Barr

Is it possible to get this pool acid from a pool store ? How about a friend
with a pool?

If the rock foams does that mean its bad?



" wrote:

Greg Dalton wrote in message

I was curious about using some rock that I've had for 10 years(in
cichlid tanks)...
Its cave rock. My LFS has highly recommended that I NOT use it in the
plant tank because the water would leach minerals and stuff out of it
and harden my already hard water. I used a large portion of RO water to
soften my water a bit and the LFS store guy added that it would increase
the leaching even more...
Anyone got any ideas? I'm looking at going with Lace rock if it turns
out that plants dont like this rock..

Hi Greg,

You can use pool acid, eg HCL, muritic acid, to test the rock for
cabonates. Foam= carbonates, mostly CaCO3.
I use rocks that have limestone and other pieces of shell etc in them
without issue, but if you plan a lot of it, it might cause some rise
in KH/GH.

But soft water or RO water was and is not needed for a nice planted
tank, that is simply put, one of the largest myths about planted
tanks.

Plants want CO2 and nutrients, not soft, poorly buffered nutrient poor
water.

Frequency of water changes also plays a role here. The more you do,
the less it will effect the tank. CaCO3 in a big block is very slow to
dissolve.

RO water taste good, but it's not useful for plants, perhaps for a
very few fish species, but it causes more problems and work for
planted tank hobbyist concerned with the plants themselves.
My GH is 25, KH was 10, plant did great, eg to the level of Amano's
pictures. So................

Planted tanks need at least 3 KH and GH. Why take it out then add it
back again? You can blend it with tap water to get whatever KH/GH you
want for your fish.
Tap water is full of plant nutrients in most cases.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Greg Dalton wrote in message ...
Is it possible to get this pool acid from a pool store ? How about a friend
with a pool?

Perhaps, or buy it and give them the extra, I think it's pretty cheap.

If the rock foams does that mean its bad?

Means there's CaCO3 which is what will slowly raise the both the GH
and the KH if ground up into fine grains and you don't do many or
large water changes.
GH rising has little effect any most every plant and it's not fast
with CaCO3 rocks, abd the KH will also rise, but it can effect the CO2
readings by changing the pH you need reach to get the correct CO2
level.
But it's slow to dissolve and be added to the water with CaCO3. Large
weekly water changes should prevent most any problem with the rocks,
but if you have a very high porous gravel from CaCO3, as often are
used in Marine tanks then the KH/GH is added much faster(fine grain
aragonite gravels etc).

The other thing to consider, although the KH may rise and the needed
target pH will also rise, the amount of CO2 being added is still the
same and the plant's CO2 remain the same.
Folks often forget that part.
You can check a pH/KH/CO2 table to see how this works.

Folks can vary their KH's and see if the CO2 ppm mg/l stays the
same(or pretty close, there is some error in the measurements of pH
and KH).
Here's a table:

www.sfbaaps.com
Also www.thekrib.com
Regards,
Tom Barr