I'm surprised you did a show on plants for hard water. I'm glad you did. I agree with all of your selections from personal experience. I would probably say there are fewer plants than people think that won't tolerate harder water. I've ran into a few, like red root floater and alternantheras.
You are totally right. I think most the time it's light that's an issue ...or some really colorful fancy plant in hard waters. Thanks for commenting my friend!
I should've looked for this sooner. I struggle with most of the plants I've tried. Jungle Val, dwarf hair grass, and saggitarius are doing great for me. One dwarf sag took over a 10 gallon betta tank in a few months.
Nice to have this information all in one place. The only three I don't have are limnophila, bolbitis and hair grass. Water wisteria is definitely one plant that everyone should have. Another easy stem plant is Pogostemon stellatus "octopus." It also is a good one for soaking up nitrites and out competing algae.
You know I almost included pogo. Stellatus...but only octopus or mini do well, p. stellatus dassen or p.s. helferi or bellum all melt really badly in hard water oddly enough. But thanks for mentioning that one in particular. Also... Slava Ukraine!
Thank you for the deep dive into hard water plants, I live in S. Missouri and I have 8.0 ph with 250 tds and ive noticed if i provide more micro nutrients and quality light my planted aquarium is thriving with minimal issues. I appreciate the the fact that you've givin me more plants species to try. You ROCK Alex, if you were water, you would have a 500 tds😂
I have the Asian Water Fern in my 40gal, it can get large. One leaf on mine tip to tip stretches from one side of the tank to the other. Wish I could post a pic here
This is a helpful video for me. My GH is about 11 degrees but my kH is pretty low like 2 or 3. I have found cryptocorynes are very adaptive to all water conditions and have read that many varieties may prefer hardwater since they come from limestone streams, like c. balansae for example, which happens to be one of my favorite aquatic plants. Thanks again for the video, and was so happy I was able to catch the stream the other night. Take care.
my water is basically identical to yours. but I'm in uk crypts have done the best for me but brazilencesse is a good one for a carpet. ludwigia super red mini is awesome
Yeah ludwigia and crypts have some varieties that are huge hard water lovers. But likewise, sometime the same species but a different variety can die in even a tiny hardness. Its Kind of interesting. Crypt nurri, balansea, wendtii, undulata, ulvacus and lucens all do really well
So far the best luck I’ve had with a stem plant in my hard water aquarium is water wisteria. Absolutely love the stuff. I had a really poor experience with hygrophila polysperma, all of the leaves melted (to be expected) but what I didn’t expect was that the stems melted away too. From that point my mystery snail just had a feeding frenzy and took them out. My ludwigia super red hasn’t died off yet so hopefully that can pull through.
Thank you for this, Alex. I'm trying to play catch-up on the videos I've missed. I appreciate all your hard work, and it seems to me, you've done a lot of hard work for this great video! It's highly appreciated over here.
Fun fact: I’ve only been able to get red root floaters and water lettuce to thrive in my hard water established tanks. Salvinia, frogbit, and even duck weed don’t stand a chance in my tanks. Aside from a bit of Java fern here or there. Loved the video.
Oooh that black angel looks just like mine, (so I obviously think it is) gorgeous! That light sucking black doesn't get enough attention in our shiny happy world... Even diamond tetras are too muted for a lot of folks based on apparent lack of popularity. People...eh? That's why I like fish and the Fam they bring.
I am in love with these plant info videos, please make more! We don't get the names here so we just recognize them from their leaf shape, so fun to learn all the names and then I can research them further!
I’ve had my hygrophila polysperma for over 5 years. At one point I was sick of it and pulled all of it out except for one stem and it has reproduced like crazy. I do enjoy the colors on it so I’m letting it grow back out in my 55 gallon planted tank.
My understanding is most soft water plants are adaptable to hard water (provided the ph is low enough), but most hard water plants are not adaptable to soft water because whereas soft water plants have to be more resourceful as far as minerals go, hard water plants absolutely require a decent level of hardness or they'll starve. Also something you might have mentioned is the benefit of some hard water plants like the vals, in that they can feed off of the carbon in alkalinity, which is why they can be super productive even without co2 injection. Here's a short list (Walstad mentions many of these as well): Potamogeton Ceratophyllum Chara Egeria, Elodea, Hydrilla, Lagarosiphon Najas Ranunculus Ottelia Vallisneria, Sagittaria Callitriche Stratiotes Myriophyllum
Thanks. Yeah I suppose what's common one place, may not be so common others. Our big box stores carry about 40% of these, but the majority I get from my local Seattle Fish Society or lfs once in a blue moon
This is great alex! Maybe a 'top hot water plants' could make for some good content too? Or maybe that's a bit of a misconception, and most plants will be ok until you go to a Discus-y 85? 🔥🚒
Hehe yeah honestly I don't know that list...I've hunted it down too... but I do have some plants in my head listed for a discus level hot. But most plants ideally metabolize at 65 to 75
@@Fishtory no i meant at the timestamp in the vid 5:13 in theres a cute fishy poking out and i was asking what type it is lol! Also glad i caught this video because i just found out we are moving somewhere with well water and i will need to adjust my tanks over to this new water EEK!
great information, perfect timing. im about a year into the hobby, and ready to scape yet, another tank. my liquid limestone here in Texas poses an interesting hurdle to the fish species that thrive, but im just now considering the effect of the water on certain plants while i decide what to stock the tank with:) thanks for all your research and content!
Right on. As another easy guide...most of what aquarium coop sells (plants) is hard water tollerant to 400 ppm at least and 7.5...when you get to ultra hard it's hit or miss over the 8.0 ph level too
Thanks for this video, I never thought to look at the hardness for my plants concern. I have hard af water. The api strips show 180 ppm immediately but they also show 80 ppm nitrates when the liquid test kit shows zero so....... congrats on the 40k again LOL
Great info. I have a nymphoides variety in a high tech tank that really doesn’t like it. Wants more calcium/magnesium. Still grows fast but not totally lush growth.
@@Fishtory it also took me a second to realize easy green has no calcium in it! One thing I learned from horticulture is calcium and magnesium need to go hand in hand, they cancel out the ability for the plant to take in the other nutrient. A deficiency in one might actually just be excess of the other.
what are those beautiful angelfish at 10:53? I have never seen those before. Also thanks for this video. It's encouraging me that its possible to grow beautiful big plants in my water.
I tried to put most the colorful ones in this video...sadly the brightest reds in most stem plants come from low tds, very high light. High potassium and 6.5-7.5 ph with co2
@@Fishtory yes i have pressurised co2 system and a very good high light and aqua soil but i m using borewell water ,gh is normal but my kh is 300 mg/L and ph is also high I have hygrophila difformis, alternanthera reinekki, crypt , hygrophila polysperma rosenvig these plants are doing well in my water but i want red plant ( other than alternanthera reinekki). What about ludwigia repens is this suitable for high kh water Please suggest
I'm just getting into planted tanks (I have two unplanted ones) and I was afraid there weren't very many plants I could grow because my water is very hard. I think I will try some of the ones that don't require special substrate, since the tanks are already set up and have a bunch of fish in them. Thanks for all the information!
Thank you! I have really hard water. My GH reading is around 300, KH only around 30 in the tanks. Between that and my medium at best light, crypts and anubias are my best friends. Dwarf lily and frogbit are also growing really well. Java fern, though, gets a lot black spots. The leaves die easily, but then they make baby plants. So I have a lot of baby Java fern and not so many larger ones. Extra potassium is helping, but the plants grow slowly. Time will tell if they're sustainable long term for me. I have one buce that's doing well, so I recently picked up a second type when I found some locally. I keep killing val, though. I'm going to try it again but with better substrate and planting it less deeply.
Val is an odd one...it dies over and over, but once the roots take hold finally, it goes wild. I got mine from Lucas Bretz and he had extremely hard water at the time... 800 tds or something wild like that
Also Java ferns are usually grown above the water, and rot under water for up to 6 months ... if you can get a root that's already used to water, you can have way better chances at good growth...everything sold in stores is land grown
@@Fishtory interesting on the 800 tds. My question ? Is it better to use your own water no matter that hardness? Like out of the tap my gh is 20+ drops and KH is probably just as high. (Going on memory) I was afraid to use it that hard so mix w RO. Would it be better to slowly go w straight well water (Ohio hardenss ) ? This has been my main question since I started my aquariums in December . Up to 6 at the moment all nanos pretty much .
Hey Alex, I found another of your great older videos. Clayton Idaho here and even our spring water is hard. On the subject of hygrophila polysperma, google says it is illegal to buy or sell om the US. I live in a very remote part of Idaho, so almost everything I obtain is via the post. Do you have a video for beginners on how to test water?
From my experience anubias, Val and Java fern have not thrived in my hard water. I’ve had the three for a few years without much success. I don’t understand why. Dwarf hairgrass some crypts and dwarf sag absolutely take off though.
Sounds like perhaps something is overdosing the magnesium or calcium then. Stronger light may help, but sometimes you just have such mineral rich water that it doesnt cooperate with certain plants.
I have very hard water in Belgium. I have neocaridina shrimps, Sulawesi ( Tylomenia) snails and Spixi apple snails. I have a lot of moss for the shrimps, Cryptocoryne, Javamoss , Alternanthera reineckii etcetera
Excellent overview. Went from SF Sierra melt to Texas liquid rock..Java fern need but couldn't grow ' Trident ' Crypt. ' Flamingo was an unmitigated disaster but C. wendtii grows well Hornwort and guppy grass,.Najas grow like weeds More difficult and tissue cultured varieties are problematic Water sprite and water lettuce do fine.
So with tissue cultures, try planting them in soaking wet aquasoil in a dish or shot glass like 1 to 3 inches deep and keep it wet, they'll grow emersed and then once their roots are solid (and yet used to water), you can move the plants a few months after (if there is one you really want to try again.) Best of luck to you
Ive managed to almost completely let my tiger lotus die off. Not sure what I did wrong, but it kept getting overgrown by other stuff and just never kept its leaves for any longer span of time. At the moment, a runner of my original plant is all thats left of it. Then again, I really dont do anything special for my plants except for some nutrient rich substrate layer below some sand. I think about a third of the plant species I originally got, didnt make it in the new tank, but the rest has just grown in nicely and im slowly filling in the empty spots with the surviving plants. I wasnt aware just how big an amazon sword can grow :D Gonna keep an eye out for a few of the plants mentioned here, despite having soft water. Thanks for the suggestions :)
@@angiebear8727 Nah It will just make my other plants grow faster, meaning I have to do even more maintainance. And spending additional money and time on something, that will mainly cause more effort just isnt me. Also for the price of a bottle of liquid fertilizer I can instead buy a plant and just see if it can survive in my established tanks as they are. Also also Ive used liquid fertilizer in the past and from what I could tell, it mainly made my algae grow faster. In general I like to treat my aquarium as an ecosystem to the extend possible. So if a plant thrives, thats great, if not, thats also fine. My fish are doing well, showing great colors, there is breeding activity in both of my tanks and they are completely overgrown with plants (granted they are almost exclusively easy plants). Thats the way ive done it for over 15 years and I enjoy my tanks this way, but everyone does it differently and as long as the fish are thriving I dont see anything wrong with that.
@@baum8981 as long as your fish are happy and healthy then absolutely that is the most important thing. Personally I use API liquid fertilizer once a week, sometimes I go longer in between. It is priced fairly low. I do have a lot of stem plants though and the more they grow, the more I trim, the more I get. Saves me tons of cash and haven’t had any severe algae issues. But obviously do not only what works best for you, also what you enjoy. Have a great day. 😁
Hi Alex, I have been researching a second 29 gallon aquarium for the last three months. I've decided that rather than tailoring the water parameters to the plants and inhabitants, I'll reverse course and tailor the plants and inhabitants to my tap water; pH 7.0, GH 12 degrees and KH 8 degrees. I live roughly six miles from the southern shore of Lake Ontario which is the source of our freshwater. Your information will come in handy for plant choices. Thanks, Dan
We have a lot of limestone in the area. My water's ph is 8.4 with a KH and GH of 450 ppm. What grows in my tank is really hit or miss. Crypts, anubias, valisaneria, aponogetons, and water sprite grow well for me. I have a java fern rhizome....it exists. Anything else melts. I've also learned that a nutrient-rich substrate for rooted plants is a must. Root tabs alone do absolutely nothing for rooted plants. Fertilizers can get tricky sometimes. I mainly noticed macronutrient deficiencies. Dosing more all-in-one fertilizer just caused algae so I bought dry ferts. I know some people will dislike my next suggestion but tannins are your friend. They help soften the water and drop ph down a bit. Driftwood, Indian Almond leaves, Adler Cones are all useful. Fluval peat granules will soften water and drop ph. I dropped my ph from 8.4 to 7.2 with peat granules once. That was my mistake because I hadn't figured out how much I needed to use.
I have strong lights, so it helps avoid algae growth, and it is food for some fish...a good hide for baby fish, and also will cure any accidental ammonia spike
Thank you! By background, do you mean plants? Because it's rotala enie, h'ra, Bangladesh and Vietnam lilac, with R. Macrandra red mini butterfly as the front line (they all like soft water and low nitrates though...and co2
Hey @alex, I don't know any one else that could answer this question better, keep up the good work. So for some reason all invertebrates in my aquarium start dwindling in numbers snails, shrimp and assellus isopods. While before hand they where all breeding. Over a span of a week they have all died one by one and my fish are totally happy. There are no nitrites, ammonia or nitrates in the aquarium and the only chems i use are water conditioner and beneficial bacteria. What could be the cause(s)?
If they died this fast (a week or less) it's likely from copper (only a few parts per million can kill them)... it could be from a hot water tank, or pipes in a house/a rodi/dehumidifier could add it to the water depending on the unit and how it works, even tools or metal with zinc and copper compounds can be enougy in some cases...so if you used water from any new sources that could do it... also if anything like windex or even soap gets in there it could happen. Other than that...over time they can die from too warm of water (over 85f or so ) or the water hardness and ph swinging up to 8.4 or higher .or too much calcium can also cause problems...and obviously any meds that treat parasites like ick , can kill them sometimes too. Short of all those things, it's hard to say...and I don't know what it would be unfortunately. I hope one of those suggestions may help you figure it out though! Sorry to hear about your tank and I wish you the best of luck in the future.
Tanks you have with floaters, do any of those tanks have HoB filters? I've found I cannot do floaters with this type of filtration, they all get sucked up
I'm having a heck of a time growing plants in my 2 125gal tanks 😔. Both are harder water than our other tanks and diatoms and black beard algae dominate over everything else unfortunately. Tried different lighting, dosing, not dosing. Adding chemical filtration to reduce phosphates, weekly water changes, and started dosing carbon (reduced the production of new algae) but still no plant growth (very very little growth on anubis) especially with the jungle val and the Java ferns. Any suggestions? Thanks for the share too, definitely saw some other plants I'm going to try. Always great content Alex!
Yeah so you probably only need potassium and micro metal nutrients (nitrates and liquid carbon are rarely the issue...and usually an excuse for the shops to sell more products sadly)... liquid carbon is usually just algaecides made of mainly a carbon base molecule actually. Unless your tanks are lightly stocked and lightly fed, they will have enough nitrates/ nitrogen. My suggestion is to get some faster growing plants... water Wisteria, jungle or corkscrew val, water sprite, pearl weed, bacopas. Any aponogeton species or Lilies (bulb plants in general live well in most water types...also vine type plants kjke Pennywarts, moneywarts or water lettuce if you have low flow....then maybe a few amazon sword plants... Ideally you want to keep up with those water changes and get light in the 6000-7000kelvin wave length for best results...also the deeper the tank, the more light needed...so flood lights from Lowes or home depot can help get plants started. Best of luck and check out more of my plant videos for tips on specific types of plants :) I'd try some of those
THANKS ALEX!! Ok that makes sense. I will try the potassium and metal micro nutrients first to see if anything changes then go from there. Awesome information though! Really appreciate the advice. Definitely will be going through your other plant videos that popped up!
Great list! Most of these have done really well for me (300tds, mostly calcium carbonate and iron, 8.2ph out of tap). Limnophilia aromatica hates me, though. I've tried it a couple times, the second time I tried floating it until it got roots but it just turned to mush. That's ok, I can handle some plants hating me as long as they all don't, lol! Alex, I was going to do one of my next videos on "easy stem plants that just keep giving", but then I saw your great video pop up today. (Have already started filming and showing how to propagate by cuttings). A couple of the plant species would be the same that you've talked about here, and I don't want it to seem like I'm ripping off your idea, and was wondering if I could have your blessing to go ahead with it? I would never want to offend you.
Hey you do you! I'm not doing anything original. Just trying to make videos for common questions, so u don't spend 30 hours writing people back haha. Please never worry about "copying" me anyhow it's and honor to know I'm talking about something people want more info on. You know better than I would..my tap is essentially RO water naturally, so my hard water tanks are all self made at home haha
@@Fishtory Thank you so much! ☺ I think people really *do* want to know about it. You covered a lot of types of plants, and your video will *definitely* help a lot of people! I got the idea from listening to a lot of replays of people's live streams, and whenever someone asks "what are some easy beginner plants to try?" A lot of the time I hear Java fern and annubias given as the only answer. I wanted to expand that answer with some super easy beginner friendly stems (For liquid rock, of course, 😉).
@@TarasTankFriends I’ll be happy to get any and all advise! Hard alkaline water and managed to massacre a half dozen plants my last attempt. I’m scared of blowing a bunch of $ and them all dying again!
Idk what our water's hardness is but I know it comes from underground and the place is on top of limestone. PH starts at 7.6 and only goes up from there without using any equipment to soften it. There isn't any setup that I arranged that dwarf sag did not thrive.
I’m so glad I found you! I just got a little 3 gallon plant and shrimp kit. It comes with bright white led 6500(?) something. I also got a plant light for another tank a hugger 14 w with “full spectrum“ that has various timers. I had some plants and killed them all. I have very hard, alkaline water and when I set up tank I thought distilled or partly distilled may help? I have some api plant tabs and the gravel is supposed to be for plants. I was under the impression it was stratum but that does not actually appear to be the case. I was wanting to cover dark gravel with some sand, at least in front as I just like it better and if I use for frogs instead of 🦐 I thought it would be better? Is that bad for plants?
I'd do 50/50 Distilled from the store and tap probably... 6500 Kelvin = a blue sky day 20 degrees north of the equator, aka ideal light for plants from the tropics
I have hard water but I cut it with RO still keep it around 8gh .. I just scared to go total hard over 300+ tds. And won’t use the water through my softener. This was a challenge. Have had a lot of melt (I do dirted FF recipe capped w sand. One tank is highly tannin. Plants not doing well there.
@Alex. I wanted to about my substrate, its 3mm gravel its 5" deep.I do still add root tabs as needed.I DON'T gravel vac it at all.Its moderately planted with co2.Am I doing the right thing by not gravel vaccing the substrate.my nitrates never hit 15ppm.I water change 50% every week.
Um it's your choice on gravel vacuuming. I tend to vac on sand ...not on gravel or aqua soils. It sounds like your filtration is doing great and totally adequate, so it's more for looks if you want to vacuum it. But I like to suck up big leaves, obvious fish poo or left over food...and hover about half and inch above the substrate. You never want to dig into that substrate unless you want to commit to doing so weekly because it destroys the natural filtration the surface area provides, and the food for tiny fish etc
@@Fishtory thanks for taking the time out to reply mate, it's appreciated. My filter is a fluval 407 which I know is plenty for a 55gallon. My aim is build up a mulm in the gravel to help feed my plants, I'm also increasing plant via new plants and cuttings from existing plants in the aquarium.Thanks again for your reply.
Only problem for me is the fact eco system aquariums usually don't look visually pleasing to look at, if there's way i can make them look good by scaping it, I'm totally into it these setups.
Thanks for the information, I fighting with hard water that I caused, I added 2 cups of crushed coral in the middle of the substrate. Do you have have some of these plants to sell, ship to South Carolina? Let me know then I can shoot you an email with my list.
why did you not put echinodorus on the list? hahaha. I think the only hygrophila that doesnt grow well in hardwater are araguaia and pinnatifida. they grow well for a month, then it just dissolved into the void. lol but they're quite hardy for sure!
Hygrophila corymbosa and polysperma are pretty bulletproof from my experiences. But I left sword plants off just because they do better in neutral to acidic water... the colors and sending out daughters is much more restrictive in hard water...BUUUT yes I left out like 100s of plants that can thrive in hard waters
@@Fishtory yeah, I also have the pink polysperma it's awesome colorful weed. agree, my red special only shows red on new leaf but it grows very often even after I haven't gave it fertilizer. Same as aponogeton (except the madagascar) cheers for sagittaria!😂
Sorry. I know some plants just don't work in some tanks/water...and some plants kill each other with chemicals in the water...it is very poorly documented and there is nearly zero info on which plants kill one another...but val and duck week fight each other... as do star grass and some crypts
I'm surprised you did a show on plants for hard water. I'm glad you did. I agree with all of your selections from personal experience. I would probably say there are fewer plants than people think that won't tolerate harder water. I've ran into a few, like red root floater and alternantheras.
You are totally right. I think most the time it's light that's an issue ...or some really colorful fancy plant in hard waters. Thanks for commenting my friend!
I saw someone selling a blue anubias look like that a bunch it was like a Facebook ad for a while.
I should've looked for this sooner. I struggle with most of the plants I've tried. Jungle Val, dwarf hair grass, and saggitarius are doing great for me. One dwarf sag took over a 10 gallon betta tank in a few months.
You can do it! Try others from this list and i think you will enjoy the plant part of the hobby, much more 😀
Nice to have this information all in one place. The only three I don't have are limnophila, bolbitis and hair grass.
Water wisteria is definitely one plant that everyone should have. Another easy stem plant is Pogostemon stellatus "octopus." It also is a good one for soaking up nitrites and out competing algae.
You know I almost included pogo. Stellatus...but only octopus or mini do well, p. stellatus dassen or p.s. helferi or bellum all melt really badly in hard water oddly enough. But thanks for mentioning that one in particular. Also... Slava Ukraine!
Thank you for the deep dive into hard water plants, I live in S. Missouri and I have 8.0 ph with 250 tds and ive noticed if i provide more micro nutrients and quality light my planted aquarium is thriving with minimal issues. I appreciate the the fact that you've givin me more plants species to try. You ROCK Alex, if you were water, you would have a 500 tds😂
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I have the Asian Water Fern in my 40gal, it can get large. One leaf on mine tip to tip stretches from one side of the tank to the other. Wish I could post a pic here
This is a helpful video for me. My GH is about 11 degrees but my kH is pretty low like 2 or 3. I have found cryptocorynes are very adaptive to all water conditions and have read that many varieties may prefer hardwater since they come from limestone streams, like c. balansae for example, which happens to be one of my favorite aquatic plants. Thanks again for the video, and was so happy I was able to catch the stream the other night. Take care.
my water is basically identical to yours. but I'm in uk crypts have done the best for me but brazilencesse is a good one for a carpet. ludwigia super red mini is awesome
Yeah ludwigia and crypts have some varieties that are huge hard water lovers. But likewise, sometime the same species but a different variety can die in even a tiny hardness. Its Kind of interesting.
Crypt nurri, balansea, wendtii, undulata, ulvacus and lucens all do really well
So far the best luck I’ve had with a stem plant in my hard water aquarium is water wisteria. Absolutely love the stuff. I had a really poor experience with hygrophila polysperma, all of the leaves melted (to be expected) but what I didn’t expect was that the stems melted away too. From that point my mystery snail just had a feeding frenzy and took them out. My ludwigia super red hasn’t died off yet so hopefully that can pull through.
I know this is an old video but when you were talking about the hair grass there was a crypt among them, what is the name of it please.
Crypt Lucens, lutea and nurri
@@Fishtory Thanks 🤜
Thank you for this vid! I have extremely hard water so I need plants that will thrive in my water.
Thanks!
You bet!
Thank you for this, Alex. I'm trying to play catch-up on the videos I've missed. I appreciate all your hard work, and it seems to me, you've done a lot of hard work for this great video! It's highly appreciated over here.
Thank you, your comments are always very appreciated and always so thoughtful and compassionate. I really value you here in this community. Thank you!
Fun fact: I’ve only been able to get red root floaters and water lettuce to thrive in my hard water established tanks. Salvinia, frogbit, and even duck weed don’t stand a chance in my tanks. Aside from a bit of Java fern here or there. Loved the video.
This was a great video. Extremely informative and exactly what I was looking for.
Glad it was helpful!
@Alex You have a Nice/Beautiful Collection of Plants! Thanks for Sharing this Information for Hard Water Tanks/Aquarium ✍ ✌
Thank you for being such a kind and helpful community member, Patrick
Perfect video after learning my water may be too hard for my Java ferns. Thank you!
Glad I could help!
Oooh that black angel looks just like mine, (so I obviously think it is) gorgeous! That light sucking black doesn't get enough attention in our shiny happy world... Even diamond tetras are too muted for a lot of folks based on apparent lack of popularity. People...eh? That's why I like fish and the Fam they bring.
Totally!
I have learned so much watching your videos. Thank you so much
You are so welcome! Thank you!
I am in love with these plant info videos, please make more! We don't get the names here so we just recognize them from their leaf shape, so fun to learn all the names and then I can research them further!
Oh wonderful! I have quite a few videos like this but I put out a video today as well! Thanks for writing
I aqree
Cool video! Our water here in Indiana is basically liquid rock.
Well at least you dont need to buy remineralizers lol
I’ve had my hygrophila polysperma for over 5 years. At one point I was sick of it and pulled all of it out except for one stem and it has reproduced like crazy. I do enjoy the colors on it so I’m letting it grow back out in my 55 gallon planted tank.
Yeah it's a freaking tank hahah. But u also like it (in a contained little patch)
Yeah I’m rocking a Hygrophila simensis 53b and it thrives in just about everything
What a great video and your tanks are beautiful! Thank you again!! 🇨🇦
Well thank YOU! for being a part of the community and dropping a line
My understanding is most soft water plants are adaptable to hard water (provided the ph is low enough), but most hard water plants are not adaptable to soft water because whereas soft water plants have to be more resourceful as far as minerals go, hard water plants absolutely require a decent level of hardness or they'll starve. Also something you might have mentioned is the benefit of some hard water plants like the vals, in that they can feed off of the carbon in alkalinity, which is why they can be super productive even without co2 injection. Here's a short list (Walstad mentions many of these as well):
Potamogeton
Ceratophyllum
Chara
Egeria, Elodea, Hydrilla, Lagarosiphon
Najas
Ranunculus
Ottelia
Vallisneria, Sagittaria
Callitriche
Stratiotes
Myriophyllum
This is largely correct. Thanks for mentioning it
@Alex.wow so much choice,some of those plants I cant get at our lfs in the uk. Another great video mate.
Thanks. Yeah I suppose what's common one place, may not be so common others. Our big box stores carry about 40% of these, but the majority I get from my local Seattle Fish Society or lfs once in a blue moon
I just found here in florida azolla and Salvinia ferns , I was told they need a lot of light
It's all relative. They need lots of light to have bright color and be healthy, but they'll grow in low light too
This is great alex! Maybe a 'top hot water plants' could make for some good content too? Or maybe that's a bit of a misconception, and most plants will be ok until you go to a Discus-y 85? 🔥🚒
Hehe yeah honestly I don't know that list...I've hunted it down too... but I do have some plants in my head listed for a discus level hot. But most plants ideally metabolize at 65 to 75
Love it!!! You should defiantly do one on the opposite side of this with soft water loving plants!!! Side note: What is the fish shown @ 5:13?
The aquatic morning show? It's a show on manes tails fins and fur's channel every weekday at 7am Pacific Time zone 10 east cost time.
Oh and I already have the list for soft water too... it'll be out within the month :)
@@Fishtory no i meant at the timestamp in the vid 5:13 in theres a cute fishy poking out and i was asking what type it is lol! Also glad i caught this video because i just found out we are moving somewhere with well water and i will need to adjust my tanks over to this new water EEK!
Beautiful plants Alex, I tried to plant a carpet plant but my pleco tore it all up. But I do have sword plant and it does well 🌱
Thanks. And yes... plecos and corries ruin carpets like they're hired to do the job lol
Thank you. Great channel and very informative.
Thanks for watching! Im very happy to read that you enjoyed the video
Nice scapes very green! Good info
Thanks as always. I also appreciate the commenting you do!
Love your videos ❤🎉
Thank you so very much
great information, perfect timing.
im about a year into the hobby, and ready to scape yet, another tank. my liquid limestone here in Texas poses an interesting hurdle to the fish species that thrive, but im just now considering the effect of the water on certain plants while i decide what to stock the tank with:) thanks for all your research and content!
Right on. As another easy guide...most of what aquarium coop sells (plants) is hard water tollerant to 400 ppm at least and 7.5...when you get to ultra hard it's hit or miss over the 8.0 ph level too
I’m in the same boat in Az. I’m thinking for my tiny planted tank using part distilled water to try to help.
Thanks for this video, I never thought to look at the hardness for my plants concern. I have hard af water. The api strips show 180 ppm immediately but they also show 80 ppm nitrates when the liquid test kit shows zero so....... congrats on the 40k again LOL
Thanks! And 140 is very soft ... great for most tropical and amazonian plants
Great info. I have a nymphoides variety in a high tech tank that really doesn’t like it. Wants more calcium/magnesium. Still grows fast but not totally lush growth.
I've had that same issue with the taiwan Lilies also.
@@Fishtory it also took me a second to realize easy green has no calcium in it! One thing I learned from horticulture is calcium and magnesium need to go hand in hand, they cancel out the ability for the plant to take in the other nutrient. A deficiency in one might actually just be excess of the other.
Excellent video, very informative
Glad you enjoyed it
what are those beautiful angelfish at 10:53? I have never seen those before. Also thanks for this video. It's encouraging me that its possible to grow beautiful big plants in my water.
You can do it! (Pearl scale tigers blood angelfish)
@@Fishtory thank you so much! beautiful fish!
Thanks for the information 👍
Thanks for stopping by!
I want to do a tank just with ferns ( my main hobby is just collect any type of fern )
Right now I’m trying to find out if Acrostichum danaeifolium ( giant leather fern will make it underwater )
Id love to see it!
Hi alex
Thanks for the video, ❤ can u please mention red plants that needs hard water
I tried to put most the colorful ones in this video...sadly the brightest reds in most stem plants come from low tds, very high light. High potassium and 6.5-7.5 ph with co2
@@Fishtory yes i have pressurised co2 system and a very good high light and aqua soil but i m using borewell water ,gh is normal but my kh is 300 mg/L and ph is also high
I have hygrophila difformis, alternanthera reinekki, crypt , hygrophila polysperma rosenvig these plants are doing well in my water but i want red plant ( other than alternanthera reinekki).
What about ludwigia repens is this suitable for high kh water
Please suggest
I'm just getting into planted tanks (I have two unplanted ones) and I was afraid there weren't very many plants I could grow because my water is very hard. I think I will try some of the ones that don't require special substrate, since the tanks are already set up and have a bunch of fish in them. Thanks for all the information!
You can always add more plants heheeh
Thank you! I have really hard water. My GH reading is around 300, KH only around 30 in the tanks. Between that and my medium at best light, crypts and anubias are my best friends. Dwarf lily and frogbit are also growing really well. Java fern, though, gets a lot black spots. The leaves die easily, but then they make baby plants. So I have a lot of baby Java fern and not so many larger ones. Extra potassium is helping, but the plants grow slowly. Time will tell if they're sustainable long term for me. I have one buce that's doing well, so I recently picked up a second type when I found some locally.
I keep killing val, though. I'm going to try it again but with better substrate and planting it less deeply.
Val is an odd one...it dies over and over, but once the roots take hold finally, it goes wild. I got mine from Lucas Bretz and he had extremely hard water at the time... 800 tds or something wild like that
Also Java ferns are usually grown above the water, and rot under water for up to 6 months ... if you can get a root that's already used to water, you can have way better chances at good growth...everything sold in stores is land grown
@@Fishtory interesting on the 800 tds. My question ? Is it better to use your own water no matter that hardness? Like out of the tap my gh is 20+ drops and KH is probably just as high. (Going on memory) I was afraid to use it that hard so mix w RO. Would it be better to slowly go w straight well water (Ohio hardenss ) ? This has been my main question since I started my aquariums in December . Up to 6 at the moment all nanos pretty much .
Hey Alex, I found another of your great older videos.
Clayton Idaho here and even our spring water is hard.
On the subject of hygrophila polysperma, google says it is illegal to buy or sell om the US.
I live in a very remote part of Idaho, so almost everything I obtain is via the post.
Do you have a video for beginners on how to test water?
From my experience anubias, Val and Java fern have not thrived in my hard water. I’ve had the three for a few years without much success. I don’t understand why. Dwarf hairgrass some crypts and dwarf sag absolutely take off though.
Sounds like perhaps something is overdosing the magnesium or calcium then. Stronger light may help, but sometimes you just have such mineral rich water that it doesnt cooperate with certain plants.
I have very hard water in Belgium. I have neocaridina shrimps, Sulawesi ( Tylomenia) snails and Spixi apple snails. I have a lot of moss for the shrimps, Cryptocoryne, Javamoss , Alternanthera reineckii etcetera
Oh nice! I wish I could keep the sulawesi in my water...I've tried 2x and every time I remineralized they died sadly
I have super hard, limestone water lol and I’m telling you every plant I’ve had has absolutely FLOURISHED in it.
Excellent overview. Went from SF Sierra melt to Texas liquid rock..Java fern need but couldn't grow ' Trident ' Crypt. ' Flamingo was an unmitigated disaster but C. wendtii grows well
Hornwort and guppy grass,.Najas grow like weeds
More difficult and tissue cultured varieties are problematic
Water sprite and water lettuce do fine.
So with tissue cultures, try planting them in soaking wet aquasoil in a dish or shot glass like 1 to 3 inches deep and keep it wet, they'll grow emersed and then once their roots are solid (and yet used to water), you can move the plants a few months after (if there is one you really want to try again.) Best of luck to you
Ive managed to almost completely let my tiger lotus die off.
Not sure what I did wrong, but it kept getting overgrown by other stuff and just never kept its leaves for any longer span of time.
At the moment, a runner of my original plant is all thats left of it.
Then again, I really dont do anything special for my plants except for some nutrient rich substrate layer below some sand.
I think about a third of the plant species I originally got, didnt make it in the new tank, but the rest has just grown in nicely and im slowly filling in the empty spots with the surviving plants.
I wasnt aware just how big an amazon sword can grow :D
Gonna keep an eye out for a few of the plants mentioned here, despite having soft water.
Thanks for the suggestions :)
You don’t add any liquid fertilizer? That might help.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It helps learning from others lol (then I don't have to find out the hard way!). Have a great week
@@angiebear8727 Nah
It will just make my other plants grow faster, meaning I have to do even more maintainance.
And spending additional money and time on something, that will mainly cause more effort just isnt me.
Also for the price of a bottle of liquid fertilizer I can instead buy a plant and just see if it can survive in my established tanks as they are.
Also also Ive used liquid fertilizer in the past and from what I could tell, it mainly made my algae grow faster.
In general I like to treat my aquarium as an ecosystem to the extend possible. So if a plant thrives, thats great, if not, thats also fine.
My fish are doing well, showing great colors, there is breeding activity in both of my tanks and they are completely overgrown with plants (granted they are almost exclusively easy plants).
Thats the way ive done it for over 15 years and I enjoy my tanks this way, but everyone does it differently and as long as the fish are thriving I dont see anything wrong with that.
@@baum8981 as long as your fish are happy and healthy then absolutely that is the most important thing. Personally I use API liquid fertilizer once a week, sometimes I go longer in between. It is priced fairly low. I do have a lot of stem plants though and the more they grow, the more I trim, the more I get. Saves me tons of cash and haven’t had any severe algae issues. But obviously do not only what works best for you, also what you enjoy. Have a great day. 😁
Hi Alex, I have been researching a second 29 gallon aquarium for the last three months. I've decided that rather than tailoring the water parameters to the plants and inhabitants, I'll reverse course and tailor the plants and inhabitants to my tap water; pH 7.0, GH 12 degrees and KH 8 degrees. I live roughly six miles from the southern shore of Lake Ontario which is the source of our freshwater. Your information will come in handy for plant choices. Thanks, Dan
So glad to hear it! It's a lot easier to go with the flow haha. Cheers and best of luck!
We have a lot of limestone in the area. My water's ph is 8.4 with a KH and GH of 450 ppm. What grows in my tank is really hit or miss. Crypts, anubias, valisaneria, aponogetons, and water sprite grow well for me. I have a java fern rhizome....it exists. Anything else melts. I've also learned that a nutrient-rich substrate for rooted plants is a must. Root tabs alone do absolutely nothing for rooted plants. Fertilizers can get tricky sometimes. I mainly noticed macronutrient deficiencies. Dosing more all-in-one fertilizer just caused algae so I bought dry ferts.
I know some people will dislike my next suggestion but tannins are your friend. They help soften the water and drop ph down a bit. Driftwood, Indian Almond leaves, Adler Cones are all useful. Fluval peat granules will soften water and drop ph. I dropped my ph from 8.4 to 7.2 with peat granules once. That was my mistake because I hadn't figured out how much I needed to use.
I totally hear you on the all in one's! I've taken to doing the same (I don't need to be adding more nitrates lol)
Are all of these in regular gravel? What are the reasons for the duckweed? Don't they shade out the light?
I have strong lights, so it helps avoid algae growth, and it is food for some fish...a good hide for baby fish, and also will cure any accidental ammonia spike
The tank that’s cycling , I watched your video on it and love it. What is your background on that one.
Thank you! By background, do you mean plants? Because it's rotala enie, h'ra, Bangladesh and Vietnam lilac, with R. Macrandra red mini butterfly as the front line (they all like soft water and low nitrates though...and co2
@@Fishtory I actually was talking about the coloring in the back of your tank itself. :)
Hey @alex, I don't know any one else that could answer this question better, keep up the good work.
So for some reason all invertebrates in my aquarium start dwindling in numbers snails, shrimp and assellus isopods. While before hand they where all breeding. Over a span of a week they have all died one by one and my fish are totally happy. There are no nitrites, ammonia or nitrates in the aquarium and the only chems i use are water conditioner and beneficial bacteria. What could be the cause(s)?
If they died this fast (a week or less) it's likely from copper (only a few parts per million can kill them)... it could be from a hot water tank, or pipes in a house/a rodi/dehumidifier could add it to the water depending on the unit and how it works, even tools or metal with zinc and copper compounds can be enougy in some cases...so if you used water from any new sources that could do it... also if anything like windex or even soap gets in there it could happen.
Other than that...over time they can die from too warm of water (over 85f or so ) or the water hardness and ph swinging up to 8.4 or higher .or too much calcium can also cause problems...and obviously any meds that treat parasites like ick , can kill them sometimes too.
Short of all those things, it's hard to say...and I don't know what it would be unfortunately.
I hope one of those suggestions may help you figure it out though! Sorry to hear about your tank and I wish you the best of luck in the future.
Tanks you have with floaters, do any of those tanks have HoB filters? I've found I cannot do floaters with this type of filtration, they all get sucked up
Some, but set on low
I'm having a heck of a time growing plants in my 2 125gal tanks 😔. Both are harder water than our other tanks and diatoms and black beard algae dominate over everything else unfortunately. Tried different lighting, dosing, not dosing. Adding chemical filtration to reduce phosphates, weekly water changes, and started dosing carbon (reduced the production of new algae) but still no plant growth (very very little growth on anubis) especially with the jungle val and the Java ferns. Any suggestions? Thanks for the share too, definitely saw some other plants I'm going to try. Always great content Alex!
Yeah so you probably only need potassium and micro metal nutrients (nitrates and liquid carbon are rarely the issue...and usually an excuse for the shops to sell more products sadly)... liquid carbon is usually just algaecides made of mainly a carbon base molecule actually.
Unless your tanks are lightly stocked and lightly fed, they will have enough nitrates/ nitrogen.
My suggestion is to get some faster growing plants... water Wisteria, jungle or corkscrew val, water sprite, pearl weed, bacopas. Any aponogeton species or Lilies (bulb plants in general live well in most water types...also vine type plants kjke Pennywarts, moneywarts or water lettuce if you have low flow....then maybe a few amazon sword plants... Ideally you want to keep up with those water changes and get light in the 6000-7000kelvin wave length for best results...also the deeper the tank, the more light needed...so flood lights from Lowes or home depot can help get plants started. Best of luck and check out more of my plant videos for tips on specific types of plants :)
I'd try some of those
THANKS ALEX!! Ok that makes sense. I will try the potassium and metal micro nutrients first to see if anything changes then go from there. Awesome information though! Really appreciate the advice. Definitely will be going through your other plant videos that popped up!
+ Marsilea hirsuta, Nymphaea lotus
Your awesome Alex! 😎👍
Thanks Kevin. So are you sir!
Great list! Most of these have done really well for me (300tds, mostly calcium carbonate and iron, 8.2ph out of tap). Limnophilia aromatica hates me, though. I've tried it a couple times, the second time I tried floating it until it got roots but it just turned to mush. That's ok, I can handle some plants hating me as long as they all don't, lol!
Alex, I was going to do one of my next videos on "easy stem plants that just keep giving", but then I saw your great video pop up today. (Have already started filming and showing how to propagate by cuttings). A couple of the plant species would be the same that you've talked about here, and I don't want it to seem like I'm ripping off your idea, and was wondering if I could have your blessing to go ahead with it? I would never want to offend you.
Hey you do you! I'm not doing anything original. Just trying to make videos for common questions, so u don't spend 30 hours writing people back haha. Please never worry about "copying" me anyhow it's and honor to know I'm talking about something people want more info on. You know better than I would..my tap is essentially RO water naturally, so my hard water tanks are all self made at home haha
@@Fishtory Thank you so much! ☺ I think people really *do* want to know about it. You covered a lot of types of plants, and your video will *definitely* help a lot of people! I got the idea from listening to a lot of replays of people's live streams, and whenever someone asks "what are some easy beginner plants to try?" A lot of the time I hear Java fern and annubias given as the only answer. I wanted to expand that answer with some super easy beginner friendly stems (For liquid rock, of course, 😉).
@@TarasTankFriends I’ll be happy to get any and all advise! Hard alkaline water and managed to massacre a half dozen plants my last attempt. I’m scared of blowing a bunch of $ and them all dying again!
My water is hard and i use gravel. So far my plants r doing well.
Idk what our water's hardness is but I know it comes from underground and the place is on top of limestone. PH starts at 7.6 and only goes up from there without using any equipment to soften it.
There isn't any setup that I arranged that dwarf sag did not thrive.
That's a great one also! Thanks for mentioning it!
I’m so glad I found you! I just got a little 3 gallon plant and shrimp kit. It comes with bright white led 6500(?) something. I also got a plant light for another tank a hugger 14 w with “full spectrum“ that has various timers. I had some plants and killed them all. I have very hard, alkaline water and when I set up tank I thought distilled or partly distilled may help? I have some api plant tabs and the gravel is supposed to be for plants. I was under the impression it was stratum but that does not actually appear to be the case. I was wanting to cover dark gravel with some sand, at least in front as I just like it better and if I use for frogs instead of 🦐 I thought it would be better? Is that bad for plants?
I'd do 50/50 Distilled from the store and tap probably... 6500 Kelvin = a blue sky day 20 degrees north of the equator, aka ideal light for plants from the tropics
I have hard water but I cut it with RO still keep it around 8gh .. I just scared to go total hard over 300+ tds. And won’t use the water through my softener. This was a challenge. Have had a lot of melt (I do dirted FF recipe capped w sand. One tank is highly tannin. Plants not doing well there.
I hear you! I wouldn't want to change things quite that much, either.
@Alex. I wanted to about my substrate, its 3mm gravel its 5" deep.I do still add root tabs as needed.I DON'T gravel vac it at all.Its moderately planted with co2.Am I doing the right thing by not gravel vaccing the substrate.my nitrates never hit 15ppm.I water change 50% every week.
You don’t have to @ anyone if it’s not a stream
@@Ekdrink it's just habit. 👍
Um it's your choice on gravel vacuuming. I tend to vac on sand ...not on gravel or aqua soils. It sounds like your filtration is doing great and totally adequate, so it's more for looks if you want to vacuum it. But I like to suck up big leaves, obvious fish poo or left over food...and hover about half and inch above the substrate. You never want to dig into that substrate unless you want to commit to doing so weekly because it destroys the natural filtration the surface area provides, and the food for tiny fish etc
@@Fishtory thanks for taking the time out to reply mate, it's appreciated. My filter is a fluval 407 which I know is plenty for a 55gallon. My aim is build up a mulm in the gravel to help feed my plants, I'm also increasing plant via new plants and cuttings from existing plants in the aquarium.Thanks again for your reply.
... Great topic..Yeah..
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it
Only problem for me is the fact eco system aquariums usually don't look visually pleasing to look at, if there's way i can make them look good by scaping it, I'm totally into it these setups.
Yeah i totally understand that feeling
Thanks for the information, I fighting with hard water that I caused, I added 2 cups of crushed coral in the middle of the substrate.
Do you have have some of these plants to sell, ship to South Carolina?
Let me know then I can shoot you an email with my list.
Yeah I do usually :) alexanderjwilliamson@gmail.com let me know the tank details again and I can send yuh my current list :)
why did you not put echinodorus on the list? hahaha.
I think the only hygrophila that doesnt grow well in hardwater are araguaia and pinnatifida. they grow well for a month, then it just dissolved into the void. lol
but they're quite hardy for sure!
Hygrophila corymbosa and polysperma are pretty bulletproof from my experiences. But I left sword plants off just because they do better in neutral to acidic water... the colors and sending out daughters is much more restrictive in hard water...BUUUT yes I left out like 100s of plants that can thrive in hard waters
@@Fishtory yeah, I also have the pink polysperma it's awesome colorful weed.
agree, my red special only shows red on new leaf but it grows very often even after I haven't gave it fertilizer. Same as aponogeton (except the madagascar)
cheers for sagittaria!😂
The long hair suits you
Thanks... I miss it
Hygrophila polysperma is on the USDA Federal Noxious Weed list. I don't think you're supposed to have it at all.
♥️
Thanks as always Sir Brian!
Bacopa hates me... 😥
Sorry. I know some plants just don't work in some tanks/water...and some plants kill each other with chemicals in the water...it is very poorly documented and there is nearly zero info on which plants kill one another...but val and duck week fight each other... as do star grass and some crypts
1600 ppm 😭
Yikes