After 8yrs this is the best and most comprehensive hard water aquarium video I've ever seen. Never thought about keeping some african cichlids in a planted tank!
This is a really helpful video for those of us with hard water. I subscribe to the theory that it is better to be consistent than to strive to have soft water, so I live with the hard water and have been successful with many of the plants and fish you mentioned, though I don't have any cichlids. I prefer nano fish and so do have several rasbora species. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this very informative video. I was ready to give up onmy planted tank, but will continue to try with the help of the info you provide in your videos. Your tanks are beautiful.
Jeremy Leffler yeah keep it up. A lot of it has to do with good flow, circulation, and filtration. Aiding in good O2 levels. Your hob filter probably does add a good amount of O2. You may still need additional flow more so for circulation around the tank. And keeping the environment stable through weekly maintenance.
I'm just starting out in the fish keeping hobby. I have a 20 gal long. My tap water is well water & super hard water(gH^, kH^, pH^). The only types of plants I have in my tank are Java fern & Amazon swords. The Java fern is doing really well I even have some baby ferns growing from the main plant. My swords r hanging in there. I have the fluval aqua soil for my substrate and a couple of Mopai driftwood pieces. I fertilize once a week maybe every 2 with Seachem Flourish. A week ago I added 6 zebra danios (2 have since past) & 3 black racer nerite snails. I want to add a few more fish to my tank but I don't want to kill any fish bc of my hard water & high pH. This video is so helpful and has given me some good ideas. Thanks so much for posting this!
our water is also "liquid rock" with 9ph 18 dGH 9 KH. I wanted to have a planted tank way back when I started out. I went and got some anubias nana's, java moss, corkscrew vals and finally some ambulia. On top of that I went and chose rocks because I liked the way they looked... I later realized they were the kind of rocks that leech carbonates into the water... so you can guess what direction this tank was taking LOL. So what I'm saying is that I can only confirm all your shared experience/knowledge . so Thanks Dave
Dude, great video. I'm probably going to have to watch this line 12 more times to memorize all this content. I actually just bought my gory batch of plants and planted a 20 gal for fun. So... I'm gona really need this info as I go along. Thanks for the great video and advice!
Recently became a sub and thank you for the information. I live in Las Vegas I know liquid rock. looking forward to more videos and will check out more older ones. plants another story for another time but finally starting to find Balance and Potass is key. took me long enough
Beginner to the hobby here - your videos are the best I've found on youtube, super informative, but still clear enough to follow if you're not armed with years of experience. Subscribed for more, thanks!
Dave, I know you've retired your channel, and maybe you don't have a tank running at the moment. BUT, consider doing the odd interview video with people local, or even internationals. Your thoughts, questions and answers would be valuable and appreciated. Hope you are well buddy. Stay healthy 😊
I want to buy some moss you use in your aquascaping, where I live (INDIA) I don't have much choice have you any idea where I can buy some internationally?
Maybe Amazon. com will ship you some? Clik this link: If not, try to google your question and find sellers that will ship to you. www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=java+moss+live+plant+for+aquarium&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=14307266752&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_zvvey7o29_b ...................................................
+Aimane Chouhaibi Thanks for watching. I have a NEW epic scape coming, should have the video up tomorrow, so stay tuned... I have a feeling you are going to like it. I am loving it.
excellent video - 5 stars!! While all those scientific /latin names boggle my mind, it's great to know them and hear them pronounced effortlessly! And thanks for always slipping in the common retail names, as well! ;-)
When I started my first planted tank, I didn't know that aquarium water is supposed to be Ro or something. I just figured that if I can grow plants on my window sill, they will grow in water too. And that was what happened. I was pulling out a bucket of plants every weekend. Then I couldn't have an aquarium for several years but I read a lot of stuff. Now I know much more but somehow starting my new aquarium is much more difficult. Either these new plants are different (previous ones I bought from a person who had his aquariums for 4 decades and now new ones came from shop and were imported) or there is something different in the water. Also in my old aquarium substrate was granite gravel and how I have some soil. Well, I will see how it goes.
I have hard water here, too, About 365 ppm, so I use reverse Osmosis. But rather than use pure reverse osmosis, I put about a pint of tap water in a gallon jug and then fill it up with R.O. The reason I do that is because Calcium and Magnesium are necessary nutrients, so I keep some in for the good of my plants. Then I dose with flourish to help replace the trace element that are scarce in hard water. So far I've had pretty good success. I'm growing Crypt Balansae, crypt Wendtii, Rotala rotundifolia. Alternanthera Reinecki mini, Hygro bipinnatifida, Madagascar lace, dwarf sag, and Pogostemon Helferi. I've just added Crypt undulata, Mayaca fluvialis, and Alternanthera Reinecki rosanervig, but those are too new to say whether they are successful. ... I agree with you about trying out a lot of different plants, keeping those that work, and throwing out those that don't. Often, what grows for my neighbor won't grow for me, and what everyone says shouldn't grow in my water grows like a weed for me. You never really know until you try it for yourself.
@@ADUAquascaping do you have a video on how to do that. I mix my Ro/well. My Ro is my drinking water and I can get a gallon or so before it has to refill. I get a 1/2 bucket of well water (around 20gh ) and add the Ro. I keep it w a bubbler and heater so it’s ready to use for WC (5 tanks) I mix it at 8 gh and add botanicals to my tanks. Figured most fish can deal w that (shrimp and snails) as well
This was a good video for me. Just starting out. Got one small tank, soon to have another and a 30gal. Main focus is scaping but of course i've started to love the fish, especially clean up crews. Am trying to stay away from RO but bought one just in case. Good to hear about the ,now familiar to my ears, plants and that they came from hard water. Am going to use co2 and some flourish products, have aquasoil on the way for my 30 gal. Thanks for good info . The only thing i would suggest is to have a video of your tanks with numbers on the screen relating to the plants and a list in the info area of the name of the plant so a person can go look it up. If you've already done that and i just haven't come across it than great. Thanks for the info and effort
mbiraside yeah in some videos I put the names in the description. In this video I just showed the pictures and used the genus name because there are so many varieties within a genus that will work. thanks for watching man.
ADU Aquascaping WAY BRILLIANT. FIGURED OUT HOW TO GROW PLANTS IN SF AFTER ONLY USING WATER SPRITE IN S. JERSEY 50 YRS AGO, THEN OSCAR NOW HAVE TO MOVE TO CENTRAL TEXAS,SO MOST HELPFUL.THANKS FOR NOT DUMBING THINGS DOWN.
thank you....this does help a lot...my water is pretty much the exact same here in Taos, NM. So far my java fern and moss are growing well...as long as my marsilea hirsuta. I did add in a dirt substrate capped with ant hill gravel and I also added some sagebrush sticks. so far so good! I am still deciding on fish or anything else...I thought snails would do fine also.
Glad it helped man. Yeah the soil will definitely help to acidify the substrate and water, so that will work really well. And just dose liquid fertilizers and you should be fine. Went with the Sage? I hope it works out. Let me know how it goes. Thanks for watching. peace
And I've also been trying new plants as well. I really like the dwarf hair grass it looks beautiful :) I just never clip it shorter... I probably should
I really like this video, it gave me some ideas on what to do with my tank that has had hard water ever since I've started my planted tank out I've tried almost everything except RO water is a little too pricey for me so I am now growing hard water plants and keeping hard water fish!
fantastic video. I have hard water as well. Had great success with Vals, anubias as well and others but I am starting a new tank soon and have been rethinking the new tank.
@@ADUAquascaping Maybe. How about iron?..I just started to use that and my swords and the rest have taken off. I wish I had tried it with H.pinnatifida,Rotala red,Bolbitis heudelotii. At least the last is alive..barely...but the iron gave it a second life.
Cameron Basford yeah I miss that old guy. I actually had two of them, and they were buddies. They didn't fight. I miss my sword tail too. You can kind of see him in the background.
well this was like watching national geographic and made me feel really stupid. LOL. However I do grow the plants that I CAN grow and don't usually re buy the ones that dont do all that well. Watching all the pics of your old scapes was a trip and cool to see how you progressed. Very impressive dude. PEACE OUT
I've struggled to keep anything over a 10 gallon dirted planted tank alive and flourishing. I keep dealing with algae (regardless of dosing Seachem Excel, No CO2), due to what I believe to be excess nutrients but my plants grow erratically. I have tried adjusting the lighting (I use Finnex fugeray Fixtures) in both overall duration as well as height above the tank. The problematic tank is a 40B dirted with Miracle Grow and capped with sand. The plants I have are: Rotala R., Dwarf Sag, Amazon Sword, Ludwigia Repens, Cabomba, and Cryp Wendtii. They are all relatively easy plants to grow, but I cannot find success with them regardless of the adjustments that I have made. I believe myself to by decently educated on the biology and chemistry behind planted tanks, and even in your technical videos I am able to listen and digest all of the information. However, I do have hard water and I am starting to believe it impossible to keep a nice planted tank unless I invest in an RO system because at this point I've spent more money Overdosing Excel to the point where I could have bought an RO system and still have some left over. I'm a bit discouraged at this point so I guess these are just unfiltered thoughts, but the message that I'm trying to convey is: should I invest in an RO system? I plan on redoing the entire tank, and have bought a separate 40B just to make the process easier and keep my fish alive and healthy, but before I make the same mistakes, I want some input regarding the path I should take in order to have the greatest possibility for success. I have even thought about ADA amazonia, but I do not know the truth longegivity of it, or if it would be worth doing without CO2.. I guess eventually I'll cave and get a nice CO2 system as well but I feel these decisions need to made sequentially in order to justify the purchase.
Awesome video man! Your glossostigma carpet looks amazing. I've been experimenting with it lately with moderate success. Do you have any advice on how to make glosso happy?
I'm new to your channel. Great info. I really love the science you bring to most of your videos. I was wondering what you recommend for a hard water low tech carpeting/ ground cover type plant? I was looking at dwarf sag, but I was wondering what else you'd recommend
There was a little too much chemistry in this for my comprehension, but I appreciated the tips on fish and plant species for hard water. I have moderately hard water (Missouri), and have found hornwort, cryptocoryne, and subwassertang grow like weeds in my tanks; anubias, bacopa, and bucephalandra also do well.
Thank you for all the videos man , very informative . i want to buy a R/O unit but does that mean i have to remineralize the water . my tap water gh & kh are off the chart, will mixing tap and r/o water give me a batter balance ? any info will help tons . thanks
Ben Donaldson Rotala magenta. At one point I had it looking really nice. It can become super attractive. In the video it was lacking major color from replanting.
@@ADUAquascaping I appreciate the helpful response! Also does the Fluval Peat Granules help reduce GH? I did some research but seems like they only work with PH.
Rotala rotundifolia may work or Ludwigia triple red or repens. Hard water just makes it more difficult for a lot of plants to use nutrients, so you will have better luck if you use a soil substrate and dose potassium in hard water environments. A lot of plants can acclimate to hard water over time, say 6-12 months.
Some people are telling me to always keep the fish in its natural water parameters and others are telling me to not worry about that but just keep my tank water parameters consistent (regardless of what they are). What do I do?
I'm setting up a very hard water planted tank,no CO2,would it be good to dose flourish comprehensive and potassium,anything else apart from root tabs.thankyou.
yeah it just allows you to reconstitute with the exact nutrient and water hardness that you need. You are more in control, and not all plants do so well in super hard water. It can be around 6.8 because of Co2 in the water. It is just pure H2O for the most part.
I got some last night. the water hardness was up because I put a rock in there that I didn't know was releasing minerals etc... so using some di Ro with regular water to slowly lower it... Keep up the good work!!
jayden kerr Yeah I use either 100% RO water or you can dilute the tap water with RO water. 80% RO and 20% tap. This is the easiest and best way to lower KH in water.
I am 8 months in with my planted tank. (and still confused) I have very hard water (13 kh, 22 gh whatever that means) and my ph is 8.0 to 8.2. If I add co2, will that lower ph AND correct the hardness and kh? Also been looking at GLA PPS-Pro ferts but noticed some of those ferts raise hardness, so maybe I shouldn't add some of those ferts in that kit? Tom
T Pir Yeah don't add more calcium and magnesium if you have hard water. Just add more micronutrients and potassium based fertilizers, such as potassium nitrate and potassium sulfate.
Hi I've bought an aquarium 53g,I have water like your liquid rock, I intend to keep a group of blyth river rainbows, firstly what bottom feeders wod you recommend, also I'm heavily planting it with crypts, vallis etc, I've been told to dose iron for crypts, would that help with excel, patassium, it will be low tech, and can I use tropica substrate capped with a fine gravel.. Thank-you
Yeah you can do Tropica soil capped with gravel if you want the gravel look. The gravel isn't necessary just to let you know, but if that's the look you want, then use it. Excel may help as an algicide. You will want to dose potassium and a comprehensive micronutrient mix, which will include iron and all the other micronutrients. Cory catfish, Oto cats, and Siamese algae eaters are all a good choice. Could get some Kuhli loaches or even neon gobies if you can find some.
@@ADUAquascaping thank you for the info, I'm completely new to this, and have just started to understand things, so more microneutrants would be a fertiliser right!? Can you recommend one at all pls.
Yes a fertilizer. Either powdered or all in one liquid. Seachem, NilocG, 2HR Aquarist all sell all in one liquid fertilizers. You can also use root tabs
bucephalandras might also work in hard water I have hard water and looking to biuld a tank only with Bolbitis, Anubias, trident fern, Java fern and bucephalandra.. Maybe some S. repens and Vall
If dosing Potassium and Flourish Comprehensive in hard water, do you think Dwarf Baby Tears and Pogostemon Helferi would thrive in a hard water environment?
I too have hard water ...can you tell me how and when to dose flourish / potassium / excel how many times in a week & more info for a 150 gallon tank on what lights to be used
+Hĕmáŋt Kŭmåŗ You will want to look into EI dosing method, or PPS-Pro method of dosing. If doing a low tech tank than using cheap LEDs will work, for a more high tech tank you will need to use T5HOs or high powered LEDs
hi mate I have a few tanks I breed mollys and platys and they like hard water with a bit of salt but I use bog wood and branches will they make my water acid I use water life 7.0 with a buffer I use wood to grow my moss and anubias and java fern on it i don't use a lot of it my substrate is tetra complete for the bottom and tetra active for the top what would be the best way to scape my tanks if I take my wood out cheers happy fish keeping
+anthony pope If you are using a buffer than the wood won't do much to the alkalinity. The pH may drop but really the buffer isn't going anywhere . That is its job to counter the acid and buffer the water. You can always monitor your pH and KH values to get a consistent system down, which will make the tank more balanced. If you take the wood out you can always do a more mountain type scene with a lot of rocks. The tanks we use can actually handle a lot of weight, and you can also use egg crate or little bits of lava rubble to build up your rock mounds that way they aren't as heavy. cheers!
Lori Green You could still use Amano shrimp and Oto cats. If the tank is just a standard planted tank and not a delicate aquascape you can use a Bristlenose pleco. They work well and don't get too large.
Don't know if you're still around on this channel, but I have a major question for you. I've been growing a planted tank for the last year, and gradually, I've been doing smaller water changes. It started at 25%, but now I'd say I'm down to 5% every week. It's liquid rock, obviously, and recently my plants have taken the full force of it. My rotala, which I've allowed to grow wild, now has shriveled leaves on every branch, and growth for all other plants has... stopped. It's as if everything's in stasis for the moment. My question is, why is this happening? Is the hardness suddenly taking effect? Are my small water changes robbing the tank of new nutrients? Any insights are helpful from you, or the larger audience.
@@ADUAquascaping I didn’t even see the notification for your reply! I was honestly just returning to see if I had missed anything from your video, but thanks for getting back to me. I have never dosed fertilizer, but I suppose hardness requires it, and I’ll start doing 25% changes every other week? I know it can just be trial by error, but what would you recommend for dosing? I have a cinematic of my tank from a few months ago on the channel if that’s helpful
Hello, I am a have very little experience with fish. I have two Oranda goldfish, one is orange/gold and the other "was" black. I upgraded from a 30 gallon tank to a 75 gallon tank. Water parameters remained about the same. Next day after I transferred my fish to the new tank my black goldfish turned silver, 2 other little ones that had black on them lost their pigmentation . Do you have any idea what could have happened for them to change color overnight?
Newbie, on week 10 with 40 tall and Fluval fresh and plant 2.0 lights, and Eco substrate. I have killed two swords and three Anubias. My plants look awful, my rotala turned brown but is alive, crypt turned brown but grows, Java fern leaves became very light and are oozing Snow White on some parts of their leaves. Dwarf sag gets brown leaves and won't spread. Killed micro sword. My Anubias just did not melt, it rotted on the rock, roots and all. Dosing excel, iron and potassium. I am so puzzled as to why I can't keep easy plants. Fish are fine. Well water, high ph, high KH and high GH. Doing water changes weekly. My reef tank was so much easier than this! Any ideas would be appreciated.
It could be too much Excel. Also, some people sometimes have issues with high KH, but those plants are hardy and actually prefer lower light and carbon in the form of bicarbonates. Are you dosing any liquid fertilizers to the water column? Macros and micros? Hard water will not have micros in available form, and Eco complete doesn't really add many nutrients. Also, some plants do transition and melt. Some hobbyists experience this, but it is week 10, so that may not be the issue.
as always, great Informative video! I have tap water that's 9ph 10kh & 10dkh. The plants that I have managed to grow under these conditions (without dosing & adding co2) are Anubias nana, Cryptocoryne, java moss and ambulia . the latter of which had the fastest plant growth. I haven't tried to carpet anything under these conditions, perhaps I will try dwarf hairgrass as you mentioned in your video. thx!
white cloud minnows are silver and red. they will work. The fish in the tank are not hard water fish, but the fish I name and show pictures of are. Just ignore the tank in the background. Focus on the pictures I show and the genus names I wrote in the video and when I say these particular names in the video. Just focus on that.
First of all great video... I have hard water of ph arnd 7.6 to 7.8 does that mean that adding Co2 is basically useless as it would not dissolve easily. I have a fluval co2 indicator but that always stays at blue... I am running arnd one bubble per second of co2 for arnd 7 hours a day. Please let me know...
My water is extremely hard too. I've been using Carib Sea sand with Seachem root tabs, but plants are not thriving and they're actually dying. Does sand have anything to do with it, in this case?
6 ปีที่แล้ว
My water is so hard, it surprises me that it even makes it up the hill from the lake to my home.
The list of hard water plants was dead on. Every plant you mentioned thrives in my water...what you did not mention..are dead. What mosses..besides Java..can thrive in hard water? Any other plants you want to add four years later?
This is the BEST aquarium video I have ever seen Dave.
+colinbarsby haha, thanks.
After 8yrs this is the best and most comprehensive hard water aquarium video I've ever seen. Never thought about keeping some african cichlids in a planted tank!
@Ceretrea Hey, thanks. Yes, some cichlids with plants can create an interesting setup!
after almost 4 years, still the best video on hardwater planted tanks!
Things are nuts right now. Have to operate my business and it takes up time. I may have to get something cooking though
Man. This guy is so knowledgeable. I’ve never heard anyone pronounce the name of plants and fishes as easily as he has done.
The shrimp in the foreground took a dump at 3:00. Cool-haha!
Thank you so much, I haven't been able to find much information about growing plants in hard water! This helps a lot.
thank you Dave ,my water is liquid rock too and I'm just getting in to aquarium plants
This is a really helpful video for those of us with hard water. I subscribe to the theory that it is better to be consistent than to strive to have soft water, so I live with the hard water and have been successful with many of the plants and fish you mentioned, though I don't have any cichlids. I prefer nano fish and so do have several rasbora species. Thanks again!
+Lelani Dixon Thanks for watching. Glad the video helped you out.
Thank you so much for this very informative video. I was ready to give up onmy planted tank, but will continue to try with the help of the info you provide in your videos. Your tanks are beautiful.
Jeremy Leffler yeah keep it up. A lot of it has to do with good flow, circulation, and filtration. Aiding in good O2 levels. Your hob filter probably does add a good amount of O2. You may still need additional flow more so for circulation around the tank. And keeping the environment stable through weekly maintenance.
DAMN Dave ALWAYS on top just can't explain how good overall your videos are every-thing! PERFECT
Really interesting facts about hard water aquarium.
You've helped so many aquascapiers, you should have a donate now button.
Derek Goes Thanks, I used the, but no one donated. I could try it again. Thanks for watching!!
That plant tank is badass!!
I'm just starting out in the fish keeping hobby. I have a 20 gal long. My tap water is well water & super hard water(gH^, kH^, pH^). The only types of plants I have in my tank are Java fern & Amazon swords. The Java fern is doing really well I even have some baby ferns growing from the main plant. My swords r hanging in there. I have the fluval aqua soil for my substrate and a couple of Mopai driftwood pieces. I fertilize once a week maybe every 2 with Seachem Flourish. A week ago I added 6 zebra danios (2 have since past) & 3 black racer nerite snails. I want to add a few more fish to my tank but I don't want to kill any fish bc of my hard water & high pH. This video is so helpful and has given me some good ideas. Thanks so much for posting this!
our water is also "liquid rock" with 9ph 18 dGH 9 KH. I wanted to have a planted tank way back when I started out. I went and got some anubias nana's, java moss, corkscrew vals and finally some ambulia. On top of that I went and chose rocks because I liked the way they looked... I later realized they were the kind of rocks that leech carbonates into the water... so you can guess what direction this tank was taking LOL. So what I'm saying is that I can only confirm all your shared experience/knowledge . so Thanks Dave
Memories haha, hard water can be fun and doable. Can sometimes just take longer to mature.
Dude, great video. I'm probably going to have to watch this line 12 more times to memorize all this content. I actually just bought my gory batch of plants and planted a 20 gal for fun. So... I'm gona really need this info as I go along. Thanks for the great video and advice!
just subbed, thank you for taking the time to make these great videos. they have helped alot....
no problem, and thanks for watching. Should have the 3 aquascaping hacks video up this week.
Thanks for this video. I have very hard water and was wondering which plants were suitable.
the best in depth video iv seen more more
Recently became a sub and thank you for the information. I live in Las Vegas I know liquid rock. looking forward to more videos and will check out more older ones. plants another story for another time but finally starting to find Balance and Potass is key. took me long enough
Paul Sampugnaro thanks for watching. glad I could help out. have fun with your aquarium
Beginner to the hobby here - your videos are the best I've found on youtube, super informative, but still clear enough to follow if you're not armed with years of experience. Subscribed for more, thanks!
Thanks glad you like the channel! Have fun scaping.
Excellent stuff.
Dave, I know you've retired your channel, and maybe you don't have a tank running at the moment.
BUT, consider doing the odd interview video with people local, or even internationals.
Your thoughts, questions and answers would be valuable and appreciated. Hope you are well buddy. Stay healthy 😊
Nice informative video as usual. The footage on this video is impressive.
This tank is really lovely! great job!
nice info man really liked your aquascape.
Thanks! Glad you liked the video man.
I want to buy some moss you use in your aquascaping, where I live (INDIA) I don't have much choice have you any idea where I can buy some internationally?
Maybe Amazon. com will ship you some? Clik this link:
If not, try to google your question and find sellers that will ship to you.
www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=java+moss+live+plant+for+aquarium&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=14307266752&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_zvvey7o29_b ...................................................
vinish shetty jacobsaquarium.com he has videos on TH-cam as well. If he is sold out keep checking back.
thank you again for this video keep upp that good work
+Aimane Chouhaibi Thanks for watching. I have a NEW epic scape coming, should have the video up tomorrow, so stay tuned... I have a feeling you are going to like it. I am loving it.
sure i cant wait haha thank you :)
Great quality video. Information and picture.
Very informative video. Thanks for sharing :)
excellent video - 5 stars!! While all those scientific /latin names boggle my mind, it's great to know them and hear them pronounced effortlessly! And thanks for always slipping in the common retail names, as well! ;-)
your videos are really helpful thanks!
+Najkstory FishFever Glad you like them and thanks for watching.
When I started my first planted tank, I didn't know that aquarium water is supposed to be Ro or something. I just figured that if I can grow plants on my window sill, they will grow in water too. And that was what happened. I was pulling out a bucket of plants every weekend. Then I couldn't have an aquarium for several years but I read a lot of stuff. Now I know much more but somehow starting my new aquarium is much more difficult. Either these new plants are different (previous ones I bought from a person who had his aquariums for 4 decades and now new ones came from shop and were imported) or there is something different in the water. Also in my old aquarium substrate was granite gravel and how I have some soil. Well, I will see how it goes.
I have hard water here, too, About 365 ppm, so I use reverse Osmosis. But rather than use pure reverse osmosis, I put about a pint of tap water in a gallon jug and then fill it up with R.O. The reason I do that is because Calcium and Magnesium are necessary nutrients, so I keep some in for the good of my plants. Then I dose with flourish to help replace the trace element that are scarce in hard water. So far I've had pretty good success. I'm growing Crypt Balansae, crypt Wendtii, Rotala rotundifolia. Alternanthera Reinecki mini, Hygro bipinnatifida, Madagascar lace, dwarf sag, and Pogostemon Helferi. I've just added Crypt undulata, Mayaca fluvialis, and Alternanthera Reinecki rosanervig, but those are too new to say whether they are successful. ... I agree with you about trying out a lot of different plants, keeping those that work, and throwing out those that don't. Often, what grows for my neighbor won't grow for me, and what everyone says shouldn't grow in my water grows like a weed for me. You never really know until you try it for yourself.
+Emmit Stewart I used to do that too, but now I just add exactly what I need to my RO water. Thanks for watching.
@@ADUAquascaping do you have a video on how to do that. I mix my Ro/well. My Ro is my drinking water and I can get a gallon or so before it has to refill. I get a 1/2 bucket of well water (around 20gh ) and add the Ro. I keep it w a bubbler and heater so it’s ready to use for WC (5 tanks)
I mix it at 8 gh and add botanicals to my tanks. Figured most fish can deal w that (shrimp and snails) as well
This was a good video for me. Just starting out. Got one small tank, soon to have another and a 30gal. Main focus is scaping but of course i've started to love the fish, especially clean up crews. Am trying to stay away from RO but bought one just in case. Good to hear about the ,now familiar to my ears, plants and that they came from hard water. Am going to use co2 and some flourish products, have aquasoil on the way for my 30 gal. Thanks for good info . The only thing i would suggest is to have a video of your tanks with numbers on the screen relating to the plants and a list in the info area of the name of the plant so a person can go look it up. If you've already done that and i just haven't come across it than great. Thanks for the info and effort
mbiraside yeah in some videos I put the names in the description. In this video I just showed the pictures and used the genus name because there are so many varieties within a genus that will work. thanks for watching man.
ADU Aquascaping WAY BRILLIANT. FIGURED OUT HOW TO GROW PLANTS IN SF AFTER ONLY USING WATER SPRITE IN S. JERSEY 50 YRS AGO, THEN OSCAR
NOW HAVE TO MOVE TO CENTRAL TEXAS,SO MOST HELPFUL.THANKS FOR NOT DUMBING THINGS DOWN.
Alek Koomanoff thanks for watching. Glad this video could help you out.
Another quality video Dave. I have hard water , and I have found that dwarf sag is doing pretty well in there, along with the cryps and anubias :)
That intro is 🔥
+Marin Bandalo Thanks man.
Great video! !
thank you....this does help a lot...my water is pretty much the exact same here in Taos, NM. So far my java fern and moss are growing well...as long as my marsilea hirsuta. I did add in a dirt substrate capped with ant hill gravel and I also added some sagebrush sticks. so far so good! I am still deciding on fish or anything else...I thought snails would do fine also.
Glad it helped man. Yeah the soil will definitely help to acidify the substrate and water, so that will work really well. And just dose liquid fertilizers and you should be fine. Went with the Sage? I hope it works out. Let me know how it goes. Thanks for watching. peace
Another great video. I've got liquid rock where I live too.
Wow this video is crazy good. Thank you so much!
Great vid. Those tanks look incredible. I've been trying new plants. You know... branching out. 😐
Pun police here. We're going to let you go this time, but you'd better watch out.
And I've also been trying new plants as well. I really like the dwarf hair grass it looks beautiful :)
I just never clip it shorter... I probably should
i just found this channel. this channel is great!👍👍👍👍👍
+Mike Glock Thanks for watching. Let me know if you have any questions.
+Mike Glock Thanks for watching. Let me know if you have any questions.
Awesome video
I really like this video, it gave me some ideas on what to do with my tank that has had hard water ever since I've started my planted tank out I've tried almost everything except RO water is a little too pricey for me so I am now growing hard water plants and keeping hard water fish!
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching. I know I went a little fast near the end of the video. Glad it helped.
great info. My water is hard as well.
That’s what she said - Michael Scott
fantastic video. I have hard water as well. Had great success with Vals, anubias as well and others but I am starting a new tank soon and have been rethinking the new tank.
Thanks! Glad you liked the video. Yeah success can be had in hard water.
That was awesome! Thank you.
+Cameron Herrington No problem. Have a NEW scape coming, and will get the video out tomorrow, so stay tuned... Thanks for watching.
wow never knew lol your great coming from nz (;
+Chase Nicholson haha, thanks for watching. Yeah I go nuts in my videos and in life in general. haha
Great info as always Dave. You said any hygro...even the pinnatifada? In hard water?
+MrHoney2U You know it man. You just have to dose a good amount of micros and potassium. A lot of potassium.
@@ADUAquascaping Maybe. How about iron?..I just started to use that and my swords and the rest have taken off. I wish I had tried it with H.pinnatifida,Rotala red,Bolbitis heudelotii. At least the last is alive..barely...but the iron gave it a second life.
That rainbow though 😍
Cameron Basford yeah I miss that old guy. I actually had two of them, and they were buddies. They didn't fight. I miss my sword tail too. You can kind of see him in the background.
well this was like watching national geographic and made me feel really stupid. LOL. However I do grow the plants that I CAN grow and don't usually re buy the ones that dont do all that well. Watching all the pics of your old scapes was a trip and cool to see how you progressed. Very impressive dude. PEACE OUT
MASS Aquariums ddttdr
Sarah Rosser huh
excellent vid, one of the best tech vids i have seen.
+Keith Howard Thank you man! Glad you liked it dude.
I've struggled to keep anything over a 10 gallon dirted planted tank alive and flourishing. I keep dealing with algae (regardless of dosing Seachem Excel, No CO2), due to what I believe to be excess nutrients but my plants grow erratically. I have tried adjusting the lighting (I use Finnex fugeray Fixtures) in both overall duration as well as height above the tank. The problematic tank is a 40B dirted with Miracle Grow and capped with sand. The plants I have are: Rotala R., Dwarf Sag, Amazon Sword, Ludwigia Repens, Cabomba, and Cryp Wendtii. They are all relatively easy plants to grow, but I cannot find success with them regardless of the adjustments that I have made. I believe myself to by decently educated on the biology and chemistry behind planted tanks, and even in your technical videos I am able to listen and digest all of the information. However, I do have hard water and I am starting to believe it impossible to keep a nice planted tank unless I invest in an RO system because at this point I've spent more money Overdosing Excel to the point where I could have bought an RO system and still have some left over. I'm a bit discouraged at this point so I guess these are just unfiltered thoughts, but the message that I'm trying to convey is: should I invest in an RO system? I plan on redoing the entire tank, and have bought a separate 40B just to make the process easier and keep my fish alive and healthy, but before I make the same mistakes, I want some input regarding the path I should take in order to have the greatest possibility for success. I have even thought about ADA amazonia, but I do not know the truth longegivity of it, or if it would be worth doing without CO2.. I guess eventually I'll cave and get a nice CO2 system as well but I feel these decisions need to made sequentially in order to justify the purchase.
It might be the Miracle Grow, it has a lot of salt in it and plants don't like salt, unless they come from the ocean.
Awesome video man! Your glossostigma carpet looks amazing. I've been experimenting with it lately with moderate success. Do you have any advice on how to make glosso happy?
+Xxkilluminati91xX More light the lower it will grow.
the tank at 03:54, is this a custom background that i can buy somewhere ?
+TheHunted Few (TheHuntedFew) Aqua Terra 3D backgrounds. If they still make them. There are others.
thanks, i'll check them out :)
I'm new to your channel. Great info. I really love the science you bring to most of your videos. I was wondering what you recommend for a hard water low tech carpeting/ ground cover type plant? I was looking at dwarf sag, but I was wondering what else you'd recommend
dwarf sag or Monte Carlo will both work well. Especially if you use soil or aquasoil.
There was a little too much chemistry in this for my comprehension, but I appreciated the tips on fish and plant species for hard water. I have moderately hard water (Missouri), and have found hornwort, cryptocoryne, and subwassertang grow like weeds in my tanks; anubias, bacopa, and bucephalandra also do well.
hey there, that background with your tank you said you had no idea what you were doing, where did you buy that? It looks beautiful!
Salkio it is an Aqua Terra 3D background. The grey canyon model. Thanks for watching
Thank you :P
Thank you for all the videos man , very informative . i want to buy a R/O unit but does that mean i have to remineralize the water . my tap water gh & kh are off the chart, will mixing tap and r/o water give me a batter balance ? any info will help tons . thanks
Mixing RO and your tap water would be the easiest solution. If you use 100% RO you need to add minerals back in.
At 9:12 in the video what is the name of the small leafed plant with the shrimp on top?
P and P News Riccardia, Mini Pellia
What's the stem plant on the very left at 1:58?????
Ben Donaldson Rotala magenta. At one point I had it looking really nice. It can become super attractive. In the video it was lacking major color from replanting.
What kinda wood is that? Redmoor?
+John Rose Manzanita in one tank and Malaysian driftwood in another.
+ADU Aquascaping oh ok! it's beautiful!
My Dwarf Mexican Crayfish enjoy had water too.
Great explanations ,more please!
Can I use the RO unit under the sink in my kitchen?
Yes you can! You could dilute your hard water with it or reconstitute the RO with a potassium bicarbonate buffer
@@ADUAquascaping I appreciate the helpful response! Also does the Fluval Peat Granules help reduce GH? I did some research but seems like they only work with PH.
will buce grow in hard water ?? will dosing of nutrition work in hard water without co2 ??
Please give me advice on Cyprus helferi grass I love it but am having such a hard time in my dirted tanks I’m think from the sand cap?
Can you grow red plants in hard water? Like ludwigia, rotala
Rotala rotundifolia may work or Ludwigia triple red or repens. Hard water just makes it more difficult for a lot of plants to use nutrients, so you will have better luck if you use a soil substrate and dose potassium in hard water environments. A lot of plants can acclimate to hard water over time, say 6-12 months.
Some people are telling me to always keep the fish in its natural water parameters and others are telling me to not worry about that but just keep my tank water parameters consistent (regardless of what they are). What do I do?
I'm setting up a very hard water planted tank,no CO2,would it be good to dose flourish comprehensive and potassium,anything else apart from root tabs.thankyou.
What do you add to your Ro water ADU?
Can anyone tell me what the fish is at 5:18?
bloosbelly They are Green Fire Tetras. Super awesome fish!
ADU Aquascaping Thanks
RO Di water?
Whole foods sells that out of a machine...
What is the PH of that?
And don't the plants need some minerals from the water?
yeah it just allows you to reconstitute with the exact nutrient and water hardness that you need. You are more in control, and not all plants do so well in super hard water. It can be around 6.8 because of Co2 in the water. It is just pure H2O for the most part.
I got some last night. the water hardness was up because I put a rock in there that I didn't know was releasing minerals etc...
so using some di Ro with regular water to slowly lower it...
Keep up the good work!!
How do you avoid calcium buildup on the glass of the aquarium?
I just use vinegar and a cleaning pad sponge with a textured sleeve. Or vinegar and a toothbrush! I recently uploaded a short about it
I've found that guppies do very well in hard water my PH is around 8.0 and my guppies do great
You say your local water ph is 8.6 do you lower it? if so how do you do it?
jayden kerr Yeah I use either 100% RO water or you can dilute the tap water with RO water. 80% RO and 20% tap. This is the easiest and best way to lower KH in water.
I am 8 months in with my planted tank. (and still confused) I have very hard water (13 kh, 22 gh whatever that means) and my ph is 8.0 to 8.2. If I add co2, will that lower ph AND correct the hardness and kh? Also been looking at GLA PPS-Pro ferts but noticed some of those ferts raise hardness, so maybe I shouldn't add some of those ferts in that kit? Tom
T Pir Yeah don't add more calcium and magnesium if you have hard water. Just add more micronutrients and potassium based fertilizers, such as potassium nitrate and potassium sulfate.
CO2 made my PH drop to 6
Hey man you plan on coming out with any new content in the future?
whats that little stripy fish you have which looks like a bumblebee?
Hi I've bought an aquarium 53g,I have water like your liquid rock, I intend to keep a group of blyth river rainbows, firstly what bottom feeders wod you recommend, also I'm heavily planting it with crypts, vallis etc, I've been told to dose iron for crypts, would that help with excel, patassium, it will be low tech, and can I use tropica substrate capped with a fine gravel.. Thank-you
Yeah you can do Tropica soil capped with gravel if you want the gravel look. The gravel isn't necessary just to let you know, but if that's the look you want, then use it. Excel may help as an algicide. You will want to dose potassium and a comprehensive micronutrient mix, which will include iron and all the other micronutrients. Cory catfish, Oto cats, and Siamese algae eaters are all a good choice. Could get some Kuhli loaches or even neon gobies if you can find some.
@@ADUAquascaping thank you for the info, I'm completely new to this, and have just started to understand things, so more microneutrants would be a fertiliser right!? Can you recommend one at all pls.
Yes a fertilizer. Either powdered or all in one liquid. Seachem, NilocG, 2HR Aquarist all sell all in one liquid fertilizers. You can also use root tabs
what fish is that 5:18
+DRIPn VAPE green fire tetras
bucephalandras might also work in hard water
I have hard water and looking to biuld a tank only with Bolbitis, Anubias, trident fern, Java fern and bucephalandra.. Maybe some S. repens and Vall
were did you get the plant and wood for your tank
I get them usually from my LFS. You can buy plants online from mike's aquatic plantry on Facebook. He may also have some wood too.
If dosing Potassium and Flourish Comprehensive in hard water, do you think Dwarf Baby Tears and Pogostemon Helferi would thrive in a hard water environment?
What about mosses in our Utah water?
Wow you have vids on literally everything about planted tanks.
Would bucephalandra do well in hard water?
Jordan Yang yes! They will. Thanks
I too have hard water ...can you tell me how and when to dose flourish / potassium / excel
how many times in a week & more info for a 150 gallon tank on what lights to be used
+Hĕmáŋt Kŭmåŗ You will want to look into EI dosing method, or PPS-Pro method of dosing. If doing a low tech tank than using cheap LEDs will work, for a more high tech tank you will need to use T5HOs or high powered LEDs
hi mate I have a few tanks I breed mollys and platys and they like hard water with a bit of salt but I use bog wood and branches will they make my water acid I use water life 7.0 with a buffer I use wood to grow my moss and anubias and java fern on it i don't use a lot of it my substrate is tetra complete for the bottom and tetra active for the top what would be the best way to scape my tanks if I take my wood out cheers happy fish keeping
+anthony pope If you are using a buffer than the wood won't do much to the alkalinity. The pH may drop but really the buffer isn't going anywhere . That is its job to counter the acid and buffer the water. You can always monitor your pH and KH values to get a consistent system down, which will make the tank more balanced.
If you take the wood out you can always do a more mountain type scene with a lot of rocks. The tanks we use can actually handle a lot of weight, and you can also use egg crate or little bits of lava rubble to build up your rock mounds that way they aren't as heavy. cheers!
HI Dave, what bottom feeders or Algae Eaters would you recommend in a hard water set-up?.
Lori Green You could still use Amano shrimp and Oto cats. If the tank is just a standard planted tank and not a delicate aquascape you can use a Bristlenose pleco. They work well and don't get too large.
Don't know if you're still around on this channel, but I have a major question for you.
I've been growing a planted tank for the last year, and gradually, I've been doing smaller water changes. It started at 25%, but now I'd say I'm down to 5% every week. It's liquid rock, obviously, and recently my plants have taken the full force of it. My rotala, which I've allowed to grow wild, now has shriveled leaves on every branch, and growth for all other plants has... stopped. It's as if everything's in stasis for the moment. My question is, why is this happening? Is the hardness suddenly taking effect? Are my small water changes robbing the tank of new nutrients? Any insights are helpful from you, or the larger audience.
@@ADUAquascaping I didn’t even see the notification for your reply! I was honestly just returning to see if I had missed anything from your video, but thanks for getting back to me. I have never dosed fertilizer, but I suppose hardness requires it, and I’ll start doing 25% changes every other week? I know it can just be trial by error, but what would you recommend for dosing? I have a cinematic of my tank from a few months ago on the channel if that’s helpful
Hello, I am a have very little experience with fish. I have two Oranda goldfish, one is orange/gold and the other "was" black. I upgraded from a 30 gallon tank to a 75 gallon tank. Water parameters remained about the same. Next day after I transferred my fish to the new tank my black goldfish turned silver, 2 other little ones that had black on them lost their pigmentation . Do you have any idea what could have happened for them to change color overnight?
Newbie, on week 10 with 40 tall and Fluval fresh and plant 2.0 lights, and Eco substrate. I have killed two swords and three Anubias. My plants look awful, my rotala turned brown but is alive, crypt turned brown but grows, Java fern leaves became very light and are oozing Snow White on some parts of their leaves. Dwarf sag gets brown leaves and won't spread. Killed micro sword. My Anubias just did not melt, it rotted on the rock, roots and all. Dosing excel, iron and potassium. I am so puzzled as to why I can't keep easy plants. Fish are fine. Well water, high ph, high KH and high GH. Doing water changes weekly. My reef tank was so much easier than this! Any ideas would be appreciated.
Diane Prostko It could be the excel. It's a little notorious for melting some plants
It could be too much Excel. Also, some people sometimes have issues with high KH, but those plants are hardy and actually prefer lower light and carbon in the form of bicarbonates. Are you dosing any liquid fertilizers to the water column? Macros and micros? Hard water will not have micros in available form, and Eco complete doesn't really add many nutrients. Also, some plants do transition and melt. Some hobbyists experience this, but it is week 10, so that may not be the issue.
what kind of light do you use
+booyadee Currently I use AquaticLife Halo LEDs
Awesome thanks
I have liquid rock with a low ph of 6.0 what plants are best for this combo
as always, great Informative video! I have tap water that's 9ph 10kh & 10dkh. The plants that I have managed to grow under these conditions (without dosing & adding co2) are Anubias nana, Cryptocoryne, java moss and ambulia . the latter of which had the fastest plant growth. I haven't tried to carpet anything under these conditions, perhaps I will try dwarf hairgrass as you mentioned in your video. thx!
can you list the fish in this tank? I've been looking for a smaller hardwater fish in the gray/silver color family to contrast with my platies.
white cloud minnows are silver and red. they will work. The fish in the tank are not hard water fish, but the fish I name and show pictures of are. Just ignore the tank in the background. Focus on the pictures I show and the genus names I wrote in the video and when I say these particular names in the video. Just focus on that.
First of all great video... I have hard water of ph arnd 7.6 to 7.8 does that mean that adding Co2 is basically useless as it would not dissolve easily. I have a fluval co2 indicator but that always stays at blue... I am running arnd one bubble per second of co2 for arnd 7 hours a day. Please let me know...
tamojit mitra you will have to increase CO2 with such hard water, but go slowly
Thanks.
Do the snails bother you? I just found 5 snails in my tank this past week, pretty sure I got it from the moss I purchased :(
My water is extremely hard too. I've been using Carib Sea sand with Seachem root tabs, but plants are not thriving and they're actually dying. Does sand have anything to do with it, in this case?
My water is so hard, it surprises me that it even makes it up the hill from the lake to my home.
The list of hard water plants was dead on. Every plant you mentioned thrives in my water...what you did not mention..are dead.
What mosses..besides Java..can thrive in hard water?
Any other plants you want to add four years later?