Soft Water Planted Aquarium Guide

Discussion on GH, KH and how to grow softwater and non softwater plants.
Photo credits:
5:52: Joe Harvey
6:05: Dennis Wong)
8:53: Dennis Singh

[@ronisaar]

Thanks to you I realized how simple it is, I will implement your technique and update you on the progress. Thank you very much.

[@AquaMayne]

Roni Saar No problem! Glad you found it helpful

[@Zaku186]

Dude ive been trying to get good at keeping a planted tank for years now and you explained some stuff i heard about but never understood so well. good vid.

[@AquaMayne]

Casval Deikun Awesome! Thanks!

[@michaelyciano2123]

Wow!! The best on soft water chemistry videos . We have been missing information videos on soft water tanks chemistry.The biotope channels never explain it. I have 9 soft /black water planted tanks , stocked with rare nano fish from South America and some Southeast Asia fish. I had trouble with some tetras breathing hard/rapid. Not gasping at the top of the water,eating well, flashing color healthy fish. Well cycled tanks, I do the proper aquarium co-ops quarantine. . PH 5.5 to 6, 0 KH, low GH, . I fixed it by adding more water movement.

[@michaels5705]

I've got so much to learn. Thanks for the topic.

[@AquaMayne]

No Problem!

[@supRcoolguy]

This was super helpful man. I really appreciate it.

[@AquaMayne]

Glad you found it helpful no problem!

[@dianav.97]

Great info!! Love the shirt! 🌿🌿

[@beniciosterling5043]

I know it is kind of off topic but do anybody know of a good site to stream new tv shows online?

[@roccosullivan5912]

@Benicio Sterling Try FlixZone. You can find it on google =)

[@JHAquatics]

VERY imformative!! Great content!

[@AquaMayne]

Thanks man I dm’d you on Insta

[@Aquariumike]

thanks makes it all understandable

[@ytphillip]

Very helpful tyvm

[@AquaMayne]

Glad it was helpful!

[@FoolyLiving]

Im dyslexic and these things are confusing me, and I've been researching it literally for the past year. Maybe you can answer me this? I have a water softener that uses salt and not potassium. I recently had a tank crash bc my water changes all the time because its trucked in. I need a buffer. My water comes out at 6 pH or below. My aquarium stratum buffers it a little bit to 6.5 or nearly 7 sometimes. Should I add epsom salt slowly to the tank? Should I also add a small bag of crushed coral to the filter? I have a planted tank that have never really done very well and dont really grow. I want my fish and plants to be healthy. 75 gallon tank - sand substrate with 15 pounds of fluval stratum, sponge filters and 2 internal whisper filters, pothose on the back, and cryptos growing great! Got about 12 plants in there doing poorly but not dead yet.

[@devonwebb5000]

I had the same problem with diatoms. I live in the mountains of Virginia and use well water. Since I made the switch to RO water no more problems with them. But now I feel like it's so much more complicated. I use equilibrium to remineralize but I think that I'm not using enough. I've been having a hard time with my fish but my plants are thriving. Thanks for the info.

[@AquaMayne]

Nice, what TDS and DGH do you remineralize to?

[@devonwebb5000]

I didn't know what to do when I started out so I did 1tsp per 5 gallons. It ends up at 3.3. I lost all my fish due to a system crash recently. Apparently in soft water it's hard for beneficial bacteria to thrive and I have had issues with spikes since the switch. I want to slowly take it up to Kh of 7. Tds I honestly have no clue.

[@AquaMayne]

Devon Webb that’s weird I’ve never had a crash and my PH is 5.4

[@devonwebb5000]

What testing kit do you use? I have a master kit and it doesn't test lower that 6 which is where my tank registers. And honestly I don't know. I've had really bad luck with this tank it's been up for a year and been heavily planted from the start. I feel like the cycle was iffy from the start. The nitrates never go above 5. I was really diligent about dosing ferts daily for months. Then with the pandemic I was working constantly and fell off. I still haven't gotten back on schedule.

[@AquaMayne]

@@devonwebb5000 I use a PH pen for PH testing. Ive remineralized with salty shrimp GH plus to about 8DGH and 110 TDS for water changes. When PH is so low even if there is ammonia it changes into a less toxic ammonium. I never test for ammonia but kinda want to now.

[@mqasem80]

Thanks for making this video, do you aim for a specific tds while setting your kh/gh values?

[@AquaMayne]

mqasem80 yes I do. I find the GH I want (I don’t do KH) then I make my first batch to the GH I want. Then find the TDS of that GH and use that number for the rest of my water changes. I do a GH of 8 which is about 120 TDS

[@sputnikirvin]

Do you think using tds meter and kh checker enough?

[@AquaMayne]

Irv G. That’s all I use is a TDS meter and API GH and KH to test my stuff

[@andreahood8409]

I can only grow plants with high GH. Every time I try plants in low GH water, they just melt away. Very frustrating.

[@AquaMayne]

Yes GH is needed for plants

[@emmathecabbage]

My ph is 7.6 but my kh is about 10ppm. Is there a way to increase kh while not increasing ph.

[@AquaMayne]

no, increasing KH will increase your PH

[@TheSeverum]

What does it mean if you have low gh and high kh???? 🤔 ph is 7.4

[@AquaMayne]

What is your GH? If you don’t have any GH it’s not good for plants or fish.

[@laserbrad]

I subscribed immediately after your video. Finally someone gives me the information I needed and straight to the point. I just started using RO water. I’m in Austin and it’s full of limestone. I have kh-2, gh-3 or 4, ph-6.8ish. Do you suggest I raise my gh for the plants? Do the plants like a higher gh? I can lower my ph because I’ve been raising it but after watching this I’ll leave it 0-1. I care more about plants than fish and only have a clean up crew of panda loaches, hillstream loaches and amano shrimp for now. Thanks!!

[@AquaMayne]

Your water seems pretty solid for plants. I think youll be good without a gh boost but you could go to a gh of about 5-6 to be safe.

[@shivametimbaz]

I've got 3 dgh and 12 dkh. Stem plants are doing terrible. Ro/di here I come.

[@AquaMayne]

It will help your stems, especially if some are rotala