# Is Lincolnshire more challenging?



## harryH (4 Nov 2013)

Hello all, this is such a great site.
The last time I kept a planted tank was around 20 years ago when I lived in a lovely soft water area in the Pennines.
I am now living in Lincolnshire and the water supplier here say my tapwater has 15.393 dH so it's a big change for me. I have not yet bought my test kits so have not tested for PH but I expect it to be around ph8.
I plan to set up my little aquascape around mid Dec and am wondering if anyone can give me tips as to how I need to proceed in order to have success in this hard water environment.
My set up will be:
20 gal tank (24" x 15" x 15")
Pressurised CO2 with solenoid controlled regulator.
CO2 checker
Lights are Wavepoint LED 6500k
Filter Eheim Ecco 200, 600 lph which I could reduce with a valve on outlet.
Vecton 200 UV in line for use as required.
Substrate will be:- a sprinkle of Osmocote, A sprinkle of Sphagnum, peat moss topped with around 3" of Tesco Low Dust Lightweight cay litter as recommended by so many on here.

I hope this is enough for someone to be able to offer some help. It's the hard water that seems to be worrying me most.


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## sa80mark (4 Nov 2013)

Hello and welcome to the forum,  I wouldnt worry about your hard water theres plenty of us thay have hard water myself included, the only headache I have noticed is the limescale around the water line but plants dont seem to mind it at all, im still a newbie in the planted tank world and others will be able to advise you much better,  but from what ive noticed your list seems good the only thing to look at would be your filter output, ideally you want to aim for 10x tank volume per hour so you need around 1000lph turnover but a bit more would be better also the uv is pretty pointless in a planted aquarium 

The only other thing that everyone will probably say is forget the test kits there usless and cause more worry than anything, a digital ph pen would be a good buy, this can also be used to set co2 usage, 

Mark


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## harryH (4 Nov 2013)

Cheers mark, I do have all the items in the list by the way, having bought these over a period. I am out of my depth with the harder water situation, it's bad enough with the kettle and washing machine!! Having come from a soft water are we never needed to worry about lime scale.
I thought of having the UV installed in line in order that in the early stages if I have any issues I could use it. It wouldn't be switched on all the time.
So am I alright doing regular 30-50% water changes with dechlorinated tap water even though it is hard?.
Harry


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## tim (4 Nov 2013)

Hi Harry, welcome to ukaps have a search for either George farmers or Ian holdichs older journals I think they both hail from Lincolnshire and have used tap water, nothing wrong with their scapes.


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## Tim Harrison (4 Nov 2013)

...yes it's all the inbreeding

Seriously tho' I've lived in hard water areas all my life including very nearly Lincolnshire - give or take a few miles...and I don't think my tanks have ever suffered adversely...so just carry on regardless...


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (4 Nov 2013)

You could use Pure RO? George and Ian Holdich prefer it to tap and apparently have much better results. 
The nutrients they dose keep the TDS up somewhat.


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## harryH (4 Nov 2013)

Cheers guys, I just don't want to have to go down the RO route if I can manage without. The 'carry on regardless' suggestions do appeal


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## NatureBoy (4 Nov 2013)

harryH said:


> Cheers guys, I just don't want to have to go down the RO route if I can manage without. The 'carry on regardless' suggestions do appeal


 
yeah carry on regardless! it makes you a more robust scaper, if you have high nitrates all the better!


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## George Farmer (4 Nov 2013)

Indeed, many of have grown lots of healthy plants in very hard water.


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## Ian Holdich (4 Nov 2013)

Hi Harry, I myself live in Lincoln, where the water comes out of the tap like pure limestone. I have used both tap water and ro, and can honestly say things are easier in ro water. However, it doesn't stop you from growing plant in tap water. Some of my observations are that in our tap water it's easier if you plant heavily from the beginning. 

These were Lincolnshire tap water scapes














And my new scape reverting back to good old tap water.
Brandis Edge (new fts) | UK Aquatic Plant Society
If I was you also, I would invest in some Purigen as it lowers the tds. My tap water comes out at about 400ppm and after using purgens in the tank it sits between 300-350ppm.


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## harryH (4 Nov 2013)

Hello Ian, Your tanks are the ones I dream of

The heavy planting is the way I plan to go. I will set up the hardscape with a little Mini landscape rock I got from AQUAessentials and some redwood roots and then just plant heavily 'Dutch style' hoping to trim back later to reveal the scape.

I will take your advice and invest in some Purigen.

Thanks for the reassurance, I really do want to get it right. I will be moving home to Cleethorpes early Dec and plan to build the tank mid Dec so I will report (or plead for help) as I go along.
Harry.


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## Ian Holdich (4 Nov 2013)

If you're ever coming over to Lincoln, you might want to check out 'the aquarium', he keeps mini landscape and redmoor in stock in his shop. He also stocks purigen, tropica ferts, and easycarbo and the like.


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## GreenNeedle (10 Nov 2013)

Another that lives in Lincoln.   KH from my tap is 19 (atm) and the Ph is 7.4 straight from the tap and 8.4 after 24 hours of gassing off!!!!

I collect rainwater then using an airline I filter it through some carbon and filter wool into large containers.   I mix it 50/50 with the tap and it brings it nicely down closer to neutral.

I prefer to use this 'softer' water than 100% tap as I find BBA less of a problem in the 'softer' water especially as mine are all non CO2 tanks atm.


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## harryH (10 Nov 2013)

SuperColey1 said:


> Another that lives in Lincoln. KH from my tap is 19 (atm) and the Ph is 7.4 straight from the tap and 8.4 after 24 hours of gassing off!!!!
> 
> I collect rainwater then using an airline I filter it through some carbon and filter wool into large containers. I mix it 50/50 with the tap and it brings it nicely down closer to neutral.
> 
> I prefer to use this 'softer' water than 100% tap as I find BBA less of a problem in the 'softer' water especially as mine are all non CO2 tanks atm.


 

Cheers, I thought of this too,
how do you collect the rain water? It's risky from shed roofs etc if there's a lot of birds (poo!)

I will be at Cleethorpes when I set up and plenty of seagulls come down to neighbours bird feeders I noticed.


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