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Looking for a list of hard water loving plants
- Thread starter Malarky
- Start date
MichaelJ
Member
Plants in the easy catagory are generally good choices for hard water. That said, many (most) other plants can tolerate hard water as well, but may be more challenging in other respects.
Cheers,
Michael
Andy Pierce
Member
Is there a UKAPS way to start a shared list people can edit? I'd love to contribute/view.
We have our very own Plantbase
Perhaps people can add comments if they have grown specific plants successfully in hard water. With enough positive comments @LondonDragon may be able to add an additional search filter with that parameter?
Perhaps people can add comments if they have grown specific plants successfully in hard water. With enough positive comments @LondonDragon may be able to add an additional search filter with that parameter?
zozo
Member
In nature, especially most rivers and surface water systems mainly rely on rainfall and outside the rainy seasons it is glacial meltwater, therefore it's about all pretty soft water, especially in the rainy flood seasons. So I guess natural surface water with a high gH is a rare thing to find...
Drinking water is hard in certain regions when it doesn't come from surface waters but from natural freshwater underground reservoirs in bedrock that are made of sedimentary rocks like limestone, chalk, flint and sandstone. The South East of the UK is mainly made up of chalk and limestone regions and as a result, has the hardest water because of this when you get tapwater from an underground source. Pretty common sediments in Europe, so even if it started as soft rainwater when it seeps through these sediments before it's collected in underground reservoirs and pumped up as tapwater it's pretty hard.
The natural regions that come closest where you'll find relative calcium and magnesium-rich and hard surface waters with a higher gH in nature where plants grow are in the brackish water coastal regions.
My best guess is your best changes are in the plants listed that are brackish water tolerant and most likely also hard water tolerant.
Not on this list...
www.flowgrow.de
I guess this probably goes for all Microsorum sp. when it comes to hard water because in my experience I always struggled with growing this plant sp. without using CO² and I have soft water. And I never found out why. but having too soft water was my only clue to explain why Microsorum is a difficult plant for me to keep in a low-tech aquarium.
And most Aponogeton sp. are known to be hard water tolerant.
Drinking water is hard in certain regions when it doesn't come from surface waters but from natural freshwater underground reservoirs in bedrock that are made of sedimentary rocks like limestone, chalk, flint and sandstone. The South East of the UK is mainly made up of chalk and limestone regions and as a result, has the hardest water because of this when you get tapwater from an underground source. Pretty common sediments in Europe, so even if it started as soft rainwater when it seeps through these sediments before it's collected in underground reservoirs and pumped up as tapwater it's pretty hard.
The natural regions that come closest where you'll find relative calcium and magnesium-rich and hard surface waters with a higher gH in nature where plants grow are in the brackish water coastal regions.
My best guess is your best changes are in the plants listed that are brackish water tolerant and most likely also hard water tolerant.
30+ Brackish Water Plants - Shrimp and Snail Breeder
In this article, I have put together the list of the most popular aquarium plants that can grow in brackish water tanks.
aquariumbreeder.com
Not on this list...
Microsorum pteropus 'Philippine' - Philippinen-Javafarn
Microsorum pteropus, der Javafarn, ist schon seit langem in der Aquaristik vertreten. Er ist sehr einfach zu halten, sieht dekorativ aus und ist gut im Handel erhältlich. In den letzten Jahren sind immer mehr Formen aufgetaucht, die sich vo...
www.flowgrow.de
And most Aponogeton sp. are known to be hard water tolerant.
I suspect, if all your other plant care variables are in order (water quality, fertilisation, lighting etc), and you inject CO2, the vast majority of plant species commonly available from retailers will do fine in hard water, and the list of those that do fine in hard water is a lot larger than the relatively small list of those that don't.
That said, as someone who runs both soft water (RO) tanks and harder tap water tanks - the soft water tanks just seem so much easier and present less issues in terms of algae and plant health. Could just be coincidence, but . . . .
That said, as someone who runs both soft water (RO) tanks and harder tap water tanks - the soft water tanks just seem so much easier and present less issues in terms of algae and plant health. Could just be coincidence, but . . . .
Andy Pierce
Member
Only 200 chalk rivers are known globally, 85% of which are found in the UK in southern and eastern England. These have naturally occurring very hard water. Various Ranunculus species do well. Some plants that do well are listed here: https://dnu7gk7p9afoo.cloudfront.net/chalk-streams-and-rivers-1.pdf
Andy Pierce
Member
In my Cambridgeshire hard water low tech tank, I have had good success with Helanthium bolivianum ‘Quadricostatus’, and surprisingly, also with Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’.
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
Anything that grows in <"Lake Tanganyika"> would be fine in hard water. There is a list of invasives here: <"cichlid tank brown hsir algae probs">.
cheers Darrel
MichaelJ
Member
Low alkalinity/KH (CO3) and therefore low'ish pH is what seem to matter most vs. uptake, nutrient availability and in turn plant health.
I do not think dGH (mostly from Calcium) plays much of a role unless it's extremely high. Hard tap water will usually be hard both in terms of dGH and dKH - they are rarely much detached as most of the hardness usually comes in the form of CaCO3.
Cheers,
Michael
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I (probably incorrectly) refer to water softness/hardness in relation to KH, not GH - but good point I should probably have been more specific @MichaelJ
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
I do it all the time, because limestone (CaCO3) supplies 1 dGH : 1 dKH I tend to look on them <"as two facets of the same thing">, but if you don't have hardness and alkalinity derived from CaCO3? You can <"decouple them all together">.
That was why @_Maq_ preferred to talk about "alkalinity", rather than temporary or carbonate "hardness". - <"Some handy facts about water">.
cheers Darrel
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_Maq_
Member
Alkalinity influences negatively plant growth in two ways:
(1) It's a potent scavenger of iron, and possibly other transition metals (Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni). They may form poorly soluble carbonates, and plant species differ significantly in their ability to "mine" iron in such circumstances.
(2) The presence of high concentration of bicarbonates within the plant tissues hinders functioning of some enzymes which enable utilizing iron by the plant.
I think alkalinity is of some practical importance. Those who inject CO2 often maintain some alkalinity (let's say, dKH = 2°) to counter-balance pH drop caused by CO2. Me, as a low-tech guy, can't afford such a 'high' alkalinity as it would push my pH above 7. Now, quite a many high-tech hobbyists often face difficulties in keeping some species (Tonina comes to mind), while in my tanks these grow like a weed. The difference is not in pH, but in alkalinity.
(1) It's a potent scavenger of iron, and possibly other transition metals (Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni). They may form poorly soluble carbonates, and plant species differ significantly in their ability to "mine" iron in such circumstances.
(2) The presence of high concentration of bicarbonates within the plant tissues hinders functioning of some enzymes which enable utilizing iron by the plant.
I think alkalinity is of some practical importance. Those who inject CO2 often maintain some alkalinity (let's say, dKH = 2°) to counter-balance pH drop caused by CO2. Me, as a low-tech guy, can't afford such a 'high' alkalinity as it would push my pH above 7. Now, quite a many high-tech hobbyists often face difficulties in keeping some species (Tonina comes to mind), while in my tanks these grow like a weed. The difference is not in pH, but in alkalinity.
MichaelJ
Member
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PARAGUAY
Member
Vallis species should do well,l have had it fo well in my soft water but it thrives in even brackish water in natural habitats.
_Maq_
Member
I've tried and found only this in Marschner:
I can't find the source where this issue is explained in more detail. Sorry.
I can't find the source where this issue is explained in more detail. Sorry.
