Hey!Hi all,
It does if you have <"hard, alkaline tap water">.
Unfortunately you can't, without <"adding pH buffers">. The following also applies to the sellers, or promoters, of pH buffers.......
At 4 dKH your pH will raise to ~pH8, and it isn't a problem. There is a discussion here <"Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3) vs pH ?">.
You don't need RO, they are both happy in hard water. The Galaxy Rasbora will eat some shrimplets.
Use the tap water. You need a dechlorinator that <"will deal with chloramine">.
It is almost certainly a mineral nutrient issue, have a look at <"What is the “Duckweed Index” all about?">.
It is a good video, but the Seachem product placing is really disappointing to be honest, he must have known that he was being "economical with the truth", but <"profligate with your money">. <"Plants don't know where ions came from">, or how much they cost.
cheers Darrel
Thanks for the info! What you said makes a lot of sense and I am starting to have a good understanding of everything now given your and other information and connecting everything.
As far as ferts I think now I might just buy my own salts and make my own blends. The EI was an interesting read and makes sense however I have much to learn still before going right into it.
As far as water I think I’ll still stick with RO/DI simply for the fact that I’m curious to try it myself to see what difference I notice etc. Also the thought of knowing it’s pure and not unknown like tap seems nice to me. I still have to research more on GH KH PH and remineralization.