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Wanted: pictures of tanks. (KH related)

Edvet

Edvet

Member
Joined
15 Aug 2013
Messages
5,124
Location
Lelystad, Netherlands
I would love some pics of longer existing tanks with either very hard or very low KH values.
I can point to them in the ever recurring discusions that you need a certain low or high value to have a nice planted tank.
I know some members have liquid rock coming from their faucet, while others have almost zero hardness. I would love some pics with the reigning KH value (doesn't have to be in decimals ;))
 
Hi all,
This was about 80 microS and 2 dKH at the time the picture was taken.
dicrossus_clup1_resize.jpg


It has always been about the same values, but doesn't have as many plants now since the central Anubias now fills up 3/4 of the tank.

This was taken about a week ago, I've got a few sub-adult male Apistogramma agassizii stored in it at the moment.
IMG_0042_zpsllkmxb1f.jpg


cheers Darrel
 
0dKH

16298727700_c6f00cdaa3_b.jpg

15866037493_1a16210c63_b.jpg

Used a Nutrafin KH test kit with a 5ml sample (count drops after first drop multiply by 10 to get PPM), first drop turns sample blue, second drop turns sample yellow so <10mg/L or 0.56dKH. I'm not purposely adding KH so it's much lower than this. Second try larger 3x sample volume of 15ml, first drop turns sample blue, second drop sample remains blue, third drop sample turns yellow.
 
I hope to see some high KH's coming through on this thread. I've got Oxfordshires finest 'liquid rock' coming through the taps and a tank I hope to start in a months time (I erroneously promised I'd finish the bathroom before starting another tank!). Parotet's examples are giving me hope (although I still may cut my water with some frm the water butt outside!)
 
Stee61 said:
I hope to see some high KH's coming through on this thread. I've got Oxfordshires finest 'liquid rock' coming through the taps and a tank I hope to start in a months time (I erroneously promised I'd finish the bathroom before starting another tank!). Parotet's examples are giving me hope (although I still may cut my water with some frm the water butt outside!)
Click to expand...
Clive's tank (aka ceg4048) is one of the best examples I have seen of lush growth with liquid rock tap water. If I am not wrong it was around 15dKH.
I also miss more pictures of great planted tanks with high KH... Come on guys, I'm sure you have plenty of good examples to show

Jordi
 
Hi,

May I ask if the photos being requested will also be correlated with full tank parameters, as I personally feel Kh is only part of the complex story of sustaining a vibrant planted aquarium, thus I am intrigued to know what other information will be considered when comparing the tanks with high and low Kh?

Sorry for my questioning, but as I am venturing into my first planted tank setup - I felt it prudent to ask for the individuals in a similar position to myself.

Kind regds

Jay
 
Hi all,
ukjay said:
May I ask if the photos being requested will also be correlated with full tank parameters, as I personally feel Kh is only part of the complex story of sustaining a vibrant planted aquarium, thus I am intrigued to know what other information will be considered when comparing the tanks with high and low Kh?
Click to expand...
I think you are right, and the point was that there isn't a single, or range of, carbonate hardness values that makes a planted tank successful.

The majority of plants will grow equally successfully at high and low dKH values, if they get sufficient nutrients (including CO2).

I only keep low tech. tanks, and there are exceptions to this under those conditions. I find that Vallisneria won't grow in my tanks (rain-water, low nutrients, no added CO2), but it does fine in our tap water (low nutrient, but about 18dKH).

cheers Darrel
 
ukjay said:
May I ask if the photos being requested will also be correlated with full tank parameters, as I personally feel Kh is only part of the complex story of sustaining a vibrant planted aquarium
Click to expand...
You will probably read that it is easier to keep a low-medium KH planted tank, and in most cases the explanation given behind this statement is that it is more difficult to get proper CO2 levels... something which is not true, as explained many times here. It is just a misconception due to the fact that a higher KH buffers the pH drop, but CO2 dissolution is independent of the water alkalinity. Another frequent argument is that the plants we use come from acidic waters but the truth is that plants most (probably 95%?) can adapt to new conditions (except for a few which are well known).

IME, and regarding C enriched tanks, fine-tuning the light intensity with CO2 levels and flow has been the key point... and it takes quite a lot of time and effort to do so. Water changes and in general tank husbandry are also important. Lately I have also learnt to manage properly plants: most of my plants didn't look nice (they were algae free, but not beautiful) because I simply learn which ones prefer to be trimmed, replanted, can be frequently moved or not, etc.

As mentioned, sometimes I still think about cutting my water with RO/DI, you know... probably thinking that my tank could look better. Still many aquascapers (I am not talking about "myth makers", so the same ones admitting that it is perfectly possible to keep a very nice planted tank with hard water) say that they find that medium-soft water make their plants look healthier.
But, each time I have this "temptation" I think about 3 things:

1. regarding WCs, managing RO/DI water is more difficult than tap water, therefore I will make my life easier
2. water is scarce where I live and it's becoming more expensive, even the most efficient systems throw 2 parts of water for each one produced (most times 3:1)
3. very healthy tanks/layouts can be produced with higher KHs than mine... once I can achieve what Clive does (for example, many other examples can be found here), if I am not at ease with the result, I will use RO... but for the moment I don't blame my water, it's me! :)

Jordi
 
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With regards to the comment about plants not doing too well in rain water in a low tech set up without CO2, but do well in tap water - could this be due to the amount of pollutants within rain water now, afterall - it is not only CO2 affecting the rain nowadays, we have numerous pollutants that make their way into the atmosphere, so depending where we live - we have more to contend with.
Therefore, the plants that do not do so well in rain water may be more susceptible to these pollutants thus slowing their growth etc?

kind regards

Jay
 
Just a newbie question, am I correct in thinking Clive is ceg4048, and are we looking at his tank in the post above?
Apologies for being nosey!

Jay
 
Hi all,
ukjay said:
With regards to the comment about plants not doing too well in rain water in a low tech set up without CO2, but do well in tap water - could this be due to the amount of pollutants within rain water now, afterall - it is not only CO2 affecting the rain nowadays, we have numerous pollutants that make their way into the atmosphere, so depending where we live - we have more to contend with.
Therefore, the plants that do not do so well in rain water may be more susceptible to these pollutants thus slowing their growth etc?
Click to expand...
In the case of Vallisneria I'm pretty sure it is carbonate hardness effect.

I use rain-water in all the tanks, and the other plants are fine. I've also got a KISS method of testing the rain-water for agricultural pollutants etc, it is the <"Daphnia bioassay">.

Our tap water also comes from a deep limestone aquifer, and is pretty devoid of solutes other than Ca++ and HCO3-, so it provides a reasonable control. A real control would be to saturate the rain water with calcium carbonate via an "oyster shell chick grit" or "shell sand" (or similar) substrate, and then observe the growth of Vallisneria.

I haven't done that, but Diana Walstad reports on similar experiments in her book.

cheers Darrel
 
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