Beginner questions

[tmmycat]

I have two questions... these questions are about my 7-gallon tank which just has live plants in it and no fish yet.

1) My plants ... What are some things that could cause the tips of foxtail to die and turn brown? I have baby tears and anubias nana in the same tank and they seem to be doing fine.

2) What's a good way to raise water hardness naturally? I have extremely soft water but I would like to make it harder; I want to put a guppy in my tank and I've read that they like hard water. I also want a snail and I've read that they like hard water too.

[Rue]

Good questions...

I have a 25l tank, so roughly 7g...I think you can use crushed coral substrate to keep the pH up...but I have no idea of how much for a small volume of water...or how long it will last...

Not sure about your plants...likely due to lack of nutrients and or inadequate light conditions...or both...

...since you have no fish in there...now's a good time to add fertilizer. Also try a higher wattage lightbulb if your canopy can handle it...

[Incredulous_Ed]

Th eplants could have died because of a lack of nutrients, a lack of light, it is planted improperly, or unsuitable water conditions.

Adding crushed coral is a good way to raise pH levels, but it is more important to keep the pH at a constant rate, rather than it changing constantly. Another thing you can do is add limestone or other dissolving rocks to your tank.

[tmmycat]

Thanks for the tips! But actually I am wondering how to raise general hardness, not pH. can you change one without changing the other? My pH is 8.0 so I assume it is high enough. My general hardness and carbonate hardness are both the lowest possible reading.
Guess what, I just saw two baby snails in my new tank! Yay! I'm happy.
:malelovies:
I guess they came with my plants. They're so cute.

[GoldLenny]

What kind of test kit are you using to test your pH, KH and GH? What is your tap/source water baseline parameters? (See my blog where my most recent blog is about finding your baseline) After finding the baseline of your tap/source water and comparing it to the tanks readings, we can tell more about what is happening in your tank. There could be something in the tank causing the pH to rise or it could be bad test results.

[tmmycat]

I am using Tetratest.

My tap water has:
- pH 7.5
- general hardness less than 1 degree
- carbonate hardness less than 1 degree
- ammonia 0
- nitrate 10 mg/l
- nitrite 0 mg/l

My tank water has:
- pH 8.0
- general hardness less than 1 degree
- carbonate hardness less than 1 degree
- ammonia 0
- nitrate 20 mg/l
- nitrite 0.3 mg/l

I also tested some water from the aquarium store and it had the same results as my tap water for pH, general hardness, and carbonate hardness. I didn't test the store water for ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite.

[gm72]

If the LFS water is roughly the same as what you are putting into your tank I don't think you have any cause to be concerned.

[tmmycat]

ok cool! thank you for your help!
:ezpi_wink1: