PARAMETROS DEL AGUA

¿QUÉ ES Y POR QUÉ LO NECESITAN LAS PLANTAS?

Dado que estamos tratando de albergar vida (plantas y animales) en nuestros tanques, debemos asegurarnos de que nuestros parámetros de agua sean tales que sustenten la vida. Es posible que haya oído hablar de incidentes en los que la escorrentía de agua en un lago causó un pH alto que mató a los peces y otras formas de vida. Es similar dentro de nuestros tanques plantados; estamos tratando de encontrar un equilibrio en los parámetros del agua para no matar a los seres vivos y bonitos que hay dentro. Los parámetros que son de especial interés son los niveles de oxígeno, GH, KH, pH y nitrógeno (en varias formas).

Oxígeno - es necesario para la vida animal y la respiración de las bacterias "buenas". También se requiere para oxidar compuestos (como al convertir amoníaco → NO2 → NO3).
pH - El pH es la medida de la concentración de iones de hidrógeno en una solución. Pero no se preocupe si no puede recordar lo que aprendió en Química 101, todo lo que realmente necesita saber es que existe un rango ideal de pH que respalda la vida. Si está obteniendo sus niveles de GH y KH donde deben estar para el ganado y las plantas que está criando, el PH seguirá naturalmente. Así que no hay necesidad de preocuparse por el PH.
GH - La GH o dureza general es una medida de sólidos disueltos en el agua. Los parámetros ideales del agua son alrededor de 4º para la GH (que se considera “agua blanda”).
KH - KH o Dureza de carbonato es la medición de iones de bicarbonato y carbonato en una solución. Nuevamente, los parámetros ideales del agua están alrededor de 4º para KH.
Nitrógeno - El ciclo del nitrógeno ... el amoníaco puede provenir de otros desechos de pescado o de materia orgánica en descomposición en el tanque. Las plantas prefieren el amoníaco a los nitratos, pero el amoníaco puede matar al ganado en cantidades de alrededor de 0,2 ppm. NO2 - a las plantas les gusta, un poco menos tóxico para los peces, demasiado NO3 - las plantas no lo prefieren, un poco menos tóxico para las plantas (se requieren concentraciones más altas para matarlas).

A las plantas les gusta que todos estos parámetros se mantengan estables dentro de un cierto rango. Las grandes fluctuaciones de pH, GH y KH pueden crear un entorno inestable al que las plantas reaccionan negativamente.

CÓMO FUNCIONA EN UN TANQUE

Así que hablemos del agua y de cómo mantener estables los parámetros del agua para las plantas y el ganado. La forma más fácil de hacerlo es ... mantenga su GH y KH donde deben estar para el ganado que está criando y el PH seguirá. Tan fácil como eso. Esto podría significar que cada vez que procesa un cambio de agua remineraliza el agua RODI al GH y KH donde deben estar para su diseño y lo agrega a su tanque ... ¡y listo! Tu tanque es feliz y saludable.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

Most plant dominated tanks will thrive at a GH/KH of around 4 degrees. The further away we get from this target, the harder and hard it is for plants to thrive. We believe it has something to do with nutrient uptake, but has not been able to find a study on why. Now if your tap water is within single digit degrees, so between 4-9 degrees in hardness, and free of organics like ammonia and phosphates, we advise you use your tap water to keep water changes super simple. However, the further into double digits we get, 10+ degrees or harder, the more your plants are going to struggle and we would suggest using remineralized RODI water for water changes. This will give us full control over our water chemistry. If you water's hardness is less than 4 degrees, then we suggest you add some minerals to help boost the GH/KH up to 4 degrees. Overall its less work to raise your GH/KH than it is to lower it.

HOW TO DEAL WITH HARD WATER

If you water is in the double digits in degrees, so 10+ degrees or harder then we suggest you use an RODI. RODI units remove everything out of yoru water creating pure H2O. The simplest and most cost effective RODI unit we've found is a RO Buddy by AquatiLife. This little unit can be ran off a sink faucet, shower head, even a hose spigot. It does not need to be preminalty installed which makes it great for renters. Shoot, we used to remove the head off our kitchen sink, attach the unit to that and make RODI water in our kitchen. We have used this little unit for years and would highly recommend it.

However, we can't just use pure H2O as our plants and fish need minerals to survive, so we need to remineralize the RODI water. We do this using Seachem Equilibrium to boost our GH and sodium bicarbonate, which is just baking soda, to boost our KH. We love Seachem Equilibrium because it has extra potassium and iron in it as well which your plants will love! And most households have baking soda lying around, which makes it very cheap and accessible for everyone. There are fancy procuts like Seachem Alkaline Buffer, but those are sodium bicarbonate based so you're just buying fancy baking soda in a bottle.

But making your own water and having complete control over your water chemistry is literally this easy. We add enough of both Equilibrium and baking soda to boost our RODI water from zero degrees on both, up to a GH/KH to 4 degrees. Now (bi)carbonates (KH) effects PH, so at a KH of 4 degrees, our PH will sit around 6.8-7.0 which is a very neutral PH. And BAM! You have perfect water every time.

To boost your GH up to 4 degrees, we use 1 tsp of Seachem Equilibrium for every 5 gallons of RODI water.

To boost your KH up to 4 degrees, we use 1/4tsp of baking soda for every 5 gallons of RODI water. Here are some additional calculations that might help you increase your KH with baking soda:

5 GAL + 10 Grams = 17dKH
10 GAL + 10 Grams = 8.5dKH
20 GAL + 10 Grams = 4.25dKH
50 GAL + 10 Grams = 1.7dKH

THE DOWNSIDE OF A RODI UNIT

Overall, using an RODI system just add more time and cost to water changes. If we are not consistent with water changes, organics will build up in our causing imbalances and algae. So the more sustainable we can make water changes, the more successful you are going to be in the hobby.

The big issue most have with RODI water is that you have to make the water ahead of time. Depending on the size of your aquarium, this can take a few hours. You also need to store this water before putting it into your aquarium which can take up a nice amount of space which some might not have. For a 30g aquarium we use a 10g trash can with a float value attached to it to shut off the production of RODI water when the trash can fills up. This allows us to walk away and prevents the trash can from overflowing. Then we use a small pump and fill up 5 gallon jugs to carry to our aquascape. As you can see, this process can make water changes more difficult, causing us to not process them weekly.

Furthermore, we have to service the RODI unit once in a while. That means every 12-24 months we need to replace the carbon/sediment cartridges or the RO membrane, or replace the DI resin. This costs money over time. We will say that having a RODI unit is a LOT cheaper than buying RODI water from your local aquarium store, or buying distilled water from a grocery store, but there is still a cost involved.

However, we will end this section with RODI water is going to give you the best results as it is the great equalizer. It is said that if you prepare a meal with poor ingredients, you're going to a poor tasting meal. Our results with our aquascapes are only going to be as good as the water we put in it. There is not going to be anything more pure than remineralized RODI water, but it comes at the cost or more time, money, and work. So just be prepared for that prior to getting a unti.

HOW TO DEAL WITH SOFT WATER

I first start off by saying you won the lottery. Most of us aquarists spend a lot of time and money to get soft water and you have it out of your tap! The only thing you need to do is add minerals in to get either/both of your GH/KH up to 4 degrees. As stated above, you can use Seachem Equilibrium to boost your GH and sodium bicarbonate, which is just baking soda, to boost our KH. We suggest Seachem Equilibrium because it has extra potassium and iron in it as well which your plants will love. And most households have baking soda lying around, which makes it very cheap and accessible for everyone. There are fancy procuts like Seachem Alkaline Buffer, but those are sodium bicarbonate based so you're just buying fancy baking soda in a bottle.

As stated above, to boost your GH up to 4 degrees, we use 1 tsp of Seachem Equilibrium for every 5 gallons of RODI water.

To boost your KH up to 4 degrees, we use 1/4tsp of baking soda for every 5 gallons of RODI water. Here are some additional calculations that might help you increase your KH with baking soda:

5 GAL + 10 Grams = 17dKH
10 GAL + 10 Grams = 8.5dKH
20 GAL + 10 Grams = 4.25dKH
50 GAL + 10 Grams = 1.7dKH

PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE SOFT WATER!!! If you have soft water and want to add more mineralize for something like neocaradina shrimp, DO NOT USE CALCIUM CARBONATE PRODUCTS to achieve this. Calcium carbonate products consist of:

Argonite
Cuttlebone
Wondershell
Crushed Coral

We wrote an article on this in which you can read, but essentially calcium carbonate products jack up your GH and KH uncontrollably until your PH reached 7.8-8.0. Uncontrollable processes are the opposite of what we want in our tanks. We can complete complete control over our tank GH/KH/PH at all times. You can read the full article here - Should I Use Cuttlebone For My Snails In My Aquarium?

(BI)CARBONATES EFFECT ON PH

A lot of hobbyis ask, how to reduce their PH and the answer is simple. Reduce your KH or (bi)carbonates. If you lower you KH, you will lower your PH and the reverse, if you raise your KH you raise your PH. Its that simple. When adding (bi)carbonates to your tank to raise KH, know that bicarbonates will have less of an effect on your PH than carbonates. For example, if you use sodium bicarbonate, baking soda, to raise your KH, it will have less of an effect on your PH than sodium carbonate, which is soda as. Just something to keep in mind. Most aquascapes will do fine with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and there is no need to use a carbonate. If your PH is too high, test your KH and you'll see that will be elevated as well past 4 degrees of hardness.

SOMETIMES your PH can be artificially high. This means you have a low KH, but a high PH. To fix this you can use white vinegar. You can use .5ml per gallon to drop your PH down to where it should be based on your KH. Example. if you have a 10 gallon aquarium with a PH of 8.0, but a KH of 4, we would call this artificially elevated. You would use 5ml of vinegar to drop the PH down to a 7.0 where it wants to be. Just make sure to add the vinegar slowly as to not have any ill effects on your livestock.

ADJUSTMENTS FOR A PLANTED SHRIMP TANK

For the most part, shrimp and plants have competing goals. The three biggest things that stand out are water parameters, water changes, and nutrients:

Water Parameters: Depending on the shrimp you get, like neocaridina shrimp, they could require harder water parameters above what plants prefer. What we suggest is to simply match the breeder's GH/KH. This will ensure that the shrimp have an ok time transitioning into your tank, and the plant will adjust. Just know that there will be a transition time for the plants as they get used to the new GH/KH. If you have caradina shrimp, they are happy with a GH/KH of 4, which the plants will also love, but you'll need to reduce feralization and water changes as described below.

Feralization: Normally if you are using the ASG Feralization kit and were injecting CO2, we'd suggest dosing 1ml per gallon, but with shrimp we suggest to cut it down to 25% of the dose, so .25mls per gallon which is the dosage you'd use if you were not injecting CO2. Slowing down the feralization will also slow down growth of the plants, but help keep the compounds from building up causing poor water quality for the more sensitive shrimp.

Water Changes: Shrimp just don't like water changes. Straight up. However, we need to process them for two reasons in a planted tank. 1) so that nutrients doesn't build up. And 2) To help replace essential minerals like calcium. We suggest processing a 20% water change weekly instead of the 50% weekly water change we suggest. Cutting back on the fertilizer will help us reduce the amount of water we change with no i'll effects on the tank.

If you'd like to read more about our experience with neocaridina in a CO2 injected planted shrimp, you can check out our article named Neocaridina Shrimp in Planted Aquariums.