What plants are suitable for hard water, pH around 8, medium light ?

[Alan Silver]

Hello,

I'm just contemplating setting up a cichlid tank. Unlike my tropical
tank (which has very soft, slightly acidic water), this will require
hard water of pH around 8. I am interested in knowing what plants are
going to be happy in these conditions.

Preferably I would like plants that do not require high lighting as I am
trying to keep costs down a little ;-(

Thanx for any info.

--
Alan Silver

[coelacanth]

Vallisneria does fairly well in my "water" (pH 7.8, 17 dh).

-coelacanth

"Alan Silver" >
wrote in message ...
> Hello,
>
> I'm just contemplating setting up a cichlid tank. Unlike my tropical
> tank (which has very soft, slightly acidic water), this will require
> hard water of pH around 8. I am interested in knowing what plants are
> going to be happy in these conditions.
>
> Preferably I would like plants that do not require high lighting as I am
> trying to keep costs down a little ;-(
>
> Thanx for any info.
>
> --
> Alan Silver
>
>

[Ryan Wilson]

Try going to www.tropica.com and searching. You can set the search up to
only bring back plants that do well in hard water...Hope this helps
Regards
Ryan

"coelacanth" > wrote in message
.. .
> Vallisneria does fairly well in my "water" (pH 7.8, 17 dh).
>
> -coelacanth
>
> "Alan Silver"
>
> wrote in message ...
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm just contemplating setting up a cichlid tank. Unlike my tropical
> > tank (which has very soft, slightly acidic water), this will require
> > hard water of pH around 8. I am interested in knowing what plants are
> > going to be happy in these conditions.
> >
> > Preferably I would like plants that do not require high lighting as I am
> > trying to keep costs down a little ;-(
> >
> > Thanx for any info.
> >
> > --
> > Alan Silver
> >
> >
>
>

[Dave Millman]

Alan Silver wrote:

> I'm just contemplating setting up a cichlid tank. Unlike my tropical
> tank (which has very soft, slightly acidic water), this will require
> hard water of pH around 8. I am interested in knowing what plants are
> going to be happy in these conditions.
>
> Preferably I would like plants that do not require high lighting as I am
> trying to keep costs down a little ;-(

Alan,

Most plants love hard water, so that isn't going to be your problem. What
does "medium light" mean? Around here, we generally look for 1-1.5 watts per
gallion of quality flourescent light for a low-light tank. Many plants like
swords, anubias, java moss, java fern and some crypts can do really well in
these conditions.

[Cichlidiot]

Alan Silver > wrote:
> Hello,

> I'm just contemplating setting up a cichlid tank. Unlike my tropical
> tank (which has very soft, slightly acidic water), this will require
> hard water of pH around 8. I am interested in knowing what plants are
> going to be happy in these conditions.

> Preferably I would like plants that do not require high lighting as I am
> trying to keep costs down a little ;-(

> Thanx for any info.

There's oodles of plants that will do fine in hard water. The "classics"
are java fern, java moss, crypts and anubias. The plus with those is most
of them also do well with moderate lighting. In my rift lake tank (which
has way more that pH of 8 before CO2 injection), I have java ferns, crypts
and Aponogeton bulbs. The crypts suffered a bit and had a typical
meltdown, but they're coming back now. The java ferns have grown like
crazy. I had a bit of java moss tangled up on one of the java ferns when I
bought them, but the moss never really took. It wasn't very health looking
to begin with though. The Aponogeton bulbs are doing great as well. One of
them is massive with leaves trailing across the top of the water (great
fry cover). It has been sending off flower stalks like crazy of late. The
others are moderately sized, but put out new leaves regularly.

I haven't taken any pictures lately (and won't be for a while due to a
roommate induced tank disaster a couple weeks ago), but you can go to the
following webpage and compare how the plants looked originally and then
how much they'd grown a couple months later:

http://www.shwaine.com/fish_40g.html

[Chuck Gadd]

On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 19:04:17 +0100, Alan Silver
>
wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I'm just contemplating setting up a cichlid tank. Unlike my tropical
>tank (which has very soft, slightly acidic water), this will require
>hard water of pH around 8. I am interested in knowing what plants are
>going to be happy in these conditions.


As Dave mentioned, just about any plant will do great in hard water.
Claus from Tropica showed photos taken in south america, showing lots
of plants usually considered "soft water" plants doing amazingly well
in very hard water with a calcium carbonate substrate!

Claus made the point that soft water plants don't NEED soft water,
they are just the ones that can best tolerate soft water. Soft water
is lacking in minerals. Hard water has lots of stuff plants need!

But, a more important consideration for plant selection is which
plants will do well with african cichlids. They are known for
damaging plants, and being able to re-decorate a tank however they
want it.

Stick with tough plants (hard leaves) like african fern, java fern,
anubias. Vals also will usually do well. If the cichlids dig up the
plants constantly, then attach the plants to rocks or wood. All of
the above listed plants above except the vals will grow attached to
rocks or wood.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

[Alan Silver]

In article >, Dave Millman
> writes
>Most plants love hard water, so that isn't going to be your problem.
>What does "medium light" mean? Around here, we generally look for 1-1.5
>watts per gallion of quality flourescent light for a low-light tank.
>Many plants like swords, anubias, java moss, java fern and some crypts
>can do really well in these conditions.

Haven't really decided on the lighting yet. The LFS said that cichlid
tanks normally have a combination of white and blue tubes. Haven't had
time to check this out in more detail, so I don't know if the blue will
contribute to the lighting for the plant.

I don't want to over-light the tank as this would wash out the fish.
Also, this is going to be a deep tank (24") and I know light has
problems once you get too deep.

Thanx for the reply

--
Alan Silver

[Alan Silver]

In article >, Chuck Gadd
> writes
>But, a more important consideration for plant selection is which plants
>will do well with african cichlids. They are known for damaging
>plants, and being able to re-decorate a tank however they want it.

This was going to be my next question !!

>Stick with tough plants (hard leaves) like african fern, java fern,
>anubias. Vals also will usually do well. If the cichlids dig up the
>plants constantly, then attach the plants to rocks or wood. All of
>the above listed plants above except the vals will grow attached to
>rocks or wood.

Given that this tank will be 24" high, I was wondering about fixing
plants in the rock pile I intend to build at the back. That will get
them nearer the light. The vals could always be planted in the
substrate, in cracks between the rocks where the fish couldn't easily
get to them.

Thanx for the reply

--
Alan Silver