In article , Indiana
Jones writes
I will leave the plant comments to others (though in general one
problem keeping plants with africans is that plants tend not to
appreciate ph 8 and up, nor hard water)

Just been looking at Tropica's web site, and there seem to be a decent
variety of plants that will do well in my tank conditions. Mostly slow
growers, but that doesn't worry me too much.

So, anyone know how to harden the
water whilst still having decent rocks ?
snip

NOTE: once you have decided how much of the ingredients to use with
water
changes, *slowly* (over the course of a few days or a week) increase
the PH and hardness of the tank. Not too fast.. dont want to shock
them.

I would probably mess about with this before adding any fish to the
tank. ill it with water and spend some time tinkering until I got it
right. Only then would I add fish.

FWIW with local water of Ph7, Gh ~nil Kh ~nil, i settled on a formula
of Epsom Salts = 2tsp per 4 gal, instant ocean = .75tsp per 4 gal,
baing soda 1.5tsp per 4 gal.

Thanx, useful starting point.

Having said all that, after a few months of doing the prescribed
treatment I decided it wasnt worth the hassle. Now I just have my
crushed coral in there, keeps the PH at 8, and it only mildy hardens
the water.

This actually sounds like what I want. I would much prefer an approach
that involves letting the rocks do the water conditioning.

I was wondering about granite. Do you know if that would help ? I'm
really not sure which rocks will harden, which might soften and which
would leave the water alone. I have a friend who deals in stone, so I
could probably get chunks of granite, marble, Yorkshire stone, you name
it.

Hope any of this helps.

Sure does. Thanx very much

--
Alan Silver