Planted tanks in San Francisco Bay Area?

[blueshark]

Does the tap water in the San Francisco Bay Area (from Hetch Hetchy) make it possible to grow aquatic plants? The alkalinity is 49 ppm (2.74 dKH) and the hardness is 57 ppm (3.19 dGH), while the pH is 8.6. Is alkalinity at 2.74 dKH and hardness at 3.19 dGH too low? Could I grow plants in this low alkalinity/hardness and high pH water? If so, which kind of plants would do well with these water parameters?

Has anyone had any success with SF Bay Area water without having to use reverse osmosis equipment and so forth?

[Hoppy]

Soft water like that is very good for most aquatic plants, and most of the fish we use. Of course there are many people in the SF Bay area who have successful planted tanks.

[blueshark]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

Soft water like that is very good for most aquatic plants, and most of the fish we use. Of course there are many people in the SF Bay area who have successful planted tanks.

Even with the elevated pH?

I suppose it's unreasonable for me to think that there aren't people with successful planted tanks in the Bay Area, but I was wondering if any of them were to do it without going high tech with regards to treating the water.

[OVT]

I'm in the area and I do not adjust the tap I use for all of my tanks. It will work for 99% of the plants you can get your hands on.

via Droid DNA Tapatalk 2

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

The pH from tap water usually lowers as it aerates. Maybe O2 is slightly basic in water? IDK.

[lochaber]

There are a couple societies/clubs in the area you might want to check out:

http://www.sfaquarium.org

http://www.sfbaaps.org/home.html

I wouldn't be too concerned about the pH, it will drop a bit, especially if you have driftwood or a dirt substrate in your tank.

[jamesyu]

For some reason I cannot use my tap water, I've tried and it just decimated my aquarium.

Since i run nano's, it's easier for me to go out and buy crystal gyser and just fill then top off every 3-4 weeks when the evap starts to take it's toll. So far I've been successful at it once I started using that bottled water.

when I first used tap, I just used kordon's declorinator, but that kept the tank cloudy and really nasty. The only time I was ever able to use tap was in my 90 gallon and that was because the complex I was at used a gigantic filter for their tap as well underground.

<< lives near dixon landing rd (land fill)