[Ohangelfishumakemecrazee]

So I went radical today & took out all of my gravel, silk plants, fake deco, & put substrate in my tank w live plants & driftwood. I love it! It's still settling so it's still a bit cloudy, but I tested the water & it is hard. I did a very small water change also bc there was so much yuck in there, I just had to! I used a water conditioner. Will water soften up as it filters? I'm new to substrate.

 

[Plinkploop]

What are your water parameters?

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Why only a very small water change?

You are going to crash your tank unless you do a ton of water changes

 

[Ohangelfishumakemecrazee]

Why?

I used the test strips and the only thing off was hard water.

 

[Plinkploop]

What type of substrate did you use? Most active substrate have a set scheduling for water changes of 50% for the first month of set up. If you are using an active substrate following this regime is very necessary. Regardless, considering you took a bunch of stuff out that was covered in bb and biofilm you're going to need to keep an eye on parameters to make sure you're not going to go through a mini cycle.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

You removed all the bacteria. Gravel is a substrate

Even if it isn’t active you have to do at least every other day 50% water changes because you crashed your cycle

 

[Plinkploop]

To address your initial question on whether your substrate is making your water hard- I don't know because I don't know what your substrate is. If you are using an active planted substrate it will lower your hardness. If you are using something with aragonite, crushed coral, texas holey rock, shells, limestone etc- yes it could be making your water harder. If it is inert- most regular aquarium gravels, sands and rocks, carrib sea eco complete, lava stones, pfs, blasting sand etc it will not have any effect on your hardness. Is it possible your water is softened or hardened straight from the tap? That can cause swings when using inert substrate.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Your water is probably just hard did you think of testing your tap Too?