changing water with plants

[Kendramc]

i'm currently without fish in my tank, just a handful of plants, and will soon be changing my water source and thus parameters. does changing parameters stress plants the way it does fish? basically, do i need to do the change gradually or can i change basically all of my water at once without harming the plants?

also, does chlorine bother plants much? do i need to treat my tap water before adding it to the tank?

if it matters, i don't have any exciting plants, just a bunch of java ferns and a really sad little crypt, though i do plan to get more easy plants.

thanks.

 

[10 Tanks]

i'm currently without fish in my tank, just a handful of plants, and will soon be changing my water source and thus parameters. does changing parameters stress plants the way it does fish? basically, do i need to do the change gradually or can i change basically all of my water at once without harming the plants?

also, does chlorine bother plants much? do i need to treat my tap water before adding it to the tank?

if it matters, i don't have any exciting plants, just a bunch of java ferns and a really sad little crypt, though i do plan to get more easy plants.

thanks.

Hello. I'd say as long as you have decent lighting and the plants get a good dose of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, you're good. This is all I give my plants. Of course, they have the benefit of large, weekly water changes too.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Slaphppy7]

Is your tap water treated with chlorine, or chloramine?

Regardless, it shouldn't need dechlor for just plants...after all, we water our other plants with chlorinated water, with no harm to them

 

[Kendramc]

Is your tap water treated with chlorine, or chloramine?

Regardless, it shouldn't need dechlor for just plants...after all, we water our other plants with chlorinated water, with no harm to them

it is chlorine, so it will evaporate out eventually.

 

[Byron]

does changing parameters stress plants the way it does fish?

For most plants, this is not a problem. But crypts do not like any changes, and I have seen them melt with a change in pH. But usually they recover, just leave the roots alone and new leaves usually appear in time. The ferns should be OK.

do i need to do the change gradually or can i change basically all of my water at once without harming the plants?

Change all of the water, keeping the above in mind.

also, does chlorine bother plants much? do i need to treat my tap water before adding it to the tank?

No to both questions. I ran a 20g tank with plants for years, to use as the quarantine for new fish. I did not do water changes every week like I do with fish, but maybe every third week I would do a major change. I never used conditioner. Chlorine is a plant nutrient in fact, though a micro-nutrient. And it is not harmful at the levels allowed in drinking water. I used to think the chlorinated water might kill off any potentially harmful pathogens from the new fish once they were out of this QT, but I don't know that the chlorine is very successful at this. We know it does not kill off much of the nitrifying bacteria in an aquarium, so it may not have much effect otherwise. It does burn fish gills though, so always use a conditioner if fish are present. My snails and plants had no issues.