New Planted Tank - What Are The Ideal Water Paramaters?

[rich05uk]

I've spent a few hours reading through the forums, but can't find any answers to my questions. If I've missed it, sorry and can you point me in the right direction.

However, I'm setting up a new planted tank and have a Nutrafin Master Test kit which contains a number of tests as per the below table. I want to know what the ideal parameters for these tests should be, based on a planted freshwater community tank (160L), I have done some research and found that the ideal parameters I have entered in the 2nd column are a good start but want to confirm them with someone better educated than me. Also I have measured my Tap Water and entered the parameters in the 3rd column, do I have anything to worry about?

Test........................................................Ideal Parameters.............................My Tap Water Parameters

Ammonia (NH3/4)...................................0 ppm................................................0 ppm
Nitrite (NO2)...........................................0 ppm................................................0 ppm
Nitrate (NO3)..........................................Less than 110 ppm............................10 ppm
Potential Hydrogen (PH)...........................6 - 9 (7 Perfect)................................7.4
Carbonate Hardness (KH)........................More than 80 ppm............................110 ppm
General Hardness (gH).............................61 - 200 ppm....................................200 ppm
Phosphate (PO4)......................................Less than 1 ppm................................1 ppm
Calcium (Ca2+)........................................More than 5 ppm...............................40 ppm
Calcium Carbonate/Hardness (CaCO3)....More than 12.5 ppm..........................100 ppm
Iron (Fe) Non-Chelated (Free / Toxic)......0 - 0.1 ppm.......................................0 ppm
Iron (Fe) Chelated (Non Toxic).................0.25 - 0.5 ppm..................................0 ppm

I'm particularly confused with the calcium test as the instructions are not very clear, I know it's probably not important to know about the amount of calcium in a freshwater tank but I would like to know how it works anyway. I'm not sure at all if the ideal parameters are correct as the instructions are very bad. It also mentions how you can calculate from the above tests the Magnesium (Mg2+) and Magnesium Carbonate/Hardness (MgCO3), this is done as follows

General Hardness (gH) – Calcium Carbonate/Hardness (CaCO3) = Magnesium Carbonate/Hardness (MgCO3)

Then if you divide Magnesium Carbonate/Hardness (MgCO3) by 4.1 it will give you the amount of Magnesium (Mg2+).

Does this sound right and if so, what should the ideal parameters be for Magnesium (Mg2+) & Magnesium Carbonate/Hardness (MgCO3)?

I worked out that my tap parameters would be

Magnesium (Mg2+) 24ppm
Magnesium Carbonate/Hardness (MgCO3) 100ppm

Is this right and are they ok?

Many thanks for your help.

 

[Colin_T]

It sounds like the test kit you have is more for marine rather than fresh water. Calcium and magnesium are not worth testing in fresh water.

Try to keep the ammonia & nitrite at 0 all the time. A healthy well established filter will do this for you.
Try to keep the nitrates & phosphates as low as possible but plants will use nitrates & some phosphates so you might find the levels don't get very high any way.
Try to keep the PH between 6.5 & 7.5. Avoid extremes below 6 or above 8.
Carbonate hardness (KH) should be above 50ppm to prevent the PH from dropping
General hardness (GH) can be anywhere between 50 & 300ppm. If you can get it to about 150-200ppm that is great but it doesn't really matter too much for plants.
Iron should be 1 or 0.1ppm, can't remember which but it should tell you in the test kit. Plants will tolerate higher levels but fish won't. And if you have carbon in your filter then remove it otherwise it will absorb the iron and the plants won't get any.
Keep the temperature between 20 & 30C. The ideal being around 24-26C.

 

[aaronnorth]

You dont need to test for all that, just test for

Aim for:

ph ---------------- 7
kh------------------8
gh------------------8
NO3----------------20
NH3----------------0
NO2----------------0
CO2----------------20-35ppm (measure by drop checker or CO2 table in my sig.)

 

[rich05uk]

Thanks aaronnorth & Colin_T.

I know some of the tests I mentioned are probably not important for freshwater, but I have spent weeks doing research (probably my Achilles' heel) and am constantly reading that parameters such as Calcium & Magnesium are often ignored in freshwater because the very important parameters are Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate etc so people tend to concentrate specifically on these and ignore Calcium & Magnesium. Over time it has become normal to assume that things such as Magnesium & Calcium are not important in freshwater tanks but in fact to have a 'perfect tank' these parameters are still rather important.

So, as I have the tests for Calcium & Magnesium I thought I may as well use them, but my problem is I can't seem to find what the parameters should be in a freshwater tank which is my main reason for posting on here. The instructions for this specific test are not clear although they do provide instructions for testing freshwater, they don't really explain what the parameters should be.

Also, you mentioned my Iron should be higher than 0 which is what it is now, how do I increase this?

Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

Use a liquid iron plant fertiliser to increase the iron levels. Sera Florena is what I use but there are plenty of others out there. In really big tanks you can add Iron Chelate, (available from garden centres/nurseries). You can add some of the iron chelate to some water and shake it up until it dissolves. Then add a small amount of the liquid to the tank.

Calcium & Magnesium are the main components of general hardness (GH). Some waterways have more calcium, others have more magnesium. It depends on what fish you are keeping as to how much of each you have in the water. Most plants will survive in water with a GH between 50 & 300ppm with the optimum being about 200ppm. As a general rule plants don't use calcium or magnesium in any great amount, certainly not in levels that are worth worrying about.

 

[aaronnorth]

like colin says, use a fertiliser that contains iron (most trace ferts contain it). Fe+2 is the ion used by plants as it is more easily consumed than Fe+3.