Philadelphia Water And Plant Death

[RobberyinCSharp]

I currently live in the Philadelphia area, so I am forced to add city water to my fish tank. The water is painfully chlorinated so I have to make sure I always add SeaChem Prime when I do a water change I have a DIY CO2 system, I add Seachem liquid Iron, Trace elements, and CO2. I also have a planting substrate. When I first moved here, I had several amazon swords, some Wisteria, and a few others I can't quite remember. I keep the lighting system on (white and blue LEDs) for about 6 hours a day. When I was in CT and using well water, my plants thrived! Now I'm in Philly, and I've gone through almost $100 in plants because they keep dying! I have tried adding extra iron, CO2, and trace elements but no matter WHAT I add/remove/change, my plants drop dead after a week in Philadelphia. Apparently I am not the only person who has had this problem in my building, either. 
 
I've gone through more Amazon Swords, Ludwigia (spelling?) and java moss as well. Right now, the only thing that has survived are two Anubias Nana plants that have made it for about 1 month now. I miss having a planted tank, and I know my fish do too
 
Does anyone have any advice? I'm so tired of wasting my money and watching my tank water become filthy with rotting plant material!

 

[Meeresstille]

Maybe you could ask your local LFS what they do with their water to get their plants to survive. Also wondering if the pipes in your building may have something to do with your bad water quality.
Maybe you need to look into doing RO water and add minerals back into it. 

 

[levahe]

If you are adding co2 you need to include macros (nitrate/phosphate/sulphate) into your fertiliser dosing, also you need to have good flow all around the tank to distribute the co2/fertilisers. Do you do decent sized weekly water changes as well?

 

[daizeUK]

Perhaps it's a problem local to your building or block?  I believe Eagles lives in Philly and he's never mentioned plant problems that I know of.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I do live in the Philadelphia suburbs, but I also don't dose CO2.  I go low-tech.  Also, in this area, we have some different water companies.  I went to Drexel University, so I know exactly what the Philadelphia city water is like... not very good - it tastes AWFUL, and it is chock full of all kinds of stuff... never tested it while I was in college... but I did invest in a Brita water system and changed it twice as often as it was recommended.
 
 
As for my current situation, I have "Aqua" water.  Its ok, but I've never tested the TDS, nor the specific levels of the macronutrients nor the micronutrients.  A friend of mine lives a few miles from me and he has "Chester" water, which is different from my current supplier.  I'm not sure about the issues specifically, but as pointed out, if you are dosing CO2, you may very well need to increase your macronutrients.  Its possible that the well water in CT had far more TDS, including the macroferts than the Philadelphia municipal water.
 
Sorry I couldn't give you more help than that.  
 
I would add that I can't seem to keep vallisneria alive.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

I do live in the Philadelphia suburbs, but I also don't dose CO2.  I go low-tech.  Also, in this area, we have some different water companies.  I went to Drexel University, so I know exactly what the Philadelphia city water is like... not very good - it tastes AWFUL, and it is chock full of all kinds of stuff... never tested it while I was in college... but I did invest in a Brita water system and changed it twice as often as it was recommended.
 
 
As for my current situation, I have "Aqua" water.  Its ok, but I've never tested the TDS, nor the specific levels of the macronutrients nor the micronutrients.  A friend of mine lives a few miles from me and he has "Chester" water, which is different from my current supplier.  I'm not sure about the issues specifically, but as pointed out, if you are dosing CO2, you may very well need to increase your macronutrients.  Its possible that the well water in CT had far more TDS, including the macroferts than the Philadelphia municipal water.
 
Sorry I couldn't give you more help than that.  
 
I would add that I can't seem to keep vallisneria alive.

 
Yeah, I'm at Drexel now, over in Center City! The water is really vile here. I use a Brita filter or a Culligan filter because the water here is just painful. And I grew up on well water, so that's saying a lot. 
I'll give upping the macros a shot and see if that works! 

Maybe you could ask your local LFS what they do with their water to get their plants to survive. Also wondering if the pipes in your building may have something to do with your bad water quality.
Maybe you need to look into doing RO water and add minerals back into it. 

 
I was considering doing RO/DI water and then adding some minerals. It would take a while but it can be done! Unfortunately there are no LFS's near me and the "Best" thing around is PetSmart
 

If you are adding co2 you need to include macros (nitrate/phosphate/sulphate) into your fertiliser dosing, also you need to have good flow all around the tank to distribute the co2/fertilisers. Do you do decent sized weekly water changes as well?

 
I do weekly water changes here, usually around 6 gallons. I should give some more trace elements a try and see how it goes!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yeah... Sorry.
 
The only thing that you are guaranteed of when you use Philadelphia water is that you won't die when you drink it... anything beyond that is a 'at your own risk' proposition.
 
Sorry I couldn't give you any better direction.

 

[greenmumma141]

Besides plant deaths do you have any algae?  If you're dosing co2, then you've got to have enough ferts (macros and micros) to back it up.