# Do live plants HELP ph????



## Jeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

i currently have fakes in my tank and was wondering if live plants help stablize a ph???

anybody?


----------



## badforthesport (Jan 8, 2004)

i hear they do and help with other sh*t. im gonna go for it on my new 100 gallon.


----------



## SLANTED (Dec 7, 2003)

Certain types will, like peat moss. Others won't make a difference. But it also depends on your water conditions to begin with. My water is super hard and has high ph. Peat moss and Black water extract don't seem to help because of the amount of buffers in my mineral infested water.


----------



## Scrambled (Dec 17, 2003)

> Certain types will, like peat moss. Others won't make a difference.


I agree. I don't think the live plants do much to the ph either. It's mostly in the rocks and wood and such that will alter your ph.


----------



## Void (Aug 24, 2003)

3 peices of driftwood dropped my ph big time like 7.2 to 6ish.. not sure if they where the only things contributing to the drop but i think they where a big chunk of it


----------



## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

plants only help with nitrate comsumtion and thats a good thing


----------



## Scooby (Dec 25, 2003)

i heard live plants were a bad thing... i don't know how true this is but i currently have a live plant in my 10 gal breeder and its grown 3 times its size since i got it and the little fry love it....


----------



## Jeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

SLANTED said:


> Certain types will, like peat moss. Others won't make a difference. But it also depends on your water conditions to begin with. My water is super hard and has high ph. Peat moss and Black water extract don't seem to help because of the amount of buffers in my mineral infested water.


 i have super hard water too...what do u do to even it out? I added peat to my filters but i havent seen a change in my ph yet.


----------



## tecknik (Jul 18, 2003)

Scooby said:


> i heard live plants were a bad thing... i don't know how true this is but i currently have a live plant in my 10 gal breeder and its grown 3 times its size since i got it and the little fry love it....


 Having live plants is not bad but just the opposite. Like stated above, they help reduce nitrates in the water and also release oxygen for your fish. The only bad thing I can say about live plants is that leaves can get sucked up by your filter and p's sometimes may chew on them.


----------



## SLANTED (Dec 7, 2003)

> have super hard water too...what do u do to even it out? I added peat to my filters but i havent seen a change in my ph yet.


Hard water totally sucks. If your pipes are old, it will also add to your the hard water. I haven't heard any sparkling endorsements of water softener pillows so don't waste your money. If you happen to have or have access to a reverse osmosis system you can mix that water with treated tap water at a 3-1 ratio and that will help with ph and hardness. Carbon dioxide systems will lower ph. I have heard of some leaving the water out over night to help, not too sure how affective that is though. Boiling the water will help with hardness as well, just don't add it directly to the tank( obviously) and mix the post-boiled water with treated tap water at approximately the same ratio as the r.o. water method.


----------

