Seachem Replenish vs Equilibrium - raising GH in planted axolotl tank

[OliveFish05]

Hello. I started a conversation about this in another thread, but was looking for some more answers And figured this deserved its own thread. I am trying to decide between Seachem Equilibrium and Replenish to raise the GH in my planted axolotl tank. The tank will have 3 axolotls and the plants will be Amazon Sword, Anubias, Dwarf Sag, Umbrella Palms, maybe Bamboo, Azolla, Frogbit, Duckweed, Anacharis.

As far as I can tell, Equilibrium is powder, Replenish is liquid. Equilibrium is designed for planted tanks, Replenish is just for the tank inhabitants, and says it is NOT good for plants. Well I have plants. The Equilibrium seems to be more commonly used, even with fish/axolotls. I have also heard that the Replenish is only bad for sensitive plants. I don’t know which to choose! I am needing to raise my GH about 4 degrees

Equilibrium

Replenish

 

[Colin_T]

Why do you need to raise the GH?
Axos come from soft water

 

[OliveFish05]

Why do you need to raise the GH?
Axos come from soft water

I believe they prefer a higher GH. That is what many people recommend. They are supposed to do best between 7 and 14 dGH. Mine is 4, so I am hoping to gradually bring it up to 8.

 

[FF_Member146894]

I believe they prefer a higher GH. That is what many people recommend. They are supposed to do best between 7 and 14 dGH. Mine is 4, so I am hoping to gradually bring it up to 8.

"people" also say that the schoutedeni puffer fish should be kept at higher GH, but in fact, as I was told, their natural habitat has rather soft water

 

[OliveFish05]

I am not able to find anything about the hardness of the lake they come from, but all of the sources I can find online suggest they need higher GH?

 

[FF_Member146894]

I am not able to find anything about the hardness of the lake they come from, but all of the sources I can find online suggest they need higher GH?

I don't know where @Colin_T got his information on water hardness, maybe he can tell you

 

[Caesar]

Source: https://freshwaterwatch.thewaterhub.org/sites/default/files/fs2019-7-perez-belmont.pdf

 

[FF_Member146894]

So I just searched it up and the hardness of the water in Lake Xochimilco varies greatly from season to season as far as I understand (or they were taken from different points at the lake, I'm not sure, they cut me off because I didn't pay for the report)
Sometimes as low as 2 GH and as high as 14 GH

but other than that the water's pH is surprisingly high, commonly at least well over 8

Conclusion - captive axolotls will probably benefit from high pH and GH
(also, I would try not to add so many chemicals to your tank and would first try natural alternatives such as crushed coral, etc)

 

[OliveFish05]

So I just searched it up and the hardness of the water in Lake Xochimilco varies greatly from season to season as far as I understand (or they were taken from different points at the lake, I'm not sure, they cut me off because I didn't pay for the report)
Sometimes as low as 2 GH and as high as 14 GH

but other than that the water's pH is surprisingly high, commonly at least well over 8

Conclusion - captive axolotls will probably benefit from high pH and GH
(also, I would try not to add so many chemicals to your tank and would first try natural alternatives such as crushed coral, etc)

Thank you. My PH is 7.5.

With crushed corals and such, don’t those gradually increase the GH? Meaning when you do a water change, it is a more drastic change of GH? Isn’t that stressful for the tank inhabitants?

 

[Colin_T]

Thank you. My PH is 7.5.

With crushed corals and such, don’t those gradually increase the GH? Meaning when you do a water change, it is a more drastic change of GH? Isn’t that stressful for the tank inhabitants?

Crushed coral and limestone only raises the GH very slowly and in a normal aquarium that gets regular water changes, the change in GH will be virtually nothing.

If you had the entire tank full of coral or limestone, then the GH would go up more quickly but the only tanks like that are marine tanks and Rift Lake cichlid tanks.

A small amount of coral or limestone won't make much, if any difference to the GH.

 

[OliveFish05]

Crushed coral and limestone only raises the GH very slowly and in a normal aquarium that gets regular water changes, the change in GH will be virtually nothing.

If you had the entire tank full of coral or limestone, then the GH would go up more quickly but the only tanks like that are marine tanks and Rift Lake cichlid tanks.

A small amount of coral or limestone won't make much, if any difference to the GH.

Ok, that was what I was thinking. Thank you

 

[StevenF]

Gh is a measure of the toal amount of Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) in the water The amount of GH increase you get depends strongly your water PH. If the Ph is less than 7 Limestnone and coral (which is mostely calcium carbonate) will dissolve. Howeveronce once the PH reaches 7 it stops dissolving. So in general the increase in GH increase typical in fresh water aquarium with crushed coral or limestone is generally small.

As the original question replenish and Equilibrium both will work with plants. The GH ingredients of Equilibrium is calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate. For replenish it is Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride.All of these ingredient are known to be safe for fish and are found in nature. Plants will grow well with either. Neither is plant specific.

Plant sin addition to Ca and Mg also do need sulfur (S) and chlorine (CL) But the amount of S and CL needed is very small compared to the amount Ca and Mg needed. So in planted tanks with a GH booster the PH tends to grow a little due to excess S and CL But any crushed coral Limestone or sea shells will compensate for that. In My Planted RO aquarium I have to use GH booster but I don't buy it I make my own and it uses Calcium sulfate and Magnesium chloride. And thanks to sea shell in the aquarium the PH is always very close to 7.

 

[OliveFish05]

Gh is a measure of the toal amount of Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) in the water The amount of GH increase you get depends strongly your water PH. If the Ph is less than 7 Limestnone and coral (which is mostely calcium carbonate) will dissolve. Howeveronce once the PH reaches 7 it stops dissolving. So in general the increase in GH increase typical in fresh water aquarium with crushed coral or limestone is generally small.

As the original question replenish and Equilibrium both will work with plants. The GH ingredients of Equilibrium is calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate. For replenish it is Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride.All of these ingredient are known to be safe for fish and are found in nature. Plants will grow well with either. Neither is plant specific.

Plant sin addition to Ca and Mg also do need sulfur (S) and chlorine (CL) But the amount of S and CL needed is very small compared to the amount Ca and Mg needed. So in planted tanks with a GH booster the PH tends to grow a little due to excess S and CL But any crushed coral Limestone or sea shells will compensate for that. In My Planted RO aquarium I have to use GH booster but I don't buy it I make my own and it uses Calcium sulfate and Magnesium chloride. And thanks to sea shell in the aquarium the PH is always very close to 7.

Thank you very much. This was very helpful. Between Equilibrium and Replenish is one a better choice, or doesn’t matter?

 

[StevenF]

I don't think it maters to your fish. At to your plants they need 14 nutrients to grow and Ca, Mg, S, and CL. If any one if missing your plants will not grow and may die. But most of the time S and CL are not a problem because they are in your tap water. CA and MG are also typically in tap water but some places have very soft water with a GH of 2 or less. And in those places it is possible to run out of either one. In my case I use RO water so al 4 are needed.

 

[OliveFish05]

I don't think it maters to your fish. At to your plants they need 14 nutrients to grow and Ca, Mg, S, and CL. If any one if missing your plants will not grow and may die. But most of the time S and CL are not a problem because they are in your tap water. CA and MG are also typically in tap water but some places have very soft water with a GH of 2 or less. And in those places it is possible to run out of either one. In my case I use RO water so al 4 are needed.

Ok, thank you.