# Tap water from Lake Ontario



## slipfinger (May 11, 2016)

This question is for the planted tank people that use good old Lake Ontario tap water in their tanks.

Do you added Ca and Mg at water changes? If so how much are you adding in ppm?

From my water report and similar reports from other regions that draw from Lake Ontario we have around ~35 ppm Ca and ~9 ppm of Mg. Which would seem to be plenty, but i'm starting to question if it is enough. 

Just curious to see what others are doing in regards to Ca and Mg.


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

I use Seachem Equilibrium to raise my tap water by 2dH. Two things got me here:

1. I started EI and somehow missed the part about using a GH booster. I was having some problems and while I can't say for certain that adding Equilibrium fixed those problems because I was trying a few things at the time, there was some strong correlation.

2. Later, I had some shrimp moulting issues and they resolved themselves when I went from boosting by 1 dH to 2 dH.

Sort of related... I was talking to someone that mentioned our water is currently being messed up from all the rain e.g. high phosphorous levels.


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## Boreas (Dec 8, 2015)

I don't have any CO2 injected planted tanks. So I don't dose full EI nutrients. I don't notice any deficiencies from Ca or Mg. Our water is relatively hard to begin with.

So, if what you're planning needs a large amount of added nutrients because of high growth, I'd consider it. Just like infolifics experience above.


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## slipfinger (May 11, 2016)

Ya I just want to eliminate the possibility of any deficiencies. 

Going to give it a try and see if any of the plants improve. I have read multiple time where peoples tap water says its supplying enough Ca and Mg but once they start adding more, plants improve; mainly AR mini. 

I'll keep you posted.


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