[coppercloud]

I have some fluval stratum that ive been wanting to use for a 10 gallon planted tank, would fancy guppies work in a softwater tank like this? I wanted to raise a strain so maybe locally bred would do better? If anyones raising fancys let me know what strain you keep! I wont be setting it up for a few weeks.

 

[troutsniffer]

They get less hardier the softer the water, so you take more of a chance of them dying. Stratum shouldn't soften your water all that much to matter to them, unless you are already in the lower hardness spectrum. As for strains, unless you add something like crushed coral to make the water more hard, I wouldn't bother with something expensive like any moscow strains. Just go with something standard and cheap like cobra, mosaic, or tuxedo.

 

[coppercloud]

Can you still maintain a nice planted aquarium with crushed coral raising the hardness? I had a tank with crushed coral sand for a bit and it bumped my regular ph of 7.0 up to 8.0

 

[TomC]

I maintain a reasonably nice 25g planted using about 1/4 teaspoon per week of Equilibrium & Alkaline buffer. I also add Excel two or three times a week. The guppies do well in it.