Seachem Equilibrium & other buffers

Hey everyone, I was just looking at posts about plant deficiencies and Roy mentioned equilibrium has some elements which may be good for plants. I know that is not the 'on-label' purpose of the product, but then I also realized, I don't really know what the purpose of it is. So....

What do you use equilibrium or other buffers for? Does anyone here use it on a regular basis? What benefits does it have? Should I think about getting some and using it if the largest tanks I own are 20 gallon? Is it mostly used for extremely sensitive critters like CRS and the like, or would it have benefits for my angels, hardly little neon tetra and guppies?

I have never really noticed big swings in hardness or anything, but then again I have no way of testing for hardness, so I wouldn't notice then would I? Heheh, mostly the comments about equilibrium adding some benefit for plants is what intrigued me.

Most of all, would I be wasting money if I wanted to try it out?

From reading Sechems Web site it seems this product is used for planted tanks. From the reading I've done I suppose you could use the product to add minerals to soft water to harden it up a bit (boost KH/GH). You are questioning if this product would be beneficial to use in a panted tank. I am sure it would be.  I am using many different Seachem fertilizers that have these ingredients in them but separated so I control the dosages of the additives individually.

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If you are not using fertilizers that already has these ingredients, and your tank is planted these will help with growth and eliminate some deficiencies that may arise. If you are using ferts with them in it I would say it would be a waste.

As for shrimp safe I hope someone else would jump in. There I wouldn't have any experience.

LuminousAphid wrote:Hey everyone, I was just looking at posts about plant deficiencies and Roy mentioned equilibrium has some elements which may be good for plants. I know that is not the 'on-label' purpose of the product, but then I also realized, I don't really know what the purpose of it is. So....

What do you use equilibrium or other buffers for? Does anyone here use it on a regular basis? What benefits does it have? Should I think about getting some and using it if the largest tanks I own are 20 gallon? Is it mostly used for extremely sensitive critters like CRS and the like, or would it have benefits for my angels, hardly little neon tetra and guppies?

I have never really noticed big swings in hardness or anything, but then again I have no way of testing for hardness, so I wouldn't notice then would I? Heheh, mostly the comments about equilibrium adding some benefit for plants is what intrigued me.

Most of all, would I be wasting money if I wanted to try it out?

Hi LuminousAphid,

Seachem Equilibrium is used to increase the general hardness (dGH) of water. Our water here is the Seattle area (specifically areas fed by Seattle Public Utilities that gets their water from the Tolt River and Cedar River reservoirs) is very, very soft. Increasing the hardness is necessary for some species of fish, most livebearers for example. The lack of minerals in our water also effects plant growth. Along with the macro nutrients of nitrates, potassium, phosphate, and a that are found in most balanced fertilizers plants also need a source of carbon and a certain amount of calcium, magnesium, manganese and iron for healthy growth. Seachem Equilibrium provides the calcium, magnesium, manganese and some of the iron that is missing from our tap water. Seachem Equilibrium is a blend of magnesium sulfate, calcium sulfate, potassium sulfate, iron sulfate, and manganese sulfate.

When Tom Barr, the planted tank guru, did his talk here at GSAS I asked him what were "good" dGH and dKH readings for planted aquariums. He said he didn't worry too much about the dKH (carbonate hardness) but he did try to maintain about a 4.0 dGH. I personally try to maintain at least a 2.0 dKH and 4.0 - 6.0 dGH. If you chose not to add Equilibrium I would certain recommend the addition of magnesium sulfate, our local waters have very little magnesium in them.

I use Equilibrium in many of my tanks to boost hardness for my livebearers and snails. I use Seachem Alkaline Buffer in all of my tanks to prevent PH crashes (because I'm lazy, hate constant testing, and don't want to worry about overfeeding beyond nitrates).

I shoot for 7 dGH and 7 dKH. in most of my tanks, but I do this for my livebearers and my snails. Any benefit to the plants is a pleasant side effect.

I don't use Equilibrium (which raises GH) or Seachem buffers like the Acid buffer (lowers PH and KH) or the Alkaline buffer (raises PH and KH). I do use Flourish Trace to add trace minerals, Flourish Iron to add extra iron, and dry macro fertilizers. The one thing I have always had some confusion about is Flourish vs Flourish Trace ... and which I should use. I believe that if you are using the dry ferts you want to use Flourish Trace rather than Flourish or you would be double dosing some ferts. I think.

I believe that if you are using the dry ferts you want to use Flourish Trace rather than Flourish or you would be double dosing some ferts. I think.

That's correct.  Flourish Comprehensive (aka Flourish) is a comprehensive fertilizer that includes the macro ferts (NPK) as well as micro ferts.

Flourish Fresh Trace (aka Flourish Trace), among other things, boosts GH, and does not duplicate most dry fert regimens. Its first ingredient is Calcium Chloride, the same stuff used in hot tubs and pools. BillHN has had great success with Trace and Mystery Snails in our soft water.

I normally dose flourish at around 5 drops/day or so-- i am also lazy-- and just rely on that plus fish waste for plant food. Just this week I ordered trace and also iron since I have a lot of ludwigia and some dwarf sag i am trying to green up, and I am hoping that this will help. I have a half/half bed of black gravel and crushed coral in my guppy tank to help the hardness, but the problem is I really don't have a way to test it, nor do I really want to... would I be better off using some sort of buffer product like you use, pnbmax? I don't really want to be testing for 2 different kinds of hardness, I just like helping the plants to do well and like having a nice looking planted tank.

I should have noted that I have also been using Hikari solutions 'Ultimate' for water changes all the time, which is supposed to do all sorts of fun stuff to the water like buffer it, i think. i will try to take a pic of the bottle as the website doesn't seem to be very complete