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i got a 25 gal for my tank of soon to be rams and angels. i want to plant in very well. and i have very hard water at home. anything i can do to make this thing work without chemicals.

to reduce the alkalinty and hardness without using chemicals you can put in driftwood. The tannins it releases will do that. You can also get a water softener pillow from your lfs and put it in your filter.

You can add some Driftwood, but be prepaired that you water will become tea colourd with the tanning leaching out of the wood.


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How hard ?

It shouldn't really be an issue.

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Driftwood, CO2 injection and peat in the filter are all tricks that can be used to lower the ph. They also tend to go hand in hand with a planted tank. Keep in mind chemicals generally do more harm than good as they only ajust your PH for a short time before it goes back up. Which is one reason I suggest to match the fish for the water rather than the other way around .
Depending on what extremes we're talking about it may not be that much of an issue.
Since the question is more on the issue of your water rather than the aquascape of the tank I'm moving it to water quality for you.

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