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Water Conditions - Discus


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#1 Ryan-w

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 08:59 AM

Hi guys,
Thought id ask what everyones opinions are on this.
For the last year my discus have been very unsuccessful breeding which is strange because before that it was very frequent and always had wrigglers.
Ive got a heap of different pairs and its been the same with them all so its made me think something has changed with the water.

My tap water is now shit for discus lol i thought id also test my bore water to see what thats like.

Tap -
Ph 8.2
Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Kh 8 drops (api test kit)
Gh 8 drops (api test kit)

Bore -
Ph 6.7
Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Kh 9 drops
Gh 19 drops

Now im new to testing gh and kh and struggling to get my head around them so if anyone can shed some light on what my results equal will be fantastic there.

From what i see the bore has an ideal Ph but i suspect its going to be to hard. My Ph from the tap is too high but water looks softer.

What would people recomend?
A 50/50 mix? Put one of the 2 on storage with peet? Is one of them good enough as it is? Get some IBCs and age it? Any other ideas

I use allot of water every week (probably 1000lt) so what ever the idea you have will need to be easy to manage and reasonably fast

#2 sandgroper

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 01:09 PM

Have you got a rain water tank, 50% rain water with the bore would work.



#3 Ryan-w

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 01:37 PM

Nah i dont and the way id go through it i wouldnt have enough for the summer months unfortunately

#4 Terry

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 04:01 PM

Try mixing 50/50 scheme and bore in a bucket for a few days with an air stone to agitate it. I think you will find the pH and hardness will still be high.

 

My pH here in Hazelmere and Woodbridge has always been in the high 7s, I tried adding peat to my ageing tank but because I emptied it each week it never had any effect.

 

I had good results by putting peat in bags and placing it under the under gravel filters (home made filters had the room) then only doing 10 to 20% water changes.

 

I had success with Apistogrammas and Checkerboards with a layer of oak leaves on the substrate, this was messy and it made it hard to maintain the tank. Oak leaves and peat hung in bags in the filter or near the outlet had a similar effect. The bags must be synthetic or they rot (also very messy)

 

My angels didn't mind the high pH but leaving the fry with the parents resulted with very low numbers surviving. I pulled the eggs and placed them in a small tank with 10 ltrs of water I added a few drops of Methylene blue and a  teaspoon of pH down and an air stone. The Meth blue is to help to stop fungus, the bottle I am currently using has a use by date 2005, it's the real Meth blue so it still works.I purchased all of the expired stock when I was working for Water Garden World. The airstone creats a current over the eggs.

I believe that the teaspoon of pH down is the main reason for my success with angels with 200+ fry being expected from a batch. I tried to check the pH but it's hard when you use Meth blue, 1 teaspoon to 10 ltrs should have put it below 7. This is the only time I use pH down, water changes gradually brings it back up to the rest of the shed it also removes the Meth blue

 

When I was keeping discus I was able to keep the pH at 6.5 by using CO2. I purchased an industrial regulator and fed the gas into a sump which pumped into 5  large tanks, 3 48 x 24 x 18 and 2 36 x 24 x 18. I think CO2 is your best option.

 

Cheers Terry



#5 chocky

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 04:24 PM

Yeah I was gonna say the KH will end up driving your pH higher anyway with the bore.

Getting pH down is always harder then bringing it up aye?

Maybe you just need a few more weeks for the discus to get use to the pH? Are these from Eugene? He said they do fine in higher pH.


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#6 Ryan-w

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 05:53 PM

No not from Eugene. As i said ive had them for a long time just my water seems to be different to before

#7 Stormfyre

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Posted 14 January 2017 - 10:01 PM

Definitely need to soften that water. What abut the T-bags or indian almond leaves. They work well for me.



#8 Ryan-w

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 10:03 AM

The problem is the amount ill need lol.

I think ill invest in a few ibcs and age water with peet. If i get 2 or 3 and alternate it should give them some time

#9 Chopstick_mike

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 11:57 AM

There is one for sale for 50 on gumtree

#10 Terry

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 12:08 PM

I'll have a 4500 ltr plastic water tank for sale soon:)



#11 Ryan-w

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Posted 15 January 2017 - 12:37 PM

Very tempting Terry haha




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