How do you measure water softness?

A really inaccurate way but gives you an idea of the softness/hardness of tapwater. Soft water is usually sweet ie it tasts good like bottled water I suppose. Hard water is quite harsh to drink often has a kind of metalic edge. I learnt this recently because the water here is soft acidic and sweet, and my sister lives in another town and the water is hard alkaline and tastes not so good.

Otherwise get a master AP test kit, worth the money.
 
sumthin fishy said:
GEt an AP master test kit. With discus, you will want to monitor GH, KH, and PH.
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Unless it's changed recently the FW Master doesn't include GH and KH tests. Those have to be purchased separately.

Mark
 
When I was looking into doing a discus tank (which I chickened out of doing) I read several places that suggested using reverse osmosis on your water.

So a RO unit seemed to be mandatory.
 
An ro unit is not mandatory.

GH can be measured with a test kit, however discus mavens will often use either a TDS or Conductivity meter.
 
soft water is only really necessary if you intend to raise discus to breed. softwater is critical to the fertilization of the egg. hardwater adds minerals that make the egg casing less penetrable but the sperm.

discus themselves (unless wild caught) can adapt to harder water.
 
Discus can and will thrive in almost any pH. As long as its 8.2~ and below, they will do great. Water hardness doesnt matter. Only time hardness and pH matter is if you are trying to breed them or get eggs to hatch. As long as the water is warm (mid 80's) and the water changes are frequent, they will do fine.

Take a sample of your water down to a good LFS and see if they will test it for you (most will). That is the cheapest and simplest route to go IMO.

-Ryan
 
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