Hello, I just wanted to update some things in this thread and comments are most welcome. I had mentioned in a previous post about Sacramento, CA and surrounding counties drought and how it has affected our city water. Fox local news said Ammonia was being added to the water as well as Chlorine and someone, I forgot who, sorry, said it was more likely Chloramine and you were correct the news corrected themselves and said Chloramine was what was being added and the smell of Chlorine from the tap smells stronger and stronger it is so bad that Erin Brochovich (spelling?) came and vows to stay until it is fixed I don’t know how many of you know or remember who she is but in 2000 they made a movie about her leading role in the biggest law suit ever against the city’s and anyone else involved water problem and the people getting cancer because of it and they won her presents here is a little disconcerting. Because of this the tap water fluctuates readings of Ammonia between .25 and .50 my aquarium parameters as of today are as follows.
· Ammonia: .50 Tap: .25
· Nitrites: 0 Tap: not tested
· Nitrates: 0 Tap: 10 ( I’ll say what I did to get that reading in my tank in a bit )
· Ph: 6.4 Tap: 7.8
· GH: 7 Tap: not tested
· KH: 2 Tap: not tested
· Water Temp.: 82 deg. F
If it weren’t for the Chloramine these parameters are ideal for Discus I am using Kordon AmQuel Plus to detoxify and condition the water. In this 100 gal. tank there are 5, almost adult, Discus and the interesting part, at least to me, is that 4 of them have paired off and laid eggs the first two are my Golden Dragons who have spawned 4 times within two months and my Blue Diamond and King Cobra have spawned once last week. I haven’t had my Discus spawn before but with the help of discuspaul I am able to say that the eggs do not appear to be fertilized. Is this usual in a tank with only 5 Discus? I have not taken pics. of my tank yet because I need to buy a new SD card for my camera I also mentioned earlier how I got a reading of 0 Nitrates when the tap water is 10 I did this naturally ( no chemicals ) with floating and hanging plants with good root structure and adding Matrix in my canister filter which allows for de nitrating bacteria to grow in the middle of the nuggets because the water has no Oxygen there. I think I said it all and thanks for reading this long winded post there's a little more but I'll stop hear, and my question about 4 out of 5 Discus spawning and not having bought a proven matting pair.
· Ammonia: .50 Tap: .25
· Nitrites: 0 Tap: not tested
· Nitrates: 0 Tap: 10 ( I’ll say what I did to get that reading in my tank in a bit )
· Ph: 6.4 Tap: 7.8
· GH: 7 Tap: not tested
· KH: 2 Tap: not tested
· Water Temp.: 82 deg. F
If it weren’t for the Chloramine these parameters are ideal for Discus I am using Kordon AmQuel Plus to detoxify and condition the water. In this 100 gal. tank there are 5, almost adult, Discus and the interesting part, at least to me, is that 4 of them have paired off and laid eggs the first two are my Golden Dragons who have spawned 4 times within two months and my Blue Diamond and King Cobra have spawned once last week. I haven’t had my Discus spawn before but with the help of discuspaul I am able to say that the eggs do not appear to be fertilized. Is this usual in a tank with only 5 Discus? I have not taken pics. of my tank yet because I need to buy a new SD card for my camera I also mentioned earlier how I got a reading of 0 Nitrates when the tap water is 10 I did this naturally ( no chemicals ) with floating and hanging plants with good root structure and adding Matrix in my canister filter which allows for de nitrating bacteria to grow in the middle of the nuggets because the water has no Oxygen there. I think I said it all and thanks for reading this long winded post there's a little more but I'll stop hear, and my question about 4 out of 5 Discus spawning and not having bought a proven matting pair.