I don't usually post in the forums, I usually just read for answers but I couldn't find an answer to this. I was wondering if anyone had advice on softening water. I'm trying to prepare my tank for discus but my water is hard, I've tried mopani wood (which I've recently removed because of the color it gave off) and peatmoss but it's still pretty hard. Any advice would be nice ^_^ thanks
Need to soften water
- Thread starter asianhellokitty
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Dilute with reverse osmosis water. Ion exchange resins only get rid of Mg and Ca and do nothing for carbonates. Don't use just RO water because there are trace elements that they need that won't be present.
are you going to try and breed the discus?
if not they may be fine in water that is a bit harder than what is mentioned as preferred.
are you getting wild discus?
most discus available are domestic..many of them will do fine.
what is your Hardness, kH,gH, pH ?
if not they may be fine in water that is a bit harder than what is mentioned as preferred.
are you getting wild discus?
most discus available are domestic..many of them will do fine.
what is your Hardness, kH,gH, pH ?
I'm not going to breed discus and they aren't going to be wild but I've read that discus won't survive in hard water?
KH is 120 mg/L
GH is 160 mg/L CaCO3
PH is 7.2
I think I read that correctly ^_^ one other thing I was wondering what's reverse osmosis water? thanks
KH is 120 mg/L
GH is 160 mg/L CaCO3
PH is 7.2
I think I read that correctly ^_^ one other thing I was wondering what's reverse osmosis water? thanks
Reverse osmosis water is water (say from the tap) that has been force through a membrane that has pores that are so small that most dissolved solids cannot pass through. So stuff like Magnesium, Calcium, carbonates, and many other ions and dissolved stuff are removed. Reverse osmosis will also remove stuff that the fish need, so that's why using only RO water is not good.
Looking at the levels you are showing, your water isn't incredibly hard. But I won't say that it is ok for Discus, since I have never had any.
Looking at the levels you are showing, your water isn't incredibly hard. But I won't say that it is ok for Discus, since I have never had any.
I've had this site bookedmarked for a long time:
http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html
From the site...
Ways to lower kH
· Injecting carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Use reverse osmosis (RO) water. You can mix tap water with reverse osmosis water to achieve the desired kH.
· Adding commercially available products to decrease the buffering capacity.
Ways to reduce gH
Adding peat moss to your filter
Use commercially available water softening pillows or a water softener (this removes calcium and magnesium ions and replaces them with sodium ions. Many people feels that this is an unacceptable method of softening water as many fish that prefer soft water don’t like sodium either.
Mixing tap water with reverse osmosis (RO) water.
http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html
From the site...
Ways to lower kH
· Injecting carbon dioxide (CO2)
· Use reverse osmosis (RO) water. You can mix tap water with reverse osmosis water to achieve the desired kH.
· Adding commercially available products to decrease the buffering capacity.
Ways to reduce gH
Adding peat moss to your filter
Use commercially available water softening pillows or a water softener (this removes calcium and magnesium ions and replaces them with sodium ions. Many people feels that this is an unacceptable method of softening water as many fish that prefer soft water don’t like sodium either.
Mixing tap water with reverse osmosis (RO) water.
While i've never kept Discus or angels, I know of a fellow ACA member in Sacramento that raises Discus -- some 80 breeding pairs, that he keeps in water which is generally 8.0+. He did a number of experiments many years ago, moving pairs from one pH to another (i.e., 6.8 to 7.6 then to 8.0) to determine viability, tolerances, etc. His fish continued to spawn; albeit with a differing hatch rate, but they continued to perform. He also did the same with temperature tolerances and breeding, though I don't recall the numbers there, except to say that he kept his fish lower than what the books call for, and they bred with regularity.
I read of an Angel and Discus breeder in Los Angeles who did not treat his water (ph a minimum of 7.8, with an average of 8.1 pH), but kept the building at 80°+, ran a drip irrigation method which changed 250% of the water daily on his fish, and he fed extremely well; he had between 15,000-20,000 angel fry a week going and a couple of hundred discus fry.
Since few Discus are 'wild caught' anymore, and what is out in the hobby has
acclimated itself to what 'is', you can see significant variation in ranges for fish. Same goes for the 'angel'. The 'scalare' are fairly adaptable, only not succeeding at real extremes, while the newer 'altum' angels require attention to detail in their environment.
It appears that the major driving force in being able to breed most cichlids, including those such as discus or angels, which are "known to be temperamental", in any water is the water quality (lots of water changes/reduced nitrate/nitrite issues) and lots of food. Translate all that to good care.
So, keeping 'soft water' cichlids in other than 'Amazonian water' can happen, and does, with more success than some would anticipate. To be sure, there are probably as many fish that cannot be spawned in other than their 'native' water chemistry as those that can ... but that number is decreasing every year.
I read of an Angel and Discus breeder in Los Angeles who did not treat his water (ph a minimum of 7.8, with an average of 8.1 pH), but kept the building at 80°+, ran a drip irrigation method which changed 250% of the water daily on his fish, and he fed extremely well; he had between 15,000-20,000 angel fry a week going and a couple of hundred discus fry.
Since few Discus are 'wild caught' anymore, and what is out in the hobby has
acclimated itself to what 'is', you can see significant variation in ranges for fish. Same goes for the 'angel'. The 'scalare' are fairly adaptable, only not succeeding at real extremes, while the newer 'altum' angels require attention to detail in their environment.
It appears that the major driving force in being able to breed most cichlids, including those such as discus or angels, which are "known to be temperamental", in any water is the water quality (lots of water changes/reduced nitrate/nitrite issues) and lots of food. Translate all that to good care.
So, keeping 'soft water' cichlids in other than 'Amazonian water' can happen, and does, with more success than some would anticipate. To be sure, there are probably as many fish that cannot be spawned in other than their 'native' water chemistry as those that can ... but that number is decreasing every year.
Do you guys think 50/50 for RO water and the regular water?? and liv2padl what's his hardness can you find out? I would like to know soon ^_^ just so I can get my babies thanks for the help
According to the discus fans at simplydiscus.com, your water is fine for discus. Frequent water changes is much more important the specific pH and hardness levels, and that is alot easier to do if you're not messing around with chemicals and RO. I'd suggest just using declorinated tap water.
i keep "soft water" fish; angels, tetras and corydoras; in water that is at 8.0 and have no ill effects. acctually, i would be happy with your water.
if you have a planted tank and inject CO2, your pH should drop some, to perhaps around 6.8, which is fine for discus. even fi your tank isnt planted, your discus will be fine in a pH of 7.2 IF it remains stable.
if you dont like the color that the tannins from the driftwood are, just soak it for a cuople of days, carrying out daily water changes in the bucket until the water stays clear
if you have a planted tank and inject CO2, your pH should drop some, to perhaps around 6.8, which is fine for discus. even fi your tank isnt planted, your discus will be fine in a pH of 7.2 IF it remains stable.
if you dont like the color that the tannins from the driftwood are, just soak it for a cuople of days, carrying out daily water changes in the bucket until the water stays clear