Author Topic: Hardening Water (Read 5603 times) 7 replies

Stuart · « **on:** October 19, 2013, 11:37:05 PM »

I am currently getting ready for my Discus setup, by ro filtering plenty of water while waiting for my new tank to arrive. I have tested my water after adding the "Tropic Marin, Pro Discus Minerals". My readings are as follows;

kh <3* When testing with a tds meter
gh <3* the reading comes back as 75 ppm
6.8 ph

My stockist has told me, his water parameters are;

180 - 200 ppm
7.2 ph

I have been told the jump in ph shouldn't be a problem, but I'm concerned about the drop in hardness. Obviously Discus fish love soft water so that should be o.k but will my water be so soft that I risk fluctuations in the ph levels? If so, I know I can place crushed coral in my tank/filter to raise hardness, but is that something I should constantly keep in my tank/filter or take it out once the hardness has increased?

All advice appreciated, as always.

Stuart.

Sue · « **Reply #1 on:** October 20, 2013, 10:43:02 AM »

The danger of a pH crash comes when the amount of nitrate and other acids building up in the water reach a critical point. You can keep your water at those hardness levels if you do more than usual water changes. This would remove the acids and replace the small amount of carbonate you have in your treated RO water. I have heard of discus breeders doing daily 50% water changes so more than once a week is not a problem with these fish.

The other alternative would be to add more of your salts till you get a KH of 3 to 4. My tapwater is around that region and as long as I do weekly 30% water changes I have no problem.

Stuart · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2013, 08:06:26 PM »

Thanks as always Sue.

I tried doubling the amount of minerals but that only doubled the general hardness, with virtually no change in carbonate hardness. Looks like I will have to start off by carrying out regular water changes and even more regular checks of my ph.

Stuart.

Stuart · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2013, 10:53:26 PM »

After chatting to some people on a Discus forum I have found the trick is to use 2 different types of re-min salts. Apparently there is a "re-min tropic" as well as the "pro discus" I've been using. The "re-min tropic" adds carbonate hardness.

I am now getting close to filling my tank up and in preparation I have taken my external filter apart, cleaned the bio media (in tank water), cleaned the pre filter sponges (in tank water) and cleaned all the plastic parts and tubes (in tank water) before rebuilding on my new tank.

Because my water level on my new tank is still a bit low, today I left the trays containing all the bio media in a 40 litre plastic container covered in tank water. There is a small power head laid on it's side at the bottom sucking water which is pushed up a tube exiting at the top of the media tray. I have a couple of harrassed female guppies in there (giving them peace and quite) and I have massively overfed them twice today.

Do you think that will be enough to keep as much of the bacteria alive as possible? Hopefully I will have enough ro water filtered tomorrow to get the filter running again. I know, with hindsight, I should have left cleaning the filter until my new tank was nearly full. School boy error.

When I get the filter running I will add my guppies to my new tank and I should pick up my Discus on saturday! At least if I decide to remove the guppies later they will be easy to catch.

Thanks for all your help and advice AGAIN Sue.

Stuart.

Sue · « **Reply #4 on:** November 07, 2013, 08:30:13 AM »

I'm a bit confused, though that's not difficult as I only wake up around 10 in the morning $:-\$

Are these two guppies the only fish that are in with the filter at the moment? And have there been other fish until very recently?

Two guppies won't make nearly as much ammonia as one discus, let alone a group. If there have only been two guppies in there for more than a few days, there will only be enough bacteria to cope with the waste from just those two fish. There won't be enough for a group of discus. I know you said you've been massively overfeeding, but it does take a while for any uneaten food to break down.
But if there have been other fish in there until a few days ago, or you've been feeding ammonia to the tank till the guppies went in, you might get away with it. The filter bacteria go dormant if there's not enough food, before slowly dying off. And the longer they've been without food, the longer it takes them to recover.

I hadn't realised that prodiscus was different from the usual remineralisation salts. The Tropic Marin re-mineral tropic was one of two products the adviser on the old forum years ago recommended me to use when I had a pH crash to boost my KH - though I didn't use it, I just started doing weekly water changes (I had been getting very lazy) and that topped up my KH enough to stop further crashes.

Stuart · « **Reply #5 on:** November 07, 2013, 10:35:02 AM »

The filter media was only in the container for about 20hrs in total. There had been lots of other guppies feeding the bacteria before then. I've got my filter working again now in my new tank with the media in place and I'll be adding all the guppies in the next hour or so. Hopefully this will be o.k and wouldn't have killed off too much bacteria.

The filter will have a couple of days before I add my Discus and I'll take out my guppies before adding them.

Stuart.

Sue · « **Reply #6 on:** November 07, 2013, 11:41:43 AM »

That sounds fine.

Don't forget to monitor the water once you have the discus

Stuart · « **Reply #7 on:** November 08, 2013, 12:23:21 AM »

Will do, thanks again.

Stuart.

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Hardening Water

Hardening Water

Author Topic: Hardening Water (Read 5603 times) 7 replies

Stuart

Hardening Water

Sue

Re: Hardening Water

Stuart

Re: Hardening Water

Stuart

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Sue

Re: Hardening Water

Stuart

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Sue

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Stuart

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