Discus and high GH

FeatherfinFan · 03-03-2005, 07:31 PM

I'm hoping the following will work, let me know if it can

I've got liquid rock about 30degrees GH out of the tap w/ a PH around 7.5 and a KH about 6.

I've only kept Discus in California where the water was quite a bit lower on the GH.

Can I keep them in such a high GH? I'll be lowering the PH via CO2 injection and maintaining the KH at least 6.

I'm really hoping I'll be able to maintain a 100gallon heavily planted tank & Discus w/ such a high GH, if not how much would I need to lower it to keep both healthy & thriving? I've got a small RO unit if I have to, but would rather avoid this if possible. Thanks for any help

tiptoptank · 03-03-2005, 08:47 PM

You could use the RO for 20% of your WC's. THe discus should be fine the that GH but, they won't breed. Try adding some nise peices of drift wood. Even though most discus keepers say not to. I think it's a good practise. I have a really big piece of drift in my tank. it's about 36 inchs long and 18 in high. It keeps my GH way down. like, 3! Out of my tap it's around 6.5.

Anyway GL with your discus. I lost 5 when I started becuase I bought them from my LFS. ONLY BUY DISCUS FROM BREEDERS. I can not stress this enough. A breeder won't sell you a unheathy discus because there name is on the line.

compulsion · 03-03-2005, 08:59 PM

its worrying but my lfs keeps discuss in our tapwater which is 7.2 GH12 i inquired when i wanted to get a pair, my water is obviously fine.. but i have no clue how long the discuss have been there, so i woulent chance it to later find there gonna get desease or something. if you have the RO unit i suggest you do use it and come to some sort of agreement with unfiltered water to get some sort of a lower GH from what you have from the tap. the ro filters might get used quite a bit with that sort of hardness. think how many gallons of water you need to change a week and how many gallons the individual filter units will filter before there used up. then you need to see how much its gonna cost, maybe its for drinking water is that why you dont want to use it?
maybe peat filtration will work, or distillation

compulsion · 03-03-2005, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiptoptank

I have a really big piece of drift in my tank. it's about 36 inchs long and 18 in high. It keeps my GH way down. like, 3! Out of my tap it's around 6.5.

would this be the sort of wood that leaches and stains the water? i have one peice that i removed from my tank which continuesly stains the water.. ive never thought of testing the effect on my water but ill do that now. you might have helped me for my tetra breeding there.

shalu · 03-03-2005, 09:02 PM

I currently keep them in GH 17, they are fine. I guess higher Gh is ok too, just no eggs will hatch.

ringram · 03-03-2005, 09:38 PM

Just a quick comment, but where in CA did you live? I'm in the Sac area and the water is extremely hard(pH~8, gH~21, kH~22). I don't keep discus, but I keep lower hardness/pH for my current setup. I use approx 80-90% RO water and the rest tapwater to get around pH6.6, gH=6, kH=5 after CO2 injection, that is. Some people use peat to lower hardness/ph, some use R/O. If you want to avoid using your R/O unit (btw, why do you want to avoid it?), you might try peat , but if you're water is that hard, I'd recommend using the R/O (i've used bottled water in those 5gal jugs, but that's not very cost effective for larger tanks). Good luck!

FeatherfinFan · 03-04-2005, 12:24 AM

Thanks for all the helpful info

Unfortunately my water is even worse than I first though, I just tested it and the GH comes out to a whopping 42, KH 9, and PH 7.4

Quote:

Just a quick comment, but where in CA did you live?

We used to live in Sunnyvale, then Santa Rosa, I believe the GH was around 12-15 in both areas, but it's been awhile so I'm not too sure.

It's not that I mind using the RO unit, it's just an extra chore and I'm trying to minimize those, LOL. The RO is hooked to a house water softener so I believe that helps in prolonging membrane life~so far we've had it about a year and it's still passing pure water and I change the carbon blocks every 6 months.

I guess I'd better count on cutting down the tapwater w/ at least 50% RO and I guess 75% is more what's really needed

I've also heard I can use my house water softener w/ a Pottasium Chloride salt rather than the sodium-chloride pellets, anyone else know if this will work?

Thanks for all the help

03-03-2005, 07:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
FeatherfinFan Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0) Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Roswell, NM Posts: 56	Discus and high GH I'm hoping the following will work, let me know if it can I've got liquid rock about 30degrees GH out of the tap w/ a PH around 7.5 and a KH about 6. I've only kept Discus in California where the water was quite a bit lower on the GH. Can I keep them in such a high GH? I'll be lowering the PH via CO2 injection and maintaining the KH at least 6. I'm really hoping I'll be able to maintain a 100gallon heavily planted tank & Discus w/ such a high GH, if not how much would I need to lower it to keep both healthy & thriving? I've got a small RO unit if I have to, but would rather avoid this if possible. Thanks for any help

03-03-2005, 08:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
compulsion Planted Tank Enthusiast (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0) Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 524	its worrying but my lfs keeps discuss in our tapwater which is 7.2 GH12 i inquired when i wanted to get a pair, my water is obviously fine.. but i have no clue how long the discuss have been there, so i woulent chance it to later find there gonna get desease or something. if you have the RO unit i suggest you do use it and come to some sort of agreement with unfiltered water to get some sort of a lower GH from what you have from the tap. the ro filters might get used quite a bit with that sort of hardness. think how many gallons of water you need to change a week and how many gallons the individual filter units will filter before there used up. then you need to see how much its gonna cost, maybe its for drinking water is that why you dont want to use it? maybe peat filtration will work, or distillation __________________ 55US Gallon Medium Planted \| 36x15x24Tall PH 7.0 - 7.2 GH 11 Ehiem 2232 Thermo 2.7WPG 160W 10,000k 5xNO T8's Sand+Eco Clay, CSM+B Baby Steps + Pres.Co2

03-03-2005, 09:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
shalu Wannabe Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0) Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,675	I currently keep them in GH 17, they are fine. I guess higher Gh is ok too, just no eggs will hatch. __________________ Truvu 100g Flourite, wet/dry, AHSupply 302w PC, PinPoint controller 10gallon15w T6+15w T8 55gallon40w T6 ODNO4x, no CO2. Discus grow out. 10gallon Tonina tank, 2x15w T6 ODNO 4x --------------------- I will do aquascapes after I collect all the plant species and grow them to perfection.

03-03-2005, 09:38 PM	#6 (permalink)
ringram Moderator (View User Tanks) PTrader: (64) Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,531	Just a quick comment, but where in CA did you live? I'm in the Sac area and the water is extremely hard(pH~8, gH~21, kH~22). I don't keep discus, but I keep lower hardness/pH for my current setup. I use approx 80-90% RO water and the rest tapwater to get around pH6.6, gH=6, kH=5 after CO2 injection, that is. Some people use peat to lower hardness/ph, some use R/O. If you want to avoid using your R/O unit (btw, why do you want to avoid it?), you might try peat , but if you're water is that hard, I'd recommend using the R/O (i've used bottled water in those 5gal jugs, but that's not very cost effective for larger tanks). Good luck! __________________ 90g journal: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ph...rnal-pics.html --------------------------------------------------- SFBAAPS member - http://www.sfbaaps.com/ SAPS member - http://intplantscaping.meetup.com/11/

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03-03-2005, 08:47 PM	#2 (permalink)
tiptoptank Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0) Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Newtown CT Posts: 40	You could use the RO for 20% of your WC's. THe discus should be fine the that GH but, they won't breed. Try adding some nise peices of drift wood. Even though most discus keepers say not to. I think it's a good practise. I have a really big piece of drift in my tank. it's about 36 inchs long and 18 in high. It keeps my GH way down. like, 3! Out of my tap it's around 6.5. Anyway GL with your discus. I lost 5 when I started becuase I bought them from my LFS. ONLY BUY DISCUS FROM BREEDERS. I can not stress this enough. A breeder won't sell you a unheathy discus because there name is on the line.

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