Water Quality in Melbourne

[fuister]

Hi All,

I have kept discus in the past back in Malaysia. I am about to start a discus tank in Melbourne but I am unsure about the water quality. For example, Melbourne tap water is drinkable, is anti chlorine still required?

Also for those experience fish keepers in Melbourne, when you fill your tank are there any standard procedures you take?

For example, when I kept my fish in Malaysia, what I did was:
1) Add anti chlorine
2) Add PH down
3) Add salt
Any tips would be great as I am really unsure of the water conditions for fish here.

Thanks

[sammigold]

Hi Fuister,

the water conditions in Melbourne are good but you will still need to use a water ager that will remove chlorine and chloramines as melbourne water is treated with these chemicals.

Depending upon which part of Melbourne you are from
the ph of Melb. water usually sits fairly neutral at around 7. So it depends on what PH you prefer to keep your discus at, whether or not you add PH down.
Mine live quite happily at a PH of 7

Melbourne water is very soft. so you may wish to raise the KH to prevent PH crashes. There is a product you can buy in OZ called KH 7 which helps your raise the KH and keep your ph stable at 7. It is great, I have been using it for a couple of years now.

Salt is purely a personal thing. I only use salt if my fish are exhibiting signs of stress.

HTH

I am sure some other melbournites will add anything I may have missed.

PS. Welcome to the forums, and to Australia!!

cheers
sammi

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum fuister.

Great to have another member from Melbourne.

Our water here in Melbourne is excellent for discus. Very soft and with a pH of around 7 from the tap. You'll find the pH will drop on standing, because there is very little buffering capacity in the water. Once you reach the desired pH you may want to add some crushed coral or shellgrit to the tank to keep it stable, or it will continue to drop.

We do have chlorine in the water, so you will need to add an anti chlorine liquid. Seachem Prime seems to be one of the better ones.

No need for salt unless you are keeping guppies or cichlids. Just as it comes from the tap will suit your discus nicely.

[fuister]

Thanks for the replies guys

very helpful indeed and thanks for the welcome. Merrilyn, you mentioned that the water PH will drop on standing. So, water of the tap is approx PH 7 and left for a few hours or days will drop to 6 or 5?


Sammigold: you mentioned KH 7 to help stablizie KH and keep the PH at 7. I would prefer to keep my PH at 5.5 . Can i still use KH 7 ? or is there a KH 5.5?

[Ben]

hi mate and welcome to the forum.

You can use straight tap water with a de-chlorinator just watch out for PH crashes.

the biggest issue we have is flouride, its bloody nasty stuff and i have had issue's with it for years!

[sammigold]

If you use KH7 it will keep your ph at 7.

I dont think there is a KH 5.5

I assume that to keep your PH at 5.5 you would need to use some sort of PH down additive or maybe filter over peat but I dont know how successful that would be to get it down that far.

Maybe someone else in Melb. who keeps their PH low may be able to help. Sorry I cant help more.

cheers
sammi