what fish for ph 7.9 to 8.1 ?

[diveboy]

Hi all,

I'm having serious trouble getting my tank's ph down to a suitable level for discus.

I suspect it's the eco complete in the tank bringing the ph right up. C02 isn't helping either or I'm not dumping enough into the take (I think I am, 1 bubble a second). I have managed to dump the ph down to 6.8 and then have it come back up to 7.8 in 2 days.

so, what fish love a high ph ?

the bristlenose I have and the pakastani loach love it. I have one angel as well but looking for something more colorful ?

I realise this isn't a discus question, so thanks for answering!

Michael.

[valkyrie]

Hi Diveboy

Discus don't need to have the ph low if you only want them for display in a community tank, they can quite happily live in higher ph, just make sure of plenty of water changes. If you really want to keep Discus and want to lower the ph have you tried peat in the filter.

Cheers

[flaggy]

how about african cichlids (Malawian, Tanganyikan), moliies....

[arjones]

I keep my discus in ph 8.0 because where I live the tap water has a high ph. They are very happy it in, have grown well and coloured up beautifully. however i have to except that i cannot breed them because the eggs will not hatch. In fact in the wild an increse in ph stimulates spawning.

[sponge2]

Hi My discus are all from germany, When i first started keeping just in display tanks only i was keeping them in hma and so did not affect the ph from the tap which was 7.4 ph and 420ppm.
At stenker in germany they are kept in 100% ro so when we get them over about a month they are weened on the harder water and they do very well.

[Mr Discus]

Hi diveboy,

African Cichlids like a high ph value - so if you are concerned about keeping Discus at a ph that high, I think they would be your best option.

But like others have said on here - Discus certainly prefer a ph of 7 or less, but it is not essential if you simply want to keep them for display or in a community tank. Discus can tolerate a ph over 7, but you most definately won't have any luck if you intend on breeding them in a ph of that level.

Like sponge2 - I keep my Discus in water that has a ph of 7.4. The reason for this is that I wanted to simplify my display tank (I only have 1 tank), and so I wanted to just run the water in it from the tap, just treated with Prime.

My Discus as well as all the other fish I have that prefer a lower ph (Cardinals and Blue Rams etc), are doing great, are active, alert, eating, and very well coloured.

So from the sounds of it you could at least give it a try and see how you go. I would not recommend trying it with juvies, get some adolescent to adult discus and acclimatise them very very slowly, even to the point where if you have a secondary tank you can use to acclimatise them (like a quarantine tank I guess), where you can try and achieve a stable ph in it the same as what your LFS runs, and then slowly increase the ph maybe by .1 every couple of days, until you reach maybe 7.8 or 7.9. See how they go and if they are happy move them over to your main tank. Just make sure you do 40-50% water changes every day so that the water turnover is there to try and minimise their stress levels from the ph change.

Remember this - I am no expert, but out of all the articles I have ever read and all the info I have ever heard about keeping Discus at a high ph value, Discus would far prefer water parameters that are STABLE rather than a ph that is IDEAL. In other words, if your ph, hardness and temp etc are all stable on a day to day basis you will find that your Discus will be happy, even if your ph is higher than what they would PREFER. Stability of parameters and regular water changes are what I have found to be the key to succuessful Discus keeping. And a little commonsense goes a long way!

Hope that helps - I know there will probably be alot of breeders and serious Discus keepers who might turn their nose up at those notions, but its just my personal experience.

[the german]

At stenker in germany they are kept in 100% ro so when we get them over about a month they are weened on the harder water and they do very well.

i dont think they are kept in 100% ro mate :D

[sponge2]

When i have spoken to mark evendon who is one of the largest importers of stenker discus into england he has told me on two ocastions that they are in ro only but i have never been there my self although i think i will have go some time this year.

Also when i used to breed dutch rams or blue rams i used to breed them in 100% ro as they needed stupidly soft water and used to have a very good hatch rate.
This was good as rams being imported were very week and had a very high lose rate.

[the german]

i guess the membrane you uesed was not the finest,otherwise your fish would get problems with pire ro,the ro i use has a conductivity of 1.3ppm.
i doubt that this water when uesed pure will be good for fish.
i never truied it but i would say it would have the same efect as when you drink destilated water..

[Greggy]

I believe juvenile Discus are actually better if raised in water that has some degree of hardness as this helps their bones etc develop properly so that they grow up big & strong. Harder water usually results in a higher pH. If kept in extremely soft water they might lack some of the minerals that actually aid their development.

My Discus also have no issue with high pH/hard water, as up here in the Northern suburbs of Perth in WA the water is very hard. Water from the tap measures a pH of about 7.0 but there must be a significant amount of CO2 in there as after aging a day or so the pH hits anywhere from 7.6 to 8.0 ! The water is that hard that if our drink dispenser leaves a 'drip' down the front of our refrigerator if you don't wipe it up it leaves a calcium like 'stain'. The shower is just as bad - everything turns white when the water drys up!

My DIY CO2 system drops it back to around 7.2 but before this the higher pH never bothered the Discus.

I say give Discus a go with your water - they are very rewarding and personally I think African cichlids are 'boring' (compared to Discus anyway).

Regards,

Greggy

[benjohnson]

I use pure RO water , but use a thing called Discus Magic Mix which adds back i nthe tracelements and stabilises the Ph... very good product and if your living in england and are using RO , i would recommend it