Seachem discus buffer - any good?

[Ghoti]

I suspect my substrate (3mm granite) is buffeting my water to a ph of 7.2 - 7.4. I have tried lowering it with water changes. Water from my rainwater tank is ph 6 with gh and kh around 1 degree. Aqarium water is around 7 degrees gh and 4 degrees kh.

I have tried to lower with water changes, ph down and last two nights with hydrochloric acid (5mls in a 500 litre tank). But every morning water is back to 7.2 - 7.4.

It's a new tank running about 10 days. For the last 4 days or so have had 8 rainbowfish in there to help establish cycle ( seachem stability due Monday).

Today I picked up some seachem discus buffer which lfs said should work but on reading the label I see it contains phosphates and I don't want a BBA outbreak in the new tank.

I have some discus on hold so want the tank just right asap. Is the seachem product the go?

Cheers,
Scott

[blackwater spa]

Seachem Discus Buffer is phosphate-based. Do NOT open the bottle, keep your receipt and go back to the shop to exchange it for the Seachem Acid Buffer. Seachem Acid Buffer is not phosphate-based.

[rex82]

remove the gravel......simple

[BigDaddyAdo]

Change the substrate. Dont bother with the acid buffer either. Your Ph will rise again very quickly.

[lpiasente]

Change the substrate. Dont bother with the acid buffer either. Your Ph will rise again very quickly.

+ 1

[Ghoti]

Thanks for the responses folks. I am not absolutely certain it is the gravel and I only bought it last week - 130 kg of the stuff.

I'm not brave enough to tell the wife I'm changing it so soon!

The LFS was happy to exchange the discus buffer for the acid buffer so I'll give that a go. Removing the gravel will be a last resort I am afraid. No discus yet so I can take a chance getting it right.

[m.ingram]

Change the substrate. Dont bother with the acid buffer either. Your Ph will rise again very quickly.

+2

[Greggy]

Unless you plan on breeding, theres no real problem in running a Discus tank with a pH of 7.2 to 7.4, in fact having your substrate buffer the pH to this range is probably a good thing as it will make the tank a little more forgiving of any errors you might make.

Just make sure your biological filtration is (more than) adequate. Personally I run one Eheim 2250 Classic and twin Eheim 2228 Professional canister filters on my 6x2x2 and I NEVER have any problems with ammonia or nitrite. Some would say this is over-filtered for a 650L tank but I think too much filtration is just right :)

Cheers

Greggy

[BigDaddyAdo]

Unless you plan on breeding, theres no real problem in running a Discus tank with a pH of 7.2 to 7.4, in fact having your substrate buffer the pH to this range is probably a good thing as it will make the tank a little more forgiving of any errors you might make.


Unless there is an ammonia spike which will have a far greater effect than if the Ph was below 7.

[Ghoti]

Unless you plan on breeding, theres no real problem in running a Discus tank with a pH of 7.2 to 7.4, in fact having your substrate buffer the pH to this range is probably a good thing as it will make the tank a little more forgiving of any errors you might make.

Just make sure your biological filtration is (more than) adequate. Personally I run one Eheim 2250 Classic and twin Eheim 2228 Professional canister filters on my 6x2x2 and I NEVER have any problems with ammonia or nitrite. Some would say this is over-filtered for a 650L tank but I think too much filtration is just right :)

Cheers

Greggy

No plans of breeding for now Greggy. Will be happy if I can simply keep the discus well. Once that bridge is crossed I may re-evaluate.

As for filtration I am running a wet/dry trickle filter with 6.5 litres of noodles + wool fed by two 900lph power heads and a 1200lph canister with 3.5 litres of noodles + sponge + filterwool + phosphate removal pads + 250ml purigen. I calculate the tank volume to be 486 litres.

The filters are still cycling so its a bit early to say whether or not this will keep the ammonia in check, but I believe it should.

Added the acid buffer last evening and will keep an eye on it over the next couple of days to see if it helps.

Cheers,
Scott

[rex82]

a trickle filter will raise your ph as well

[swampy1972]

a trickle filter will raise your ph as well

:? How so? :?

I've been running a wet/dry sump for almost 2yrs and I have no issue with fluctuating Ph.

[Ghoti]

a trickle filter will raise your ph as well

So if I turn off the trickle filter the pH will drop. How much should I expect? Would be good if I could get to 6.8 or even 7.0.

[Hassles]

As you are in my part of the world I suggest you check you tap water PH which recently has risen from neutral to close to 8. This fact alone will increase your problems. With each water change you will need to check PH and include any additives (eg: acid buffer) at appropriate rates. $300 will get you an RO filter system designed by a discus keeper/breeder (PSI Filters - I have one and love it) and about $6 will buy you a 10 litre cask of filtered water from your local supermarket.

take care

[Ghoti]

Hi Hassles,

There's all sorts of nasties in tap water :D

I actually have a 5000 litre rainwater tank which I use for the fish tanks amongst other things. The water is around ph 6.2-6.4, very soft and nil ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. The only variation since October is after a long period without rain nitrate seems to raise ever so slighty to 5 - 10ppm.

Anyways, over the weekend I stripped the tank, copped flack from the missus, changed the gravel, copped more flack, and refilled the tank. pH is at 6.5 and ammonia etc at 0,0,0.

Fish are in the old tank waiting for the new tank to cycle once more (assisted by a wad of filter wool from the LFS and Sechem Stability) - thank goodness I hadn't stripped the old tank yet!

Cheers,
Scott