Hardness

[jwight]

On a uni field trip today I was informed by a native plant expert that water straight from the tap in Adelaide is 800ppm. Now that is way too high for discus. Is this true as I have not measured myself? Can you boil the water? And what with? How much is reverse Osmosis filter? and how is it used?

[Merrilyn]

800 ppm is liquid rock! Are you sure that's what he meant.

Maybe some of our Adelaide friends can answer that.

[kalebjarrod]

:? 800ppm is like the dead sea isn't it?

your right way to hard for discus, i think you may have misheard

[jwight]

Apparently thats right I asked a local Aquarium shop owner who I am mates with. Bad I know are there any answers.

[Merrilyn]

If the water really is that hard, Reverse Osmosis is the only thing that will help. I still think they mean 80 ppm which is suitable for most tropical fish. 800 ppm is twice as hard as what you would normally use for rift lake cichlids or brackish fish.

[jwight]

We get bad salinity at the bottom of the murray as our mates in vic and NSW hoard it all up! They keep having to change the requirements each year for drinking water as it keeps becoming harder.

[Merrilyn]

Well that would explain the reading then. At that degree of hardness, it must leave deposits in washing machines and dishwashers, and take a huge amount of detergent to produce suds.

Unless you want to keep marine fish, I think RO is your only answer.

[jwight]

Ok asked many different places and get different answers not that bad but will find out by testing myself. If you want something done right...

[leanne31]

I live at morphett vale 5 mins down the road from you. Im getting a order through age of aquariums some time this week and Ive ordered a hardness test kit as well so if you dont want to buy one I'll let you know the readings soon but I was also told our water was quite soft so I dont know guess we'll have to see. :lol:

Leanne

[leanne31]

Ok guys got my hardness test kit today and this is what I found coming out of my tap I had to add 6 drops which would make it 120ppm gh but coming out of my tank I had to add 17 drops which made it 340ppm gh. Then I measured KH and that was out of tap 4 drops which is 40 ppm and out of tank 3 drops at 30 ppm why is my tank so much higher in gh than my tap water. I did use myt drum today for the first time and I added a new canister filter would this of made the difference :?:
But it is good to know adelaide tap water isnt 800ppm :wink:

Leanne

[Merrilyn]

No the drum and the new filter wouldn't have made a difference. It's got to be something in your tank, like gravel or rock.

Phew, glad to hear it's not 800 ppm. That would have been a REAL problem.

[leanne31]

I have both rock and gravel in my tank, will the gh being this high hurt my fish at all they've been in water this hard since I got them 3 and half mths ago. Should i add something to lower the hardness in my tank and if so what :?: thanks :lol: oh and they're juvies not adults

Leanne

[Merrilyn]

Leanne, your water is perfect. Don't do any thing to it. A bit of hardness in the water will help buffer the pH, and you'll never have a pH crash.

[leanne31]

Thanks Merrilyn I'll leave it then my ph sits on 6.8 and is never different so I guess thats why. :lol:

Leanne

[Kaza]

Leanne have you added any salt or epsom salts to the water this will make the GH sky high.
Now Adelaide water does vary mine out of the tap is 9 drops after filtering and RO I keep it on 5 or 6. The fish breed in this, I am thinking of adding shell grit to the grow out tanks.

[jwight]

Thanks Leanne, I can discount everything the guy said. Now is your water always 6.8 from tap because mine is 7.4 constant for the last 2 years. Which drops to 7.2/7.1 in my tank. I have plenty of driftwood whioch would lower the hardness so I would still like to check and I looking towards breeding in the future. At morphett Vale which LFS do you go to? Have you been to Seaview Aquariums?

[leanne31]

Ok just tested my ph then out the tap 7 out my tank 6.8. If you are planning on breeding I think you'll have to invest in a RO unit as the water coming out tap is 120ppm and I think that is to high but for just keeping them and growing out juvies i think it is perfect.
The lfs that I go to is Reynella Aquariums on south road near junk food corner the guys name is Simon and hes quite helpful and always has some nice discus in there including fish from Kev at SLS. No I havent been to Seaview recently but have been there before. :lol:

Leanne

[jwight]

Been to Reynella one, Tested hardess in tank. 8 degrees GH and 3 Degrees KH. Except KH may be wrong is there is no way to determine "bright Yellow"