keeping ph constant

[sammigold]

Hi, i am currently setting up my tank for discus. we have had it running for about 4or 5 weeks with 14 cardinal tetras, 6 rummy nose and 7 black widow tetras. it is a back drop filter system using noodles, filter wool and eheim substrate. a thin layer of gravel and some anubius. cabomba, elodea and java fern who all seem to be doing well so far... anyway question is how do we keep our ph constant.. we have peat in the back also which brings our ph down to about 6.8 after about 2 days. then as soon as we do water change (which at moment is once a week) the ph goes up to a bit over 7 but i wouldnt say 7.2. I am worried that if we put discus in they may not like 7 and i know they wouldnt like the ph changing everytime the water changes! any ideas or tips would be appreciated.

[ctvu]

Hi sammigold

The PH swings from 6.8 to 7.2, I would not worry too much.
May I ask when you do water change do you AGE water before putting in the tank?

HTH

ctvu

[Dee]

Hi Sammi :)

A PH of 7 for general discus keeping is fine IMO, for breeding you will want it lower. Melbourne water has a tendency to be VERY soft ie: very low KH (carbonate hardness ... ph buffering capacity). I Live in E St Kilda and my water has a KH of 1degree (20ppm) out of the tap, which means it has next to no buffering capacity. On LadyRed's advice I now use a good handfull of shellgrit (for a 4x2x2 tank) to raise my KH and buffer my PH. This will basiclly help in stopping your PH dropping to far rapidly. I have had major problems with stabilizing my PH and found that it dropped quickly with out using shellgrit. Remember things such as food, wastes and nitrate will also lower your PH ... hence why regular water changes help keep things in check. My personal opinion would be to lose the peatmoss and use a handfull of shellgrit, just age (heat,airate and dechlor) your water for a minimum of 24 hours ( so the PH can settle). The peat will be bringing down your PH, and with Melbourne water as soft as it is ... this could cause problems in the future. HTH

Cheers,

Dee :)

[sammigold]

thanks discusD and ctvu. We currently don't age our water we use tap water with water ager drops which we have been using with our other 2 tanks for the past 5 or 6 years. (tri-start) with no probs. (no discus in those tanks) have noticed that alot of you guys age your water. If we do this how do you warm it up before putting in the tank. also what do you age it in a plastic bin? do you cover it to stop dust and algae etc. I thought shell grit will send the ph up as well as the kh. We have exactly the same kh reading as Dee. we are in Preston. Also don't want to sound to ignorant but i have never talked on forums or chatrooms before so dont know what some of the abbreviations mean. HTH - hope that helps? or happy to help? and I dont know what IMO means if you could please tell me I'd appreciate.

[Dee]

Hi Sammi,

There's a couple of reasons why I age water before pumping it into the tank.

1. Pre heat to match tank temp
2. Heavily airate for 24 hours to remove chlorine
3. Any water spec changes are done in the water ager barrel and not in the main tank and then pump into main tank. These include adding dechlor etc.
4. PH tends to shift after 24 hours airation, so it's best it does that in the water ager barrel and not in the main tank.

To pre heat water before adding to tank, just buy an el cheapo heater and pop it in the barrel/bin or tank you use to age water. I use a standard 3ft tank to age my water and have the tank covered to reduce dust and stuff from getting in the tank.

Shellgrit will raise your KH and PH, but it's a matter of experimenting for a while ... use a little and work your way up to where you want your water specs. I use about a tennis ball size amount in a stocking hung beside my filter output. This amount seems to keep my PH at around 6.6 for a 4x2x2, I will be adding some more until i get to around PH 6.8.

Hope That Helps :wink:

Cheers,

Dee :)

[jwight]

1. I age my water in a plastic rubbish bin with a heater keeping it at 30*C. However the pH doesnt drop in Adelaide using this so it isnt necessary, it does however mean I can fill the tank after a waterchange without using buckets and there are no drops in temperature.

2. If your are only getting a 0.2 drop in pH from peat is not necessary to use and wasting your money. 7 is fine anyway.

3. Everybody should have a slight rise in pH after water change as the water in the tank usually has driftwood lowering the pH and GH.

[Merrilyn]

Hi Sammi. Our Melbourne water is wonderful for discus keeping, very soft, and almost neutral as it comes out of the tap. It's best not to do any thing to the water other than age it and add chlorine neutralizer. Peat moss is only necessary if you want to induce a pair to spawn, and even then, you wouldn't encourage that in a mixed community tank.

The only problem with our lovely soft water is that the lack of dissolved minerals and salts in the water makes the pH unstable. Unless you buffer the water, and the simplest way is to add a handful of shellgrit to the tank, there is a very real danger of the pH crashing to very low levels.

Is it possible for you to change your water more than once a week. Changing about 20% twice a week will help to keep the pH more stable than changing a huge amount once a week. :P

IMO - in my opinion
IMHO - in my humble opinion
BTW - by the way
LFS - local fish store
HTH - hope that helps :P

[sammigold]

thanks for your wonderful explanations. Peat is coming out today and we will endeavour to change our water more often say twice weekly. we are also going to set up a tank out in the shed to age water in we already have a spare heater that we dont trust for our running tanks but does work. I cant wait to get my discus but want to make sure all is as perfect as possible before i do as i dont want to murder anyone. :lol:

[ctvu]

I cant wait to get my discus but want to make sure all is as perfect as possible before i do as i dont want to murder anyone. :lol:

That is wise thinking sammi

All the best for new discus.

ctvu