water quality?

[Hettie_48]

I have been keeping discus for about 3 months and not lost any.
I get all sorts of information on my water. I use rain water which is very soft. No readings at all. The PH is around 6.3
Some fish stores tell me I must add aquarium salt and others say definatley not. One man who has a lot of success says I should add some of my bore water to add minerals etc.
the plants are only doing OK.
I use liquid plant fertilizer and check the iron.
Any suggestions?

[G-1000]

Hi

I would just add some discus trace to the water (product made by seachem) and continue to use the rainwater.

G

[Mulisha]

Hey mate i use rain water and had probelsm with to soft water like 0 KH reading and 0 GH reading and a PH of a bout 5.5.

So i got some stuff called Seachem Alkaline Buffer and i add 2 teaspoons to 200L of water so very efficent and also add Seachem Equilibrium which adds all the minerals to the water but i son't siggest getting this stuff as it's $28.50 for 300grams that lasts me like 2 weeks so it's to expensive for me and going to use Seachem Discus Trace next beciase it works out to be alot more cost effective :wink:

Another thing is do u age your water and add any conditionier to the water at all?

If you don't add any conditioner I would siggest you add some as there is heavy metals in rain water and also contains lots of CO2 so using a air stone in your aging drum you can get rid of most of the CO2 and that will help rasie your PH level.

With such low KH level in rain water you can have a massive PH crash which can be fatal and kill everything in the tank not a very pleasent thing to wake up to of a morning :?

So if you need any more help just let me know.... :wink:

[Merrilyn]

Hello Hettie and welcome to the forum.

Lots of good advice there from members who have actually had experience using rain water.

Rain water sounds ideal to use for fish tanks, but it does have it's drawbacks.

[Hettie_48]

Thanks for your advice. I will get some Seachem Discus Trace. I do use a water conditioner. Prime or Stress Coat.
My PH is always about 6.5 and hasn't crashed in 4 months.
Bye Moonie

[G-1000]

Sorry I also meant to add in:

Keep an eye on your pH levels and make sure you do regular water changes - since your water is very soft it MAY (not saying it definately will be, but still) it MAY be more prone to pH fluctuations that water that has more dissolved in it.

But add the discus trace and water should be fine.

G

[Mulisha]

And another tip is how big or old are your discus beucase if there still young they need calicium in the water and maybe a touch high PH and KH well that's what i was told and my fish are doing great with a KH 4 and PH 7.2

HTH :lol:

Just pm me if u need any help on it becuase when i needed help everyone helped me so thought i can help you out seeing now i have learn't it all. :wink:

[Hettie_48]

Hi,
My fish are only young. I do lots of wc's and sometimes add about 2 litres of bore water. That then brings the PH up to 7 from about 6.3.
The KH is so high in bore water. too high for my test kit, just won't change colour no matter how many drops I put in. Just goes bluer and bluer.
With all these water changes, what happens to the liquid plant fertilizers.
Costs me a fortune.
Thanks for the help
Hettie

[Mulisha]

Yeah tell me about the cost i have to add lots of chemicals to have my water nice for the fish. :?

[electric molecular]

Amen to that Mulisha. I've spent hundreds, no, thousands, of dollars at my LFS. I think I am their best customer!! In their favour they give me a 5% discount with a "platinum" customer card and sometimes throw me in some free brine shrimp. My fiance thinks I treat the fish better than him LOL!! Actually the manager of the shop did say that if he were to be reincarnated, he'd like to come back as one of my fish!! But yeah, if you want your fish to be happy, you certainly have to shell out for it. Still, I think it is an extremely rewarding hobby...

Claire.