Ageing Tap Water & WC

[JustinDiscus]

I am wanting to start my first Discus tank but there is one thing that really confuses me and I've yet to find a straight answer.

It's about water changes and whether or not you should age the tap water before adding it to the tank. I've reach and talked to people and I'm getting a lot of mixed answers. Some say it is 100% needed, some say it does not matter at all and you should do a WC like you do with any other fish which makes a lot more sense to me.

So what is it? And why? It seems like ageing the tap water is making yourself to a lot more unneeded work but I don't know and I am just getting into Discus keeping.

:confused::confused:

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Welcome Justin.

Use the search area and you will find a lot of threads that might give you a better idea to fit your needs. There is a lot of material in this forum.

[pastry]

Justin, you'll still find mixed responses here. You'll also find a lot of, "use the 'search' function"-type of replies since this subject's been beat to death. You may have already seen those though and you're hoping someone just steps in and tells you what to do (maybe... some people just find more comfort in someone else making up their mind for them). Personally, I age only in the winter. I haven't started yet but I am already at the point where I think I should if I want my gang to not be pissed at me & a little uncomfortable after each WC.

How about this, set up a bucket of water straight from tap, take a ph test right away, put the aerator in there, check the ph 24 hours later (record them), and then check the ph 48 hours later and report back on this thread what you come out with. That may yield better responses in what direction to go. People will help you, put do that first and get back to us Sunday. Sound like a plan?

[pastry]

Damn't Jeff... you beat me!!!!!!!!!!

[JustinDiscus]

Already done that before...

From the tap...6.5

Over night in a bucket with a power head...around 7 to 7.5 as far as I remember..

Obviously that's not stable and from the mixed answers I have been given, it's recommended that I age it.

But my question is, even though there is a slight difference, what would be the downsides of still using straight tap water?

Are discus really that sensitive? I've kept tanks before with a wide variety of fish and never heard of ageing water before and they were all thriving. It just seems crazy to me.

[Mgardner]

Slight ph swings are ok, but that seems more significant. I age year around bc I'm on a well and my fish seem to grow faster. Plus the heater runs so the temp is consistent.
I change 50% 4-5 times a week. My brother changes 40% every few weeks. He has an under stocked and over filtered tank. Mine is stocked to 1 discus per 10 gal. Plus I like to keep my nitrates super low and I feed live food.

[pastry]

Justin, i'd say WE are that sensitive to THEM ;)... but yeah, like gardner said, that sounds more of a bigger ph swing. anyhow, look at some recent posts on similar threads. look at Warlock (skip) and Strawberryblonde's (Toni) answers along with others.

[2_Basic]

I do WC directly from tap water.

But b4 I get into that I would like to state I've only been keeping discus for 7mths.

I do 70% WCs about 2x a week (3-4days). My ph direct from tap is 7.8 and stays around that mark in the tank.

I place a thermometer and 20gallon storage container in the bath tub fill it with tap water and make sure the temp is around the 82F. Then I use a water pump w 50ft garden hose to pump the water into the 75 gallon fish tank. Once that 20gallons is almost done I keep the water running at approx. the same temp till my fish tank is full.

I have never had any problems with the discus from WCs but I think I may have lost a couple of panda cories from the WCs.

I guess I've done about 40-50 WC the past 7 mths and haven't had any discus die. So.... LOL not sure if this is good or bad...but that's what I've been doing.

:)

[2_Basic]

Here's an old vid when they were still in the 45 gallon I've since moved them to 75 gallon ... if I have time i'll put a new vid up on my channel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N45dqmYsjjQ

[Cichlidcraze]

Hi Justin. I am also new to Discus, but not to fishkeeping. If your ph of your tap water changes overnight, then your fish would really appreciate that you allow that change to happen before you add the new water to the tank. Doing frequent water changes with unstable water will mean that your ph will be constantly fluctuating. I find that by aging my water and bringing it up to the desired temp allows me to achieve certain goals, ie a temp drop to induce spawning, etc, with a greater degree of control. This applies to all fish and not only to Discus imo. I however don't age my water for my Malawi tank as i buffer the water like crazy to keep the water like liquid rock. Hth

[wild4discus]

Strange that your pH actually increases from 6.5 to 7 or 7.5. Normally pH decreases after aging for 24-48 hours. But aging your water allows the water chemistry to stabilize, which your discus will appreciate as they don't like swings in temp or pH, consistentcy in water parameters is key to their good health. This is why aging your water is important, straight tap water is not normally stable.

[100fuegos]

There is no a straight answer, that is why you have not found it. Some have to age because of PH swing and some have to age because of micro bubles. Some others like myself do not have to age water as none of those two problems are present. You will have to find for yourself, a very good beguining is what Elliot sugested.

Aging water with a powerhead or an air stone allows it to degas and as CO2 scapes PH increases.

[SMB2]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?103755-quot-Rapid-quot-Water-Aging

This is a small experiment I did a while back, in an effort to "speed up" aging , so I wouldn't have trash cans sitting out all the time.
While you will see a lot of different answers to the aging question, just about everybody agrees that a steady PH and temp. is very beneficial to your discus. It is not unusual to see fairly wide swings in municipal water PH over time due to trapped CO2.
I suppose if you were doing small volume WCs in a large tank it wouldn't make much difference. But in a grow out tank or any other 70%(+) WC scenario, reducing PH and Temp swings is best for the fish.

[wild4discus]

There is no a straight answer, that is why you have not found it. Some have to age because of PH swing and some have to age because of micro bubles. Some others like myself do not have to age water as none of those two problems are present. You will have to find for yourself, a very good beguining is what Elliot sugested.

Aging water with a powerhead or an air stone allows it to degas and as CO2 scapes PH increases.

You are correct that pH increases wih aeration. Forgot to mention I was referring to my tap water, which is very alkaline with pH greater than 8 but gh and kh between 3-4. So after I age my water using a powerhead, the pH drops to 6.6 after 36-48 hours due to the actual softness of my water.

[Madaboutdiscus]

My ph actually decreases after aging. Out of the tap its 7.4 after aging its 7.2.

-Victoria