raising KH.

[drew22to375]

hello everyone.

I have never kept discus before. I have done some research on them off and on for about the last 2 years. And well my empty 110gallon is just saying fill me with discus. so I am planning on setting that up in the near future. In the meantime I have been testing my water in a storage container. I mixed 50% tap and 50% ro/di. after two days I with a power head it stabalizes at. PH 7.4, GH= 4, KH =0-1. TDS= 80. my main concern is the low KH. Is there a way to increase the KH without messing with the PH. I added a small amount of Acid Buffer and to get KH around 3 it drops the PH way down to like 6.3. or will I need to also add alkaline buffer to get a set KH and PH.

Also is there any strains of Discus that you would recomend for a beginer.or any I should stay away from.

Thankx.

[brewmaster15]

Hi Drew,
Welcome to Simplydiscus! My water is similar to yours. Some advice ...stay away from the liquid buffers and stabilizers. They may or may not work well for you, but they are a lot of work to get right.

Your pH is fine for discus..even with a low kH, so what you may want to do is experiment with small amounts of crushed shells, or calcium carbonate based marine tank substrates. I've been using a nylon stocking with 2 cups of this substrate in it. its placed in a filter ...I used an aquaclear 500.

In your water I would guess this amount would possibly bump your kH up a notch, but more importantly will greatly reduce the chance of a pH crash.

You may have to work with the amounts as its affected by fish densities, biofiltration and water change frequency.

hth,
al

ps... welcome to the hobby!!! :)

Hi all,

You also might want to change your mix %. TDS of 80 is a bit low for holding Discus. That’s more for breeding.

I also have low KH. I also use crushed coral.

Domestic Red Turq's are good too start with.
But that is of course my personal opinion :)

Ronald

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Drew:
Why not use straight tap water? That should make GH 8, KH 2, tds 160. I bet your pH will still be under 8. These numbers should be fine for growing out discus.

Discus do best in stable water. Better to always be in pH 7.8 than bouncing around.

If it takes 2 days to raise pH you need to get more agitation in the storage tank. I can raise mine from 6.8 (tap ) to 7.8 in 3 hours with a Walmart pond pump.

[drew22to375]

thankx for the replies everyone. I wasn't really concerned with the ph. I was under the inpression that my hardness(GH 8-9) would be a little too hard for them. I'm not wanting to breed them. Just grow out. Anyone know of any breeders in the central Illinois area. thankx.

[RealFish]

How are you testing your water. It sounds like one of your kits are giving you a bad reading. KH/pH/CO2 are very closely linked. I believe atmospheric CO2 is about 8, wo with a KH of .5-.1, your pH should be approximately 6.4 to 6.6.

BTW, 1 teaspoon of banking soda will raise KH 4 degrees in 50 literes of water.

Here is a link with the pH/KH/CO2 relationship. http://www.sfbaaps.com/reference/table_01.shtml

[Paulio]

Just an FYI on substance to raise kh. Home Depot sells pavers base. It is screened calcium carbonate. Limestone I think. $2.00 for 50 lbs. A bunch cheaper than crushed coral.

HTH
Paul