How important is Ph and how to lower safely in a planted tank

[seguragr]

So I purchased some discus from a local hobbyist who has been raising and breeding discus for 40+ years. One is a sunset yellow and the other was a pigeon blood. The yellow is about 3-3.5" and the pigeon blood was smaller (about 2.5" or so). The yellow is doing fantastic, but the pigeon blood went a week without eating and on Saturday he was dead. The seller has offered to give me credit for the fish toward the purchase of another, but I want to make sure my tank is ok before I go there. Since my yellow is doing well I think I am, but better safe than sorry right?

Anyway my main question is how important is maintaining a low Ph? Since I have a planted tank I have to use some tap water when I change water and I also use some RO water from my RO/DI system. The problem is that my water is so hard that adding even a little bit of tap buffers the Ph to about 7.6. The hobbyist I purchased the fish from recommended that I use Ph down to lower the Ph to somewhere around 6.5, and I started doing that, but even after multiple dosings my Ph is still at 7.6.

Should I be concerned about the Ph level and start using less tap water, or maybe start treating with peat to soften my tap water?

[strawberryblonde]

There are a lot of misconceptions about pH when it comes to discus. Mine are living in very, VERY high pH and have no healthy problems at all. Maintaining consistent pH along with high water quality is much more important than trying to lower it.

So, first things first, how high is your pH straight from the tap and how high is it after you age it in a bucket with some aeration for 24 hours?

Next thing is the size of the tank, and the plants. What size is it and how heavily planted is it? It's very hard to raise big healthy discus in a planted tank. It can be done, but most of the time you have to sacrifice the plants in order to keep the discus growing well and healthy.

Third thing is water changes. How often are you changing the water and how much at each change? Oh and what are your water parameters? In particular we need to know ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings.

I'll hold off on more questions till we get that stuff on the table. =)

[Skip]

It wasnt ph tbat killed him... Probably something from u established tank with gravel.. Guess u have other fish in the tank already...

[Skip]

Ps.. Stop messing with the ph!

[seguragr]

The tank is 55 gallons. Water parameters are: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate ~0-5ppm. I do water changes of about 30% every other day because I have a small herd of Corydoras that cleans up all uneaten food.

Ph out of the tap is hard to measure. It hits somewhere between the two range for my regular and high range test kits. I would estimate about 7.8-8.0. After 24hrs aging it drops to 7.6ish. My RO/DI water comes out with a Ph of about 6.0. However, even a quart of tap water in five gallons of RO/DI buffers the Ph up to the 7.6 range.

Unfortunately I have no idea how to test for hardness, either general or carbonate, and currently have no extra funds to invest in a test kit for these, though I plan to get some when I get paid.

The tank is lightly planted. I have one small and one baby amazon sword, one medium size anubis, three small banana plants and a couple of other plants I haven't identified. I know they are aquatic plants though.

I should also mention that this is a community tank with about 10 tetras, 5 neons and 5 glolights, 2 marbled hatchets, the corys and two small plecos.

I hope I didn't forget to answer any of your questions.

[seguragr]

I know it wasn't the water that killed the small discus. He was getting bullied by the larger yellow and was completely prevented from eating. I set up a hospital tank, but he died the morning I was going to transfer him. I plan to prevent this in the future by only buying older discus that will be able to compete with the yellow.
The tank also has driftwood in it.

[Skip]

Ph from tap is fine.. That is not problem.. If u are messing with ph while they are in there.. Ph drop kills.. U put fish into tank without qt.. Thats not good.. Having less then 6 is not good

[seguragr]

I plan to get 5 more as quickly as I can. Right now I'm just waiting for some of my dj equipment to sell so I can get more. I don't adjust the ph in the tank, instead I adjust the water for water changes and add it into the tank slowly. pH drop was not an issue as the pH has been unaffected.

[seguragr]

I also plan to quarantine all fish in the future but was told by the hobbyist that adding the first two wouldn't be problematic. now that I know better I won't be doing that again.

[Skip]

Good ... Now if u stop adding ro water ur will be golden.... U new and not breeding.. So keep it smple
..

[strawberryblonde]

The tank doesn't sound problematic in and of itself for 3.5 - 4" discus. Definitely follow Warlocks advice and ditch the RO water. Straight from the tap is absolutely fine.

Second thing to do is to up the water changes to every single day and be sure to vacuum that substrate thoroughly in order to remove wastes. You'd be amazed at how much can settle into the gravel where cory's can't get to it.

Third thing is that discus, even at the 3.5" inch size need a lot of good quality, high protein food in order to grow properly and not end up stunted. Be sure that your feeding regimen allows for that and try to schedule your daily WC for right after their biggest meal. I make mine the evening meal and then do the big WC an hour later.

You'll get a good idea for just how much mess they make when you have them in QT. With a bare bottom QT tank all the crud is right there staring at you. LOL

As an example of just how much water to change, my discus were 4" when I got them and I had to do two WC a day in order to keep up with the mess in a lightly planted tank. I did a 60% in the morning and an 80% at night after the big beefheart meal.

The payoff? My discus have never been sick (knock on driftwood) and the three largest are now 5 inches in total length after only 6 weeks.

[seguragr]

I am currently feeding live blackworms once per day, frozen bloodworms once per day, and beefheart flake twice per day. Is h
This sufficient until I can get the supplies to make a beefheart mixture.