PDA

View Full Version : preparing water in breeding tank



misoo83
11-01-2011, 06:27 PM
Hi

I have one discus pair in community tank that i want to try breeding in breeding tank , they are live now in 8.1-8.4 PH and TDS 330 ppm but i want to make water softer TDS about 100-120 ppm.

My question is what is correct way to do it :

1. Lower water hardness to wanted point for breeding (for example: TDS 100-120 ppm) and then move fish from community tank with very hard water into breeding tank with soft water
2. Move pair from community tank into breeding tank and then lover TDS to wanted point?

I use Ion-exchange resin to make my water softer and after my tap water goes true i get on out this
PH is 3.0-4.0 and TDS is 33 ppm , after i mix tap water with Ion-exchange resin water ( soft water) i get lover PH for example : PH 6.0 but after 12h PH bounce back to 8.1

Sean Buehrle
11-01-2011, 06:46 PM
Have you experienced low hatch rates or some sort of problem that would warrant lowering your Tds?

Most people have a few goes at tap water first to see how things turn out.

If you insist, I suggest you get a ro unit because ion exchange resin alone will put you in the poor house.

Your going to be doing big water changes every couple days, I hope.

You would want the fish in the breeding tank with their regular water and then over a couple days drop the Tds.

Do not drop the ph on them or try and mess with it, you'll have a hard time keeping it stable.

You have to make sure you water is stable before you do that because a drop in ph in their tank can kill them, or fubar them seriously.

Keeping your ph from bouncing around is a question for the folks in the water works section of this site.

I don't feel comfortable giving that kind of advice, bad things can happen.

misoo83
11-02-2011, 02:45 AM
I had that discus pair breed many times over 40 times in community tank (TDS 330 ppm) and maximum hatched fry what i get from spawns was 3 hatched eggs, i tried once to put their eggs to other discus pair for caring their eggs in softer water (TDS 180 ppm) and i get 10 small discus fry that shows to me that is problem with water hardness.

I have other pair in breeding tank with PH 8.1 TDS 160-180 and i get from last spawn about 30 wrigglers and i still lowering hardness in that tank but now i don't make water softer because i have fry but after fry gets big enough to eat small food i will move them to another tank and continue to make TDS to 100 ppm for better hatch rates.

ion exchange resin is here (in my country Serbia) expensive but Ro station is about 4-5 times more expensive and cost too much for me :( (that's the reason why i use ion exchange resin).


I tried once to move this pair from community tank to breeding tank and i have started to make water changes with ion exchange resin water (to lower TDS) and after 15 days i what i get was that my discus pair was too stressed and was no eating food and he was staying all day long in corner of aquarium and i decided to move that pair back to community tank and after i had done that my discus pair was sick and their fin started to rot. After high temperature treatment and changing 30% with fresh water for few days that pair was good recovered from illness and now is healthy food good eating and spawned again in community tank.

Sean Buehrle
11-02-2011, 03:51 PM
How much current or water flow is in the tank they have laid eggs in?

What are they laying eggs on?

Some times if you provide a more narrow spawning surface for the pair the eggs will be closely laid to each other forcing the male to have a better aim and go across the eggs better.
Sometimes I think they miss the eggs altogether and too much current in the tank adds to the problem.

Try a 1 inch piece of PVC as a spawning surface for better fertilization .

You can buy a ro filter and have it shipped internationally, fairly cheap.

Cost is 99 USA dollars. I don't know if that's out of your price range.

misoo83
11-05-2011, 06:13 AM
Water flow in tank is at the minimum i use air driven pipe that's drive back water from filter ( i am using bio filter ) .
I use for spawning surface pvc pipe about 40 cm long (high) and my spawning aquarium is 50 cm high.

Serbia is not paypal accepted country so i can't buy over ebay ro station and here is one month payment about 120 euros that is about 165 USA dollars but when i pay ticket for bus + food i don't have from one month maximum 50 euros left for living

I am now without work because i Fu**ed my both knees at work from hard work and now i try make some money for living with discus breeding :)