whater changes and PH fluctation Help and Comments

[Astolfo]

I just moved from a house with a water well and INCREDIBLY amazing water quality for my fish. My new house has “city water” pretty hard, lots of sediment, high PH 7.8-8 depending on the day, etc. I have a sediment and carbon filter before the water gets in the tank. I can lower the PH using the discus acid buffer, setra peat, and CO2. But there is always a jump the ph while doing the water change. I can’t have a barrel to get the waterready, so it is not an option.
My question is, how bad is it for my fish to have a 1 hour or so of high ph until I get it settled to 6.2 from 8?
TIA
Astolfo

[WMD]

wow ph changes from 8 to 6.2 in an hour??? if i were you I'd age my water. The wild wouldnt cope as well as the domestic one, i read it somewhere here in simply.

[Astolfo]

It takes less for me to get is settled to 6.2 but still a big jump during the water change process...

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Aging your water really gives your parameters more stability. 24 hours to 48 is usually best. Airation is also very helpfully.

[Skip]

stop using the silly chemicals to mess with the ph.. just use tap.. it will less stress on you and your fish

[roundfishross]

this much of a decrease in ph will burn the gill tissue and eyes. an increase would not be an issue, but a decrease can be deadly

[Sasha]

I've done a lot of research on PH, and a swing like that is incredibly stressful on the fish. The PH of the aged well water/RO mix that I use is 8.1. My fish are doing well in it. I agree with Warlock to not try to adjust the PH of your water. I'd slowly begin replacing small amounts (5-10%) of the water in the tank with your tap water (without PH buffer) a couple of times a day over the course of several days until your tank water has a PH within .1 or .2 of your tap water. Then do a 50% water change and keep up with the changes using non-buffered tap from there on out.

I've only been raising discus for a year, but I have done a ton of reading on PH from reliable sources.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

When talking with Dale Jordan, he stressed that a swing in TDS and not PH can in essence effect the discus more than PH. Although you don't want that drastic of a swing, if you can stablize your PH within as pointed out .1 or .2% you will be ok.

As Warlock mentioned about using straight tap water, it does seem like more and more people are doing this and straying away from their RO units and chemical buffers.

This might be another one of those topics that will never have a definate conclusion other than personal preferance.

But the one thing I think everyone can agree with is aging your water.