Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sfdiscus
Also - does this forum have any suggestions on how to train wilds to eat flakes/pellets?
thx
I have never had to train my wilds to eat any food I feed. From the start, I feed them exactly what my domestics get and they eat it. Personally I don't think wilds are that picky or difficult.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sfdiscus
Hi - I will be getting a group on wild heckels in a few weeks. Can this forum suggest the water parameters I need to prepare meanwhile or refer me to a thread that has discussed this question for wild heckels?
Also - does this forum have any suggestions on how to train wilds to eat flakes/pellets?
thx
Hardness of water first, pH second. If you can keep the hardness of your water under 50-60ppm that will make the Heckels very happy. As long as the pH isn't above 7.0 I find all my wilds do fine, there isn't a lot of difference in colors or behavior between 5.5-7.0 unless you want to get serious about trying to breed the Heckels in which case you want the ph below 5 and hardness to be less than 20ppm.
As for food, I would never train discus to take dried pellets and flakes. Even the best processed, freeze dried food loses 50% of its nutritional value. Why do that to your prized fish...imo feed only high quality frozen food and live food. If you really want to do it, just add little bits of flakes/pellets to what you are feeding them now and slowly increase the amount of dried food until you wean them totally off frozen/live food.
Mark
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
m3h3c3
Hardness of water first, pH second. If you can keep the hardness of your water under 50-60ppm that will make the Heckels very happy. Mark
Hi - is the HM Digital TDS-EZ Meter/Tester the correct equipment to test for hardness (without using test strips)?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
m3h3c3
Why do that to your prized fish...imo feed only high quality frozen food and live food..
Completely agreed - I am asking the question because I had assumed that I would be using an automatic feeder during vacation. Can this forum suggest how you handle vacations? I heard another thread suggests "starving" the fish before vacation so as to reduce ammonia.
thx all
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Yes, a TDS meter is perfect for testing water hardness. TDS - total dissolved solids.
As for vacation, I had to 'hire' my father in law to feed my tanks :) lol. That is definitely a tricky question, I wouldn't starve the fish if they are not full grown adults, but they can go 2-3 days without feeding perfectly fine. I guess if there isn't anyone you could trust with baby sitting the fish maybe dried foods for a few days will have to do.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
m3h3c3
If you can keep the hardness of your water under 50-60ppm that will make the Heckels very happy.
Mark
Hi - I used RO/Tap water 50/50 and water pillow. My TDS digital meter shows 300ppm and test strip shows GH of 75ppm.
1. Which of the 2 readings should I use?
2. I don't have any discus in the tank yet - but I haven't been able to get the TDS any lower. Can this forum give more suggestions?
Thanks.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
That is way high for 50/50 RO to tap. The TDS will always be more accurate than strips. Did you calibrate the TDS meter? Did you test the pure RO water to see if the TDS was zero? If it isn't then you need to replace the membrane. Better yet get a RO plus DI unit.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
m3h3c3
That is way high for 50/50 RO to tap. The TDS will always be more accurate than strips. Did you calibrate the TDS meter? Did you test the pure RO water to see if the TDS was zero? If it isn't then you need to replace the membrane. Better yet get a RO plus DI unit.
Hi - what TDS / GH level should I target for wild discus? thx
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
+1 on a RO unit with a DI on it. With that type of system you will have ZERO hardness. You will then have to figure out what to add back to it to make it fish friendly...Bill
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
TDS should be below 60ppm as previously posted. I usually see GH in degrees, not ppm so that's a new one. GH should below 3 degrees. I would check your tap and see what the ppm is and then the RO. Something is wierd here with your TDS being above 300 with 50/50.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
m3h3c3
Did you test the pure RO water to see if the TDS was zero? If it isn't then you need to replace the membrane. Better yet get a RO plus DI unit.
Hi - I tested my tap water and TDS is 145ppm. It's strange why my tank water which is 50/50 has TDS of 375ppm+. What could be a reason? Should my course of action to make a major change with my tap water? Thank goodness there is no discus in there yet!
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Here some Heckels sold to my friend Hector, think he's a very lucky guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79oTNsTKJII
Hans
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
You mentioned using a water pillow. Do you mean a water softning pillow? If so it has salt in it and that is why your tds is so high. Don't use the pillow just blend your tap and RO and see what the reading is. Also if you divide the 75 ppm by something like 17.5 or 19 (I'll need to check to find the exact conversion) you will get the degrees of hardness so your gh is about 4. The gh does not read the salt from the pillow like your tds meter.
Hans those are some nice looking heckels.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Dividing the TDS as expressed in ppm by ~17.5 is the right number to convert to degrees of GH to the best of my memory.
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yogi
You mentioned using a water pillow. Do you mean a water softning pillow? If so it has salt in it and that is why your tds is so high. Don't use the pillow just blend your tap and RO and see what the reading is. Also if you divide the 75 ppm by something like 17.5 or 19 (I'll need to check to find the exact conversion) you will get the degrees of hardness so your gh is about 4. The gh does not read the salt from the pillow like your tds meter.
Thank you so much for all your advice. I have been PM'ing with other members, and we all diagnosed the issue collectively: My water pillow, plant supplements & discus buffer are the culprits that caused the jump in TDS between the tap/RO water to eventual tank water.
Now - the $64,000 question: If those 3 above are indeed the culprits and my GH remains low between 30ppm (when dividing my TDS by 17) to 75ppm (when using a test strip) - does that mean my water condition is good to go, despite the "distorted" TDS?
thx all
Re: Wild Discus Tech Notes 1... Heckels...The basics and More....
A high TDS value is a still a high TDS value whether it's made up of kitchen salt, carbonates or anything that's dissolved in the water, just like that mix of different minerals that normally give the GH of tap your water. I would also not use the pillow and mix just a little tapwater with the RO, leave the discus buffer and use as little plant supplement as I can. I have seen Heckels look good in water with higher TDS levels, but the nicest ones were always swimming in a tea-colured 'soup' of VERY soft and acidic water. As for the plants.............
Nandi