Using glacier water for discus

[E1kora]

Hi everyone I have been keeping my discus for approx a year now, and ever since day one I have been using glacier water. The water machines outside groceries stores.this says it is r/o water which it's the best for discus. I still add prime and discus essential.but have had a bad luck with keeping plants for some reason. I have Eco complete gravel, pressurized co2 and dose excell every other day.so I went to my lfs and explained the problem. They recommended me to use 80% r/o water and 20 % tap. They said the water was to clean and I needed nutrients which are not found in r/o water, so For the next water changes I added prime to the tap water and mixed with the r/o water. But my discus did not respond to well they are not eating as usual. Any ideas for me ? I'm sorry I don't know the name of the plants. Or could it just be the high temperature that's killing the plants ? 84f

[Ryan]

My first question is: what are the parameters of your tap water? While discus don't mind soft, acidic water, and wild discus come from those conditions, most domestic strains are now raised in harder water with a higher pH. They are very adaptable and usually do fine as long as the water parameters are kept stable. It sounds like a lot of trouble (and probably fairly expensive) to haul water home from the grocery store if your tap is perfectly acceptable. Unless your water is extremely hard/high pH or you have bad quality water, I don't think RO is necessary in most cases.

Your LFS was right -- the RO process strips minerals and trace elements out of the water, leaving you with very clean, pure water. The best way to deal with that is to either add these back in by mixing with tap water or by adding a product like Discus Essential or RO Right.

[brewmaster15]

Hi,
Many here do use a mix of Ro and Tap water for their fish.. What are your tap water parameters? I'm not sure why you would need Prime for bottled water? Not sure either that the water you are using is RO water. I didn't know that they sold RO water by the gallon anywhere....but I suppose they could. I think you need to determine first what exactly your bottled waters parameters are, and what the parameters are of your tap. Theres alot of questions your post brings up.

-al

[Ryan]

Al, they do have machines in front of grocery stores that dispense RO water. The issue there, as I learned from saltwater forums, is that the machines' membranes and filters are not always serviced when they should be, so the quality of the RO water may actually not be as pure as you'd expect. People have tested various machines in front of stores here and the parameters of the water fluctuate all over the place from machine to machine. Most have a sticker on the machine that tells you the last time the filters were changed, but it was pointed out that a lazy or dishonest employee could easily stick that on there without actually servicing the machine properly.

[E1kora]

My tap water read like 7.6ph and amo is was zero. I got so into the habit of doing it lol i don't really mind. But I am considering switching to tap. I also got frightened with my discus reaction they are no longer devouring the Food after the tap water change. Any ideas why ? So if I use r/o right will replenish my minerals ?

[E1kora]

Yes very true I have tested machine to machine and they all very lol. But I go to one especially that I see it being serviced frequently. And I use prime to I guess add slime coat is that even necessary ?

[dirtyplants]

I'm not sure why you would need Prime for bottled water? Not sure either that the water you are using is RO water. I didn't know that they sold RO water by the gallon anywhere....but I suppose they could. I think you need to determine first what exactly your bottled waters parameters are, and what the parameters are of your tap. Theres alot of questions your post brings up.

Yes here in WI we also have machines which make ro water stores like health food stores, and grocery stores. I would be suspect at how often the membranes are serviced. Many here use it for salt water.
Plants will die off in total ro water, they need minerals. You can't get these through ferts. You can buy a supplement for addition of minerals. Fish also need minerals without it osmosis process deteriorates.

[CShanks]

Plants need kh. If your kh is 2 because of RO and they need at least 4 they will die off. You can do 80 20% to raise kh. As for the discus you have suddenly changed the parameters and they need to get use to that. Every change you do do it slow. Do not change 100%water if you go to a 70 30 % but start of with a 10% water change. Hope this helps.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

You can also try this mix blend to replenish your RO water. I use this all the time and everyone is happy.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...n-for-RO-Water