Originally Posted by
Ken K.
I moved to a new city and started up my 85 gallon discus tank 8 months ago. Ph out of the tap in St. Louis is 8.8-9.0!! None of the LFS sell discus here because the water is too hard and alkaline. However, after setting up my tank, aging it, and putting in some "starter" fish (went with Cardinal tetras as a test), the Ph in my tank went to 6.4-6.6, and has stayed there. I have two large driftwoods in my tank, but they are 8 years old and I don't think emitting any tannins. I do not know why my Ph dropped to what discus love, other than good luck. I purchased some discus online, and they are doing so well that two of them paired off and have been mating. I want to start a second tank to breed discus, but I do not know what I did to reach such a low Ph, and am afraid I'll kill off my discus (and anything other than African cichlids). Anybody know how 8.8 Ph out of the tap dropped to 6.6 without any action on my part? Or how best to get there if luck doesn't strike twice?