Lowering Ph and softness?

[RGDiscus]

Hi, I'm curious if anyone uses peat or almond leaves to lower their PH and to make their water softer. I just got a 150 gallon as an upgrade from my 55. My pH from the tap is high 7s/low 8s with 180tds. My domestics do fine with that water, but since getting the 150, I want to get a couple wilds and some altums also. I already have an RODI system but I'd rather not use it as it wastes so much water, especially if I start using it for water changes on the 150. I currently only use it for my 20H breeder set ups.

I am planning on using the 55 for a quarantine tank. Maybe I can slowly acclimilate the wilds/altums to my tap water from RO water in there, but I'm not sure how slowly to do that. Wouldn't want to keep them in there for more than a couple months.

Any anecdotes, tips, and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Robert, any idea what your GH is for your tap water.
Pat

[Willie]

...My pH from the tap is high 7s/low 8s with 180tds...

You have water many hobbyists would kill for. I wouldn't do anything to play with water chemistry. Your wilds and altums will do fine. Mine are thriving in harder water than that. Just keep making large water changes because wild caughts are much more sensitive to nitrates.

[RGDiscus]

Hey Pat, I never bothered to check. I can go buy a test kit today after work to check.

[RGDiscus]

Thats awesome to hear! My LFS just got some really nice wc altums in that they are currently quarantining in a tank with 6 pH. You think my idea of slowly transitioning then from RO to tap would be fine?

[Willie]

I just had wild caught altums come in from Snook21 10 days ago. They went into straight R/O and gradually transitioned to tap in about a week. Basically I just changed out ~25% water daily with straight tap. Now they're in 100% tap water, 100% water change daily.

Willie

[RGDiscus]

Thank you! I'll do just that! How large were the altums?

[Willie]

The ones I got were nickel size. Very healthy.

Willie

[Second Hand Pat]

Robert, Willie is totally correct, wilds and altums can live in tap water. My reason for keeping wilds in soft water is twofold; one is the fish look totally awesome in soft water. My Cuipeua were totally red with beautiful halos plus you get very natural behaviors. The second reason is the fish just might breed for you and there is no better reward then pairing a beautiful pair of wilds and watch them with fry on their backs.

I just returned my heckels to an 3/4 RO to 1/4 tap targeting a TDS of about 70 and they are starting to looking awesome.

June 2015 in QT.



April 2016

[RGDiscus]

Good luck raising them up!

[RGDiscus]

Those blues are beautiful! Would love to get a couple Cuipeuas. Where did you get them from? I might just do 50 tap/50 RO because I definitely would love for them to breed.

[BrendanJ23]

Robert, Willie is totally correct, wilds and altums can live in tap water. My reason for keeping wilds in soft water is twofold; one is the fish look totally awesome in soft water. My Cuipeua were totally red with beautiful halos plus you get very natural behaviors. The second reason is the fish just might breed for you and there is no better reward then pairing a beautiful pair of wilds and watch them with fry on their backs.

I just returned my heckels to an 3/4 RO to 1/4 tap targeting a TDS of about 70 and they are starting to looking awesome.

June 2015 in QT.



April 2016

Wilds show better coloring in soft water? Does it have the same effect on domestics?