Discus and water softeners

[wuvarien]

Hi chaps,

Sorry if this Q has been done before but can’t seem to find it.

I have a 600L tank which I’m moving to a new address with discus. The new address has very hard water (276ppm). Would a water softener assist in lowering this and would it be safe for discus?

Thanks for an help!

[RogueDiscus]

You can put "water softener" into the search bar on the upper right. Water softeners exchange salt for the minerals they extract, so not considered a good option. Your discus will acclimate to hard water if you are just keeping them and not trying to breed, assuming there aren't nitrates or things like that in it. My well water is extremely hard, over 400 ppm, and they do fine.

[wuvarien]

Ah apologies!

I’m not looking to breed, just want the best available water for my fish. Thanks for the advice, your 400ppm has certainly put me at ease some what!

[jeep]

I agree. 276ppm is not all that hard and should be perfect for your discus. If you have any additional concerns, I would test for GH and KH. This will determine your waters ability to buffer or keep your ph stabile.

[wuvarien]

I’ve just ordered some test kits to make sure. I was considering getting a cheap ish RO unit and if worse comes to worst doing 50/50 Ro and Tap

Thanks for all the help so far!

[RogueDiscus]

Iron, calcium and magnesium are common in well water in my area. I usually add a small dose of Safe after big water changes to knock out the iron or other heavy metals. The calcium is the natural pH buffer, and I can go a long time between water changes when needed without worrying about pH. Municipal tap water sources can vary quite a bit and districts will add thing to it seasonally so it would be good to test your water for what's in it to start or get a statement from the water district. Wells vary also for that matter. It's hard to get away from the "discus need soft water" idea, but unless you're breeding or you need to filter out contaminants, an RO unit is probably not necessary.

[wuvarien]

This is the first test straight from the tap on API. I’ve put some water in to age it and will test tomorrow to see how it goes…

Nitrate - 20ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
PH - 8.5
KH - 240
GH - 180

[jwcarlson]

I am far from an expert, so take this for what it's worth.
My water exits the tap at 7.0 pH. After aging the pH rises to 8.2, or maybe a touch higher.
Hardness: KH is 16 drops = 286 ppm, GH iss 18 drops = 322 ppm
I have only had discus for five months, but my fish seem to be doing just fine doing nothing but aging/preheating for nightly water changes.

The standard water softeners are a bit misnamed, perhaps. They're actually ion exchange units that swap the ions in your water (the 'hardness') for sodium in its place. And, if my research and TDS readings are accurate, it swaps in about twice as many sodium ions as the things is is replacing. Meaning if your water has a TDS of 300 before your softener it will be around 600 after. Now, my testing is hardly scientific, so take the TDS stuff for what it is because it can be a bit of a misleading number anyway. I run my water out of the bypass around my water softener (ion exchanger), I remember debates about it 20 years ago when I was keeping oscars and I don't know if anyone really has a good grasp on if it's good or bad. I think I've heard some people call reverse osmosis units "softeners" over the years, so if that's what you're talking about then ignore my babbling.

I'd be more concerned with 20 ppm of nitrates come out of the tap as opposed to your hardness, that's at least double the "safe" level for drinking water. I cannot remember if it's 5 or 10 ppm for the limit. Is this a private well or municipal source? I don't know what options there might be for eliminating nitrates from the tap. Is it possible your test kit is off?

[wuvarien]

Apparently 20ppm is the average nitrate in tap water here in the UK. I did two tests just to check and both came out pretty much the same, I’d say the colour was in between 0-20, but closer to 20

[wuvarien]

Spoken to Mark from Devotedly Discus and he’s said 20ppm is fine for his discus