YOU DON'T NEED TO CHANGE YOUR pH!

[Sandip]

Apologies for posting on a very old thread. As I continue to prepare my tank, I was having some doubts/concerns about my tap water ph, tds, kh and gh.

In my house, tap water is:
pH = 7.6 - 7.7. After aging with prime, air-stone and heater, pH = 7.8-7.9
TDS = 110-130
kh = 2-3 dKH
gh = 4-6 dKH

Reading this thread gave me some peace of mind that I do not need to mess with water chemistry.
I want to thank the admins and moderators for keeping access to these old threads.

[jeep]

The older parts of this forum are never outdated! It's good you take the time to read and learn instead of taking advice from google, lol...

[fljones3]

Sandip, I am in the Richmond area. Water is fine although in the Fall, they can muck with it a little. I have bred and raised discus in this water. You are fine.

[Sandip]

Sandip, I am in the Richmond area. Water is fine although in the Fall, they can muck with it a little. I have bred and raised discus in this water. You are fine.

Thank you Frank that gives me some hope. I live in the west end, near short pump. I am seeing chloramines in the water. Hopefully Prime will take care of it and then the BB in the filter will consume it quickly enough. This is consistent with Henrico county water report.

[fljones3]

Prime takes care of mine. I will take time later to read the thread you sent, but if I remember correctly the PH drop was due to other factors.
I don’t do anything with my water presently.

[Raul-7]

But I enjoy playing with water chemistry; I'm a firm believer in consistency but also in the fact that we should replicate their preferred water conditions to our best ability. I love RO water, much better than the liquid crap that comes out of my tap.

I won't recommend keeping blackwater species in high TDS, pH, DGH water no matter how consistent the parameters are.

[brewmaster15]

Raul what are the parameters out of your tap?
Al

[Raul-7]

Last I tested: around 400 ppm, dKH ~ 9 and dGH ~ 11. All I know it's terrible.

[brewmaster15]

Last I tested: around 400 ppm, dKH ~ 9 and dGH ~ 11. All I know it's terrible.

They are high.. however.. Stendkers hatchery had even higher values and they churned out many many many discus.

Screenshot_20230921_215614.jpg

Al

[Bart_NL]

In my community tank, tap water of pH > 8 but in my breeding tank pH is going down...

I have a RO water storage tank of 100 liters, in which I re-mineralize the water to 100 μS/cm, pH settles at 7.2

However in the breeding tank, 125 liter with canister filter the pH is dropping below 6, values of 5.7 and even lower do worry me.

But, reading this thread I am NOT going to do anything about it, except bigger water changes, right ?

Even if this feels wrong, Right ?

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Bart, how fast is your pH changing? I would suggest to re-mineralize to about 80 TDS. You are about 50 ATM. What's your kH at? Would suggest about 4. Adding a bit of tap water may help. Also WCs might be all that is needed depending on how fast your ph is dropping.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

In my community tank, tap water of pH > 8 but in my breeding tank pH is going down...

I have a RO water storage tank of 100 liters, in which I re-mineralize the water to 100 μS/cm, pH settles at 7.2

However in the breeding tank, 125 liter with canister filter the pH is dropping below 6, values of 5.7 and even lower do worry me.

But, reading this thread I am NOT going to do anything about it, except bigger water changes, right ?

Even if this feels wrong, Right ?

How much water do you change in your breeder and how often?