Breeding In A 55 Gallon Tank

[Carol_Roberts]

Plant people use CO2 reactors to add carbon dioxide to the water. This lowers the pH.

[Nightowl]

Hexed, can only add two things: it seems odd to me that your water is hard yet your PH is as low as 6.0. Again I must ask are you testing the GH, or the KH?

Also, it doesn't suprise me that the guy at Kent told you to add another Kent product.....they were recently purchased by Central Pet conglomerate and have to please the stockholders. J.T.

[hexed]

I test general hardness (GH). I do not have the luxury of being able to use a python to clean my tanks. I have to fill a bucket up and dump that into a 32 gallon garbage can, then use a power head to pump the water into the tanks. My kitchen faucet is one of those pull out sprayer types and the python will not fit my bathroom one either. The water in my tank does have a strong salty taste to it. I have a bubble filter in the corner of each tank with peat inside it. I do not have a lot of plants in the tank anymore. I gave most away. I only have about 2 tiger lotus not big at all, one sword plant and one tiny vale and a small banana plant in the 55 gallon. I also have java moss growing on the large driftwood. So can it be the salt? I use aquarium salt not table salt.

[LEM504]

Faucet -
I'm betting that if you check your faucets, you will find that all of them had aireators (sp?). Any way, they screw off.
Check the hardware stores for adaptors.
They make them for carpet shampo machines and what ever.
The threads on, or in, the faucet are very fine, be careful
you don't cross thread them.

Life will get better with a hose!!! They are still a pain, you know where, but better than buckets.

Larry

[jaydoc]

Hexed,
You seem determined to add sh** to your water. Granted I am no expert at breeding but I think I would probably do as Carol tells ya! I believe Carol, and other breeders, only use salt as a treatment, not routinely and I am sure they don't use stress coat ( I asked Carol about that). I also have had trouble buying in to the "keep it simple, stupid" approach to Discus keeping, but all the gurus on this site do it that way. Please go back and read Carol's simple recipe for breeding discus: Bare tank, Clean water, Low hardness, no additives.

[hexed]

Jay,
If I do not use stress coat how do I remove the chlorine from the water? I did not put anything in the tank but that this time. Carol did say to add de-chlorinated water to the tank. How do you remove it? I'm not adding a lot of **** to my water. I use liquid peat, tanksoft and stress coat and the salt. This time I only used stress coat nothing else. I do not know how to remove chlorine without stress coat.

[Carol_Roberts]

There are other brands of dechlor on the market that do not contain aloe vera which may plug the pores on your sponge filters. Prime is a good brand.

[hexed]

Carol,
I do have another question.
If I do not lower the ph in the bucket to be at least close to the ph in the tank won't that be stressful on the fish having a large ph jump? I'm sorry but I do not understand the way ph works. Can you please take a moment to explain this for me so I understand it better? ???

[hexed]

Carol,
I can only purchase stress coat or Novaqua here, that's all they sell. A lot of the meds that are talked about and recommended on this forum I cannot even by at my local aquarium. :-\

[Carol_Roberts]

The pH in your tank is 6.0.
What is the pH of your water directly from the tap?
What is the pH of your water after agitation/aeration/aging? (or what is the pH of a cup of water after it has set on the counter overnight?)

AT my house (with a well) my tap water is 6.6, but as soon as it hits the air the pH starts to raise. It stabilizes at 7.8 - the same as is in my tanks with moderately hard water.

You have soft water. Your tap water may be artifically high in pH from the city (to protect pipes from acid water). It could be that your water will drop in pH after agitation. That's why I need to know your numbers to make a guess.

You can tell me the tap number right now and if you store water overnight that is already agitated you can post that number too.

[hexed]

Carol,
Before we had a major water break the ph was 7.0 out of my tap. Today it is 6.6. When I tested the water that was left overnite the ph was 7.2 with airstone and heater going.

[hexed]

The water overnite was before the main pipe break

[hexed]

Carol,
I put a glass of water with an airstone in it for 10 minutes and the ph rose to 7.0 in that short of time.

[Carol_Roberts]

You had a water main break . . . I don't think I'd be doing any water changes today. Wait until "what ever" has had a chance to flush through the system.

Then you probably can add water directly from the tap. Add dechlor product to tank first. Check your bathroom sink. I bet the airator on the faucet unscews. The python kit comes with a white plastic adaptor you can screw into the faucet. Eventually you will want to get a metal one. If the 50 foot hose isn't long enough you can buy 20 foot attachements. By the way, You can use the python as a regular gravel cleaner and drain water out the door or into the bathtub. I never use the green water pressure thing to remove water from my tanks. Gravity works just fine.

You still may need to add a bag of crushed coral to your filter to maintain ph in your soft water once you get things in order. Your tank water and your tap water should have the same GH numbers with daily water changes

[Nightowl]

Hexed, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, the maker of "Stress Coat" also makes a product called"Tap Water Conditioner". Your store should be willing to order it for you if you are a loyal customer.
Many stotes might not like to stock this item because "Stress coat" treats 960 gallons, and this product treats 9,600 gallons!!! Its a one drop per gallon, and where I am its cheaper as well.
good luck J.T.

PS...I do use Novaqua sometimes...it acts as a mild PH buffer in terms of alkalinity.