I'd recommend you put an airstone in there to see what happens after 24 hours, although your water parameters are close to ideal.
So, checking my tap water to see if it’s usable for new discus…
pH 6.5
GH 5
TDS 26
Sat a jug of water out for 24 hours to see if the pH changed…no change, still at 6.5. I’ll keep checking for a week to see if any change.
If all levels remain the same, as in no pH fluctuation, I will not need to do anything but change water, right?
I'd recommend you put an airstone in there to see what happens after 24 hours, although your water parameters are close to ideal.
At my age, everything is irritating.
Your TDS is quite low. What is your kH?
Mama Bear
Most local fish stores will do water analysis for free. I recommend everyone does this if only to make sure your own chemistry kit is accurate. If you do this, bring aged and fresh water samples.
At my age, everything is irritating.
I live in Japan and unfortunately, I don't live close to one of those small LFS...not reliable ones anyway. Most are located down in Tokyo or Osaka and that's 3 hours away. Anyway, I ordered the KH, NO2, and NO3 test kits (since I know I'm going to need them anyway for cycling). They will arrive tomorrow and I will post the results.
Yes, y'all get the best Discus. And yes they will cost more than the Discus we get here in the States. The best fish are sold where they will bring the most money which is not here.
Mama Bear
My first goal will be to call the shops and find out where they get their discus shipped in from. I’m surrounded by countries whom breed discus but the international shipping for me as a customer would be outrageous. There are some big popular shops here…several driving hours from me though so I will have to order online.
You could contact Tony Tan @ IP discus or Chris @ Na Discus on Facebook, check who are their resellers in Japan.
Grasshopper
Francis
Hey Willie and Liz,
So, after 24 hours of an airstone in tap water, the pH didn’t change…stayed at 6.5. As for the rest of the tapwater parameters:
pH 6.5
GH 4-5
KH 0
NO3 0
NO2 0
TDS 26
So, from what I’ve seen on another thread, a “0” KH is not great because it makes pH unstable. And one of the solutions is crushed coral in a filter. Is this correct?
My recommendation is to do nothing as the water parameters are ideal for discus. Your pH would drop, not rise, with fish waste, which the discus does not mind at all. When you see it drop, just make a water change. How much water to change depends very much on your set up. If you change more, then you can do so at longer frequency.
Crush coral will indeed increase hardness and reduce pH fluctuation, but that does not necessarily apply to your situation. African cichlid keepers routinely do this. Some even use crush coral in place of gravel. However, crush coral dissolves very slowly and hardness increases equally slowly. Of course, African keepers never change their water and are perfectly fine with their situation. That would not be true for discus.
Newcomers to this hobby always obssess over water conditions. In fact, hygiene - clean water - is far more important than the actual pH or KH. I've raised discus in 100% R/O (no additives) with weekly water changes and have had them do absolutely fine. Of course, I wouldn't recommend going much longer than a week...
At my age, everything is irritating.