Water problem

[Debra52]

I have always had very hard water and a high ph between 8.5 and 9. I have an reverse osmosis which I use to store my water, I use 3/4 water from osmosis and 1/4 tap water and that would bring my ph down to 8.2 and everything has been fine for over a year. My discus have been darting a little so I checked the ph with a new API kit and also with my hanna meter and the ph is now at 7.2 from the tap and also from my storage water. The ppm is 118 in the barrel and 345 out of the tap. I do not understand what could have happened. We are on a community well that is over 400 ft below ground. They are closed for the day so I can't get a hold of anybody. I don't understand all this water testing stuff very well so I am hoping someone here can help me. If the ppm's are at 118 will the ph keep bouncing around?

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Usually RO water has a low ph of 6.6 range. So if you are using 3/4 RO and 1/4 tap, a 7.2 is good. If your RO water had a ph of anything higher than 7.4 you need new filters and membranes.

What you have in my opinion is good water now. An 8.5 or higher ph is not good for discus. Although people have it, I still don't believe it is healthy.

[Chad Hughes]

Debra52,

The ppm reading doesn't really mean much in regard to pH buffering. If you are trying to keep pH stable, you'll need to test KH (carbonate hardness). A KH of 3 or 4 should keep pH stable between water changes.

[Chad Hughes]

Oh, and to address the change in your tap water source, does the pH rise after 24 hours? You may have a CO2 saturation issue. You'll need to age your tap if this occurs.

[Debra52]

Thank you for the responses. I do have a corbonate hardness kit. I will check it. Thanks!

Debra

[blueluv]

Hey jeff

I was just curious as to why you think a ph of 8.5 is unhealthy for discus? I'm new here to simply discus and the discus hobby. My ph is about 8.4. Is that bad or good? I do about 3-4 wc's per day, my ph never fluctuates. I have a gac system that I have hooked up to the sink, which filters my water.