PDA

View Full Version : Removing Heavy Metals



Discusshrink
11-14-2013, 12:18 PM
Hi Everyone,

I have a 210 gallon show tank with 12 6 inch discus. They have been consistently spawning with 3 pairs. I live in an apartment in NYC and have been using tap water filtered with a carbon filter I got from Jeff Senske.
Did a 30 per cent water change 4 days ago. The fish were not happy - schooling and not at full color. The water looked yellowish and some of the plants looked burned. Long story short. Lost 2 fish yesterday and may lose 1 more. Problem was heavy metals and possibly other chemicals as they cleaned out the water tower on top of our building 2 days before the water change (I was away and did not know this). Before all this happened no problems for 8 months.

Question: Does carbon remove heavy metals? I had not change the carbon in my water change filter for 6 months? I do not want to go r/o for many reasons. As a last resort I may use a Kold Steril Unit.
Thanks!

Andy

DiscusLoverJeff
11-14-2013, 12:45 PM
Andy are you able to test the water before going into the tank and let us know your readings?

You will find that when a cleaning like that happens, all the dirt from the bottom of those big storage tanks gets stirred up. If you know they did this ahead of time, you really should run your faucets open for about 30 minutes to an hour to get this debre clear through your pipes. This happened to me once a while back but I was unaware of any hydrant flushing and I lost a full spawn of juvies.