Water Poll

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
I was just curious what everyones water was like out of your tap. As an afterthought, its also be great if you could post the rest of the water parameters... pH , hardness/conductivity, and what you do to make that water suitable for discus.
Thanks,
al

ps.. I have well water. Kind of hardish... 450 Us, pH out of the tap is 6.6-6.8, and aged is 7.8. For my Discus, I Use RO water tapmixed for breeders, Straight tap for grow outs.

[paul_burney]

Hi Brew
The water Dept. here told me my PH is 7.5 and the hardness is 250 just chlorine in water here i use it straight out of the tap for my water changes. I just add chlorine remover to the tank as its filling. (hey it works for me)
Paul

[Francisco_Borrero]

Hi all. Good tread.

My town administers 6 wells, and water is mixed in 3 large storage facilities, treated and delivered.

pH: 7.2 out of tap, raises to about 7.8
conductivity: moderately hard, 400++ uS

They chlorinate and add chloramines. The later they do on a irregular (but frequent) "schedule" (=no schedule) that sucks. Thus, I always add Seachem's Prime. A few times per year they do some sort of flushing (??? my guess) that means the water comes brown from the tap. It usually lasts one day: My fish don't get water changes then.

I just age it & heat it under agitation/aireation. I would like to do some breeding (my fish that is....I don't want to do anymore breeding myself, but enjoy playing....), and will need to do something. I have an RO unit that I am not using yet, but my town has been in such severe water restrictions that it makes me feel very guilty to use the RO.
Cheers, Francisco.

[Smokey]

Howdy Brew
O.K. here are my local water parameters:
the village uses well water, mixs, treats, and delievers:

pH = 8.5
c l == 1.0 ppm
nh3 = 7.0 ppm
gh = >450 ppm
kh = >300 ppm
temp - 55' F.

- R/O :water temp. @ 85 F. @ 100 psi.

ph = 7.8
c l = 0.1
nh3 = 0.1
gh = 140 ppm
kh = 110 ppm

Running the R/O through a 5 gallon pressurized peat filter:
ph = 6.0 which rises to 7.0 after aireation
gh = 90 ppm
kh = 10 ppm

NH/CL takes care of the chlorine and ammonia.
Rocky Mountain water - limestone an coal formations.
Yes, we can skate on our water year round !!!

Interesting poll, keep up the good work.

Smokey

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Tap water
Ph 7.4 to 7.6
130 microsemiens
Clorinated
Run through large carbon filter one pass through a UV and dripped in to the tanks for all fish except breeders.

Breeders
100% RO water
reconstituted with RO Right to a conductivity of 60 microsemiens
Ph 5.5 to 5.9
My Ro water comes out ph 7 but by letting it age several days the ph will fall to what I want for breeding, to keep it from crashing in the breeding tanks I just keep up with fairly large water changes. Once fry are on the parents back I start the drip system on the tank with straight tap water this takes about a week to turn the tank over in to straight tap.
Dennis

I can breed in staight tap water but the hatch rate is very low about 30%

[fcdiscus]

Hey Al- Water is well water-7.2 out if faucet, rises to 7.8 in about 4 hours. I use it straight from faucet for all grow outs and young adults and show fish. I mix about 4 to 1 for breeding. Micros is apx 240 out of tap, and combo with RO is about 80uS. Frank

[larry lob]

hi,

I know it's a usa survey but WTH anyone in the uk might want to join in.

tap water is
PH 8.5
gh 26
amm 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm

i use straight r.o and it's pretty perfect

PH 6.8
gh 2 - 3

hope this helps build world wide data LOL

Larry

[Carol_Roberts]

LOL, I think everyone has mine memorized - it seems like I post it to a thread everyday.

Well water - no chlorine/chloramines
pH 6.8 from tap raises to 7.8
GH 11
Carol :heart1:

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
Thanks for the response so far. Its not a USA only survey though. I wanted to see what everyone was dealing with, and how.

thanks,
al

[ronrca]

Growout tank I also use straight tap!

Chloramines present!
ph - 7.0, rises to 7.6 after few hours of aeration
gh - 100ppm (5.6)
kg - 100ppm (5.6)
nh - 0, rises to 5ppm after de-chlors added
n2 - 0
n3 - 0.1 maybe (very slight pink color)

No conductivity kit yet and have not tried out my new Dave Clubine 200gpd special RO unit yet!

[DiscusBoy]

Parameters for my tap water are:

PH 8.3 does not change with aging
Conductivity 340 uS

I am a straight ro fan.

[Ardan]

chlorinated municipal water (from Lake Michigan)
ph 7.5 (stable)
7KH
250 ms

I have found my fish do best with aerated aged water, 24 hrs. 50% wc/day.
I used to use a drip system, but the fish are more ac tive, growing faster, happier, with the wc routine. (I see them smile and ask for cbw's ;D)

Ardan

[daninthesand]

Our municipal water supply is quite good out of the tap, pH ~7, aged ~7.3-7.5 or so. TDS around 225-250. Hardness, very hard in the winter around -30 degrees!!! Actually I have no idea of the hardness but it is generally considered "soft".

I age my water, sometimes carbon filtered, sometimes not, for around 12 to 16 hours with strong aeration. That's it. No other alteration except heat of course.

For breeders? ......I WISH!

Daniel

PS. here's my water summary for my city. Our water is pumped from SHOAL LAKE to the city.

[April]

well mine is meant to be 6.0 ph and it is about 30 ms.
but the ph gets lower....sometime...
kinda softish. right glenn?

need to add minerals....to get them growing.
and to buffer.

[Jorge las Heras]

Madrid tap water is very soft, neutral. I need only to declorate it (box filter with carbon). In planted aquariums pH is lowered easily to 6,4-6,5. In bare-bottom tanks pH tends to crash to 4.

HEY BREW,
HERES MY WATER FOR GROWOUTS. I MIX IN 25% R/O WITH MY TAP FOR BREEDERS.
PH 7.0
KH4
GH3
TEMP 84f
mS 130
TAKECARE,
CARY GLD!

               Raw   Tap   MCL/[SMCL]      MDL
Turbidity            0.728   0.122   0.3/95%         
Total Solids            137   143   [500]         10
Total Dissolved Solids         122   128   [500]         10
Aluminum (Al)            0.052   0.068   [0.05-0.2]      0.005
Iron   (Fe)            0.009   0.009   [0.3]         0.00
Copper   (Cu)            <0.002   0.003   1.3          0.001
Magnesium (Mg)         5.79   6.80            0.2
Calcium (Ca)            21.3   27.8            0.06   
Sodium (Na)            2.49   4.75   20         0.01
Potassium (K)            0.88   0.88            0.01
Manganese (Mn)            <0.001   <0.001   [0.05]         0.001
Zinc (Zn)            <0.01   <0.01   [5.0]         0.01
Silica (Sio2)            3.47   4.53            0.4
Sulfate (SO4)            17.5   21.3      
Chloride   (C1-)            8.1   9.4   [250]         1.0
Phosphorus (P)            <0.01   0.28            0.01
Free Carbon Dioxide         2.2   4.0
Total Hardness            101   102
Total Alkalinity            76   72   
Carbonate Alkalinity         0   0
Bi-Carbonate Alkalinity         76   72   
Non-Carbonate Hardness         25   30
Chemical Oxygen Demand      7.3   5.7            2.0
Dissolved Oxygen         9.3   9.6   
Ammonia Nitrogen         <0.1   <0.1            0.1
Organic Nitrogen            0.2   0.2            0.1
Nitrite Nitrogen            <0.01   <0.01   1.0         0. 01
Nitrate Nitrogen            0.40   0.39   10.0         0.0 1
Fluoride               0.1   1.1   4.0         0.1
pH in pH units            7.83   7.55   6.5-8.5   
Scientific Conductance in
Micromhos at 25 degrees C      204   208   
Temperature in degrees C         21.9   22.7               

BOY! THAT CAME OUT NICE! HEE.HEE.HEE
I 'AM DONE LOL!

[ronrca]

Whoa! Where do you get all that info? ;)

[jim_shedden]

If you contact your local public utilities commission they will give you a copy.

Jim

[mikeos]

Just thought I would help Larry out here,

another UK set, Got to stick together you chaps! :)

Ph 7.3
Gh 4
Kh 3
155ms
NO2 = 0 (OK its 0.007mg/l ;D)
NO3 = 2mg
Chlorine only

Tap water to die for ? :inquisitive:


mike ;D

[Ivan]

Hi all.
My water from tap is.
ph 7.5
gh 6-7 degrees
kh3-4 degrees
no2 0 ppm
no3 20 - 25 ppm
Chlorine only,
I store it in a 120litre tub heat it and filter it thro' carbon for arond 24 hours, For grow outs I add half a teaspoon of Bi carb to every 5 litres . grow outs are at ph 7.8, gh13, kh 6, temp 3oC.
Breeders have straight tap but with lowered ph to 6, by api ph down, the acid one. Planted tank just gets tap water de chlorinated.
Ivan

[regal]

Well

120 microS
6.7 PH
3 KH
10 ppm NO3
.1% Xylenes (ouch!)