breeding,conductivity and tds

[THEDISCUSGUY]

??? ??? ???help me please ,i have a pair that are breeding but they have a very low hatch rate so they then eat them.im currently adding a liquid with has heaps of natural minerals in it .GEO LIQUID MINERAL MAGIC by flex in japan.
this product claims to do everything to treat tapwater as far as getting out chlorine ammonia nitrate corrects ph ,ages the water, conditions water ,fertilizes plants provides fish with good coating.
but i have heard the conductivity of the water effects hatch rates of eggs.
this product i use would make the conductivity very high because of the high rate of dissovled minerials.am i right ?should i stop using this product for my breeding tank?.how do i lower conductivity my water parameters are ph 6.8 ,gh71.9,kh17.9, temp is 30 c.using a conversion chart it would appear my conductivity is 2376 which is really high .

33 mircosiemens(conductivity)=17.9ppm(tds)=1gh

so i x 33 mircosiemens by 72gh =2376microsiemens.

would this be a close estimate of my conductivity?

would this level of conductivity good for growing discus but not hatching eggs in? ??? ??? this chart was provided a golbal moderator in a previos thread dont remeber there name now can find out PLEASE HELP ME EXPERTS!!!!!

hey,
yes, that is most likely why they aren't hatching with high rates. Most people breed with a conductivity of 30-100 and grow out fish with conductivity of 300-600. What is your water straight out of the tap (or are you using RO?)? Good luck
Brad

[Smokey]

Hmmmm; if your water readings are correct; lay of the fancy GEO. stuff. Treating you water for the clorine and ammonia, is paramount; I agree.
But, if I understand correctly, this geo is adding chem. that you do not need.
Discus take time to learn to be good parents; you have to be patient, and teach them there discus not to eat the eggs.
Try a plastic screen around the eggs; so the parents cann't eat them.
You got to be firm when it comes to egg eating discus. lol

luck.

Smokey

[THEDISCUSGUY]

using that conversion for conductivity my tap water is around the same gerneral hardness . i dont have anything to mesure my conductivity correctly so these conversions are i got for now.do u have doubt over the rate of conversion from general hardness to conductivity?has tds have much to do with the hathcing of eggs aswell,please some experts help me on this one.my pair usaully only eat them when theres only a few fertlized .they eat un fertilzed eggs throughout process but if theres only a few wrigglers they eat them aswell. do u think that my high conductivity is the reason for the eggs not hatching.ive seen my male fertilize the eggs spending alot of time doing it well .
is the right general hardness levels for keeping discus 0-50ppm and the conductivity 30 - 100 ????

[THEDISCUSGUY]

can anyonw confirm this problem:

33microsiemiens(conductivity)=17.9ppm(gh)=1 german degree (dGH)

so in my case i have now 3dgh which is then X by 33ms to get the estimated conductivity of my water =99ms which is at the high level for breeding discus right????

[Carol_Roberts]

Sorta kinda, but you can't infer tds from GH. For instance regular salt doesn't increase hardness or alkalinity (KH) but greatly increases total disolved solids.

Anything you add to water will increase TDS When you add this geo stuff it increases the tds - especially if it contains minerals or acids or salts. Maybe you need to add a bunch of minerals to your water, I don't know (and I don't think you do either, lol)

Buy a TDS meter if you're really worried about it, otherwise try your water without the geo and see if hatch rate increases.
Carol :heart1:

[fcdiscus]

I think your best bet would be to invest ina conductivity meter. You can get a pretty good one for about $50 at Drs. Foster and Smiths petwarehouse. I would breed the fish at about 60 to 90 microsiemens for a good hatch rate. You may need an ROsystem for this. There is no hard and fast rule that converts uS to GH, because uS is a measurement of the way the water conducts electricity. I do not think this Geo is very good for breeding Discus. HTH, Frank

[THEDISCUSGUY]

thanks for the replies ,ive been using the geo liquid for a while not knowing that tds can effect the hatch rate.so this time i havent added anything in my water except a soft water pillow and a dechlorine liquid a bit of ph down .

they have spawned on the cone again today after i did a 60% water change.my ph is around 6.8 ,temp 30 , kh 1d and gh 3d .i guess i will have to get a tds meter soon.

the time i got about 40 wrigglers i didnt do any water changes it was in a planted tank .i didnt use much if any geo liquid and stuff in previous water change(i lost total intrest in them cause i never got any wrigglers from them! i thought they might have been two females )

it makes me think if i should just try and leave them alone do no water changes and just feed a little until i get wrigglers. ???

[Smokey]

Howdy;
I would suggest leaving your water alone.... The discus have spawned, you got fry, great!
Do regular water changes; with your quoted water...Discus love clean water; clean stable water;