Hardness for breeding

[troy]

Hi

Could someone please tell me what this reading means or what it would work out to be in your terms.
Water company gave this reading to me hardness(mg/1 as CaCO3) 73.
I am about to try and breed my discus but i need to find if the water is to hard.

Is water softners and water pillows any good for reducing the hardness.

Troy

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Troy:
I don't understand it either. Maybe Steve can understand it. Otherwise you can buy a test kit from Aquariium Pharmeceuticals to test GH and KH. Those I understand ;D

Carol :heart1:

[troy]

Hi Carol

I got a test kit today and have done tests , kh-90 & gh-108.
Would this be ok for breeding or dose it need to be lower, What is the ideal hardness for breeding?

Troy

[cesar_1304]

Hey Troy,

Most people here say that breeding is likely when your water conductivity is around 100 +/-. If your GH is 108 I would estimate your conductivity at about 189.

GH x 1.8 = Conductivity

And if you would like to play with your water to get ideal mix ratios here is a formula for you to use:

CW = Current Water TDS
RW = Required Water TDS

CW - RW = X
X / RW = Y

So to reach your Required Water TDS (RW) you would need to mix:

Y - Parts R.O. Water
for every
1 - Part Current Water Source

HTH :inquisitive:
-Cesar

P.S. These calcs have worked for me but if there is a better way or if I am off please let me know...

[Carol_Roberts]

. . . and does your test kit say 108 is in the moderately hard range?
Carol :heart1:

[Steve_Warner]

Hi all,
Troy, I missed this one last night, sorry. Anyway, what this means is that the hardness is expressed in terms of a Calcium Carbonate equivalent(CaCO3). The mg/L part means it is measured in "Milligrams per Liter", which is equal to "Parts per million" (Milli refers to millionths). The figure you have is 73mg/L, which can be broken down into Degrees of Hardness by dividing this number by 17.1 This will give you 73 / 17.1=4.27 approx or about 4 and a quarter degrees hardness, expressed as CaCO3. Your conductance should be about 180uS. Confused yet? ;D Basically, you have good water out of the tap to keep, raise and breed discus in. It might be a little hard for breeding and hatch rates(my tank is around 175uS conductance and I get about 80% hatch rates), but you should consult a breeder expert on this forum for that info. as I do not even attempt to breed, it just happens. HTH

Steve

[troy]

Hi all

Thanks for all the info, i now have a better understanding .
I now need to see if this water is ok for breeding my discus.

Carol
My GH kit conversion chart (1 dGH =17.9ppm) to (6dGH=286.4ppm)
My tank test result 6dGH = 107.4 ppm
Converion chart says 0-50ppm is suitable for Discus.

Troy

[Carol_Roberts]

You have good discus water right from the tap then, you lucky dog!
Carol :heart1:

[Per]

Hi!

Just a little correction from a metric guy (don't mean to be pedantic): milli (m) means thousand (like in millennium) and is used in the names of units equal to 1/1000 of the base unit. Your calculation is right though, Steve.

Since 1 litre of water is exactly 1000 grams, we have the following equation:

1mg/L = 1mg/1000g = 1g/1,000,000g = 1 ppm

By the way, micro = one millionth

Per