Grow out water

[mizzoumed02]

Ok, I am new to the discus hobby, and I have been reading all the post on the sight to learn as much as I can. One question that I still have and I think Carol will have the answer is... Will it hurt if I use my RO water in my grow out tanks?? Will it stunt their growth ?? Just need a little advise... ???

[RyanH]

Although I'm not Carol I will pipe up...

I would just use straight tap (aged, heated, and dechlorinated ofcourse) in your growout tanks. It'll save wear and tear on your RO unit, you don't have to worry about pH crashes, and some say that Discus grow better in hard, mineral-rich water. :)

hth

[DiscusFevaa]

I know your supposed to use just plain aged tap water on juvies but are you supposed to switch to RO water when they become adults, RO is used for breeding purposes?

[Carol_Roberts]

RO water is demineralized and used when your water is too hard for eggs to hatch. I use an RO mix for breeders only. Juveniles do fine in hard water. Mine are in GH 12

[mizzoumed02]

thanks for the advise, I use RODI for my angels and have some Juv discus in it now, but after reading some of the thred on here, I was just woundering, so I guess It will be safe to switch them over to the hard water. One other question, do you need to age well water?? Mine out of the tap is Ph 7.9, KH 180, GH 300......???

[Larry Grenier]

mizzoumed02,

you can answer you own question. Take a glass of water right out of the tap and measure it's pH. THen place an airstone on an airpump it it and measure tomorrow. If there is a big gap in the readings then you need to age (de-gass) your tap water, if not, you're lucky 8)

[Carol_Roberts]

I'm betting you will see a big pH swing with your hard well water. If it is 7.9 from the tap it may well be over 9.0 after the CO2 has stabilized. What is the pH in your fish tanks?

[Willie]

To clarify DiscusFevaa's question, RO water is important for eggs to hatch. Discus will grow well and even spawn in hard water. In your case, I recommend keeping your fish in hard water until they pair off and spawn at least once. At that point, you can switch them to RO water. After the spawn hatches and you get wrigglers, you can start to make water changes with hard water. Switch the adults back to RO after you pull the babies.

Willie

[mizzoumed02]

My water in my tanks is around 6.4Ph, but it starts out as RO water.....
I tested my tanks that are set up with part RO and part unaged tap water, the Ph is 7.3, GH 150, Tanks are at 82 degree's and have been running with filters for 3 days now getting ready for new discus....