Need an advise to keep pH low.

[Tek]

Hi all,
I'm new in discus field. I used to keep fancy goldfish such as LionHead, Ranchu etc.. Now, i get 2 Blue diamond, 1 Red dragon and 4 Turq in 60g. i maintain the pH at 6.4 to 6.6 when goldfish in. 2 weeks ago, i sparate the goldfish and i clear the alge on back of tank. Now, i can't maintain the pH to 6.8 any more. Just want know what's common method do you guys to keep pH below 6.8 after watch change?

[ronrca]

Welcome to simplydiscus and to the discus field. Id love to see pics of your tank and discus.

Well I age my water for my wc's so that the water going in matches the water in the tank.

Btw, here is an article on ph for discus!
http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/water_chemistry/general/ph_nochange.shtml

HTH

[Tek]

First off, thz for reply. I do age the water, I store water in 4g bottle for 3 to 4 day before WC. But, still, pH above 7.2 Three of my discus fishs turn blown and one is hanging at corner and refused to eat. any some of small discus turn slim.

Will it cause fish not tolerate when add too many plants in?

Setup up digi cam.. Will post some photo later

[White Worm]

I am no expert but it is not absolutely neccessary to keep your PH 6.0-6.5 unless you are considering breeding (better for fry). Discus do fine in PH up to 7.6. Consistency is the key and cleeeeaaaann water. Juveniles do better in lower 7.0 - 7.5. Peat in the filter keeps PH low but makes the water a tea brown color. PH buffer will also help to lower PH to breeder levels (info I got from a local breeder kenny). Hope that helps and anyone please let me know if I am incorrect. I have been studying most experts ideas here and I think I'm close. Mike

[gators111]

What is the hardness Gh and Kh of your water, or better yet the TDS? This will tell you if peat will do much.

[Tek]

Just tested, GH about 25, KH 40, pH 7.2, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate remain hight at 160 even with 8 plants in the tank. Water light green and two 300g/h hanging filter with sponge runing with 100g/h speed. Can canister filter do better then hanging filter? I'm planning to get one.

Anyway, main reason my Turq turn black color and another 2 Turq hanging at corner and all 3 refused to eat. Sometime i see they have white poo haning on their ***.

[ronrca]

Better check the nitrate lvl again. 160ppm is incredibly high.

[Moon]

How often do you change water?

[Tek]

Nitrate always hight my tank, that's why i added alot plants in to soup up the Nitrate.. Still, it remain hight.. Water light green that's why.. excessive alge in that's why.

4g WC out of 60g on every 3 to 4days.. less then 10%

[Greg Richardson]

Imo you need to increase the amount of your wc's in order to get your water conditions under control.

Do you have pump and hose to drain?

Buy hose long enough to go to your tub for draining.

Put bucket under Tub to pump back to a water storage container like a rubbermaid tough duty garbage can.

Store it for day then change out mininum 50% for 5 days and I bet you see vast improvement.

[ronrca]

Does your tap water have high nitrates as well?

[Tek]

Do you mean to store drain water from the tank in rubbermaid for day or so and then pull it back to tank..

I tested Nitrate on tap watch while back and it on 20 to 40 rang

[Elcid]

Hi:

I think there is something wrong with your nitrate test kit, it's hard to imagine water from the tap having nitrate more than 5 ppm....

To answer your original question, I have used Kent pH minus product to lower pH. It works well, adjust the pH in a rubbermaid container and let stand overnight before adding to your tank!

One way to remedy ur situation that I've done in the past is to take out everything from the tank and wash and scrub the tank well. Then rinse everything with the tank water and put back in the tank, add 100% clean aged water and put ur discus back, ull get a fresh start and ur discus will be happier I'd bet!!!

Goodluck,
Snadeep

[ronrca]

Is your nitrate test kit a low lvl or high lvl range?

[Tek]

Hi:

One way to remedy ur situation that I've done in the past is to take out everything from the tank and wash and scrub the tank well. Then rinse everything with the tank water and put back in the tank, add 100% clean aged water and put ur discus back, ull get a fresh start and ur discus will be happier I'd bet!!!

Goodluck,
Snadeep

Umm.. i thought by wash and scrub all stuff which change environment will add more stress to discus. 30 to 50% WC daily will make sence

[Tek]

Is your nitrate test kit a low lvl or high lvl range?

I used the test strip by Jungle... One test strip by quick dip can test pH, Gh, Kh and nitrate and nitrite.

I have this nitrate level when i have them in 30gal tank last month and they all happy, health and eat well. Since have them move to 60gal for month now.. Each one seem to take turn to get sick. This weeks Blue Diamond and next week will Red dragon and so on...

[ronrca]

Id recommend getting a drop test kit. Strips are very inaccurate. If you can, take some water to the lfs to test.

[Tek]

BTW, i aged water by store tap water in 3gal bottle and capped on for 3 to 4 days. Will that long ennuff to aged water? I also add 10 to 15 drop of Stress Coat by Dr Fish in bottle before WC. Lmk, if i correct???

Some one told to use R/O system.. But, it will too much for me.. Which R/O system cost 200 to 300 bux here.

[ronrca]

To be honest Tek, putting water in a bottle with the cap on is not doing anything as your not allowing any gas exchange like C02 to escape. The best way is an open container with a pump/air pump and a heater. In my case, my tap water is 7ph and when I aerated it for 6-8 hours, the ph goes up to 8.2 because C02 is dissapated.

Also, 3G in a 60G tank is merely 5% wc. This will not be enough to bring your nitrates down. Id suggest at least 50%+ with aged water.

[gators111]

Also, be careful with Stress Coat. When I first started, I used that and later found out it was adding phosphates to my tank.

[Tek]

I don't have enought aged water in hand, so i only WC'ed 15%. Now, They seem to happy little bit. Will do 30 to 40 tomorrow and so on.. Thanks simplydiscus mate to point my problems. Now, anything else can be suggest?

BTW, i'm running 2 x 300g/h hanging filter w/sponge on and both setting to run at 100g/h to speed up the good bacteria cycle. Will canister filter work better then hanging filter?

[gators111]

The hang on the back "HOB" filters or power filters are fine. Although I'm a little confused at how they can be "set" to 100 gph. The higher rate is fine, unless the fish are noticeably irritated by the higher current. I use a canister in both my 30 and 55 tanks. They work fine, but are a bit of a pain to maintain.

You need to test your tap water with a good test kit. IMO go get a freshwater master kit from aquarium pharm. It should have a ph, high ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Overall, it is the best general purpose test kit.
Age some tapwater in a open top container left out on the counter overnight and add some dechlorinator to it. Then test the next day. We need to know if your tap water has chlorimines in it that is breaking down into ammonia when you add the dechlor.

As for water changes, ideally you need an aging barrel of some kind. But keep up the daily water changes to lower that nitrate.

[Elcid]

Umm.. i thought by wash and scrub all stuff which change environment will add more stress to discus. 30 to 50% WC daily will make sence

Not Necessarily, If you use good aged water heated to the proper temperature (use ur bath tub but wash it well) ur fish will love a 100% water change especially if they have been living in very dirty conditions which your test result indicates. More importantly, you need to remove all dirt and filth that has accumulated in your tank which a month of 30% water changes won't clear!

JMO,
Sandeep

[BIGFOOT]

tek,

Heres a web site for ro i reconmend the ro unit is 117.00 works great i have one running now.



http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/