Giving Discus a whirl !!!!

[birdman1099]

Im in the process of setting up my first Discus tank. My plan is to put 2 full grown adults in a 37g.

I have 2 water options:
Hard water straight from the tap, or water through the Water Softner.

Here are the values:
Soft Water - gH-2 kH -12 pH - 7.8
Hard water - gH -22 kH - 16 pH - 7.8

Which source of water should I use?

Is is necessary to add Discus Buffer to lower pH? (seems to be a topic of debate)


Thanks for the help. If there is any other advice you could give it would be greatly appreciated. (I have read SEVERAL threads already. Great info on this forum !!!!)


Scott

[brewmaster15]

HI Scott,
Are you sure you want to do this? Its a bad addiction to get into;) just Kidding..welcome aboard.:)

Your pH is Fine for discus, They thrive in abroad range of pH's , the more acidic is best, but not if you have to constantly mess with pH.

JMO< but I like the profile of your water thru the softner best, though the other water will probably be fine...especially for growing out juveniles.

A suggestion.. If you are only going to have a tank or two... If you get a small RO unit and hook it up after your water softner, you'll get some very good water...not necessary but something to think about..

With your KH... Bringing down that pH is going to be very hard if you try..I think its best not to mess around with it when you are first starting.

hth,
al
ps... 2 full grown adults unless paired or raised together could be a problem...better to start with 4 smaller ones (4")

[TrevorB]

I had heard that using water from a softener is not the best because of the additional sodium that is present in the water. Is this not the case?

[Ryan]

I just want to echo what Al said about two discus. Like other cichlids, discus can be aggressive to each other. The more fish you have, the more diluted the aggression is between them. Two discus often results in one fish constantly tormenting the other until it gets stressed and either ends up sick or dead. When I was younger I watched this happen in my own tanks.

Even three juveniles is not a good idea because you have instances where a dominant fish harasses the two submissive fish until they get stressed out. Two dominant fish also sometimes gang up on a third fish, and kill it... then you're left with only two discus, and you're back where you started.

Minimum of four young fish, but preferably six to eight is a good number. Start with four... you'll be addicted before long and then you'll upgrade to a bigger tank for more :)

I wouldn't mess with your water. Stable parameters make for happy fish.

Ryan

[brewmaster15]

Ideally you want lower conductivity in the water...which is why I suggested adding The RO water unit after the softner....

No one really knows what range of sodium is bad for a discus, what we know is the conductivity of their native waters is low, in most cases less than 50 us.

Likewise in their native water, the waters GH is low...definetly lower than the GH of 22 in this tap water question...

so you are left with a choice... Soften the water and add some sodium, or leave it at rock hard....neither is a perfect solution, I like the water softer , but as I said...Its my opinion.

and Like I said ...Either the tap or water softner would be probably be fine. I know some with liquid concrete for water and they raise great discus.

hth,
al

[birdman1099]

Hey, Thanks for the quick replies.

Just to clarify, I was going to try to find a mated pair for the tank. I really don't want to crowd them and jeparodize water quality. Who knows, I probably want more later anyway.


And, I will look into a R/O unit


Thanks agian guy's



Scott