PH and mixing ro and tap water

[Don Trinko]

My tap water is ph 7.4 to 7.6 from the tap. After setting a day or 2 it is ph 8.0. I have been mixing 50/50 ro and tap. the ph in my tanks varies from 7.4 to 8.0. (most are 7.4 to 7.8 but several borders on 8.0)The tanks that are 8.0 started as mostly tap so I presume (unless something is leaching out from the sand or fake plants) the 50/50 mix will eventualy lower the ph some?
My tap dh is 7 and kh is 17. The 50/50 mix ends up dh of 3 to 4 and kh of 7 I don't want to add chemicals to lower the ph. If I mix 2/3 ro with 1/3 tap i presume my ph will go down some? I don't want to breed the Discus. Should I leave the ph at 8.0 and not wory abought it?
Would I be better off measuring TDS instead of DH and KH?
Thanks; Don T.

[Moon]

If you are not planning on breeding I would just use tap water and not bother with RO. I raise all my discus on well water with a ph 8.4 and hardness of 400ppm. No problems so far.
Joe

[Jason]

wow Joe tell me more about this, do you use a softner? how are the hatch rates? what is the gh and kh?

sorry for the questions but I just moved and have a well- thought I was doomed.

[Don Trinko]

My TDS of tap water is 550. I mix tap/ro to help keep the deposits from the water on the hood to a minimum and to have softer water for the fish.
thanks; Don T.

[White Worm]

Its not neccessary to lower the Ph for just keeping discus. You dont even need to absolutely concentrate on Ph for breeding either. For keeping discus, your water should be fine. Mine out of tap is 8 or so and Gh 9-11 and Kh 9-11. For breeding, you want to concentrate on Gh which is the hardness. If you were to mix 2/3 to 1/3, yes, you will lower your parameters. Although, it is softer water, you are actually stripping the water of nutrients that the fish need to grow well. That is why many will not advise straight RO for discus unless you add some essentials back in.

[Moon]

wow Joe tell me more about this, do you use a softner? how are the hatch rates? what is the gh and kh?

sorry for the questions but I just moved and have a well- thought I was doomed.

Jason
My well water is liquid rock. When I tested the GH and KH last I gave up after 30 drops. I now use a TDS meter. For breeding purposes I use pure RO water.
Can't say about hatch rates because both my pairs keep eating the eggs.
The RO product water has a ph of 7.2 and TDS of 70.
Joe

[pcsb23]

The RO product water has a ph of 7.2 and TDS of 70.
Blimey Joe, given that most RO's have a rejection rate around 98% you must be able to walk on your water, and I thought y water was hard!!!

[Moon]

I might try that Paul and when I do change my name to J.C.
Joe