who's got hardwater?

[limige]

just wondering how many folks here have hard water and don't go the r/o route.

i've kept angels in hard water no problems, breed and hatched out babies with no problems. haven't had discus since i moved but i was thinking about trying it out.

i know our late barb had pretty good luck with hard water, just wondering how many others have done the same.

when i say hard, our "city" water is about 550 ppm.


mike

[Dutch dude]

I keep them on hard water. PH=8, GH=9, KH=3-4 conductivity depending on season and goes from 450 micro Siemens up to 700 micro Siemens. I keep domesticated (Stendker) discus and also breed them in the same conditions. I don't add anything to the water and fill my tanks straight from the tap and doing multiple (70%) water changes every week. Hatching rate is lower at abouth 70% but thats understandable with hard water like this. The fish are healthy and thriving and 1 1/2 year in this conditions. I was told by a Dutch Discus expert (at least one who claims he is) I should not keep Discus in Tanganyika water and they would become ill within 1/2 year and die and I would defenately not be able to breed fish in this water. I do think this is on the limit if it comes to breeding and this is also close to the limit if it comes to PH and hardness. Not all discus strains might handle this hard water. So I pull it off but thats no guarantee it will work with any domesticated discus.

[Don Trinko]

My TDS of tap is 750, DH 22, PH 7.6 to 7.8. I do mix 50% ro. Typical tank TDS is 450. Most of my discus are 4.5 to 7" and 2 to 3 years old. Don T.

[limige]

i think my biggest issue will be acclimating the discus to the water... not sure how i'm going to go about it yet. discus will come from cary strong GLD/choice aqua. they have rather soft water down there.

my tank is a planted 125, mostly just swords. i've breed discus in the past but where i had soft water. right now i just want a communitly tank, i miss having discus and want to give it a try. lots of bad discus things but i think it can be pulled off if done right.
right now i have some guppies and neons in the tank, i'd like to get some discus and angels as well.

[Dutch dude]

I think it is important to know the water readings of the tanks at Cary Strong and yours before people over here can give you a proper advice.

[DiscusKeeper403]

Mines hard

[zamboniMan]

I've got hard water. I just do more water changes to compensate for it.

Hope that helps
Josh

[DavidC]

i gotta get the device to check, but i know we san diegans have hard water and a ph of 7.4-7.6 depending on whos water district we are on, although new my discus are doing fine and i know there are a few that have good luck spawning in these conditions... our water source comes from the rockies which has alot of minerals naturally.