ph for breeding

[springer]

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. My discus do just fine in a ph of 8.2. However i would like to breed them as several have laid eggs and I know in that high of a ph they will not hatch. I have been using pure r/o water with a liquid ph down. and can get my water down to a ph of 7 and tds of 80 but it always raises back up to 8. My membrain in my r/o unit is old but my r/o water checks out fine. I have tried peat but this gives me only 7.8 as a ph. and it still will raise back up. Thank you.

[tdiscusman]

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. My discus do just fine in a ph of 8.2. However i would like to breed them as several have laid eggs and I know in that high of a ph they will not hatch. I have been using pure r/o water with a liquid ph down. and can get my water down to a ph of 7 and tds of 80 but it always raises back up to 8. My membrain in my r/o unit is old but my r/o water checks out fine. I have tried peat but this gives me only 7.8 as a ph. and it still will raise back up. Thank you.

It seems strange that with TDS of 80 you are having problem with lowering the ph. At TDS this low, i would be more worry about ph crash.
I think there maybe some problem with measuring instruments. If you are using ph pen to measure ph, make sure it's calibrated. And if all readings checked out, I would try airate the RO water for 24 hours to equalize the ph, then add the ph down. Again, if you're using ph down, make sure to careful about ph crash.

Tony

[Sivasama]

What kit are you using to test PH? If you are using strips, throw them away and get some liquid kits. Strips are wrong most of the time. When I first started with fish I was using strips and I thought my water was great. I was wrong.....really wrong. Another thing you might want to check is your KH. If this is 0 you may have a hard time keeping your ph stable. You can change the PH but it will tend to bounce back. I had that problem myself until I got new test kits.

Travis

[tdiscusman]

... If this is 0 you may have a hard time keeping your ph stable. You can change the PH but it will tend to bounce back. I had that problem myself until I got new test kits.

Travis

I think it's other way around, since you adding ph down and if your KH is 0 it's would not bounce back, but will likely went down (crash). KH need to be aournd 4-6 for PH be stable and to avoid ph crash.

Tony

[springer]

I am using a ph digital probe and it is calibrated but will have it re checked I will also do some other tests for kh tomorrow and post them. Thanks for the help so far.

[springer]

I have a few more reading that I will post. I hope this helps for more advice. Thank you. t.d.s. 100 g.h 20 kh 10 ph 7.5 temp 83.

[Willie]

You're measuring the wrong thing. pH has nothing to do with eggs hatching, it's KH which measures calcium and magnesium ions in the water. Don't worry about the measurements. Do your R/O water thing (75% R/O + 25% tap) and the eggs will hatch if your male is fertile.

Also, I've kept fish in 100% R/O and your pH will not crash. You can add back tap water after the spawn hatches (within 48 hours).

Good luck, Willie

[Owl]

You're measuring the wrong thing. pH has nothing to do with eggs hatching,

Good luck, Willie

I totally agree with Willie ... as he says, ph won't effect the hatching of the eggs.
It is the water hardness (GH) which is the concern, the stability of the pH is of more importance than messing about with buffers etc.

[springer]

I would like to thank the sd members for the advice I have received. This is a great site to learn on due to members like this. Thanks again guys.

[jaykne]

I have liquid rock for water I have to use 90% Ro and 10% tap water in most cases to get my TDS at 50 and my ph will still be over 7. But like most members said its not your ph that counts its the TDS. Just had a pair spawn and TDS was 400 and the ph was over 8, I don't know how but half were fertile and now parents have over 100 fry on their backs week old now. Larry

[Altum Nut]

I have liquid rock for water I have to use 90% Ro and 10% tap water in most cases to get my TDS at 50 and my ph will still be over 7. But like most members said its not your ph that counts its the TDS. Just had a pair spawn and TDS was 400 and the ph was over 8, I don't know how but half were fertile and now parents have over 100 fry on their backs week old now. Larry

Hey Larry that’s great news.
I'm no expert and sure others would use different terms.......
The answer to your question is either your test was not correct or very simply that your male was very fast on his draw to fertilize. Hard water will basically form a shield on eggs coating and will be difficult to penetrate fertile fluid. So you have a John Wayne male
The best of luck with your babes and keep us posted with pics if possible.

...Ralph