Water conditions

[JustDiscus NZ]

Hi everyone,

I've just started to breed discus and ive bought myself a ro water system to help me along the way. The problem i have is that the water that comes out of the ro unit reads around 6.5 ph and 48ppm. I tried to lower the ph down to 6.0 by using a discus buffer and have now got 6.0ph how ever the ppm has shot through the roof to 158ppm !!! can some experts please give me some advice on what i need to do to aquire the correct water parameters for breeding discus correctly?;)

[Joker43]

From what I've read... You don't have to have your PH low as long as it is stable and consistant. Some people breed successfully 7 ph and above. Your water does need to have low PPM most will state it will increase the fert and hatch of the eggs.
You asked for an Expert but I answered anyway. Others will answer I'm sure.

Tito:jester:

[Discus Origins]

Hi there! The product water from your RO is just fine. Dont worry about trying to lower the ph its the softness of the water that helps hatch rate and at 48ppm that is great. Reason why your ppm shot up is because most acid buffers are phosphate based and that will add to the general hardness measurement.

[nc0gnet0]

The product water from your RO is just fine. Dont worry about trying to lower the ph its the softness of the water that helps hatch rate and at 48ppm that is great. Reason why your ppm shot up is because most acid buffers are phosphate based and that will add to the general hardness measurement.

+1

Although your TDS does seem a bit high for a new RO unit (what membrane may I ask) it will do just fine for breeding purposes. Throw the ph down out the window as it is not needed and will cause more problems then it helps.

[JustDiscus NZ]

Thanks guys :p i mannaged to research it last night and found like you guys said the buffer will increase the ppm reading.......
I have 1x 1000l holding tank which the ro stores in plus running 2x 1000l uv filters through it to. trying to stock mass amounts of good breeding water so from what i've been told i'll stick to the ro water and not add anything else ;). I was pleased with the result of 48ppm was just unsure about the ph but it makes sense that if the water is softer then this is more important than changing the ph plus less cost and altering water all the time at least i know that the water thats stored is going to be right and the same everytime.

Thanks for the words of advice guys much appreciated.

I think i have my new favourite website :D

[JustDiscus NZ]

Cheers, already done that plus drianed 1000l out last night !!! alot of water to waste ;-) o well makes the lawn grow wild lol

[vicdiscus]

Lawn grow like crazy...That is very true....

did you get successful spawning yet?

[JustDiscus NZ]

Not at this stage as just starting to set up once again but this time im going bigger and better as i promised to everyone last time i'd be back !!! lol just with all the earthquakes we had in New Zealand it made it very hard to get a good breeding programe up and running, however it seems to have settled down now ( touch wood) so have decided to get back into yet once again. Learning from all my old mistakes i plan to come back to the NZ market supplying only the best for everyone to admire :-)