Water parameters questions

[Paulsdiscus]

I have a few questions regarding some basic water parameters. I am fairly new to discus keeping but have had great success after some failings as a beginner. My questions are regarding PH, KH, and GH.

My setup.
50G bowfront aquarium.
Eheim 3ePro canister filter.
Marineland single bright LED lighting.
Aqueon pro heater set at 88 holding tank temp at 86.
Spectra Maxcap DI/RO filter using 80/20 tap mix.

Fish in aquarium.
5xdiscus aprox. 5" in length
1xPleco aprox. 6-7" in length (hard to measure he hides during the day for the most part and run when approached at night)
pretty heavy bio load I know but not what my question is about. The 5 discus pretty much school together and come and eat from my hand when feed except one that has always been shy.

Plants in aquarium.
2x anubias 7" tall
1x java ferm 5" tall
2x bacopa 4" tall
I add half a cap of Seachem Flourish each PWC.

Water parameters in tank currently 20 hours after last PWC. PWC's made everyday to every other at 20%. Water mix is aged overnight and heated to tanks level.

Ammonia=0
Nitrites=0
Nitrates=10-20 (hard for me to distringuish the color)
PH=7.0-7.2 (once again hard to tell exactly)
GH=3
KH=2
This is regarding a display tank as it is my only tank with discus in it.
My water used for PWC's are lower in GH and KH between 1-2 each. Ph is the same.

I have noticed this post over and over again.

PH
Display – 6.5 – 7.5
Breeding – 5.5 – 6.5
Grow-Out – 6.8 – 7.5

Hardness:
Display – 10–15 GH, 5-8 KH
Breeding – 1-4 GH, 0-1 KH
Growing-Out – 8-15 GH, 5-8KH


Now for my actual questions. Accoring to the parameters above it would seem my display tank is low on GH and KH. In fact the GH seems extremely low for a display. What is the reason for having such high GH and KH? Is the reason just simply to have more buffers to keep the PH stable and more relaxed on water changes? I did notice once I had to skip a few days due to beeing out of town the PH dropped a bit but I was able to add new buffers and lower nitrates with a PWC before anything bad happened.

Should I add some sort of buffer additive to the water being added and if so why?
What are the reasons the display and growing out have such high amounts of GH and KH? Does it help them grow or help keep them more healthy with more minerals?
Sorry if these questions are newbish but I searched and searched and could not find exactly why there are large swings in the hardness of water. I understand perfectly for why the soft water is needed for breeding and egg rate hatch.

I just wanted to understand all the aspects of discus and water chemistry before I harm the fish in the long run. Everything may be fine and in fact I hope it is but I always like to research anything that seems out of the normal.

Thank you for your time reading this post and replying to it. Have a great 4th of July week.

[DiscusDrew]

Does your tap water come out solid instead of liquid? If not i'm not sure why you ate putting so much into your water when you could probably just age it and call it good... Consistency is generally the goal, the more you play with the water the less consistency that's possible. I raise my discus in 8.2 Ph water with TDS around 350, pretty hard and alkaline, some raise their discus in "worse" conditions than that. I only play with my water when I have a spawn, other than that i'm just curious why your doing so much for what obviously is not a breeding set up?

[Paulsdiscus]

I want the best ideal conditions for my fish. I am sort of a perfectionist when it comes to hobbies probably because I am an inspector for military flight hardware. Other then that I had a few bad spurts using my tap water when I started such as frayed fins, lethargy, white poop, and even death. I did age my tap water it just seemed my fish did not like it. The water off my tap is over 8.5 ph here in Orlando. Since using ro water mix they are not hiding nor shy when I feed them. I tried the tap and did not like my results.

I am just curious why the Gh and kh are recommended to be so hi. Personally I find it to be just as easy using ro water as tap. I add 1 gal tap then let the other 4 fill up a 5 gal water tank. Once full and heated I do my pwc and it takes no time.

[Paulsdiscus]

Oh and not to mention the hard water buildup on my tank lid and fungus type hair growing in my outlet pipes of my filter which have been non existent since going to RO tap mix months ago. I do have a seperate tank for breeding if and when they do pair up which is my goal in the future.

Not to sound rude so I hope it's not but I don't want to get off topic into my tank setup or labor requirements.

I am simply asking what if any are the benefits of higher GH and KH in a display tank. Since I am not a chemist I was unsure.

[strawberryblonde]

Welp, I'm not a water expert by any means, but I'll take a stab at this one, and if I'm wrong, hopefully someone else will come along and clue me in. =)

Minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, are essential for osmoregulation. You'll find the calcium measurement in the KH values (calcium carbonate if I remember my chemistry correctly) and the GH indicates not only KH levels, but also magnesium, sodium, etc. for a total mineral hardness.

So having said that, I'm assuming that someone much smarter than I am has done the studies on discus in order to determine what levels of KH and GH best suit the various life stages of discus. I'm pretty sure that the only reason a lower KH and GH are recommended for breeding is for the hatch rates of the eggs and not for the health of the breeding discus. Many people use RO with essential minerals added back in during the hatching period and once the fry are free swimming, they switch back to tap water. Others don't mind a slightly smaller hatch rate and use tap water throughout the entire process.

So yeah, basically it's all about osmoregulation and what's best for discus.

[mirador]

HI

Your water parameters are perfectly fine..maybe raise GH to 4. ..if you are making the water. BTW, if you raise the KH above 2 your PH will rise and be at 8 pretty soon. A KH of 8 is way off ( bizarre,even) but you can add calcium and magnesium to really high levels (Like the constipation treatment)and they don't seem to mind a bit. Of course if you do this, the PH does not move.

[mirador]

Hey
You are wrong,by the way.

[mirador]

I was responding to strawberry blond ..not the whole post

[strawberryblonde]

I was responding to strawberry blond ..not the whole post

Thanks for letting me know that I'm wrong, but how about letting everyone know what it is that I'm wrong about. As I said, I'm not an expert, so any knowledge you can add is a bonus!