Discus?

[Richard Blincoe]

I have just purchased my first discus via auction and am picking them up
tomorrow....

I have not worried too much about water hardness till now but bought tests
for kH and gH today.

Tests show my tap water (city supply) as 1 degree kH and 3-4 degree gH

Tap water PH is about 7.5 - but tends to come down quickly in my tanks to
around 6 with some driftwood in them..


From all I read this should be just right for the discus, but that I should
add some more hardness for my other tanks (miscellaneous tanks with guppies,
mollies, corydoras, gouramis, pl*co etc....


am I right in this?

[Happy'Cam'per]

Sounds about right. The KH reading of 1 might be dodgy, you may be tinkering
on a ph crash if you don't keep up with water changes. I would add some sort
of buffer just as a cushion of security. Add a small amount of crushed coral
to the filter or grind up some dolomite tabs and add to the water column.
Keeping in mind I've never kept discus, maybe someone more experienced can
chime in. HTH.
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Richard Blincoe" > wrote in message
...
> I have just purchased my first discus via auction and am picking them up
> tomorrow....
>
> I have not worried too much about water hardness till now but bought tests
> for kH and gH today.
>
> Tests show my tap water (city supply) as 1 degree kH and 3-4 degree gH
>
> Tap water PH is about 7.5 - but tends to come down quickly in my tanks to
> around 6 with some driftwood in them..
>
>
> From all I read this should be just right for the discus, but that I
should
> add some more hardness for my other tanks (miscellaneous tanks with
guppies,
> mollies, corydoras, gouramis, pl*co etc....
>
>
> am I right in this?
>
>

[Richard Blincoe]

You don't happen to be the "Happy'Cam'per" that works for the "Evil Machine
Company" do you?


"Happy'Cam'per" > wrote in message
...
>
> Sounds about right. The KH reading of 1 might be dodgy, you may be
tinkering
> on a ph crash if you don't keep up with water changes. I would add some
sort
> of buffer just as a cushion of security. Add a small amount of crushed
coral
> to the filter or grind up some dolomite tabs and add to the water column.
> Keeping in mind I've never kept discus, maybe someone more experienced can
> chime in. HTH.
> --
> **So long, and thanks for all the fish!**
>
> "Richard Blincoe" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I have just purchased my first discus via auction and am picking them up
> > tomorrow....
> >
> > I have not worried too much about water hardness till now but bought
tests
> > for kH and gH today.
> >
> > Tests show my tap water (city supply) as 1 degree kH and 3-4 degree gH
> >
> > Tap water PH is about 7.5 - but tends to come down quickly in my tanks
to
> > around 6 with some driftwood in them..
> >
> >
> > From all I read this should be just right for the discus, but that I
> should
> > add some more hardness for my other tanks (miscellaneous tanks with
> guppies,
> > mollies, corydoras, gouramis, pl*co etc....
> >
> >
> > am I right in this?
> >
> >
>
>

[Happy'Cam'per]

No sir, it is not I :)
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Richard Blincoe" > wrote in message
...
> You don't happen to be the "Happy'Cam'per" that works for the "Evil
Machine
> Company" do you?
>
>
> "Happy'Cam'per" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Sounds about right. The KH reading of 1 might be dodgy, you may be
> tinkering
> > on a ph crash if you don't keep up with water changes. I would add some
> sort
> > of buffer just as a cushion of security. Add a small amount of crushed
> coral
> > to the filter or grind up some dolomite tabs and add to the water
column.
> > Keeping in mind I've never kept discus, maybe someone more experienced
can
> > chime in. HTH.
> > --
> > **So long, and thanks for all the fish!**
> >
> > "Richard Blincoe" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > I have just purchased my first discus via auction and am picking them
up
> > > tomorrow....
> > >
> > > I have not worried too much about water hardness till now but bought
> tests
> > > for kH and gH today.
> > >
> > > Tests show my tap water (city supply) as 1 degree kH and 3-4 degree gH
> > >
> > > Tap water PH is about 7.5 - but tends to come down quickly in my tanks
> to
> > > around 6 with some driftwood in them..
> > >
> > >
> > > From all I read this should be just right for the discus, but that I
> > should
> > > add some more hardness for my other tanks (miscellaneous tanks with
> > guppies,
> > > mollies, corydoras, gouramis, pl*co etc....
> > >
> > >
> > > am I right in this?
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

[NetMax]

Richard's water sounds just like what I have in the LFS, in Ottawa,
7.7pH, 3dgH and 2dkH. The Discus love the soft water. I've got Discus
in 6 tanks, all have CO2 injectors, but some have gone dry. With CO2,
6.8pH is ideal. Without CO2, it wanders up to 7.2pH (heavily planted).

For the other fish, the low kH is deal with by frequent water changes (to
keep both of my kHs ;~), lots of gravel vacuuming, marine salt, crushed
coral substrate, coral fingerlings, and petrified wood (not all in the
same tank, varies by application). The coral fingerlings work best in
canister filters, the petrified wood blends with plant/driftwood setups
nicely. Tonight I set up a 60g Cory species tank, and I filled a reptile
dish with this special reptile sand (Bone-X?) made of crushed bones (or
other sources of calcium). This will help keep my kH up, and give the
Corys a sandbox to play in :o)

For the Discus, the solution which worked best was to keep them at a low
fish-load with heavily planted tanks, CO2 sporadically, keeping them
mostly as species tanks (so I could focus on feeding them, so there is
less food wasted), and the usual gravel vacuuming and many small water
changes.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Happy'Cam'per" > wrote in message
...
>
> Sounds about right. The KH reading of 1 might be dodgy, you may be
tinkering
> on a ph crash if you don't keep up with water changes. I would add some
sort
> of buffer just as a cushion of security. Add a small amount of crushed
coral
> to the filter or grind up some dolomite tabs and add to the water
column.
> Keeping in mind I've never kept discus, maybe someone more experienced
can
> chime in. HTH.
> --
> **So long, and thanks for all the fish!**
>
> "Richard Blincoe" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I have just purchased my first discus via auction and am picking them
up
> > tomorrow....
> >
> > I have not worried too much about water hardness till now but bought
tests
> > for kH and gH today.
> >
> > Tests show my tap water (city supply) as 1 degree kH and 3-4 degree
gH
> >
> > Tap water PH is about 7.5 - but tends to come down quickly in my
tanks to
> > around 6 with some driftwood in them..
> >
> >
> > From all I read this should be just right for the discus, but that I
> should
> > add some more hardness for my other tanks (miscellaneous tanks with
> guppies,
> > mollies, corydoras, gouramis, pl*co etc....
> >
> >
> > am I right in this?
> >
> >
>
>