DAM water for discus?

[kalebjarrod]

as the question says

does anyone use dam water for there discus?

or for that matter bore water?

as i am moving to a place with only these sources i am very interested

:wink:

[Proteus]

I have heard that bore water is fantastic for Discus, loads of essential minerals, no nasty chemicals, and usually is around the pH 6.8-7.2 mark

[kalebjarrod]

it does hold essential minerals but it also can have a high sodium levels and high iron levels

does anyone use bore water and know what there parameters are?

[Benny]

Why dont you get a big sample from your work's bore (if its in close proximity to where you are moving)?

Get the sample tested....?

[Littlefish]

There would be a huge variation in water chemistry from different dams/bores depending on soil type, local farming and/or industrial activity (both present and past), ground water pollution from septic tanks and whatnot. Even rainwater can contain heavy metals and other pollutants.

I guess you would just have to test a sample and see.

Fred

[goldenpigeon]

where u moving to KJ?

[kalebjarrod]

i have gold coast water doing an anilitical test on the water for use in regards to drinking and irrigation

i will have the results next week

but from what i understand the areas out that way have HARD water

i will post some results and see what you guys and gals think :wink:

[kalebjarrod]

so i have two sources of water as follows

bore

Alkalinity as calcium carbonate 191 mg/L
Bicarbonate 191 mg/L
Chloride 828 mg/L
conductivity 2.82 mS/cm
sodium 285 mg/L
manganese 0.38mg/L
Iron 3.83mg/L
calcium 219mg/L
magnesium 40.mg/L
Hardness (as CaCO3) 713 mg/L
ph 6.59

the bore is clear water

dam

alkalinity as calcium carbonate 25mg/L
Bicarbonate 25mg/L
choride 40.4 mg/L
conductivity 0.183 mS/cm
sodium 23.5mg/L
manganese 0.06 mg/L
Iron 1.77mg/L
Hardness 26.1mg/L
calcium 4.57mg/L
Magnesium 3.56 mg/L
pH 7.13

the dam is a dirty water

so do i ro the bore or do i carbon and micron the dam?


HELP HELP HELP HELP



arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[discusjim]

My fish are swimming in bore water. ph 6.5. And they are doing fine
Jim

[Merrilyn]

Ryan, that bore water is way too hard, and contains far too much salt to use for discus without major RO treatment.

On the other hand, although the dam water looks dirty, the levels are much better, and carbon and some fine filtering will soon have it clean again. I'd be going with the dam water but letting it settle in drums for 48 hours before filtering and adding to tanks. I think you may be surprised just how clean the water will be.

[kalebjarrod]

i have bought a RO unit and a particle / carbon filter

i have to work out the "chandy" i need

the bore water will be easyier to work with as i can access it now

i will be intouch :wink:

[Mulisha]

Hey Ryan

I live just out of town and have to use tank water for my fish and they all seem to like but I have a very soft water. But does your dam water smell becuase I have a dam and it smells but it is very clean to look at maybe using some very fine filter wool and would a uv sterilzer work well in the aging drum to make sure now chemicals and bad bacteria and other nastys. I don't think I helped much at all.

Good luck with that little challenge u got there. :D

[kalebjarrod]

its an extremley large dam, so i know the water would remain stable for a long period of time but it also has alarge stock of native fish already in it

i was thinking that the water would contain pathogen's from the native fish and i would be better simpley treating the bore

i also plan to do some pretty hearty digging in the dam over the next year to really up size it

i have got a good RO unit and i will be trailing this over th next few weeks

any hoo

i will let you all know how i go

(heres a pic of my new dam, pretty anit it :wink: )

[goldenpigeon]

congrats on ur sexy dam ryan ;)

[Mulisha]

Hey Ryan

With your dam I thought about a few things what I would do if u were gona use the water for ya tanks i would put the pick up pipe on a 25L drum so it picks up cleaner water from the middle of the dam and doesn't pick up the sediment off the bottom which would make cloudy yuk water.

HTH

Nice dam by the way looks awersome.

PS:How deep is your dam?

[Merrilyn]

Ryan, that's gorgeous. So tranquil.

[Benny]

check it out! comes with free driftwood.!!! hehehehehehehe


Looks wicked mate!!!

me = envious

[kalebjarrod]

LOL

thanks for the nice thoughts guys

Mulisha


With your dam I thought about a few things what I would do if u were gona use the water for ya tanks i would put the pick up pipe on a 25L drum so it picks up cleaner water from the middle of the dam and doesn't pick up the sediment off the bottom which would make cloudy yuk water.

thats an idea but i find that the water is naturally murky beacuse it act's like a dust collector every time it rains, you would still need some serious micron particle filtration

the dam would only be a few metres deep now maybe 4 metres, we will be cleaning it with some preety big machine soon and hope to get it to 7 or 8 metres deep & double the width

add 50,000 300 watt heaters, a heak of a lot of power boards and 20,000 discus and see what happens LOL

[Mulisha]

:shock:

If your dam is murky most of the time when you have cleaned the dam out maybe put reeds or something along the edge of the dam so it's slows down the waterflow into your dam and maybe keeps it a little cleaner.

O wait thought of what my neighbour did :D

This is what my neighbour did he emptyed his dam then got fairly large machines in and dug it untill the right size and then got about 20m of clay delivered and then got the clay spread through out the whole dam.
All the sides and the bottom of the dam were packed with clay and then waited for it rain.

Now the dam is crystal clear becuase the clay acts as a filter in a werid way and now his dam is soooo blue i can see the bottom of his dam some days if it hasn't been mixed up and the dam is 4m deep so I would maybe look into putting clay as a liner in your dam worked for him and were gona do it to our dam in about 5 months.

HTH

:D

[kalebjarrod]

Hay Rick

yeah i use reed filtration on the dam but i have neighbours that don't LOL

thats where the sediment is coming from. :?

i will either line the dam with clay or get a prfessional liner in (although they look a little artifical)

anyway, i am sure i will have fun with the whole equation anyway :wink:

looking forward to fishing from my front door LOL

[Benny]

bludger :P

[kalebjarrod]

with language like that you can be my offical "beer whench"

* another cold larger over hither whench! *

[Proteus]

Maybe you could use Benny for bait...

:P

[Benny]

Proteus always wanted to get rid of me :(

Meany

[Proteus]

who said anything about getting rid of anyone...

the best sort of bait is the re-usable variety

:wink:

[kalebjarrod]

I like the mashed up berley type

guess i'm just a sadist

mu-hahahahahahahahahaha

[goldenpigeon]

lol

start with his toes and go up from there eh ryan? LOL i might come too so he doesnt start to go off and the fish wont like him cause he is past his use by date :twisted:

FISHING TRIP AT RYANS!!!!! bring my tent and camp fire ;)

[Benny]

benny makes mental note

*refuse any offers to go fishing at Ryans new dam*


lol :(

[Merrilyn]

You guys are completely nuts. Hey, wait for me, I want to go fishing for discus too :blob

[Benny]

Over my dead body!!!!!

Oy, i will regret having said that..!!!

[kalebjarrod]

hahahaha

fishing trip at my joint

I'll let you all know :wink: