PH 7.4 Tap Water

[discus_maniac]

Merrilyn i need some help regarding the PH reading from the tap water.
As you know my blue discus is currently in a hospital tank on medication from HEX. I was about to do W/C and noticed the PH level is around 7.4, should i increase the ACID to my hospital tank???

[ozarowana]

You don't need to lower pH for HEX treatment.

[Merrilyn]

Hi DM, a pH of 7.4 is perfectly acceptable for keeping discus.

I wouldn't worry ab out altering the pH of your hospital tank.

A stable pH is more important than the "correct" pH.

HTH

[Kristysky]

Hi I'm new to Discus keeping but would like to know what is the ideal situation for Discus keeping - looking at ph, temp. plants yes or no, kind of rocks? Filters, air filtration, gravel.
The tank is 5ft long, one and a half high and same wide. I know to let the tank run at least six weeks with fish-(what tropical fish? Would mollies be ok?I know not to put angels in)before putting the first lot of discus in. Then which type of discus for beginers please? Any sure information is appreciated

[G-1000]

The ideal environment for discus is water temp around 30 degrees, pH or 6.5 to 7, reasonably soft water (GH and KH wise although this is essentially until you wish to breed them).

Planted tanks are good to keep nitrates in check and allow for a little more o2 in the tank, but is hard to clean.

Barebottom is they way to go, easy to keep clean and water quality is thus much better in them.

Just my 2 cents

G

[Merrilyn]

Hi Kristysky and welcome to the forum.

This is part of a post I just wrote to another member. I think you may find it helpful. ...............

Okay, now some simple rules to get you started.

Water - we are so lucky living in Melbourne. Our water is almost perfect for keeping discus without having to do much more than filter it. My water comes out of the tap at a pH of 7 and varies very little. Naturally, you need to know the pH of your tapwater, so fill a kitchen glass with water, let it stand for a few hours, then do your pH test. You might like to do an ammonia and hardness test at the same time. This way you know what you're working with.

Discus prefer fairly soft water, with a pH of anything between 6 to about 7.8. The main thing is to keep it stable, no ups and downs with the pH. They hate that.

Temperature - 29 to 30 is good. These fish come from very warm water. In cases of illness you can even go up to 33 or even 34 for a short time.

Food - most of us feed a mixture of beefheart, either made at home, or purchased from the aquarium shop as 'Discus Dinner' or something similar. Frozen Bloodworms, Brine Shrimp and Mysis Shrimp are all relished by most discus. Balance that out with a good quality dry food, like Tetra Bits or Breeders Premium or one of the other flakes or granules designed for discus.

Plants or Driftwood - both work well in the discus tank. You can either choose to have a planted tank, with things like amazon swords planted in amongst the driftwood pieces, or you can go a bare bottom tank (easier to clean) and have plants like anubias attached to driftwood, or plants in shallow decorative pots with gravel. Have a look through the photo gallery of this site for some ideas. Members are successfully keeping discus in both types of tanks.

Water Changes - this is where discus differ from most other fish, especially your cichlids. They need very clean water, and that is the one golden rule that you just can't mess with. Changing the water daily is not too often, and in my opinion, changing the water only once a week is not often enough. So you need to work out how you're going to manage these frequent water changes. All my tanks get a water change of around 30% every second day. Good filtration with a mature filter is very important, but make sure the water flowing back into the tank is diffused somehow. Discus don't like too much current in the water, they come from quiet still pools around the amazon, so try to pass the outflow through a spraybar to diffuse the current.

Airstones - I believe an airstone is just about essential in a discus tank. You can't have too much oxygen in the water, and remember that warm water holds a lot less oxygen than cool water, so pump that air into the tank.

Okay,well I guess that's given you plenty to think about for a while. Anything you're not sure on, ask away. We have lots of wonderful members here who are only too willing to share their experience and knowledge with you.

Welcome to the wonderful world of discus, the king of the aquarium.