Ideal chemistry for successfull spawning?

[k9outfit]

I'd like to know if I still need major adjustments even though my fishies are a long way from spawning. By filtering through peat, I can achieve a GH of 7 dH (125 ppm) and KH of ~1 dH (~17.9 ppm) or so. By also adding acid, I can lower the pH, but the GH won't budge below 7.

Would the GH need to be lowered or is the low KH enough for success? The LFS recommended that I use Seachem's "pillow" to lower the GH, but from what I understand it lowers it through an ion exchange - with sodium if I recall correctly? Would this increased sodium (or whatever it was) be detrimental to the fish, or is this type of ion exchange a safe, effective and good way to handle the high GH?

TIA :)

[mcloughlin2]

Discus are not "Too" fusy with the water hardness from my experiance...

I'll leave the other questions to people more experianced with that but discus will breed in your water IMO.... :wink:

So i wouldnt fuss to much.... :P

[RichVic]

Hi, as I understand it, Discus will spawn in hard, alkaline water and hatched discus will develop in hard water, BUT you need soft water to successfully fertilize. If total hardness is 6dH or above, the outer shells of the eggs will be hardened (extra calcium in water?) & sperm cant penetrate. Its also possible that sperm are immobilised by hard water = no or low hatch rate.
Triggering a spawn can be as simple as a 50% water change with R/O or cold water- they'll spawn opportunistically because there's clean water and the rising temperature, these are conditions they wait for in the wild (rainy season in the tropics)
I accidently triggered mine by doing a 50% water change (not-fully cycled tank so lots of w/c and monitoring etc) but the water was not cold and there was no temp drop etc. It was soft (less than 20ppm) from tap with a Ph 7.4. They've laid eggs 3 times and the eggs, disappeared - Eaten?
each time. I've now moved them to a breeding tank with no other fish. The temp is set at 29, Ph 6.5 and they're cleaning the new breeding cone already. HTH Vicki