Spawn 5 and alot more questions.

[shayesmommy]

spawn five went very well lots of eggs more then usual and they were very orange.
Problem is so the parents wont eat them i move them.
Well the breeding tank is umm really hard water.
I think that is the cause. by the 48th hour the eggs are 75% hard. I think they are atleast hard cause they are still orangish colored. and they look hard not white.
Then on after the 60th hour the remaining normal ones always turn hard.
I did a gh and kh test and they were at 10 and 14 drops .. which is apparently hard so i dont even bother to figure it out the actual total.
I have tried many things to get the water hardness lower.
I lowered the ph to about 6. From 6.8 with discus buffer. still nothing.
So i used peat grandules and i got the amount of drops to 6 and 8 instead of 10 and 14.
but still the eggs are turning hard on this spawn.
i have the heat at 29 degrees and i got another heater to get it up to 30.
Now i am trying a water softening pillow by aquarium pharmaceuticals.
its like the 50th to 55th hour after this spawn and i have about 20-30 normal eggs.
And it looks like a lost cause at this point.
Normal tap is at 10 drops for gh and boiling the water makes it 8.
i am attempting tests to find the easiest and best solution to this problem.
Any help will be apprieciated and sorry in advance for it being so long.
im not sure at all why tap comes out ten drops but the tank comes out higher either.

[elvip]

Hi,
I believe the RO (reverse osmosis) water is soft and the best to use for breeding tanks - but you will still need to mix in some tap water to replace electrolyters etc.
The problem is that there is a lot of water 'wastage' - ie. only 1/4 of the water is processed. However this 'waste' is still suitable for use in non-breeding tanks where such soft water is not an issue.
I hope this helps. :D
Cheers
Elvip

[lesxda]

I use tap water which is treated with prime and airated and heated (in winter ) and it starts off at a ph of 7 and I have had no problem with my eggs hatching. had heaps of problems with them eatting the eggs or fry. this last spawn is 10 days old , attached well to the parents and growning well dropping level of h2o as I clean adding more h20 in 2 days. but all is well and growning great.