Some Direction Please

[DAlberta]

We are going to be (eventually) looking into a water softening system for our fish.

Where do we go? Where do we start? What should we expect to spend? Is this something Home Depot sells? Isn't "water softener" salt anyway???

Your input please

Dave

[Doc_Polit]

Is there anyone out there that has some experience with water softeners and could provide a response for Dave?

Edited April 10, 2006 by Doc_Polit

[Froggie]

If you wish to soften the water for your fish, you won't be using a "water softener" such as those sold at Home Depot. You'll want to invest in a RO unit and mix it with your tap water.

[arixonbarnes]

I believe the salts that the water softener uses, to eliminate the hardness, are not good for the fish. Can anybody else explain why (Toirtis?)?

[Kevin]

The Discus that Dave has are adults, or are almost adults, and some have started to spawn in Calgary tap water. These fish have been in aged Calgary water since they were small.

Discus do not require soft water, what they require is stable water parameters. Discus are very intolerant to changes in temperature and PH. Calgary's water after 12 hours aging has a PH of about 7.8-8.2 and it is quite hard, but that also makes it very stable. That is where my knowledge stops on water chemistry as my experience with PH altering chemicals was unsuccesful because the water was so hard (it made stabilizing at a lower PH very difficult).

Here is a great post on not having to modify water:

PH - You don't need to change it

http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=25716

For discus to breed succesfully, they do require water with lower kh (hardness) as its affects on the eggs membranes. The harder the water, the lower the hatch rates. However, some people have had large hatches in Calgary water (Spidey Steve for instance - he bred a couple of Santerams similar to the adult Santeram that you have) Again, some of our more science minded members may be able to explain why this is.

If you speak to Denis and you really want an RO unit, I believe he can get them for under $200.

Kevin

Edited April 12, 2006 by Kevin

[secretlaw]

For Discus, you need to buy the R.O. machine. You can get them through Ebay or even HomeDepot sells them. The price range is aorund $400 or even higher, it depends on how soft the water you need to filter. Basically, the machine will filter out all the chemical and mineral. Again it all depends on how and what kind of filters you have installed on your RO machine. Keep in mind that it uses around 5 gallon of water into 1 gallon of soft water (estimated value). You can use the soft water as a drinking water. This is only basic knowledge regarding on the RO machine. You can go to Home Depot and pick up a brochure to read all about it.

Dave, I know you bought some Discus, I can tell you, it is not easy to breed them. You should wait until they grown up and start to pair up, then u can decide to look into RO machine. Softwater just a basic need for Discus to breed. The parents might eat the fry or egg if the PH level not stablizer. All I can say to you is Good luck.

[Froggie]

You can get them through Ebay or even HomeDepot sells them. The price range is aorund $400 or even higher, it depends on how soft the water you need to filter.

They cost nowhere near that much! You can get a reasonable RO unit for under $200 from places like J&L Aquatics.

[wandj]

I am on well water and we tried the water softener thing. Don't bother. Your fish will be healthier with hard/alkaline water as opposed to water with Na+ in it. I mean, Ca2+ and Mg2+ are healther for them compared to Na+. I did have my fish in softened water and they did not seem to be bothered by it. I also have them in my raw tap water right now and they also do not seem to be bothered by it. I think the key is to make sure the water chemistry is stable. Right now, our $3000 water softener is not even hooked up right now.

And then I made the terrible mistake of switching to KCl salt for the softener and I lost a lot of fish. They did not state on the bag that this type of salt was poisonous for fish.

That was why I disconnected the damn thing.

So now I keep all my fish in my regular tap. And I also keep Discus with not ill effects.

RO is the best way to go in regards to "softening" your water.

[earlyriser]

I had the same sort of trouble the first time I kept discus. I used the water softening pillows, I bought r/o water from supermarkets, I filtered through peat, everything. It was a huge pain, the fish never flourished, and ultimately they died, and I swore I'd never keep discus again. I started discus again only about 6 weeks ago. NowI fill an extra tank with tap water, heat it to 85, aerate it with an airstone, treat it with Prime, and then do large scale water changes every 2 or 3 days. The fish seem O.K. The blue diamonds don't have great color, but the marlboro red, the red tourquoise, and the two blue tourquoise seem just fine. The fish get frequent water changes, with aged, and aerated water, but the ph is high about 7.8 or so (Epcor says it's 7.5 out of the tap, but aerating bumps it up). From what I've been told by millions of people, give them stabl, warm water and they'll be fine. (Unless you're planing to bred them, then you need a degree in water chemistry)