Another way?

[DragonFish71]

Are there other ways to soften the water than an R/O system?

 

[HN1]

Yes. Peat in the filter, CO2, etc.

 

[DragonFish71]

I was reading about the peat. We have the fluval 305 and they have the peat inserts for it. I was wondering if that would work good enough.

 

[HN1]

Possibly. What are you trying to accomplish exactly?

 

[mgamer20o0]

you can get peat in the local garden area. though i do have to go with HN as in why? stable ph is more important one that a lower one that fluctuates.

 

[DragonFish71]

According to what I've been reading up on about my german blue rams, they do better with the Ph lower than 6.5 (which is what mine is at now) They do best at about 5 or 5.5. We keep losing them for no apparent reason so that's the only thing I can come up with. I use API master test kit once a week and everything else is fine.

 

[HN1]

I've bred Apistos at 6.2. Stabilty is more important for health and longevity. IME, lowered pH is only important to induce spawning behavior in a lot of fish since it simulates the wet season.

 

[DragonFish71]

I've bred Apistos at 6.2. Stabilty is more important for health and longevity. IME, lowered pH is only important to induce spawning behavior in a lot of fish since it simulates the wet season.

So then by adding the Tetra Black Water extract when I do my weekly water changes I'm ok? I've noticed when I do that we get spawning. I'm just trying to keep from losing them for no reason that we can find and also keep them in as close to the correct habitat as I can.

 

[HN1]

The best thing (IMO) that you can do is to stop adding and manipulating the parameters and seek stability. If you want to induce spawning in a "soft water" fish, do a 75% water change as a thunderstorm approaches.

 

[DragonFish71]

Breeding them is our long term goal, our main point is trying to keep them from dying for no reason. The only thing we could think of was that it was the ph being to high. It is stable at 6.5. I do water changes every Saturday then test every Wednesday. I know most are captive bred so they have acclimated to a higher ph, but does that weaken them? Like I said earlier, the parameters are great other than the ph. We even take a sample to our LSF every week for testing and they're jealous. *lol* But if using one peat pouch is going to create instability then we won't bother. I agree with you on keeping it stable, which again was the idea behind this posting. Keeping stable and keeping them alive. We're out of ideas on what's causing the deaths and our LFS is just as frustrated.

Thanks for the advice.

As for thunderstorms, great idea! I knew using slightly cooler water would replicate the rainey season and spur spawing but never thought about storms.

 

[meegosh]

It could be your stock also. Where are you getting your GBRs from? The ones at the LFS are filled of hormones and are pretty much doomed from the start. I learned that the hard way a while ago. If I could find some good stock I would try again. I couldn't get mine to live for more than a few months. They would just stop eating and eventually die.

 

[DragonFish71]

I now get them from a non chain LFS in Boulder. I had thought about it being the stock a few times. It's so hard to find them in our area and I doubt they would survive an hour long trip from Denver if we located some there. But so far this group is doing better than our last ones. We have 1 female that's a bit shakey so we're keeping an eye on her.