soften water without buffer

[discusdude]

As the title says I would like to soften my water without using buffer. Any suggestions or methods. Thanks

 

[Fishguy2727]

RO system, peat, using distilled water.

What fish?
Why do you need to soften the water?
What is the pH?

 

[discusdude]

i have disc
i tested my water and its all good but a lil hard.
ph is about 6.5

just looking for a way to keep it soft. i use seachem discus buffer... suggestions

 

[Fishguy2727]

I wouldn't mess with it, they will breed in a pH of 7.8. The softer you make it the easier it will crash, not worth the risk IME. I think you are fine.

 

[discusdude]

ok cool. im using test strips and all the levels are good except its a lil hard. so ill just keep it where its at. thanks

 

[discusdude]

so if they will breed in 7.8 then will the live in 7.0? should i even use the buffer or is it a waste of money? after i treat my tap water with neutralizer its about 7.0. Hmmm....

 

[Fishguy2727]

Throw away your test strips, you can guess better than those. API liquid test kits are good, but you canget more expensive kits if you want. I would have a nitrate and pH kit. With discus it is a good idea to have a KH kit too.

What neutralizer are you using? Any pH adjustment should be with a buffer and not with an up or down. A neutralizer may be just another buffer you are adding in addition to the one specific to discus. What is your tap water's pH?

 

[discusdude]

I use all seachem products (discus buffer and neutralizer). My tap water is around 7.8, I live in california if that means anything. I have the API test kits too. So ill keep that and toss the strips.

 

[discusdude]

I am also using a fluval 305 with seachem matrix and filter floss..

 

[Fishguy2727]

Sounds good.

Be aware that by adding buffers to 7.8 you are actually increasing total dissolved solids (TDS) so if you start breeding and have any issues this would be something to look into. That said I would use the buffers to get the pH down to 6.5.

 

[discusdude]

Cool. Yeah I'm not trying to breed them I just did a lot of research before I got them. Form what I read the prefer "softer" water. Most people make it seam a lot harder than it is (useless opinions and facts). Thanks.

 

[Fishguy2727]

IME a high quality food and big frequent water changes will keep them thriving. I usually do 50-80% weekly water changes and feed New Life Spectrum Thera+A exclusively. The discus at the shop were breeding in front of customers on NLS alone.

The issue with discus is that they are not as hardy and therefore not forgiving. When you miss water changes you will see it in them much easier than you would ever see it in almost any other fish.

One thing to keep in mind though is where your discus come from will dictate the minimum level of care they need. For example, a discus that went from a large farm, to a wholesaler, to a LFS, and lived through all that and looks good in the LFS is going to be hardier than one you mail order from the nation's top discus breeder. If the breeder does 90% water changes every other day and you only do 50% every week his discus will probably not do nearly as well as your others, it may even die. If you pick the right ones from the LFS you can get very hardy, beautiful fish that are hardier and cheaper than high end ones. You may want to check out my article on why pure breeds are not ideal, it goes into some more detail on this kind of stuff.

 

[discusdude]

I will check it out. Thanks for the advice.