# Kh gh



## Thaim (Feb 6, 2015)

Hey guys. I dont have a kh or gh tester. Im wondering if anyone lives in surrey and knows what our kh and gh is so I can get an idea. Im planning to go and purchase a kh and gh tester. Im having trouble breeding discus and im trying to get an idea of what to buy. I dont know if i should be lowering or raising my kh and gh. I dont want to spend money on kh and gh buffers that i dont need and dont want to make 2 trips after ive tested.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

ZERO AND ZERO.

Maybe a little more than zero, but unregisterable. Definitely purchase the kit and look into buffering for Discus. There's 2 sponsors here on BCA that are Discus experts, so feel free to ask how it impacts them, if any. (At the very least you want your KH raised to prevent PH swings).

I suggest the sponsors, as I don't know whom else to ask, and I don't know the first thing about Discus.


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## cpat83 (Sep 1, 2015)

I have a TDM meter, out of the tap its usually around 15ppm so its pretty much nothing.

By contrast, my african tank which I buffer (baking soda, epsom salt), is 550ppm.


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## Thaim (Feb 6, 2015)

Perfect! Thanks guys. I will be heading to king eds today purchase some kits and buffers! Thanks again.


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## cammywf (Jan 9, 2015)

I live in Surrey too, and kh 0 / gh 0. TDS is less than 20. PH is about 7.0. Our tap water is almost like RO water.


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## Thaim (Feb 6, 2015)

cammywf said:


> I live in Surrey too, and kh 0 / gh 0. TDS is less than 20. PH is about 7.0. Our tap water is almost like RO water.


If this is the case. Is there any point in pirchase a RO unit to breed discus? Or should i just buffer the tap water?


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I don't think there's a need for RO. If you look at Rick's discus control group, he talks about how he raised discus. Twice daily wc and plenty of food. I'm pretty sure he just uses tap water. 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

tony1928 said:


> I don't think there's a need for RO. If you look at Rick's discus control group, he talks about how he raised discus. Twice daily wc and plenty of food. I'm pretty sure he just uses tap water.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


Rick is a solid guy and definitely knows Discus. He still blows my mind promoting those flat fish! A lot of the contest photos seriously boggle my mind with the brilliant colouring, almost seems like they should be salt water to me.


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

All of my discus are kept in tap water. The only thing I add is water conditioner to neutralize the chlorine. The only time that I would recommend adding buffers is if a person is finding the PH in their tank is dropping by more than 0.5 between water changes. Buffering the water (making it harder) would only have a negative affect on breeding. If the water is too hard the eggs won't get fertilized. For most areas around here reverse osmosis water is unnecessary for breeding as our tap water is already perfect. Some areas like White Rock have hard water so it's always worth checking your tap water just to be sure of what you are dealing with.


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## Thaim (Feb 6, 2015)

Canadian_Aqua_Farm said:


> All of my discus are kept in tap water. The only thing I add is water conditioner to neutralize the chlorine. The only time that I would recommend adding buffers is if a person is finding the PH in their tank is dropping by more than 0.5 between water changes. Buffering the water (making it harder) would only have a negative affect on breeding. If the water is too hard the eggs won't get fertilized. For most areas around here reverse osmosis water is unnecessary for breeding as our tap water is already perfect. Some areas like White Rock have hard water so it's always worth checking your tap water just to be sure of what you are dealing with.


Awesome. Ive been doing research of gh and kh and it seems to be quite important.

I found this in another article about discus:

PH
Display - 6.5 - 7.5
Breeding - 5.5 - 6.5
Grow-Out - 6.8 - 7.5

Hardness:
Display - 10-15 GH, 5-8 KH
Breeding - 1-4 GH, 0-1 KH
Growing-Out - 8-15 GH, 5-8KH

How true is this? Ive read that kh is in direct correlation to our ph and is a form of calcium which promotes good bone growth so is it really necessary to bump my kh to 5-8 if i want to grow big healthy discus? If this is the case buffing our water to get a higher kh value would increase our ph to extremely high levels, correct?

Im trying to raise fry but they seem to die after a few days after free swimming. I use direct tap water and conditioner and I change the water everday 50%. It seems that I'm doing everything right but still no success.

I also have a grow out tank and i want to make sure that my water paramters are optimal to grow them as big as i can.


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

Those hardness numbers for breeding are pretty important. I don't see it making any difference for display or grow out. I once split a batch of fry into two tanks. One tank I raised the GH and KH. The other tank I used straight tap water, very soft. There was no visible difference in the the growth or health of the two groups. Discus are perfectly able to extract all the calcium they need from their diet. The fry that are dying after a few days, are they still on the parents side at that point or being raised artificially?


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## Thaim (Feb 6, 2015)

I was only able to get 20 free swimmers and 5 to latch. The majority of them would stay at the bottom. I even lowered the water lvl down to about 40% so the fry can find the parents easier but the fry seem to be weak..


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

Whiting out the sides and bottom of the tank may help but 20 fry is a rather small number. The parents won't always put in an effort for so few.


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