PH and Hardness for Discus

I've seen recommendations for Discus' PH from 4.5 to 8.0! Purists say PH must be low, since that's what it is in the Amazon tributaries from where they originate, but most of us are buying domestic tank-bred Discus. The 3 US breeders I've talked to just raise them for sale in close to their tap water PH (ranging from 6.8 to 7.5)

The most important thing is to keep your PH level consistent. A level of 6.5 to 7.2 seems to be generally considered as acceptable, unless you're considering breeding. (Lower PH and soft water are supposed to encourage breeding) The advantage of keeping it near neutral is that less adjustments will need to be made with your water changes, and less stress for the fish.

Two more factors to consider when deciding on your PH level.... Low, acidic PH (below 6.5 or so) can help deter bacteria and renders high nitrite - ammonia levels more harmless. However, levels that low will cause your biological filter to nearly stop operating! You must rely mostly on water changes if you keep very low, acidic PH levels. Going the other way, for instance, increasing PH from 6.5 to 7.5 causes ammonia levels to be as much as 10 times more toxic to the fish. However, at the higher level, biological filtration becomes much more efficient! Nice choices to try and make, right? In consideration of these factors, most keepers choose, as mentioned above, about 6.5 to 7.2, with good reason!

Your decision on PH Level should be based on the following.....(not necessarily in this order)

1. Tap Water condition. How much adjustment does it need?

2. Number of tanks and gallons of water you will need to maintain.

3. Availability of adjustment methods. Do you need RO or DI and do you want to spend the money? What chemicals are readily available to you?

4. Are you using a holding tank to adjust water or do you add it directly to your tank(s)? How much time do you have between water changes to get water ready if you use a holding tank?

5. How much time do you want to spend doing all this stuff for your Discus? From your experience so far, how accurate do you think you need to be? I.E. how healthy do your fish seem and how are they growing?

Using a buffering capacity or "regulator" chemical will keep your PH from "bouncing" up and down. In other words, if your tap water is much different from neutral (7.0 or so) and you change the PH, it may quickly bounce back the other way without help of this type. Kent's product is called "PH Stable". Mardel offers one called "Buffer Up". Or you can just take the cheaper way out and use baking soda. I recently found that baking soda has the same ingredient (sodium bicarbonate) as the forementioned buffers. I did some research and found some others are using baking soda as well. It stabilizes your PH, but does raise it a little when used. Add your regulator first, then check and adjust the PH after 30-60 minutes. If you need to lower the PH after stabilizing it with your regulator, do it very slowly and carefully. If you lower it too much and too quickly, you will eliminate the buffering capacity and have to start over.

This PH issue isn't as difficult as it may sound thus far. Just keep reading! There are products out there that make PH adjustment and maintenance fairly simple! By the time you get to the end of this section, you'll be able to decide how you want to do it! I'm just offering many alternatives that people use, but am getting to an easier "Bottom Line....."

Mardel (AquaLab) also makes test strips that have 3 pads on them. One for Hardness, one for Buffering Capacity/Total Alkalinity and one for PH level. It's a great way to test them all at once! Test the water in your storage container or tank this way and you're sure it's at least close to right. Using these strips can be a little expensive, depending on how many tanks you're maintaining. See the section below referring to "Electronic PH Meters".

When adjusting PH in the tank, do not make radical adjustments quickly. After you establish your tank, you will usually only be doing slight adjustments with water changes. If you must change an entire tank's PH, do it by only a couple tenths per day. (That is, for example...7.0 down to 6.8 in 24 hours)

Many products are available for lowering your PH level. Most common are "Sodium Biphosphate" and "Sodium Monophosphate". The problem is that continually adding any product with large amounts of phosphates is considered not to be good for the Discus tank. This is one reason you hear so much about using RO/DI water, which, by processing, has the PH lowered without any phosphates. Lowering PH with "peat" filtration also gently lowers it without the use of phosphates. Lowering PH without their use is optimum, but using it won't kill them. Products containing phosphates are also said to slightly increase algae growth in the tank, depending on whether you have live plants or not (and how many). It depends on the amount of Phosphate in the product. It's just another item to remember if you want to condition your water according to "the experts". I've also found, through some research on the Discus-L list, that the use of muriatic acid to lower PH is also acceptable, as well as very inexpensive. Do not use it in the fish tank, only in a holding tank! I've been doing it for awhile now with no problems. Be very careful with it, since it is a dangerous acid and very potent! It removes rust and other stains from your concrete driveway or garage floor, too. Don't breath the fumes and wash hands quickly if you get any on you! Just one ounce takes about 40 gallons from 8.2 down to about 6.8, so use it sparingly.

Digital/Electronic PH meters...If you're considering getting serious about Discus keeping and/or you have multiple tanks to maintain, you might want to acquire a digital PH meter. I have a "PinPoint" model and quickly found out how radically the tank water changes when you adjust PH. This, to me, further reinforced the notion that many Discus problems are caused by keepers' mistakes with fast PH changes! With a meter, you can see that even a pinch of chemical adjustment can change the tank radically and quickly. Whether you're changing PH in the tank, or in a holding tank, acquiring one of these could well be your best investment in Discus keeping! Considering the long term cost and inaccuracy of using test strips, liquid test kits, etc....this is another item you might want to invest in. If you don't feel the need for a digital PH meter, pay much attention to the next paragraph!

Check it again later!!!! No matter what adjustments you've made, it may well creep the other way later. You need to constantly check PH levels when you've made changes. Every tank setup is so different, that I've found checks need to be made for the following 24 -48 hours to be sure you have what you were aiming for!

Bottom Line....PH...It is possible to make it simple. My tap water is nearly 9.0 PH and very hard. I used to run it through an RO unit (comes out at 6.2 PH) into a 55 gallon storage barrel, then add some Kent RO Right (for the hardness level and necessary trace elements) then a small amount of muriatic acid, then baking soda to buffer it and up the PH level. This method was good and inexpensive, but took some attention, as levels in the water tended to bounce alot both ways until I got it right, over a couple days. I've since found a better method at a comparable cost and it stabilizes the water quicker.

Same prodedure... 75% RO water and 25% tap water. But instead of baking soda and muriatic acid, I now use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals' "Proper PH" They offer 6.5, 7.0, 7.5 and 8.2 (for Africans). The product is said to contain only minimal amounts of phosphates, neutralizes chlorine, adds Aloe Vera and electrolytes, and it automatically buffers/stabilizes PH (within a couple tenths). One scoop or less(spoon included) per 10 gallons in the holding tank does the trick. One 8.8 ounce bottle, which treats 200 gallons of water costs a little over $4.00. They also offer larger sizes of the product, but the supplier I deal with has only the 8.8 bottles. I did a lot of research on this subject, including discussions on the Discus-L mail list and have concluded that, in my situation, with 3 tanks totaling 150 gallons +, it's the best way to do it that I've found. In conclusion, I was told by a "water expert" on Discus-L that the small amount of phosphates in this type of product should not negatively affect any Discus tank.

I use the 7.0 to bring mine down and stabilize it, but I found that it lowers it to about 6.7 in my situation with the amount I use, so I decided to go with that. Frank Bailey and others recommend low PH level like this, so I decided to stick with it. My fish do well and seem happy.....so far, so good. The only thing you must be careful with at this low level is.....

PH Crash Level... If you keep PH low like 6.5 - 6.7, be careful as PH usually tends to drop with fish and other stuff existing in Discus water. If it drops below 6.2, all bacteria starts to die, including filter nitrobacter, etc. You will see the heater, glass, plastic plants, anything with normal bacteria start to turn white! If you do see this, your PH has crashed and you need to slowly bring it back up above 6.2. (Another good reason to have a digital PH meter)

Check out the link to James Layton at Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for more information on their Proper PH product....PH Adjustment

Water Hardness... can be a problem in some parts of the country. If you use your water from the tap without the "Culligan Man" or any such products, you're probably alright. Most agree that medium to slightly hard is OK for normal Discus keeping. A carbonate hardness level anywhere between 100-180 ppm is generally considered fine for Discus. Levels lower, like 30 to 50 are also considered acceptable by many, as are higher like over 200. Higher levels are supposed to be good for growing out young ones, lower levels better for keeping and/or breeding adults. Again, as always with Discus lore, use what works for you and your fish! If you're considering breeding, most agree you will need to soften the water down to the under 100 level. Some of my adults began spawning almost immediately when I started using RO water, which within 2 weeks, softened the tanks from about 150 down to under 75. Most pet stores sell test kits for water hardness. More on this in the "Water Changes" section.

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