I was just wondering about hardness for breeding. Now i know having soft water is a must but my water hardness is 1 and carbonate hardness is 2. Is this to soft?
Hardness..How low is to low
- Thread starter slantula
- Start date
Dam thats what i had it at and then i got recomended to use a certain filter media and it dropped it to that overnight.Looks like i will be taking it back out tomorrow.Cheers for the advice
Are you using RO or tapwater Dave?
Apart from your new media are you adding anything to your water ie buffers etc?
Apart from your new media are you adding anything to your water ie buffers etc?
Hey Mic, I am using rainwater and hadnt been adding any buffers besides a big clam shell in the sump and all my levels were very stable. You are familiar with macropore white and gold i think. Do you know which one of the 2 would be dropping the hardness so much?
Definately gold. Its the one that softens water. Your rainwater will ultra soft so there is no need to use the gold - just stick to the normal one and all should be fine.
I don't mind my KH at about 2 since any higher tends to send my pH rather high. It will deplete over a week but is usually pH fairly steady until water change when I have to add more buffer.
GH I like at about 4 to 6. I read an article on breeding corys which like similar water to plecos and those were being bred at 4 to 6. GH has such things as magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium, all the goodies a catfish and plants like.
If I wanted to trigger stubborn spawners I could just have no KH and very low GH but I would be doing water changes much more often to cope with rising ammonia as the bacteria bio doesn't particularly like too low a pH. Is why discus breeders do so many water changes.
GH I like at about 4 to 6. I read an article on breeding corys which like similar water to plecos and those were being bred at 4 to 6. GH has such things as magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium, all the goodies a catfish and plants like.
If I wanted to trigger stubborn spawners I could just have no KH and very low GH but I would be doing water changes much more often to cope with rising ammonia as the bacteria bio doesn't particularly like too low a pH. Is why discus breeders do so many water changes.
The Clam shell in the sump is probably holding the Ph up. Macropore gold will give you the feature of removing Tannins from the water as well as softening it. Macropore white will also remove the tannins stain as well as Ammonia and Nitrogenous waste. If you want to increase your Kh try something like Aquasonics Carbonate Hardness Generator which will do the trick for you...
http://www.thetechden.com.au/Aquasonic_Carbonate_Hardness_Generator_1Kg_p/tkp605.htm
Bit of a shameless plug but will fix what you are after - just do not look at the price on the Macropore - you will kick yourself.
http://www.thetechden.com.au/Aquasonic_Carbonate_Hardness_Generator_1Kg_p/tkp605.htm
Bit of a shameless plug but will fix what you are after - just do not look at the price on the Macropore - you will kick yourself.
Had a bit more of think on it and would think that the Clam Shell would be adding calcium to the water which should be trying to harden the water and buffer up the Ph then you have he Gold which is then taking the the Calcium in the resin and using the ion exchange and then converting it into Sodium. You have two items working against each other. The problem that you may also encounter when you remove the Gold is that you Ph may rise due to the calcium from the Clam Shell. Depending on what you are trying to breed you will have mixed results. There are a few elements you are still missing for doing a number of L-Numbers. What L's are you trying to do? Ancistrus, Hypans, Panaques or Pekoltia?
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most of my breeders are on the water paramaters you are stating , i just dump a box of bicarb straight into the water tanks everytime it rains as it puts the ph around 6.6 , and no worries i use the gold and white macrapore , rainwater can be good or bad , depends on where u live and where it was collected before being dumped on you , to increase hardness i use a pool hardner from the pool shop , around $10 a bag raises gh and kh and very cheap about 2 kilo in the bag i think
Hi guys
Thanks for all the tips,i have now taken out the gold and will take the clam shell out and since my wife works for aquasonic i might just use there buffer. I was trying to get a good balance without using any chemicals to keep things as natural as possible. I am trying to breed Hypans and Pekoltia. My rainwater ph is 6.2 tds 35 GH under 1 and KH under 1. Has anyone used the aquasonic tropical salt because it has all the same minerals as GH and my peps love it but i wasnt sure whether the plecs would aswell. On another water matter just wondering what product u use for removing phosphate.There is no phosphate present in my rainwater and when i set up these tanks i used new gravel that i rinsed many times and once added to the tanks the phosphate went almost off the scale. i have managed to get it down but cant get rid of it completly no matter how many water changes i do.
Thanks for all the tips,i have now taken out the gold and will take the clam shell out and since my wife works for aquasonic i might just use there buffer. I was trying to get a good balance without using any chemicals to keep things as natural as possible. I am trying to breed Hypans and Pekoltia. My rainwater ph is 6.2 tds 35 GH under 1 and KH under 1. Has anyone used the aquasonic tropical salt because it has all the same minerals as GH and my peps love it but i wasnt sure whether the plecs would aswell. On another water matter just wondering what product u use for removing phosphate.There is no phosphate present in my rainwater and when i set up these tanks i used new gravel that i rinsed many times and once added to the tanks the phosphate went almost off the scale. i have managed to get it down but cant get rid of it completly no matter how many water changes i do.
Hi Mr Tech Den
My wife emma just noticed your name on here and said she has spoken to you on a couple of occasions for aquasonic. From what i here you are a book of knowledge. Looking forward to learning more off you.
My wife emma just noticed your name on here and said she has spoken to you on a couple of occasions for aquasonic. From what i here you are a book of knowledge. Looking forward to learning more off you.
Oh - well give a big hello to Emma too and look forward to chatting to her again. She was mentioning you might have a visit out this way one day soon - be good to meet you both if you get the opportunity and time.
How is the "Little Lady" lol
Hope all goes well for you both and the special occasion I guess you will know all about the Carbonate Hardness Generator then too... lol
Great seeing you on here too.
How is the "Little Lady" lol
Hope all goes well for you both and the special occasion I guess you will know all about the Carbonate Hardness Generator then too... lol
Great seeing you on here too.
Oh and while she is getting the Carbonate hardness get her to grab you some Black Water Extract - preferrably the Blackwells rather than the Amazon and read the label a few times.
Have a special one happening next week in the Blackwater and it is a mix and a half. Peat, Sphagnum Moss, IAL and BAL extracts - spirrs them on and good all natural medicinal properties - 100% organic no dyes or colourings. Made by a local breeder and has worked well with the tests I did. Just checked my tanks and have...
L333 - 5 boys on eggs
L397 - 2 boys on eggs
L002 - 2 boys on eggs
L129 - 1 boy on eggs
L278 fry just left the cave
L144lf fry just left the cave
L080 3 lots of fry just left the caves
Squilions of common BN's
L066 trapped
L134 trapped
Have a special one happening next week in the Blackwater and it is a mix and a half. Peat, Sphagnum Moss, IAL and BAL extracts - spirrs them on and good all natural medicinal properties - 100% organic no dyes or colourings. Made by a local breeder and has worked well with the tests I did. Just checked my tanks and have...
L333 - 5 boys on eggs
L397 - 2 boys on eggs
L002 - 2 boys on eggs
L129 - 1 boy on eggs
L278 fry just left the cave
L144lf fry just left the cave
L080 3 lots of fry just left the caves
Squilions of common BN's
L066 trapped
L134 trapped
Wow John, that is quite a list i will definantly be getting some, what is that stuff called and do u have that on your web page?
And is that zeolite a phosphate removing resin mr back to basics?
And is that zeolite a phosphate removing resin mr back to basics?
I have not put on the Blackwater on the site as I like to only have up on the site what is currently in stock that way people get their orders straight away. I am hoping that I will have it all ready to go on this Friday and will be $29.95 for 2l and $18.50 for 500ml. Here is a copy of what the label will be like.
Well i will definantly get 2L as i have alot of tanks to use it in. So if i can get my perameters right and also use this blackwater stuff from you should that be all i need to get some spawns or do u think i am still missing something. And em is doing great,only a week to go before our new arr:woohoo:ival