Water Chemistry

[Judobadger]

My tap water has me wondering what to do.  GH is 300+ppm (17+ dgh), but my kh is 80 ppm (4.5 dgh) and ph 6.7.  I keep angels, electric blue acara, and various corydoras right now.  I don't like the super high GH, but also feel like I should be buffering my kh since its a little low and so is my PH.  Any bright ideas?  I have a fish room and I am an aspiring breeder and I think my water parameters are causing trouble with spawning and fry survival.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Judobadger

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/26/2022 at 7:37 AM, Judobadger said:

GH is 300+ppm (17+ dgh), but my kh is 80 ppm (4.5 dgh) and ph 6.7.

This is the same water I have.  It's great for fish that like hard water and the KH is just stable enough to keep PH right under 7.  You can mix it with RO water if you want to lower hardness, run a moderate amount of crushed coral in the tanks to buffer KH back up to a stable level and your PH will sit at around 6.8-7.2
 

[Judobadger]

On 7/26/2022 at 11:11 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

This is the same water I have.  It's great for fish that like hard water and the KH is just stable enough to keep PH right under 7.  You can mix it with RO water if you want to lower hardness, run a moderate amount of crushed coral in the tanks to buffer KH back up to a stable level and your PH will sit at around 6.8-7.2
 

So really I should be adjusting what I keep.  I have no issues keeping the fish I have, but breeding has been a struggle.

[Brandon p]

On 7/26/2022 at 10:37 AM, Judobadger said:

My tap water has me wondering what to do.  GH is 300+ppm (17+ dgh), but my kh is 80 ppm (4.5 dgh) and ph 6.7.  I keep angels, electric blue acara, and various corydoras right now.  I don't like the super high GH, but also feel like I should be buffering my kh since its a little low and so is my PH.  Any bright ideas?  I have a fish room and I am an aspiring breeder and I think my water parameters are causing trouble with spawning and fry survival.

I have very similar water you have some buffer. My GH is way of the charts. My angels angels are breeding like crazy ) pairs with 2 pairs with fry band 2 more with eggs. The panda corys are breeding as well. I would not be too concerned. I do sometimes put some peat in a pantyhose and tie at both ends and place in the filter. It won’t do much for the ph mane go to 6.6 but the hard ness may come down a liitle. I would not do anything. I don’t thing it’s the water and the more you mess with it the less the breed at least for me. Can you reel us about you paid and if that have any other fish in the tanks with them. 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Brandon p

[Judobadger]

On 7/26/2022 at 11:21 AM, Brandon p said:

I have very similar water you have some buffer. My GH is way of the charts. My angels angels are breeding like crazy ) pairs with 2 pairs with fry band 2 more with eggs. The panda corys are breeding as well. I would not be too concerned. I do sometimes put some peat in a pantyhose and tie at both ends and place in the filter. It won’t do much for the ph mane go to 6.6 but the hard ness may come down a liitle. I would not do anything 

Perhaps I need to look elsewhere then.  My angel fry get to free swimming and die off.  My electric blue acara do better, but I have had issues loosing a few here and there as they grow out.  Lately at around an inch I seem to be loosing 1 or 2 a day.  My metae cory are spawning regularly but perhaps 20% of the eggs make it to free swimming.  

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/26/2022 at 8:19 AM, Judobadger said:

I have no issues keeping the fish I have, but breeding has been a struggle.

with corys or which specifically?

If you haven't seen it, this is a very helpful topic for anyone trying to breed fish.
 

 

[TeeJay]

Yes that's about where my water is out of the tap myself. Except my kh is 1 out of the tap. I keep a 1lb bag of crushed coral in my hob and have a about 1.5 to 2lbs mixed in with my substrate. With that it keeps my kh right around a 4. So I would think the crushed coral would give you the extra kh that your looking for 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

First off you are breeding these fish, the outcomes are not quite where you want them but they are breeding so overall these are happy fish. Good work. 

In terms of softening the water and adding forms of humic acid to the tank peat, wood, and leaves are best for that - I have found guava and cinnamon leaves to be good along with good old catapa. @nabokovfan87suggestion with RO water reminds me of some of the old school breeders using rain water to induce breeding and make them get in the mood. You could get a 35 g trash can and aerate the water, adding in some of these softeners and then use that as your breeding water and see if that makes a difference. 

Crushed coral is magic, stabilizes things and makes me happy and feel safe not doing it with chemicals. 

I think consistency is the key. These groups you are breeding they are all fish that get better at breeding as they age and develop so I would not make too many changes. Make one tweak at a time and then see how it goes for a cycle of breeding and reassess. 

You are breeding these fish and they probably just need more time. 

[Brandon p]

You can remove them once the free swim I do with some pairs. The partners can eat them in a night. I have a 3 gal for the fry I take out first. I use the smallest bbs I can get. I’ll harvest early so I get the snails and use repashy right from the bootle. I take a little on a chopstick and mix a small amount. I use a small sponge filter but I know people that just use an air stone of last the ziss brreeder. The corys I would remove the eggs as soon as you can. Once the mistletoe fertilizes them I would take them out of the tank and into a breeder of a Tupperware with an air stone. 

are you trying to breed them in one tank?

Edited July 26, 2022 by Brandon p

[Judobadger]

On 7/26/2022 at 11:11 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

This is the same water I have.  It's great for fish that like hard water and the KH is just stable enough to keep PH right under 7.  You can mix it with RO water if you want to lower hardness, run a moderate amount of crushed coral in the tanks to buffer KH back up to a stable level and your PH will sit at around 6.8-7.2
 

I have RO for my reef.....that would work well.

 

On 7/26/2022 at 4:30 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

with corys or which specifically?

If you haven't seen it, this is a very helpful topic for anyone trying to breed fish.

I am breeding metae corydora right now and will be playing with sterbai. 

 

On 7/26/2022 at 5:57 PM, Brandon p said:

You can remove them once the free swim I do with some pairs. The partners can eat them in a night. I have a 3 gal for the fry I take out first. I use the smallest bbs I can get. I’ll harvest early so I get the snails and use repashy right from the bootle. I take a little on a chopstick and mix a small amount. I use a small sponge filter but I know people that just use an air stone of last the ziss brreeder. The corys I would remove the eggs as soon as you can. Once the mistletoe fertilizes them I would take them out of the tank and into a breeder of a Tupperware with an air stone. 

are you trying to breed them in one tank?

The blue acara are good parents up to a point.  I usually pull cory eggs and use a tumbler or breeder box.  The angels have been a pain.  I typically do a breeder box hanging in the tank (for temp) with methylene blue and daily changes.  That gets a decent number to free swimming and I feed them fresh hatch BBS.  Unfortunately in the breeder box the disappear over time.  I probably need a smaller established tank instead...

 

[Judobadger]

On 7/26/2022 at 4:30 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

with corys or which specifically?

If you haven't seen it, this is a very helpful topic for anyone trying to breed fish.
 

 

This is great!!!