Houston Water

[billybareblu]

I'm not a beginner, but it has been almost ten years since I kept fish and that was in Austin.

It may already have been addressed but I could not find information on Houston water.

I want to get back into Malawi Cichlids but I do not want to have to treat the water, if it is not alkaline here.

I'm in SW Houston/Alief area. Any info is appreciated.

[supadave]

The water in Houston is very hard and has a ph of about 7.8 . I have bred and raised many Malawi cichlids and they all loved Houston water . I did not have to add anything to the water other than dechlorinator .

[supadave]

BTW.... Welcome to the BOX !!!!!!!!!!!

[fshfrk]

Most of Houston is on chloramines now. So get the dechlorintors that can handle this. 10 yrs ago you probably dealt with chlorine. Good Luck.

[Sea-agg09]

Most of the commercial dechlorinaters you buy handle it now. I'm pretty sure it's a big city thing to have chloramines. It shouldn't be something you have to look high and low for, but still definitely check.

Test your tap water for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. I know galveston water has measurable (.1 ppm) ammonia readings, which caused me major headaches when my algae problems only got worse after water changes. It won't be a big deal, but you may want to consider your maintenance schedule with this in mind. A huge (50% or more) water change may actually be harmful unless you run your water through a massive carbon snake.

Edit: Welcome to the box!

[billybareblu]

Oh that's good to know! Thanks for the info and thanks for the nice welcomes

[TaTeR ToT]

Welcome back to the hobby.

The water from my tap is 8.4 I'm at Jones and 290.

It's great for my trophs, petros, and simos, but my geophagus, plecos, and tetras, don't like it very much.
For them I dose seachem acid buffer and discus buffer, along with peat moss in my canisters.

[Gene D]

Welcome to the box

[CajunAg]

Would using seachem prime and aging the water (letting it sit in a barrel + a surface agitator) for about 24 hours make the water ok for discus? I know it won't change the hardness, that's fine as I plan on getting adults and not breeding. Prime is supposed to convert the ammonia to a non-toxic form 9among other things), and agitating the water will remove excess chlorine and trapped gasses. Am I right?

[JGUERRA]

Would using seachem prime and aging the water (letting it sit in a barrel + a surface agitator) for about 24 hours make the water ok for discus? I know it won't change the hardness, that's fine as I plan on getting adults and not breeding. Prime is supposed to convert the ammonia to a non-toxic form 9among other things), and agitating the water will remove excess chlorine and trapped gasses. Am I right?

+1 id like to know too
thanks
jose

[myjohnson]

Prime = noob

Safe = exp

Seachem water conditioner don't change ph.

[CajunAg]

What brand makes Safe?

[mgarrido]

What brand makes Safe?

Same as prime, seachem. Safe is the dry version of prime.

[Zulaab]

Would using seachem prime and aging the water (letting it sit in a barrel + a surface agitator) for about 24 hours make the water ok for discus? I know it won't change the hardness, that's fine as I plan on getting adults and not breeding. Prime is supposed to convert the ammonia to a non-toxic form 9among other things), and agitating the water will remove excess chlorine and trapped gasses. Am I right?

From a chemical standpoint, letting water stand in a barrel allows Oxygen to get to the water. All processes that Safe/Prime/AmQuel etc does to the water is converting their chemical with Oxygen into a substance that no longer is harmful to fish.
Note the main thing it uses is Oxygen. Chlorine evaps by itself off non-pressurized water in about 48 hours. Add Ammonia into the mix (Chloramines) and you can now extend the time to about 5-7 days. (as long as the water has movement then this will happen at all layers of the water)

Now a point with regards to discus. If you keep wild caught. You will need to get a reverse osmosis machine and remove the PH (ie neutralize it to pH 7)
Houston water for the most part comes out around 7.8-8.4. Aging water will not change the hardness.

Non-wild Discus get a pH reading from where you are getting your Discus.
I have seen way to many people go buy Discus and put them in 6.5pH water just to find out that they where living in 8.2.
Discus are sensitive to pH changes, and you can make Discus stressed for weeks by changing their environment like that.