Apistos and salt

[nir_tza]

Hey there..
My name is Nir Tzabar and I am from Israel..
Do you think apistos can live and breed in ~60 ppm of salt??
Thank you..

 

[Mike Wise]

Many will live in 60 ppm salt, and some will breed in it. It depends on the species. Why do you use salt? Is it in the water naturally?

 

[nir_tza]

I am going to use ion exchange so it is changing the calcium and magnesium ion to sodium ion.
do u have any advise on how to get rid of calcium???

 

[Mike Wise]

A better ion exchange system it the type used by science laboratories. It uses hydrochloric acid instead of salt. Most hobbyists use reverse osmosis systems. The water is much more pure than the NaCl water softener, which lowers hardness at the expense of electrical conductivity. The e.c. can be more of a problem with some fish than the hardness.

 

[nir_tza]

I have r\o system, but I am afraid that 100% r/o water will be missing some necesary elements for them to breed.
What do you think?

 

[Cathy G]

Yes, you will have to add back in the electrolytes, if your tap water is good - if it doesn't have metals - etc, you can mix this with the RO water. You can also add Kent's RO Right to the RO water- it has lots of electrolytes. After adding this, there are other Kent products to stabilize the pH, and add some necessary hardness of your fish need it. (You can also add non phosphate buffer products to lower your ph and keep it stable.)

Ted Judy from this forum, just did a presentation to our local aquarium club on this very subject. Perhaps if you tell us what kind of fish you would like to keep, we can help establish some values for your water, and recommend some products.

Cathy

 

[nir_tza]

Well for start I am going to have A. viejita and A. macmasteri this sunday...

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

Something else to consider. I use 100% RO water for all of my apisto's, the only thing I do with it is to let it filter through moss peat for 24 hours prior to use.

I have a main 350 litre water storage drum that the RO water is fed into, above this is a 150 litre drum filled about 2/3 full of moss peat. I have a small pump in the main drum that pumps the water up into this smaller drum which is then gravity fed back into the main drum.

This gives water with a pH of ~5, GH ~1 and KH not detectable, and this has allowed me to breed quite a range of Apistogramma.

My tanks use a silica sand substrate, are equipped with bogwood, plants in clay pots and along with a good variety of foods I believe all the essential elements are present for the apisto's to thrive.

Andrew

 

[koty]

Nir Hi,
If you have a standard comercial non scientific R/O system you can safely use 100%. You do not get pure R/O unless you payed $20,000 for your system (as I did for the one I have in my lab). I use 100-95% R/O and mix in some of the activated carbon filtered water. Peat extract is also key for the well being of the fish you named. The pH in this case is rather stable at 5.0-5.5. If you want lower pH you need to use acids or use pure R/O and extra acidic peat (you can get it in your country pH=3.5)
Where will you get our a Veijita and macmasteri from?
Koty

 

[nir_tza]

Hi Koty.
First thanks, and I am living not far from you..
I get them from FISH PLANET if you want to contact them let me know.
and where do you get your peat from?

 

[koty]

FISH PLANETwhere and who are they???



call them about the peat:

http://www.hagarin.co.il/Contact/Contact.htm
you get a very large package of 300 liter for less then 200 NIS enough for several years

 

[nir_tza]

She is an importer from beit itzhak near natanya.