Questions about my First Discus Tank

[UnstoppableJayD]

Monster brings in Asian discus but his prices are reasonable and I've had good success with his fish.

 

[fattubwhale]

Keeping discus is as easy as keeping any other fish, Only difference is they require a little more TLC.
You can raise/Keep your discus in straight tap water with no additive. When I was raising and breeding (On A Break ;-) ) I kept all My Juvies/Sub adults In 100% aged Tap water and my pairs in RO.. The purpose of aging is to aerate/ agitate the water to help dissipate cholorine and to degas/minimize micro bubbles that come with the winter months... it also helped stabilize the PH were out tap was 8.6 and after aging it would settle to 7.8. But my discus was rarely affected by .8 swing! My barrels age any where from 24-72 hrs depending how many tanks I'm changing. When adding water back to the tanks all I do is add a little SAFE "powder form of prime" and fill... I use SAFE to help bind any cholorine that didnt gas off and chloramines which is in our water. From June till Sept I will use water straight from the tap with safe. I won't get into RO since you won't be breeding.
For the water changes, if you were keeping Adults (which your tank is perfect for) you could get by with 90/100% water changes every 5/7 days depending how heavy you feed them... Daily water changes would apply for Fry/Juvie grow outs, I do 90-95% water changes daily sometimes twice on my grow out tank mainly because of the power feeding I do. My fishes diet consisted of Home made beef heart, ocean nutrition prime reef flakes, Krill, assortment of flakes from KensFish, tetra color bit, freeze dried black worms and blood worms as a treat once in a blue
For the filtration if your gonna use your eheim your gonna want to put a filter sock or sponge on the intake and be prepared to flush your media every few month.
Bottom line is, For healthy and Happy Discus It all comes down to PRISTINE WATER CONDITIONS, QUALITY FOOD and a little TLC.
I think I covered everything lol....
This is the reason for a 90% water change this was the 2nd feeding for the day!

Also what works for us doesn't mean it will work for you. Each and everyone of us fish keepers have our own ways of doing things....
My water parameters: ph 7.8 GH and KH 2-3 temp 82
Most of my Discus came from Kennys Discus, Mike @ central Ohio discus (I think Mike is only breeding rays now) and Hans. I have no issues mixing Asian and euro fish together Key thing is to QT
Some of my pass adults and grow outs
@ 2"

as a juvie


little older

14+ mo My "Big Blue" almost 7"

the rest of the new crew

 

[h0ckeyfreek20]

Hans discus are well known for being very hardy and handling high ph water quite well. He actually just used aged tap water to keep his discus in.

As far as the water parameters, I recommend you don't mess with what comes out of your tap. Just use dechlorinator (I recommend Prime) and temperature acclimate. When it comes to water changes, same thing. It might take the fish a short while to initially get acclimated but once they do they will be fine in whatever type of water you have. I've seen many people on SimplyDiscus talk about raising and keeping discus in water with ph's as high as 8.2-8.6.

As far as the large frequent water changes go, you are actually keeping the water more stable by doing them. You are not letting the water go through ph shifts that it does with the regular nitrification cycle and you are keeping the nitrates and TDS very low. This is key to growing out healthy, large, colorful discus.

For your filtration, that canister might not be the best option. They are known for not being regularly cleaned and the more gunk and detritus that builds up in them the worse they make the water for the discus. If you are growing out juvies then I recommend getting four large sponge filters to use instead. Once the discus are over the 5" mark then the canister should be fine, as long as you clean it out every few weeks.

If growing out juvies, I do still recommend removing the plants and driftwood because it will only make it harder to keep the water clean. Once the fish are above the 4.5-5" mark, then I think it's safe to put the decor and plants back in.

Definitely am going to head your warnings about the plants and just make it bare bottom! But I have to say my eheim 2262 is going to stay. I clean it regularly and it is a beast of a filter for a 120g tank. I will be sure to check my parameters frequently!!

Monster brings in Asian discus but his prices are reasonable and I've had good success with his fish.

Awesome Jay thank you! I should just look this up, But have you had better luck with keeping asian or german discus? Is one heartier or better looking?

Keeping discus is as easy as keeping any other fish, Only difference is they require a little more TLC.
You can raise/Keep your discus in straight tap water with no additive. When I was raising and breeding (On A Break ;-) ) I kept all My Juvies/Sub adults In 100% aged Tap water and my pairs in RO.. The purpose of aging is to aerate/ agitate the water to help dissipate cholorine and to degas/minimize micro bubbles that come with the winter months... it also helped stabilize the PH were out tap was 8.6 and after aging it would settle to 7.8. But my discus was rarely affected by .8 swing! My barrels age any where from 24-72 hrs depending how many tanks I'm changing. When adding water back to the tanks all I do is add a little SAFE "powder form of prime" and fill... I use SAFE to help bind any cholorine that didnt gas off and chloramines which is in our water. From June till Sept I will use water straight from the tap with safe. I won't get into RO since you won't be breeding.
For the water changes, if you were keeping Adults (which your tank is perfect for) you could get by with 90/100% water changes every 5/7 days depending how heavy you feed them... Daily water changes would apply for Fry/Juvie grow outs, I do 90-95% water changes daily sometimes twice on my grow out tank mainly because of the power feeding I do. My fishes diet consisted of Home made beef heart, ocean nutrition prime reef flakes, Krill, assortment of flakes from KensFish, tetra color bit, freeze dried black worms and blood worms as a treat once in a blue
For the filtration if your gonna use your eheim your gonna want to put a filter sock or sponge on the intake and be prepared to flush your media every few month.
Bottom line is, For healthy and Happy Discus It all comes down to PRISTINE WATER CONDITIONS, QUALITY FOOD and a little TLC.
I think I covered everything lol....
This is the reason for a 90% water change this was the 2nd feeding for the day!

Also what works for us doesn't mean it will work for you. Each and everyone of us fish keepers have our own ways of doing things....
My water parameters: ph 7.8 GH and KH 2-3 temp 82
Most of my Discus came from Kennys Discus, Mike @ central Ohio discus (I think Mike is only breeding rays now) and Hans. I have no issues mixing Asian and euro fish together Key thing is to QT
Some of my pass adults and grow outs
@ 2"

as a juvie


little older

14+ mo My "Big Blue" almost 7"

the rest of the new crew

Wow gorgeous discus!! Let me buy some!! haha!

I don't have any way to get RO water or let the water sit. All my water changes go directly from the faucet to the tank. Will this be okay with large water changes? provided I keep the temperature in check and add safe/prime during the fill up.

 

[UnstoppableJayD]

I've kept both successfully and have found neither any easier/difficult to keep. Also I do direct water changes with my domestic discus without issues. As far as looks that is all preference.

 

[fattubwhale]

R/O is good if your going to breed! If your growing out Juvies or keeping adults straight from tap will be just fine, I use tap water from late spring till late fall. The onle time I age my water is in the winter month because the water is lot colder and theres often more dissolved gas in the water (cold water holds more gas). During the winter, if you fill your tank straight from tap you will see lots of micro bubbles and the will attach to the Discus and that will stress the discus and they start shedding their slime coat.

 

[SGdiscus]

Definitely am going to head your warnings about the plants and just make it bare bottom! But I have to say my eheim 2262 is going to stay. I clean it regularly and it is a beast of a filter for a 120g tank.

I agree with many of the solid recommendations here. Just a minor point for sharing, I have a 130g tank with a sump. In Feb 2017, I added 7 wild discus (4.5 to 6.5") to the tank. I feed them twice a day on beefheart. I realised that I had to change the filter wool once every two weeks. Two weeks ago, I added another 3 wild discus. The filter wool in the sump turns black after 1 week. Changing filter wool often is a good thing because it removes the large organics and improves water quality.

Also if possible try to buy your preferred discus in 1 go. Adding new discus without quarantine is asking for trouble. This can be partially mitigated if the different batches are from the same source which you trust. Good to ask them about their quarantine procedures.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

 

[h0ckeyfreek20]

I've kept both successfully and have found neither any easier/difficult to keep. Also I do direct water changes with my domestic discus without issues. As far as looks that is all preference.

Awesome glad to hear I can use straight tap. I like the looks of Hans German discus and all the Asian discus I have seen. I really can't tell the difference haha

R/O is good if your going to breed! If your growing out Juvies or keeping adults straight from tap will be just fine, I use tap water from late spring till late fall. The onle time I age my water is in the winter month because the water is lot colder and theres often more dissolved gas in the water (cold water holds more gas). During the winter, if you fill your tank straight from tap you will see lots of micro bubbles and the will attach to the Discus and that will stress the discus and they start shedding their slime coat.

Never even thought of that!! I will be sure to get a large container before winter to let the gasses dissolve for water changes!! Thank you!

I agree with many of the solid recommendations here. Just a minor point for sharing, I have a 130g tank with a sump. In Feb 2017, I added 7 wild discus (4.5 to 6.5") to the tank. I feed them twice a day on beefheart. I realised that I had to change the filter wool once every two weeks. Two weeks ago, I added another 3 wild discus. The filter wool in the sump turns black after 1 week. Changing filter wool often is a good thing because it removes the large organics and improves water quality.

Also if possible try to buy your preferred discus in 1 go. Adding new discus without quarantine is asking for trouble. This can be partially mitigated if the different batches are from the same source which you trust. Good to ask them about their quarantine procedures.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

Hmm that is getting dirty very often. Making me rethink my Rhein. I'm just trying to think of how I could rig up a sump with my current setup. Not much room for an overflow box back there

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Awesome glad to hear I can use straight tap. I like the looks of Hans German discus and all the Asian discus I have seen. I really can't tell the difference haha



Never even thought of that!! I will be sure to get a large container before winter to let the gasses dissolve for water changes!! Thank you!



Hmm that is getting dirty very often. Making me rethink my Rhein. I'm just trying to think of how I could rig up a sump with my current setup. Not much room for an overflow box back there

Honestly, best thing you can do for growing them out is to get a good air pump and run sponge filters. They're super cheap and you can just rinse half of them with each water change so that you alternate their cleaning. Once they are grown out above 5" you can switch to the canister and free up the space in the tank by removing the sponge filters.

For a water change container, check out Craigslist for 55 gallon blue plastic food grade barrels. They have to be food grade so that they are safe for the fish. Just make sure you clean them really well and give them a bleach soak before using them. Here is a picture of one of mine that I got for $10.



I keep it in the closet of our pet room. The ambient temperature is 70* and when I fill it from empty the water can be as low as 57*. I keep a 200gph powerhead running in it and an AquaTop 300W heater, and a cheapo digital thermometer. It can bring the 57* water up to 80* in about 10 hours. I cut half of the top off with a sawsall so I can take the pumps and heaters in and out. What's really nice is that these things probably only weigh 15-20lbs empty. Very easy to move.

 

[fattubwhale]

Many Discus keepers use HOB and other filters, Most prefer and use Sponges and some do a combo with sponges and HOB. If your going to use the 2262 just add a intake filter sponge. I've done this on aquaclear 110 and on eheim 2215 and it works just fine. What I would do is order a few extra replacement sponges and change them out every day or every couple of days depending on your feeding amounts (or just rinse and reuse)
Your tank set up as is now is a perfect tank for adults if you go with juvies just prepare your self for some extra work.
As stated by SG, when you decide to get your fish get it from one supplier and follow through with a QT procedure. It will be a lot easier than having 2 QT tanks

http://m.drsfostersmith.com/product...NtOVmyapY-WjOEtPmhAwMS-UQuhjR2ssqMaAoeq8P8HAQ

 

[Lilyann]

Captive are much stronger and the traces and stuff aren't always nescessary depending on how your tap is. German is Hans or piwoski for the most part- Asian discus have more varieties but sometimes stuff from Asia can come in with funky diseases- my favorite vendors for Asian discus are discus r us- uncle Sams discus or actually monster aquarium in NYC brings in a lot and you can hand pick

Agreed, I have 2 Alenquer F1 sub-adults that I received from Uncle Sam's about four months ago that are really nice. Another good vendor I have purchased Asians from is Kenny out of Daly City, Ca. You can find his listing every month on Simply Discus.