discus tank water parameters what is going on with my tank.

[TwistedPenguin]

Yep-water change, water change. I've got my 4 Discus right now in a 70 g tank that I do weekly 70% water changes on. That tank and all my others dont' get above 10 ppm nitrates. 60-80 ppm is really high nitrates for any fish.
Don't listen to what any shop anywhere tells you. Just do a 50-70% water change as soon as your nitrates hit 10 ppm and you'll be fine. Keep checking them and when they hit 10 ppm, do a water change. Easy

 

[fishyjoe26]

Yep-water change, water change. I've got my 4 Discus right now in a 70 g tank that I do weekly 70% water changes on. That tank and all my others dont' get above 10 ppm nitrates. 60-80 ppm is really high nitrates for any fish.
Don't listen to what any shop anywhere tells you. Just do a 50-70% water change as soon as your nitrates hit 10 ppm and you'll be fine. Keep checking them and when they hit 10 ppm, do a water change. Easy

sweet thanks!

 

[DiscusOnly]

aha, ok thanks! I understand what you are saying now. also what do you think about long low tanks for discus, vs short and tall tanks. I have 135G
(84x16x22?) and a few local discus people tell me it's to long and low.
I currently have 13 discus in there that are 4.0 from head to end of tail.

I think the tank is fine for your discus but I personally don't like that type of footprint for tanks. If it's that long, I would prefer it to be at least 250gallon. It's already taken up too much in length already so I want some real gallon to go with it.

If you feel that it's too long, you can always divide it in 2 and have different size discus.

 

[revkkoolaid]

aha, ok thanks! I understand what you are saying now. also what do you think about long low tanks for discus, vs short and tall tanks. I have 135G
(84x16x22?) and a few local discus people tell me it's to long and low.
I currently have 13 discus in there that are 4.0 from head to end of tail.

As far as functionality that tank size is fine in IMO. I think what the "local discus people" may be ,at least in part ,basing there statements on is appearance. IMO discus do look better in taller tanks. My fav group I maintain is in a tank thats 72x30x49.

IMO In super tall tanks discus have an awesome presence because unlike many fish species they will typically utilize the entire water column.

 

[revkkoolaid]

thank you sir. so should I feed them a little less and do a 20-30%procent every other day. also do you perfer the flat pack of blood hearts, or the cubes to feed discus?

Did you mean to say bloodworms? If asking about bloodworms I prefer the big 16oz. flatpacks.

Saves a ton of money, keeps you stocked forever (help makes sure your fish get them consistently), and it puts the portion size more in your control.

I've never liked cubes of anything though. To me it's a pain in the butt to break them apart if you ever need extra sm. amounts. Plus once you're breaking them apart. . .what's the point? lol. And I've always prefered to feed most types of fish smaller portions spaced through out the day and in some cases a whole cube is way too much for a serving. Or vice versa and you need 4oz for a single feeding and you just feel silly messing with 9,780,858 cubes.

I don't, but some of my clients have found the big bulk flatpacks hard to break as well. For convenience you can thaw a whole pack out and re-freeze them in thinner sheets , as seen in the sm. flatpacks, using ziploc bags or saran wrap.

It's mostly just a matter of personal preference

 

[revkkoolaid]

i would only feed beef heart before doing WC.

I feel the same way about P.E. Mysis.

Doesn't stop me from using it lol. Love that stuff.

 

[revkkoolaid]

sweet thanks!

Sorry for making so many replies but I just had one question. . .how do you perform your water changes? I.e. buckets, mixing vat, carbon bottle, inline heaters, etc?

 

[fishyjoe26]

I think the tank is fine for your discus but I personally don't like that type of footprint for tanks. If it's that long, I would prefer it to be at least 250gallon. It's already taken up too much in length already so I want some real gallon to go with it.

If you feel that it's too long, you can always divide it in 2 and have different size discus.

I got it used at a "fair"(but everyone defines far differently) price.
I did have a 200-225 tall(72x24x30) and it was way to big in my bedroom,
sold to a guy who turned it in to a saltwater tank. I wish I could get a 240-400 in my bed room but there is no way thanks to how I've got to go down the hall and have little space to turn and get stuff in. 8 feet is to long, and 6x 24 wide is just right, anything bigger and there is no way to get it in my room.

As far as functionality that tank size is fine in IMO. I think what the "local discus people" may be ,at least in part ,basing there statements on is appearance. IMO discus do look better in taller tanks. My fav group I maintain is in a tank thats 72x30x49.IMO In super tall tanks discus have an awesome presence because unlike many fish species they will typically utilize the entire water column.

cool thanks, and who did you really mean 49 inches high or did you mean 29 or something like that.

Did you mean to say bloodworms? If asking about bloodworms I prefer the big 16oz. flatpacks. Saves a ton of money, keeps you stocked forever (help makes sure your fish get them consistently), and it puts the portion size more in your control.I've never liked cubes of anything though. To me it's a pain in the butt to break them apart if you ever need extra sm. amounts. Plus once you're breaking them apart. . .what's the point? lol. And I've always prefered to feed most types of fish smaller portions spaced through out the day and in some cases a whole cube is way too much for a serving. Or vice versa and you need 4oz for a single feeding and you just feel silly messing with 9,780,858 cubes.

I don't, but some of my clients have found the big bulk flatpacks hard to break as well. For convenience you can thaw a whole pack out and re-freeze them in thinner sheets , as seen in the sm. flatpacks, using ziploc bags or saran wrap.

It's mostly just a matter of personal preference

yeah I meant to say blood_worms. I found a sfbb.com sallys blood_worm 16oz. flatpack at a LFS for 9.99, it was soppost to be 14.99 but it was in the computer as 9.99 so the guy gave it to me for 9.99 plus tax.

Sorry for making so many replies but I just had one question. . .how do you perform your water changes? I.e. buckets, mixing vat, carbon bottle, inline heaters, etc?

bucket(s), with tap water, pour prime and stability in it, then stick a heater use to 84 degree in it, with a air stone. let it age over night, or a whole day. check it, and it everything is ok, I pour it in to the tank. is that wrong? oh and I also heard that blue diamonds are the weak ones of all the discus when it comes to water parameters changing, and food changes etc etc is that true? if I remember right, I got one blue diamond,a snow leapord,golden rod,and the rest are snow whites/white diamonds.

 

[revkkoolaid]

did you really mean 49 inches high or did you mean 29 or something like that.

Lol. Nope 49 inches.

"yeah I meant to say blood_worms. I found a sfbb.com sallys blood_worm 16oz. flatpack at a LFS for 9.99, it was soppost to be 14.99 but it was in the computer as 9.99 so the guy gave it to me for 9.99 plus tax."

Thats a good price. You can buy frozen food crazy cheap online. I use hikari bloodworms. I've found lots of wierd crap in the other brands of bloodworms. Even leaves and sticks and crap. Enough to make me forever paranoid of what else is "in" there lol.

bucket(s), with tap water, pour prime and stability in it, then stick a heater use to 84 degree in it, with a air stone. let it age over night, or a whole day. check it, and it everything is ok, I pour it in to the tank. is that wrong? oh and I also heard that blue diamonds are the weak ones of all the discus when it comes to water parameters changing, and food changes etc etc is that true? if I remember right, I got one blue diamond,a snow leapord,golden rod,and the rest are snow whites/white diamonds.

OMG! How long does that take??? Thats a lot of buckets. I abandoned the ways of the bucket long long ago in a Petco far far away lol.

I do wc on discus tanks all day every day using a carbon bottle attached to the tap and have had no problems. You could do a 50% on your tank in like 45mins with no lifting hehe. And thats being slolw and careful lol.
You can use the temp control on the faucet all though it does help keep the temp stable if you have inline heaters running during a w/c.

 

[fishyjoe26]

Lol. Nope 49 inches.




Thats a good price. You can buy frozen food crazy cheap online. I use hikari bloodworms. I've found lots of wierd crap in the other brands of bloodworms. Even leaves and sticks and crap. Enough to make me forever paranoid of what else is "in" there lol.



OMG! How long does that take??? Thats a lot of buckets. I abandoned the ways of the bucket long long ago in a Petco far far away lol.

I do wc on discus tanks all day every day using a carbon bottle attached to the tap and have had no problems. You could do a 50% on your tank in like 45mins with no lifting hehe. And thats being slolw and careful lol.
You can use the temp control on the faucet all though it does help keep the temp stable if you have inline heaters running during a w/c.

what temp control on the faucet? my tap water doesn't have a temp control it just has a cold knob and a hot know. how much is a inline heater?