starting over with my 180gal tank. i have always wanted to have a discus tank. i think i understand most of what i need to know to get started exept one thing. why do you need to change up to 50% of water as often as 2x a week? now im not talking about the first month or two i understand cycling the tank. but for the longterm is that many water changes nessesary and if so why? now i dont want to sound like im not willing to be dedicated to my fish its just that with other fish i have keept i never had to change water that often to keep them happy and healthy and i dont want to get a bunch of fish just for them to get sick and posibly die. i dont like to see any animal die becaus of lack of understanding there needs. please explane this for me. and if discus are not for me then so be it. i just want to be educated before i bring home some of these beutiful fish.
water changes and yes i searched first
- Thread starter shane.s
- Start date
w/c's are to keep the ph and nitrates in check, short answer. im shure someone else will elaborate much better than me.
as far as ph goes i dont understand how it changes unless u do somthing to make it change. now nitrates i understand but once your tank is astablished and you have the proper bio load in your tank then your good bacteria should take care of it or am i wrong
biological bacteria breaks down ph after time, and the nitrogen cycle breaks ammonia down to nitrites, then down to nitrates. the only way of removing nitrates is with water changes. the amount and frequency of water changes will depend in your stocking and bio load, usually for most of us with large, messy fish and heavily stocked tanks that means large, frequent water changes. depending on the fish you keep you want to aim for 20ppm of nitrates or less on average. the only way of knowing how many and how much water changes you need to do is by testing your water frequently with a good quality test kit.
ok that makes sence. so do discus need to be kept in that larg of a group i know they are a school fish i have been told that for my size tank that i should have anywhere from 12 to 16 discus that seems like a lot to me i was thinking like 6 or 8 with some small tank mates like maybe 4 to 6 cleaners
shane.s;1686685; said:
Also, don't forget another reason for the water changes is the sheer amount of food discus will consume. Some people feed 6 times a day @ 85deg. I only feed 4 times a day @ 82deg. This alone means your more subject to a ph crash if the water isn't changed more frequently.
Has nothing to do with pH.
Discus are highly nitrate sensitive and will get hexamita outbreaks if they become stressed, it's preferable to keep it under 10 ppm.
They also have more complex slime coats than other fish, which require continous mineral content to keep them healthy.
Discus are highly nitrate sensitive and will get hexamita outbreaks if they become stressed, it's preferable to keep it under 10 ppm.
They also have more complex slime coats than other fish, which require continous mineral content to keep them healthy.
In a tank your size you could do as many as 20 discus, the more the merrier - you will see more complex harem behaviors, it's a hard concept for people used to keeping violent CA's to come to terms with - but they shoal and even breeding pairs defending eggs are pretty much giant wimps.
Nitrates are not naturally filtered out by the biological process, it is the end result of ammonia and nitrite - and is one of the primary reasons we do water changes.
Nitrates are not naturally filtered out by the biological process, it is the end result of ammonia and nitrite - and is one of the primary reasons we do water changes.
Another thing to remember also about discus w/c's is that they don't like water straight from the tap even treated. you will do alot better if the water is aged and treated with prime before using for water changes. If you want more information on discus I would suggest taking a look at www.simplydiscus.com. And the recommended minimum for discus numbers is 5 - 6. In that size tank 8 would probably be better depending on what else you intend on putting in with them.
good luck.
good luck.
pH is just a measure of free floating hydrogen ions, it can't be broken down. Materials with a lower pH reading than the surrounding mass can be introduced thus lower the whole masses pH. If you are keeping captively bred discus, forget about pH. I have seen them kept from 5.0 to 8.0 and all grew large with extremely healthy lives. They are sensitive, however, so you should find out what the pH, TDS, kH, and gH of the water of the breeder and SLOWLY adjust them.
*edit so this isn't a total thread derail* the 2x h20 change is because discus metabolize the large amounts of food they eat very fast. The majority of fish waste comes out as liquid ammonia and is processed by nitrosomonas/nitrobacter into nitrites and then further by nitrospiros into nitrates. More ammonia produced= increased production in nitrates. Depending stocking levels and tank size you can get up into 40-50 ppm range real fast, which will seriously inhibit discus growth.
*edit so this isn't a total thread derail* the 2x h20 change is because discus metabolize the large amounts of food they eat very fast. The majority of fish waste comes out as liquid ammonia and is processed by nitrosomonas/nitrobacter into nitrites and then further by nitrospiros into nitrates. More ammonia produced= increased production in nitrates. Depending stocking levels and tank size you can get up into 40-50 ppm range real fast, which will seriously inhibit discus growth.