Daily water changes?

[Erk]

Does everyone do daily water changes when raising discus? Im not planning on breeding or anything, I just want them to grow big and fast, and be happy and healthy! :D I feel like I stress them out with being in there daily to vac up leftover food and poop. They dont swim around much anymore, and they dont seem to excited about any food I put in there right away...it takes them a long time to eat everything, but they do eat everything, eventually. Can i do my water changes every other day maybe? Its a 20 gallon BB, with a big fake plant and a lil rock sculpture thing with fake plants on it, and a sponge filter only. Temp is 88F. I cant tell for sure but the ocean green is getting to be a pretty dark green color, and I was hoping its cause of the food and stuff and him growing. I hope he isnt turning black, cause I have him pissed at me?? :? I will try to get some good looks at him tonight with the lights on...last night I was busy, so I didnt really get to see them with the lights on much at all

Thanks for your help and suggestions as always!!

[ILLUSN]

i only do weekly changes bout 40% with good aged water, if your doing daily 10% should be ok, just enough to get all the **** and uneaten food of the botom.

[Erk]

Thanks ILLUSN, but its actually about 25% maybe a lil less, I try to vac quickly and get the leftovers and the nasties out and thats it, but its about 4-5 gallons, and they are in a 20gal. Also, I realized tonight I musta messed up the pH somewhere along the lines...there is a thread about it in the emergency room section I started since I have been home and found out :(

Thanks for the info tho

[the german]

10% a day is good 20% is better,all depense on how much you feed and what you feed,when you feed lots of beef heart (3-4 times)plus bloodworms and brine shrimp i would go with 20%

[Erk]

Thanks german, I didnt do one last night, cause of the pH situation. (Thread in "emergency room") I do feed a good bit of frozen food, and I have a good bit of different frozen food, but total they prolly get 2-3 feeds a day with some sort of frozen food, so I will def. do a water change tonight when I get home. I have 2 different kinds of frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, beefheart, and mysis shrimp, and they get at least 2 cubes of something of that a day, plus some dry foods. I guess im on the right track, I just wish I didnt mess up the pH somehow. I do a 5 gallon bucket change in the 20gallon Quarantine tank, so its between 20-25% daily

Thanks for your help german :D

[garikfox]

Hehee, Ill Throw people a Loop here. heh 8-) :wink:

In Reality, The correct WC method is 10% a week. :wink:

[ILLUSN]

10% works well with minimal feeding, slightly lower stocking level and goodfiltration (or hevily plantd tanks) I got a mate wo does bout 10-15% a month!!! but hes got 2 discus 1 bristlenose and a clown loach in a 4 foot (160L) planted tank and feeds whenever he can be bothered (i think once evry 3-4 days, still fish seem happy.

[nicholas76]

Putting it simply

W/C is dictated by tank size and fish density.

i have 6 X 2 inch discus in a 400 litre tank and I do 30% every saturday and feed them heaps like the pigs they are!

[scott bowler]

i have 3ft breeding tanks and i do about 10 to 20% wc daily and on the other 3 4fts i do about 20% twice a week and on the 2 5ft and the 6 fter i do 40% once a week so we go though a heap of water in this house . so yeah nic like you said it depends on what you use them for and how many fish and how big the tanks are

[the german]

In Reality, The correct WC method is 10% a week. :wink:



will work with 3 discus in 30G,but only when you feed twice a week :wink:
or maybe three times.
will get you some razorbacks....... :?

[scott bowler]

hehe not nice german hehe every one does thinks diffrent , and the resault are diffrent to thats why we do it ,everyone can have they own oppinon hehe

[the german]

yes scott,thats ok,but tell me how a good stocked tank with normal feeding (like your tanks) will look after a few month with 10%WC a week,
i dont think your fish will like that.
i think there are many poeple out there searching advice and when some of them read that maybe there belive it.
i only can say that i do that discus stuff for a while now and when that would work it would save me a lot of work and money.
sorry when that sounds not nice.its not ment that way,im just german :D

[scott bowler]

hehe thats cool mike ,and i agree with you but this guy said
Hehee, Ill Throw people a Loop here. heh 8-) :wink:

In Reality, The correct WC method is 10% a week. :wink: and if some one like that is doing it that way and iworks for them then so be it, you and i have had discus for many years and we know that that will not work for us , and as for the new people that are looking to learn will see that there are a lot of answers most are good . i think this guy may have been trying to get a bite and he did you lol take care mate

[samir]

i think 10% a week would work great if you had one fish for every 100 litres otherwise razorbacks sort of covers it.

my own 5cent opinion for keeping adult size discus in top condition is
10 liters/fish 50% every day
20 l/f 50% alternate days
40 l/f 2 X 50% a week
60 l/f 2 X 25% a week

[the german]

ok,scott :D


yes samir sounds good

[Erk]

Ahhh...us people in the states sleep when all the action goes on here :shock: hahaha....anyways, lots of good info here, and I appreciate it, and I can see everyone does have a different opinion on water changes, and its not really a surprise.

I do 25% daily on my quarantine tank, but I put lots of food in there, and on my big planted tank, I do about 40% a week, or sometimes its about 20-30% twice a week....i think things will change once the remaining two discus in quarantine move over to the big tank, but thats what I have been doing.

Thanks a lot :D

[moneymike]

Hey everyone. I have 7 discus (ranging from 4-6 inches) in a 65 gallon (245 liters). I just introduced c02 this week to support the big planting I will be doing next week. Please sort me out, I hyave read that 50% WC daily are good for some fish, but not Discus. I don't think I can get away with doing the minimal 10-20% every three days without watching the nitrates rise and the substrate having a hefty layer of poo. Is there a practical solution to this without having a degree in Chemistry? How much and how often would you estimate?

[DiscusEden]

i think 10% a week would work great if you had one fish for every 100 litres otherwise razorbacks sort of covers it.

my own 5cent opinion for keeping adult size discus in top condition is
10 liters/fish 50% every day
20 l/f 50% alternate days
40 l/f 2 X 50% a week
60 l/f 2 X 25% a week

10 gallons is approximately 40 litres. The general rule of thumb is 1 adult discus to 10 gallons/ 40 litres.

HTH

[samir]

I hyave read that 50% WC daily are good for some fish, but not Discus.

as long as the water in your tank is the same as your water change you can even do a 100% WC. if you don't change water for a week and then suddenly decide to change 50% you discus will be in for a shock. However if you change 50% every day or even every other day I don't think you will have a problem. you could do a very slow water change if you feel your discus are getting stressed. maybe use a 30-40 g/hr powerhead to fill up your tank.

[moneymike]

Thanks, samir. My discus don't seem to be stressed with the water changes. I do a 50% every 2 or three days. My tap water is around neutral pH. I know that stable pH is essential, however, I am adding Discus Buffer to bring to try and get my pH closer to 6.5. Is this only 'chasing the dragon' as I have heard it called?

KH- 4
GH- 6