Plants in Discus Tank and Water Change questions..

[cityguy]

What type of plants will survive the warm water and low light in Discus tank.. are there any commonly available plants that have the above qualities and I can just get them by walking in a LFS.. will Amazon plants do ok ?

Secondly, would it be a problem for the Discus if I use 100% artificial plants (silk and soft fabric) to decorate the tank..

Finally, what is better, changing 10% water every alternative day or 30% water every week. I don't want to bother the fishes with a lot of movement in and around the tank, but at the same time, I am concerned to keep the water quality very good..

Thanks in advance for all of you who will answer, and sorry for my nagging questions.. :oops:

[rwel4809]

Swords, Vallis, Crypts, Lotus, and Bacopa are all good easy plants to start with...

Discus like to nibble at plants for nutrients so live is better.

The more water changes the better for discus... you'll have to work out your water changes based on your nitrate readings.. I do 10% twice a day (after feeding beefheart).

It really depends how much you feed, the capacity of your tank, and the number of fish you have.

HTH

Robert

[JoeDiscus85]

Agree with rwel4809. I have 10 amazon swords in my tank, Cabomba, Hornwort, Dwarf Sagarmantha, Red Rubin Sword and some others, I change 25% of my water every night the plants help keep the water parameters clean and clear too.


Joe

[cityguy]

Agree with rwel4809. I have 10 amazon swords in my tank, Cabomba, Hornwort, Dwarf Sagarmantha, Red Rubin Sword and some others, I change 25% of my water every night the plants help keep the water parameters clean and clear too.


Joe

why do you change water a night ? Is there any specific reason to it, or just like that..

[keVerns]

overall depending on circumstances... the amount of water change would differ from one person to another... like one of my breeding tanks... 10% a day so that the ph and nitrate readings are kept at a regular equilibrium level. and other factors like what rwl4809 has already said. for my display tank i change it 20% a week... because of its size which is already around 200litres of water drained out weekly, ive tried to create a more balanced ecosystem with both live plants and discus..so that the discus itself would live in its best environment. yet help reduce water wastage. i would like to change more for the all my tanks but since the area is in water restrictions, doing 10% a day would be wasting 700ltrs a week. im only using rain water tanks that hold 1800ltrs with ro system in place. and there not much rainfalls lately so i cant afford to waste water =[

im not a fan of plastic plants... imagine humans living with plastic plants and trees =\

but other than that... people change the water a lot because discus grow better in shape and faster in a shorter period of time and wont stunt its growth, for example (a business) if they're breeding for mass production, they haven't got time to wait months before they can sell it, as well as i guess the most important bit is keeping the shape of the discus in its proper shape and sizing for generations to come?

for your last question... if u have the unlimited water source available, its better to change daily than one massive water change on a weekly basis. the more frequently you change it the less problems with big parameter swings that could cause problems with your discus. just plumb in a pipe to your canister filter or just be gentle when pouring the water in.

HTH

[JoeDiscus85]

Agree with rwel4809. I have 10 amazon swords in my tank, Cabomba, Hornwort, Dwarf Sagarmantha, Red Rubin Sword and some others, I change 25% of my water every night the plants help keep the water parameters clean and clear too.


Joe

why do you change water a night ? Is there any specific reason to it, or just like that..

I do that because i have 6 discus in 50 gallons of water discus should have a minimum of 10 gallong a piece. Plus ive read and researched alot of information and almost every expert says the more water you change the better. I also feed beefheart almost every day and that will foul the water very fast, According to Jack Wattley's book there is no better source for negative bacteria than in left over beefheart. I siphon my gravel all the time and my levels for ammonia,nitrate,and nitrites are at zero. I maintain a constant 6.0 ph in my tank 6.0 is really nice for discus, They love the soft water..


Joe

[Nitecongt]

I found that having alot of gravel made a big differance. then lighting.