New tank in Sydney question

[fishlolo]

Hi, I just wanna ask, i live in Sydney and i am goin to have a new tank soon, i havent bought any discus yet, and i am pretty new with fishes (any sorta fish) just seeing you guys saying that sydney water is so bad so i wanna ask how can i make the most safest environment for my discus, before i put any in and kill them all?? Thank you! btw i have bought cycles, prime, and buffer is there other stuff i need???

[Merrilyn]

HI fishlolo and welcome to the forum. Glad to see you're doing your homework before you get your fish.

The first thing I would suggest you do is to get a barrel to age your water in for 24 hours before you put it in your tank. When you're ready to add the water, put in the correct amount of Prime or other chlorine treatment, and bring it up to the correct temperature.

Allowing the water to age for 24 hours will go a long way towards removing some of the problems from Sydney water at the moment.

If you purchase your fish in the Sydney area, then they will be used to the water conditions, and shouldn't have too much trouble adapting to your tank.

I'd suggest you do a fishless cycle on your tank, before you add any fish. There is lots of information on here about how to do a fishlesss cycle. You can certainly add the product Cycle to give the filter a boost, but I'd still be doing a full fishless cycle before adding valuable fish to your tank.

Keep reading here. We've got a great bunch of friendly people who will be glad to help you every step of the way. :P

[fishlolo]

hihi. thanks for your advise, i had ran a fishless cycle for a week already but i havent put the chemicals in yet, goin to do that tonite, and recently (last nite) i dump a catfish...(like the bottome swimming one..i think thats what its called) in to run a fish cycle to help keep the bateria level up (hope i am getting this rite and you know that i am talking about) how long should i do this until i put my disucs in?? Thanks!!!

[piranha-discus]

if was me i would get a 200 lt drum fill it with tap water then put 5 ml of aqua star product http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/category36_1.htm
as i find this product strong, its dosage rate is 5 ml per 370 lt water but use a 200 lt drum @ 5 ml will double strenth with 200lt out of 370 lt therefor the aqua star will get rid of all bad stuff in the water. age it for over night (24hours) with heater to correct the temp, then empty the fish tank water, then fill all the treated water in the tank. let the tank cycle for time to clean the old water
then it would be safe to add discus .. make sure the water is 29 degC or 84 degF
from ben

[fishlolo]

hey, by the way, my dad just put 1 tsp of salt in the water, he said its suppose to be good for the discus when they get put in but couldnt explain to me why, anyone hv any idea what he was doing???

[piranha-discus]

i wouldnt put the discus in the water that came from tap, even aged for weeks, i would put the product that removes chlorine, chloramine, ammonia. salt is to heal wounds etc but it does not get rid of the toxic stuff. remember that discus are NOT CHEAP FISH why risk it kill them? the aqua star is only 10$ for 120 ml product and use only 5 ml per 200 lt drum to treat and age before put in tank to get the product order online and they will post it to you on week days, thats where i get my product from.
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/category36_1.htm
from ben

[fishlolo]

yeh... i was planning to put those product in for about 1 week before i put my fish in, u think thats enought?

[sammigold]

Hi fisholo, welcome to the forum. I would just like to say that salt is usually put into a tank to help with healing and relaxing your fish but you have to watch it if you have scaleless fish. ie. bristlenose catfish, clown loaches etc. they are fairly intolerant to salt. Also if your tank is planted the plants won't really like salt. HTH. Good Luck... maybe before you put your discus in you might want to keep some other fish that will live well with discus for a little while then when you feel more confident you can introduce some discus. just a suggestion.. some fish that live well with discus are Rams, Bristlenose catfish and some of the larger tetras.. ie. cardinals, black widows. You can also look on the discus tankmates forum area for lots of other suggestions.