New to Discus

[Diesel]

Hey Hey Hey

Ive currently got a tank setup with milawi cichlids, been a great fun setup to start with, but its time for something else. Im going to be setting up a planted discus tank, with a school of cardinals, and Ottos to handle algea. Now...just wanna confirm some things for my own peace of mind.

Im going to be setting the tank up, putting the plants in, and most likely the cardinals a few days later and letting it cycle for a week or two. Before I put the Discus in (putting in 8-10 2.5-3 inch) its all going in a 72 gallow bowfront tank. As far as the setup..ive got an Eheim 2217 canister, along with a Whisper 60 hanging filter, with dual heaters to keep the temp around 80 im thinking.

Now...I live in New Jersey, and from what I hear our tap water is pretty much the worst..Ive even been told I may want to keep a garbage can filled with water filtrating to put use for water changes, just to be sure because putting regular tap into the tank can be lethal. Anyone from NJ have any opinions on this?!

Thanks alot and please, if im doing ANYTHING wrong or if you have anymore advice you can give me id really appreciate it.

[FishLover]

I'm in the South and the water is as bad as NJ. I use a plastic container to fill it with tap water, then treat it with peat first, dechro it with AmQuel, then pump it into my fish tank. It is very easy to do if you just have a spare canister filter just for that. I got one (rated 350 gph) from eBay for about $60 including S&H. If not, a pump will work too. Make sure the pump can reach the hight of your fish tank.

I'm still having a bit trouble with my water PH level but nothing lethal. I change 40% of water twice each week.

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum Diesel. Glad you could join us. I know a lot of folk from the USA are using RO to filter their water and make it suitable for discus.

Remember, that being from the Amazon, discus prefer a soft, slightly acid water. They can however, cope with hard water with a pH of 7.8 if necessary, and if slowly introduced to the harder water. If you want to breed discus, you will ned to do something to give them soft water with a pH under 7.

I guess my concern with your set up, is the fact you will be putting those discus into an uncycled tank. That's quite a bioload for your filter to handle, and discus don't cope well with the peaks of ammonia and nitrite that a cycling tank must go through.

You might do well to try a "Fishless Cycle" then you can add all your fish at the same time, and your bio filter will cope. You can find instrucions of fishless cycle here.


http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5214

Hope that helps :P

[Diesel]

Ah im sorry if I seemed mis-leading with that post. The tank will be well cycled, its going to be up with the plants and tetra for at least 2 weeks before any discus even go near the tank. Im really looking forward to this so I dont wanna make any mistakes at all. lol

So your saying if SLOWLY accustomed to a higher PH of water, the discus can remain healthy? so if im somewhere in the Mid 7s with my PH as long it does not spike they should be ok?

and if you dont mind explaining...what exactly does an RO filter do, im unfamiliar with the reverse osmosis filters.

Thanks!

[electric molecular]

Hey Diesel,

Basically RO systems soften water conditions by forcing the (tap) water through an ion exchange column or membrane to draw mineral salts out.

Claire.

[goldenpigeon]

Hey Hey Hey!

i think to make your life a lot easier you should get yourself a large water aging drum that holds atleast half the capacity of your tank.

i say atleast half because if your water is quite bad and something goes wrong in the tank and you might need to water change it out (say toxin or something) you dont want to use straight tap water because that will cause you more problems.

one you have your decent sized water drum i would suggest that in your case age the water for 3-4 days. add de-chlor and peat. add and airstone and a pump if you want to circulate the water and blow off any chlorine that may still be in the water.

then just pump it into your tank water water change time.

while you are aging the water try to gedt it as good as possible for the discus. dont play around with it to much thoagh. you want the water to be pretty much the same when you put it in the tank.

HTH

David