Water Change Question

[Dreamcatcher]

I have a group of five discus there all 4". Will i still get good growth if i do 50%-60% every two day instead of everyday?

[Las Vegas]

I believe it depends on what size tank you have. You should be doing water tests. Get yourself a master water test kit and start monitoring your water quality. This will tell you when you should be making those water changes. That's why some people say "Daily" water changes and some people say "Two to Three Days" because they have learned when the water starts to go bad(PH change, Nitrate and Nitrite Levels) in their fish tanks. This is all based on the size of the tank, how many fish they have, what kind of filtration they use and how often they feed their fish. Also quality protein foods will make the difference in growth. Live foods like blood worms. Make sure you wash the worms daily before you feed to your discus. Feed your fish just enough that they finish it all and feed them about three times a day. Goodluck and love your Discus.

[John_Nicholson]

Take the water test kits and throw it out the window. Your water is made up of hundreds of components and the test kit is going to check 3 or 4. All in all they are not much help unless you are really bad at keeping fish. Discus need good food and clean water to do well. Will your water change schedule work? It depends some on what and how much you feed. I would expect your fish to live but they may not reach their full potential. If your goals are to simply keep some discus in relatively good health you will probably be fine.

-john

[Dreamcatcher]

sounds good got it!

[SNap0283]

They will probably stay alive but no you will not get good growth. 50% every day you will get good growth. +75% every day and you will get great growth.

[Dreamcatcher]

They will probably stay alive but no you will not get good growth. 50% every day you will get good growth. +75% every day and you will get great growth.

:thumbsup:

[warblad79]

My friend told me the other day regarding his Discus keeps dying and he mention that water is good because he tested with test kit and everything is zero. But he only do 25% water change per day.

[banks2]

There's other variables besides what we test for. Just because those 3-4 tests show 0 doesn't mean there isn't something else going on. I haven't had Discus long, but I do know there's no substitute for water changes. Less water changes, less growth, subpar health.

[BigBoom217]

Nitrates reduce growth because they are just like the others, a toxin. I change 75% every third day and my discus are growing about 3/4-1inch a month.

Until this morning I didn't have them in a bare bottom either. Got real good at cleaning gravel let me too you

[DISCUS STU]

Take the water test kits and throw it out the window...

-john

Cracks me up! Yeah, it's kind of like weighing yourself all the time if you're already at a good weight and eating right. I have the test kits, all of them, but don't really use them that much. Nothing really replaces regular water changes.

One thing I did invest in is a good PH meter (Hanna Instruments) that occasionally comes in handy for a quick ph spot check, but even that is used infrequently.