Advice for Potential Discus Owner

[VihnDragon]

Hello everyone,

I have been keeping fish for many years and am very interested in keeping discus. I've kept tropical fish in a 29 gallon aquarium and two 10-gallon aquariums throughout my high school and early college days, but my later college years financially prohibited me from keeping fish. In 2006, I purchased my own home, but was still unable to set up any type of tank until last year when my parents won a Betta that they didn't want to keep. I set up one of my 10 gallon tanks in my living room and kept the betta with some corydoras catfish.

In early January this year, on a trip to Petsmart to purchase food and a new light bulb, they were selling their floor model of a Marineland 75 gallon tank package (including stand, heater, light fixture and glass canopy) for 50% off. Seeing that I've been wanting a 75 gallon tank for decades and the price was right, I purchased the setup. I've let it cycle through and so far, the current residents seem to be doing fine.

I am illustrating below my current set-up and appreciate any recommendations to help improve this for discus setup.

Currently my tank's water is 82 degrees with 6.4 ph, 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and 2.5 nitrate.

94402

I usually feed my fish twice a day with flake food and blood worms every other day. I would like to have my discus be a part of a community tank and I have no interest in breeding or showing discus. I simply want to enjoy them.

Thanks in advance!

[briztoon]

Watch/Listen to the following video a few times to absorb all the information. There should be a very good chance that the video will give you a lot of food for thought and possibly influence how would like to proceed with your tank from here on out.

Most people on here will mention most of the information that is in the video in answering your questions/responding to your post.

Once you have watched the video and you still would like to keep discus and have some questions, most people here are very happy to discus plans with potential discus keepers.

https://youtu.be/VXe3VKh7qF8

[Akili]

Since you already have fishes in the tank, it is utmost importance that you follow proper procedure of Quarantine when adding Discus to your tank.Go through the stickies in the beginners section. This will also help http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

[Bill63SG]

One quick ad,if your in Chicago and have lake water,you have no need whatsoever for the r/o unless you plan to breed and even then I have bred in tap.My Wisconsin buds are jealous of our water.

[DJW]

Two observations:

1. Overflows don't work very well with the low flow rate of your incoming water. The siphon is precarious. Better to drill the tank if you can.
2. In your graphic (nicely done, btw) you appear to be using straight RO. How will you be adding minerals?

...also see this calculator:

http://www.angelfish.net/DripSystemcalc.php

[Akili]

I posted this in another thread If drilling is not an option go with Eshopps overflow box or one from lifereef.I have heard many stories of failures of DIY pvc overflow.Spend a bit now and save a headache later. Links below

http://www.eshopps.com/products/overflowboxes/

http://www.lifereef.com/siphon.html

I use Eshopps overflow box PF-1000, it has never broken siphon through countless power outages.

[VihnDragon]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for the replies.

Briztoon - Thanks for the video link. I actually saw that video previously and actually learned a lot about it, so I knew some of the basics of keeping discus.

Akili - Thanks for the various links. I have a quarantine tank setup in my basement, so it'll definitely have some use. Thanks also for the links on the overflow box. When I first installed the PVC overflow, the only way I could get it to continuously siphon was by sucking in the air through a check valve. I had since put an aqua-lifter pump to keep it constantly primed, but after reading the information in the links, I will be getting an Eshopps overflow box. I just hope I can connect my existing 1/2" tubing of outgoing water from the box.

Bill63SG - Even though Chicago does get its water directly from Lake Michigan, is treated with chlorine and other chemicals. Our Water Quality Report states that we have a teaspoon of chemicals per 100 gallons of water, so that's why I decided to go with the R/O system. Is it safe to have even a trace amount of chlorine in a tank? I've never risked it.

DJW - Unfortunately, my tank is tempered glass and cannon be drilled. So far, my overflow has worked fine in conjunction with the aqua-lifter pump, but Akiki's links about overflow boxes has convinced me to convert. In response to your other question, I'm not sure what you mean by 'adding minerals.' Thanks for the calculator! Didn't think about the fact that new and old water will be mixing.

Thanks!

[DJW]

As a safety backup to the overflow, you can run your incoming water to a float valve situated above the water level.

What is the TDS of your RO water? Usually it will be 5-15 ppm and fish don't do very well in water devoid of minerals. You can use a dosing pump... I used a kind of IV drip of mineralized water for a while.

Unless there is something wrong with your tap water, its easier to bypass the RO membrane and just run it through sediment and carbon block. Then you don't need to fuss with minerals and you can turn off the booster pump.

[Bill63SG]

I should have clarified,with the use of a good de-chlor,like SAFE,no problems.Ive been using this method for years and same with the breeder I first bought fish from.Maybe with one tank ro is convienint but with multiples not so much.

[VihnDragon]

DJW - According to the device I have installed, my water reads 96ppm from the tap and 1ppm after it passes the R/O filter. Perhaps I will try your suggestion to bypass the membrane filter.

Bill63SG - Back when I first started in high school and with my smaller tanks, I just used a de-chlorinator before adding the water for water changes. My concern with using the drip irrigation methods was constantly having to put de-chlorinator in the tank. I wasn't sure how often I would have to add it and I figured an R/O filter would eliminate having the need to use one.

Thanks!

[Bill63SG]

No problem,but you add it everytime you wc.Theres is always chlorine in our water,more so in the winter,has to do with the lake freezing.

[VihnDragon]

Hello everyone,

So I purchased some discus about 3 weeks ago and they are doing great, but I did have a question. On the advice of taking out the RO membrane and just running it through the decholorinator and DI filter, the visual quality of water is pure. Its very 'dusty.' It only appears when it doesn't go through the membrane. When I put the water through the membrane, the dust particles are gone within a few hours. There are no problems with ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, nor algae. It is also not micro bubbles.

Is there any way those dust particles can be captured without the use of a membrane? I do not do water changes, as that's done automatically through the drip irrigation system that is constantly on.