My Minimalist Tank Setup

[ksuyen]

Hello everyone. So I moved the post from another group to here. I am back to Discus after done with reef keeping for 5 years. To start with I have purchased below:
1. One large gold vine driftwood (with lots of branches) See the link
2. Custom made 90x45x45 Starphire glass tank (similar as CADE tank) See the link
3. EHEIM 3E 350
4. Hydor external heater 300W which connected directly to filter out
5. VIV glass ball outflow which connected to the heater (see above)
6. VIV glass skimmer inflow which connected directly to filter in (still in delivery)
7. ADA decoration white sand
8. Kessil Lightning Tuna Blue A150 with a goose neck (it's not a planted tank and I am going to create spotlight on the wood, the rest will be in shadow)
9. Water changes will done with 50L bucket and an EHEIM pump

At the moment there are no fishes. It's doing fishless cycling with Seachem Stability to populate biofilter. The driftwood is still floating, waiting for it to be waterlogged. The plan is:
1. At the end of March to add 50 Tetras (I haven't decided between Cardinal or Rummynose)
2. At the end of April to add 5 Juv Discus (I haven't decided between Red Melon or Yellow Discus, I think they will look good with blue light)

Here are some of the photos I took today.

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[ksuyen]

And this is underneath the stand... 95219

[ericNH]

Thats a nice-looking tank. I like the idea of having a spotlight in the driftwood and leaving some area in shadow. I also like that you're including a nice-sized school of tetras. All in all, your tank development is looking real interesting. tfs!

[Wes]

Cool tank. Are u going to put a lid on the tank? Discus jump when they get scared.

[Phillydubs]

What is the gallon capacity on this tank? It looks large but tanks are hard to tell via pics...

Second some sort of lid or cover...even if its slight to still give your open look, you don't want to be picking up fish carcass off the floor....

[rickztahone]

Love those Kessil lights. Were you a reefer?

[Phillydubs]

I thought your readinfg comprehension skills were better Rick ;) lololol

"I am back to Discus after done with reef keeping for 5 years"

[ksuyen]

I haven't thought of the lid... possibly like this one?
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But I do prefer lidless if possible, it just looks nicer. I wonder how long it takes for the driftwood to waterlog?
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@rickztahone Yeah, I was a reef keeper :D Kessil is always my first choice, because of the shimmering effect it gives. I am just experimenting with my old light, but possibly I might change to Tuna Sun (green) in the future, if I like the color more.

@phillydubs It does look bigger in the pic, it's almost 60 US gallon. The glass is Starphire, with thickness of 3 cm. It is really clear.

The setup is just next to my bathroom, make the water changing easy with a 2m+ Eheim pump 95281. I can just leave it alone to do 50-70% water change if required.

[ksuyen]

Playing with the driftwood placement a bit, and think that the upside down wood creates the look of roots underwater. Should I pursue this new idea or stick with normal placement as inspired by the image (above)?

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The water is still cloudy from adding SeaChem Stability. This is going to be default look for 2 weeks... 4 more weeks till adding my first fish: a school of tetra.

[Phillydubs]

If it were me I would do the top you are looking at or something similar I like that and the. You are safe ...

That being the case you can't have anything sticking out so I would move that piece to the middle and totally submerge but in the same direction you have it now... But sticking upright is cool too!

Can't go wrong! Cool set up. Let the filters run and it should clear up quickly... Do you have any air stones
Going ?

[ksuyen]

If it were me I would do the top you are looking at or something similar I like that and the. You are safe ...

That being the case you can't have anything sticking out so I would move that piece to the middle and totally submerge but in the same direction you have it now... But sticking upright is cool too!

Can't go wrong! Cool set up. Let the filters run and it should clear up quickly... Do you have any air stones
Going ?

I will consider the glass top, or possibly add a few more driftwoods to block the top section? Or I think I will fully submerge that wood in the middle, add a few rocks around it. So how long do you think the wood will fully submerge?

I have an important question, is it necessary to get a bottom feeder fish? Perhaps a school of dwarf pelco? Although I had bad experience with pelco sticking on my discus body before.

ps: no, I don't have airstone. I don't think it is necessary - the flow from VIV ball gives enough aeration, but I will watch my discus behaviour later.

[Phillydubs]

I wouldn't add more branches to the top... If they want to jump they jump sure they can hit the glass too but if they do try to jump then get gauged by all the branches or hung out to dry it will still be as fatal... There are people who have never had a jumper and people who get tons. Even people who have covered told and the fish finds an opening... I keep all my tops sealed tight. I work to hard to care for them to have one get spooked and pop out. That would blow...

I always enjoy some sort of bottom feeders I wouldn't say a lot but a small pleco or some corys etc. fun to watch and do a good job. We have similar sized tanks and I wouldn't add to many. You are still the best filter of all with good water changes. I have 3 bristle nose plecos that Miranda sent me when I got my leopards and they are big and robust and I do a wipe down of the glass each change but they are all over my drift wood so I recomended them never seen them close to a discus before so I've had no latching issues.
I always run a sponge I don't know it's like an insurance policy to me... But again your call if your filter is going strong let it.

[ksuyen]

True, I think I will just use 1 (or maybe add 1 more) of the gold vine, and use rocks to hold them on the sand with fishing thread - rather than risk my discus gauged (ouch!)

Today I was looking at some bottom feeders at my LFS, they have beautiful cories and loaches, both can grow pretty big - though not as big as Pleco. However they need to be in group as I was told. If I could find this guy here: Medusa Pleco 95322 I will probably get a few.

Does anyone use Purigen and Eheim 3E canister filter? Is that possible to insert the purigen bag on the top basket, taking away some of the Eheim SubstratePRO, without risking the bio filter?

[mee]

Ksuyen, I have a rimless tank with the same type of top holding pieces as you are considering. If you get these, you really need to have just one solid piece for the top. and still maybe order extra holders. It is really easy for the glass to slide into the tank if you are not careful, and potentially kill fish or even break the tank. The problem with one big solid piece is you have to pretty much remove it every time you change the water or you run a very real risk of sending it crashing to the floor, and again potentially breaking the tank if it falls just right, or maybe cutting your foot bad if you are a barefoot water changerI finally gave up and just have that tank without a top, but I am one of those fortunate ones that has never had a Discus jump out. My fish always seem to just breech the water slightly and never really leap after 2+ years.. knock on wood. Most my tanks are partially but not completely covered I kept frontosa though and they will absolutely leap (nearly 2 meters from a half full bucket), so I was very cautious with them and made sure there were no gaps big enough for them to get out. There is always the risk, and finding dead fish is a dreadful thing, especially large beautiful ones that you can never truly replace.

[ksuyen]

Hi mee, thank you for the advise. I will keep that in mind when I decided to add the top cover.

At the moment I am in Day 4 - still adding in Stability, fishless cycle. There have been bacteria blooms for couple of days, water really looks cloudy. I am thinking to add fish food or frozen prawn to speed up the cycling process. It's my understanding that the water will clear itself by the end of cycle. Fingers cross. In the meantime, I plan to do water changes 70% twice a week, while keeping with Stability and Prime.

Did water test, the results:
NH3 - 0ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 0ppm
PH - 7.0

note: still waiting for the spike in NH3 and NO2... :(

[Kyla]

u could add pure ammonia to the tank to feed the bacteria... prob easier to get a target ammonia reading with ammonia than with fish food or prawns. it is sold at hardware stores in my city. be sure it has no additives or perfumes etc

[ksuyen]

It's pretty hard to find pure ammonia here in Australia. Only one I could find is called Ammonchlor and it's pretty expensive. Otherwise I will just feed the bacteria with whatever food I am going to feed the fish later (beef heart maybe?) My plan is 1 beef heart cube per day, test the water 1 hour later, and another test 24 hour later, then add another beef heart cube (after throwing away the old one). Doing this everyday in conjunction with Stability (and Prime if I did pwc), for at least a month or until my reading is 0/0/<20.

Is API test kit the best water test kit available or is there any other better alternative?

[ruudvk]

Tank looks great! Cardinals will look awesome with the light you have. Don't know how tight they school together..

Never used the API kit, I have the JBL Testlab and am very pleased with it.

[mee]

I have never done it, but I know of quite a few keepers that simply pee in a fresh tank to get the cycle going. It seems Discus keepers do fairly complex fishless cycles compared to most keepers. Not saying it is a bad thing, just maybe a bit of extra work.

Plus, be honest, who doesn't secretly want to stand on a chair while their inlaws are visiting and start peeing in a beautiful fish tank, look over their shoulder and casually say "I am helping to start a cycle of beneficial bacteria for my fish", then calmly zip up and sit down to eat =)

[ksuyen]

Lol, that's something I probably would see in one of the Simson series. Waiting is painful for impatience people like me >< but I need my water bio cycle to be perfect before even putting my tetra school (let alone discus), so I would wait till the day any ammonia turns to harmless nitrite under 24 hours.

[mee]

I don't know with the additives, but with pee or pure ammonia it is about 2 weeks till a tank fully cycles.

[ksuyen]

I am using blood worm put them inside teabag and let it overnight inside the water. I usually get ammonia 2ppm min.

[ksuyen]

Question about conditioning water for Discus. Since I am still waiting for my tank to finish cycling, might as well prepare myself for the eventual discus arrival. Is it true that Discus prefer soft water with PH 6-6.5? Is it safe to add buffer to the tap water since I am not using RO/DI?

[ksuyen]

So I have read some info from forum, and decide that since the water in Sydney is very stable at ph 7.5, and the discus breeder here keep their fish in slightly acidic water (6.5), I would throw in:
1. seachem Discus Buffer

My target is only 6.5. I will add in also the PH sticker, just as a clue to monitor my PH stability, before jump to liquid test. I think keeping my water at 6.5 everytime I do WPC will be the best. Also, just in case, the lower PH will help containing toxic ammonia level. Just in case.

[ksuyen]

Updated:
95454

The water is clearer today.
Ammonia and Nitrite are zero despite the fish food from yesterday still inside.

[ericNH]

Looking good! I LOVE minimalist tanks and I really look forward to seeing what you create with yours. You mentioned earlier that you wish you could go without a hood or cover on your tank. Most people recommend having some sort of cover to kepp your fish from jumping out. It's wise to follow that advice. Even so I have kept my tank without any cover on top for about 2 years and have never lost a discus due to jumping out. But I did have a cory jump out once. Anyway, I found that maintenance was simplified without a cover, as the cover would look cruddy after a while with mineral deposits building up and algae and whatnot. It also diffused the light in a way that lost the rippling light effect. So I got rid of mine about 2 years ago and I like it better without. I just think the whole setup looks nicer without a cover.

[rickztahone]

Looking good! I LOVE minimalist tanks and I really look forward to seeing what you create with yours. You mentioned earlier that you wish you could go without a hood or cover on your tank. Most people recommend having some sort of cover to kepp your fish from jumping out. It's wise to follow that advice. Even so I have kept my tank without any cover on top for about 2 years and have never lost a discus due to jumping out. But I did have a cory jump out once. Anyway, I found that maintenance was simplified without a cover, as the cover would look cruddy after a while with mineral deposits building up and algae and whatnot. It also diffused the light in a way that lost the rippling light effect. So I got rid of mine about 2 years ago and I like it better without. I just think the whole setup looks nicer without a cover.

I agree with this. However, there is something so nice about a rimless tank without a cover :). The tank I am currently working on is rimless and I bought some clips to put on the side of the tank. I will put glass on top of these clips and hopefully keep the cool like and at the same time I will prevent fish from jumping out.

[ksuyen]

I always love rimless tank, so If possible I will hold on the cover until I can judge myself how the fish behave.

Day-8
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Starphire glass really shows the clarity of the water, as if there was no glass in between.

And finally my ViV intake plus skimmer (http://www.hinterfeld.com/viv-glass-water-surface-oil-protein-skimmer-filter-inflow-pipe-p-1916.html) has arrived. It is a very good product, it removes the surface oil/film make the water exceedingly clear. I attached it to my Filter intake. There is also a flow control at the bottom, but I keep it max, and control the flow only from filter. The water flow in from the top (surface) and bottom (through slits).

95585

[ericNH]

Your pics show the clarity of the glass and water - keep those pics coming :) I enjoy following along as you develop this tank. Thanks for sharing.

[Phillydubs]

Looking really nice! I love the basic set up and can't wait to see it progress! Looks so clear and pristine!

[ksuyen]

Thank you! I will keep the photos coming, especially after the introduction of my fish. The driftwood position is temporary, I am going to move it to the middle after I buy some rocks and when it's not floating anymore.

BTW if you are from Australia I really recommend to get a tank from this guy (http://www.aquariumgalleryperth.com.au/collections/glass-aquarium). I am in no way affiliate to them, but I think I just want to share that they really make very good tank, with the quality of ADA and the price half of it I'd say. I am using one of the FireAqua series, highly recommended.

[ksuyen]

Did water test again. Basically I made blood worm mix last night, measured it and registered at 2-3PPM Ammonia. Poured the mixed into the tea bag and then to the water this morning, and I measured the water 8 hours later. Results are: Ammo/NO2/NO3: 0/0/10. The lack of NO2 after 9 days are a little bit suspicious, but looks like my cycling is ending soon. I will give it another 2 weeks.

[ksuyen]

Updated:
So I got my first colony yesterday: a school of Rummy-nose. After acclimation, they now swimming happily in the new tank. It looks majestic with a school of them swimming in group fro and back and around the driftwood. I also bought two new Pagoda stones and arranged them around the wood to hold it down :D I kinda say the driftwood now looks pretty cool.

95686

[ksuyen]

Did water test again.
PH: 6.7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <7
Hardness: 12 dH
CaCO3: 200 mg/L

note: Should I buy peats to keep the PH down and make the water softer? I really hate to play around with PH, and I abandon my initial idea to get buffer. But I read that peats are all natural that gives off valuable tannic, fulvic, and humic acids that reduce pH and acts as a natural ion exchanger and reduces carbonate hardness in the water. Peat will also bind up some of the heavy metals and other toxins that may be present in the water. The active compounds in peat are also present in the natural black waters of the discus. If it is all-natural and does wonders in the discus aquarium, I think I might add some inside the filter. At the moment I already had Purigen.

[ksuyen]

Big spent yesterday! I replaced my old Tuna Blue with a brand new Tuna Sun (http://kessil.com/aquarium/Freshwater_A160_Tuna_Sun.php). I must say I really like this green-yellow colour better, it looks more natural like sunshine shimmering in the river or pond. My next investment is going to be this baby: Eheim ReflexUV (https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/uv-sterilizer/reeflexuv), to quickly and efficiently reduces both harmful bacteria and fish parasites in their infectious stages in the water. An extra layer to protect my discus later. The problem is I already have Hydor external heater (https://www.aquariumkingdom.com.au/hydor-external-heater-300w-16mm)attached to my outlet. Do you think I can daisy chain the connection from filter to UV to heater then to tank without reducing the filter efficiency?

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bad news: just discovered that one of my rummynose jumped out of the tank at night, as it now lays on the floor lifeless :angel: Now I am really thinking about some sort of cover...

[rickztahone]

You can just ditch the UV plan. If you do as many WC's as discus require, you will not have problems that need a UV.

[rickztahone]

You can also buy some rimless cover clips from Amazon or ebay. I got some shipped in and they were like $1 including shipping. Just add a glass top and you are good to go.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Mr._Aqua_Aquarium_Cover_Clips_(set_of_2)_Accessori es_for_Aquariums-Mr._Aqua-AZ00481-FIAQAA-vi.html

[Kyla]

i love the ripple effect of the light. def want to see a video once its all set up :)

[chandy168]

Tank is looking very nice! Can't wait to see the discus you put in there!

[ksuyen]

Thank you all, I am still waiting for the discus from local breeder. Hopefully they will come next week! I will take a video later tonight to show the ripple effect. After the jump-out incident, nothing much really happened except that now all the rummy nose tetras has very bright red face and coming / gathering to me whenever I am close to the tank - with or without food. I am being very careful in feeding them at the moment, not trying to overfeed and caused bacteria bloom.

@rick, do you think UV is not worth for keeping discus in addition to regular water changes? I have been doing some researches and I got two strong contradicting opinions regarding the benefit of UV filter. On one side there are people who swear by it and another who think it's a waste of money.

[chandy168]

Thank you all, I am still waiting for the discus from local breeder. Hopefully they will come next week! I will take a video later tonight to show the ripple effect. After the jump-out incident, nothing much really happened except that now all the rummy nose tetras has very bright red face and coming / gathering to me whenever I am close to the tank - with or without food. I am being very careful in feeding them at the moment, not trying to overfeed and caused bacteria bloom.

@rick, do you think UV is not worth for keeping discus in addition to regular water changes? I have been doing some researches and I got two strong contradicting opinions regarding the benefit of UV filter. On one side there are people who swear by it and another who think it's a waste of money.

Just realised you're in Sydney! I'm from there as well with a similar project as you!! So happy to see another Aussie on this forum around the same stage I'm at with my tank!

[ksuyen]

As promised :D

https://youtu.be/iy4ICg8F_6s

[rickztahone]

Thank you all, I am still waiting for the discus from local breeder. Hopefully they will come next week! I will take a video later tonight to show the ripple effect. After the jump-out incident, nothing much really happened except that now all the rummy nose tetras has very bright red face and coming / gathering to me whenever I am close to the tank - with or without food. I am being very careful in feeding them at the moment, not trying to overfeed and caused bacteria bloom.

@rick, do you think UV is not worth for keeping discus in addition to regular water changes? I have been doing some researches and I got two strong contradicting opinions regarding the benefit of UV filter. On one side there are people who swear by it and another who think it's a waste of money.

I would be in the camp of "waste of money" in my current application. I do daily water changes on my 75g tank. A UV sterilizer would be pointless in my setup due to all the water I change. YMMV

[ksuyen]

I understood. Daily water changes is better than any UV, but any "good" UV filter is better than doing only large weekly water changes (at least that's what I believe). There is also the benefit of Redox. My concern, if price is not the problem, is more superficial. I am interested with the inline UV from Eheim, but since I already have inline Heater attached to the output of filter, the addition of another inline equipment might (or might not) affect the filter effectiveness. I probably will get one anyway in the long run, just so as precaution since Discus is pretty finicky regarding their health. Or maybe I am wrong, that once Discus acclimate to your water they are actually pretty hardy?

[Kyla]

As promised :D

https://youtu.be/iy4ICg8F_6s

i could watch that for hours. my fav time of day is when the sunlight hits my tanks just right and creates ripples everywhere. it usually happens when im at work so its a nice treat on days off.

[rickztahone]

As promised :D

https://youtu.be/iy4ICg8F_6s

Cool video. I love the Kessils for their ripple effect. I almost went with 2 360's on my current SW build but couldn't pass up a deal for a Maxspect. It still has the ripple effect since it is directional as well, but not like the Kessils :(

[ksuyen]

Thank you! At the time, the water is still cloudy from the sand cleaning. The water is much clearer now. I will take another video after my discus get in. For the time being, I need your assessment. Here are the five juveniles I first picked, they have been quarantined and wormed for the last month. At the moment they stay in their own tank at my LFS. They look and act great and healthy, but I am not experienced in assessing Discus. If anyone can throw in some opinions (although only from the picture) that would be great. 95874

Note: I am planning to bring home all five.

[rickztahone]

Do you only plan on getting the 5, and no others? Reason I ask is because you cannot rely solely on the LFS quarantine. In fact, their QT practices may not be adequate (they might), so you don't ever want to risk LFS QT'ing for you if you have existing stock at home.

[ksuyen]

Do you only plan on getting the 5, and no others? Reason I ask is because you cannot rely solely on the LFS quarantine. In fact, their QT practices may not be adequate (they might), so you don't ever want to risk LFS QT'ing for you if you have existing stock at home.

Yes, I only plan to get five Discus juv for this tank, all same strain. Besides I personally involved in QT these fish while I am cycling the water at home. The owner of the LFS is my friend and AFAIK they have the best QT practice in town. These five Red Melons have been in QT tank since arrived last month. However I am not in rush putting them yet in my tank. There will be new discus (and maybe better strains) coming this week, though they won't let anyone bring them home yet until few more weeks. So I have options: bring these 5 little guys home (which I know are already stable) or wait for the new and more interesting strains coming later (but risk of having diseases or stress). Personally I would choose the former, unless somehow you think the discus looked unhealthy.

[rickztahone]

I would pick the former as well and not go to the LFS for about a month to not have buyers remorse in case he has other strains that you would have preferred, lol

[ksuyen]

So what do you think about those five juveniles? Are they alright? They are not color up yet but that's expected for juv, how about the size of the eyes, fins shape, body shape, etc. are okay?

95876

[rickztahone]

A couple look a little skinny. One has a chipped eye. If I bought this group, I wouldn't pay more than $150-$175 for them as a GROUP. They will color up more if they are indeed juvies.

[ksuyen]

They are around 4-inch. I think skinny is fine as long as they are healthy and have lots of appetite. I don't see sunken belly, either, but which one that has the chipped eyes? The cost is not too bad per fish, and I do have 10% discount.

[rickztahone]

They are around 4-inch. I think skinny is fine as long as they are healthy and have lots of appetite. I don't see sunken belly, either, but which one that has the chipped eyes? The cost is not too bad per fish, and I do have 10% discount.

the one on the right, bottom has a chipped eye. Don't get me wrong, you could start off with far worse stock, just saying, if you are going to start with these, just don't pay an arm and a leg is all.

[ksuyen]

the one on the right, bottom has a chipped eye. Don't get me wrong, you could start off with far worse stock, just saying, if you are going to start with these, just don't pay an arm and a leg is all.

Ah I see that now. I think you are right. They are not too bad if that's the only imperfection. They're priced normally as juvenile. I think if everything is okay, I might bring them home today. Water parameter checked last night with 20 rummynose and 2 golden cory:
PH: 6.7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
Hardness: 12 dH
CaCO3: 200 mg/L

[ksuyen]

This thread is going to end soon I guess ☺️. So, I finally added my discus to my tank. After acclimated, they now sitting together in the bottom. This is the most crucial period when they are adjusting to the new environment. I have set the light to the lowest setting just for the picture.

95983


Clearer pic.
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[Phillydubs]

Why does the thread have to end? If you ask me it is just begining!

These fish have a lot of growing to do as you do as a keeper... I would hope you keep us posted on their growth and progress as well as your lessons learned?

[Dhavalsp]

looking nice...they are very well sized, wont call them juvies as such...I am so glad that you went with a solid color... I was secretly rooting for it...

please do not end this thread, no one wants to leave the theater once the plot is all set....

[mee]

Yep, I just checked in to see where you were at with the tank. Glad to see you have fish in them. Personally I would not buy a chipped eye fish... BUT>>> they all look good and healthy with nice color and shape, and the chip looks minimal, so if you don't mind it is fine. I really am looking forward to watching you grow these out in this beautiful tank.

[Kyla]

they look fantastic. the single-strain solid colour looks awesome in ur tank. dont end the thread! we need videos of them swimming around as they grow lol

[ksuyen]

Hi Kyla, thank you! Here is the latest photo from last night:

96072

Today, I decided to clean the filter. I am using Eheim 350 3e. There is somethin little and white fell out, which I couldn't find where it came from. Being the first time cleaning the gut of the filter, I had been extra cautious. I took out the basket layer by layer, rinsing them using the tank water, rinsed the dirty dark brown sponge on the top (I was actually contemplating to replace that but changed my mind at the end) and put them all back in. When I turned on my filter, there is water gurgle sound inside which I haven't noticed before, and the water that came out from the outlet is very dirty. I am not sure what's going on :confused:, did I put the sponge upside down or something else not right. Luckily the dirty water was just in the beginning, the water cleared out although the gurgle noise persists.

[ksuyen]

Okay, I found out that the gurgle noise came if there was air trapped inside. The solution was to open and close the valve lid and then let the system auto exhaust any air trapped inside. After I did that the noise disappear, yay!

[Phillydubs]

Pretty common to get a burst of crap, especially from a canister... You are mixing that all up and some just gets trapped and will fire out on the start up, nothing to worry about, just a drop in the bucket with your water volume... Don't change the sponge! Especially not this early, or ever if thats your only sponge. All your goof bacteria is in there, you toss that without a back-up and you are in for a re-cycle and trouble!

thank goodness you didn't!

[ksuyen]

Phew luckily I didn't throw away that sponge. It's dirty, smelly and begging to be replaced, but nope, gotta keep it because of all the bacteria living there lol.

Talking about Nitrate, I just discovered how fast it increased with the Discus - even with feeding only twice a day. See,
Day before Discus: NO3 - <3mg/l
Day after Discus (with feeding): NO3 - 10mg/l
After water change 60%: NO3 - <1mg/l
Day after water change (with feeding): NO3 - 10mg/l
Second Day after water change (with feeding): NO3 - <20mg/l
After water change 60%: NO3 - 3mg/l

Are these correct? How fast the Nitrate reading increase! No wonder some people do daily water changes 50-100%