New tank setup and advice

[brandonmoss]

Hi, i am busy cycling my tank and hope that from my answers i can get some general advice and tips of where i can improve and any ideas, would also love some ideas of peoples favourite strains of discus to start planning on the strains I'm going to keep! Thanks in advance!


1) Please Introduce your self and tell us what your experience is with fishkeeping, give us as much information as possible as to how long in the hobby, what you have kept in the past and what you currently are working with.

A - Brandon and im from Australia! This is my first post on the forum and really been enjoying reading the last few weeks. I have kept multiple freshwater tanks for the past 5 years as well as a reef tank.

2) If you have no previous experience with keeping discus, have you done any research to properly prepare yourself, e.g. have you read any Stickies in this section of SimplyDiscus, or other material?

A - Been reading many posts as well the stickies.

3) Describe your tank, its size and dimensions, breeding or display. Include how long it has been setup or if it is still being cycled.

I have a 90cm long 220l (roughly 60 gallons) with a 40l sump. It is still being cycled going into the 11th day of a fish less cycle.

4) Describe the décor for the tank; type of substrate or bare bottom (BB), whether the tank will be planted or a biotope.

A - BB tank with possibly 1 piece of driftwood in the near future

5) Describe your water changes planned or practiced, percentage and how often. Include if you age your water and use of tap/RO or mix.

A- I plan to do 30% water changes every second day with aged dechlorinated tap water (as well as basing my regime on nitrate readings)

6) Describe the type of filtration planned/used for the tank; sponge, HOB and/or sump. Also include the other equipment you are, or will be, using in your tank, e.g. heater, lighting, etc.

A - Sump has got glass media as well as pond matrix, bio balls coarse sponge and filter floss. I have a 300w heater with led lighting.

7) If the tank is already setup and running, include the water parameters;

- temp __28.5c (83F)___

- tank ph __7.8___

- Ph of the water straight out of your tap __7.6___

- ammonia reading __4ppm__

- nitrite reading __0ppm__

- nitrate reading __0ppm__

- well water ____

- municipal water ____


😎 Describe your current or planned stocking levels; number/size of discus and number/type of dither fish. Where did you get your discus from or do you have a proposed source for getting your discus?

A - i am planning on stocking 6 x 10cm (4inches) discus with no other fish. I plan on getting my discus from a importer here locally who has good reviews on his imports as well as a wide variety of strains

9) Describe your planned or existing feeding regimen. Include what and how often you are feeding on a daily basis.

A - Planning to do 3 feedings a day of pellets (unsure of the best type), flakes (also unsure) and a beef heart mix

10) What are your goals in this hobby? For example are you looking to keep discus in a planted community tank, or do you hope to become a hobby breeder of Discus? Do you want to raise Discus with the hopes of competing in shows?

A - My goal is to grow out the discus and if 2 become a pair breed and see where it takes me eventually, but at the moment only wanting to learn as much as i can as i find discus beautiful.

[GVB]

Hello and welcome! I think you have a good design, keeping it barebottom will help you keep things clean and make your life much easier since this is your first time with discus.

I can recommend Discus Bio Gold and Tetra Granules as far as pellets go. My discus love both!

My favorite strains of discus are leopards, eruptions, and pigeon snakeskins... but I also really appreciate nice turquoise varieties.

I keep two large sponge filters in all of my tank no matter what other filtration I am using but that is just something I do... I like to really like to biologically filter more than anything else and I do not use any chemical filtration.

Do you have any sponge material or something you can seed your tank with? I usually take one sponge from an existing tank and put it in a brand new tank with 50/50 ratio of old to new water and I can put fish in the same day... but that is not for everyone. It would be good for your system to get some biology going before you put fish in but if you cannot then just be very proactive with water testing and water changing.

[brandonmoss]

Hello and welcome! I think you have a good design, keeping it barebottom will help you keep things clean and make your life much easier since this is your first time with discus.

I can recommend Discus Bio Gold and Tetra Granules as far as pellets go. My discus love both!

My favorite strains of discus are leopards, eruptions, and pigeon snakeskins... but I also really appreciate nice turquoise varieties.

I keep two large sponge filters in all of my tank no matter what other filtration I am using but that is just something I do... I like to really like to biologically filter more than anything else and I do not use any chemical filtration.

Do you have any sponge material or something you can seed your tank with? I usually take one sponge from an existing tank and put it in a brand new tank with 50/50 ratio of old to new water and I can put fish in the same day... but that is not for everyone. It would be good for your system to get some biology going before you put fish in but if you cannot then just be very proactive with water testing and water changing.

Thank you for the reply!

I prefer the clean look of the tank with nothing in it, do you know if keeping a sponge filter in a baffle in the sump would do the same instead of the main tank?

I am not adding any fish until the cycle is completely done and im using ammonium chloride, waiting for the nitrites and nitrates and then will test regularly until ammonia and nitrites are down and then a big water change to remove nitrates. I am happy to be patient and wait for the natural cycle to occur.

I will definitely look into those pellets, do you know if they need to be soaked before hand?

Thanks again!

[GVB]

Thank you for the reply!

I prefer the clean look of the tank with nothing in it, do you know if keeping a sponge filter in a baffle in the sump would do the same instead of the main tank?

I am not adding any fish until the cycle is completely done and im using ammonium chloride, waiting for the nitrites and nitrates and then will test regularly until ammonia and nitrites are down and then a big water change to remove nitrates. I am happy to be patient and wait for the natural cycle to occur.

I will definitely look into those pellets, do you know if they need to be soaked before hand?

Thanks again!

Definitely do what you think is best, my two-cents is just another approach out of the many possible methods people on this forum use.

Would you use an air driven sponge or just put the sponge in the sump and let water run through it? I do think that it would be comparable but I am not 100% sure. The reason I use two sponges in the tank is so I can rotate cleanings of the sponges so that one sponge is left untouched during a sponge cleaning.

I am sure some people will recommend soaking but I do not. Just make sure you carefully and consciously calibrate how much to feed them. I put them in an auto feeder which feeds them 3 times per day while I am at work. My fish also get beefheart mix that I make once in the morning and then once before bedtime..

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Brandon and welcome to Simply. I think you should continue with the fishless cycle as you are doing now as this avoids cross-contamination with using filter material from another tank. I would also suggest you review your water change schedule. What's the footprint of your tank?
Pat

[brandonmoss]

Definitely do what you think is best, my two-cents is just another approach out of the many possible methods people on this forum use.

Would you use an air driven sponge or just put the sponge in the sump and let water run through it? I do think that it would be comparable but I am not 100% sure. The reason I use two sponges in the tank is so I can rotate cleanings of the sponges so that one sponge is left untouched during a sponge cleaning.

I am sure some people will recommend soaking but I do not. Just make sure you carefully and consciously calibrate how much to feed them. I put them in an auto feeder which feeds them 3 times per day while I am at work. My fish also get beefheart mix that I make once in the morning and then once before bedtime..

Thanks for the tip!

I have two course sponges in the sump which water run through already, would using an air driven sponge be doing the same thing as the air is drawing water through the sponge anyway? Not to sure how it works.

Awesome was hoping i could just put them in a automatic feeder.

[brandonmoss]

Hi Brandon and welcome to Simply. I think you should continue with the fishless cycle as you are doing now as this avoids cross-contamination with using filter material from another tank. I would also suggest you review your water change schedule. What's the footprint of your tank?
Pat

Hi, what would you suggest in changing with the water change schedule? Would it be more beneficial to do 50% twice a week?

The footprint is 90l x 55d x 55h

Thanks

[GVB]

Thanks for the tip!

I have two course sponges in the sump which water run through already, would using an air driven sponge be doing the same thing as the air is drawing water through the sponge anyway? Not to sure how it works.

Awesome was hoping i could just put them in a automatic feeder.

You should be fine. I do not think there will be much of a difference. Others may have more insight on this as I do not run sumps on my tanks.

If you use an autofeeder just make sure you calibrate the feeder carefully... less is more and frequency over quantity! Also, something I have found is that if you put a lot of granules into the feeder, the tumbling over time does seem to wear down the granules into smaller bits and pieces so I now I do not fill it all the way up and instead maybe fill it up a quarter or halfway.

[Ryan925]

The only reason you would want to keep a sponge filter in your sump is to have a seeded filter in case you ever need to set up a qt tank.

Keep in mind at 4" your discus still have quite a bit of growing to do so the more the water changes the better. Going with a BB will be very beneficial but there still is no substitute for fresh clean water. I got my fish at 3"-3.5" and they now are 5.5"-6". I do 80% every other day.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi, what would you suggest in changing with the water change schedule? Would it be more beneficial to do 50% twice a week?

The footprint is 90l x 55d x 55h

Thanks

I would start with 50% once a day until you get a good handle on your fish. Are the measurement units on your tank dimensions cm?
Pat

[Phillydubs]

I am in agreement with the others here. I would adjust the water change to as much as you can as often as you can... At least 50% every other minimum. If you want max growth then the higher % daily is best...

I keep a big free sponge in my sump as well as powering a big hydro sponge with an air pump in my sump. not sure if it helps or what it does but it gives me piece of mind, I feel like sponges are a safety net and always power right back up once plugged in.

Also as Ryan says you have a seeded sponge waiting should you need to start up a hospital or qt

[brandonmoss]

The only reason you would want to keep a sponge filter in your sump is to have a seeded filter in case you ever need to set up a qt tank.

Keep in mind at 4" your discus still have quite a bit of growing to do so the more the water changes the better. Going with a BB will be very beneficial but there still is no substitute for fresh clean water. I got my fish at 3"-3.5" and they now are 5.5"-6". I do 80% every other day.

Thanks for the help ill definitely consider increasing my water change schedule

[brandonmoss]

I would start with 50% once a day until you get a good handle on your fish. Are the measurement units on your tank dimensions cm?
Pat

Yes they are in cm

[brandonmoss]

I am in agreement with the others here. I would adjust the water change to as much as you can as often as you can... At least 50% every other minimum. If you want max growth then the higher % daily is best...

I keep a big free sponge in my sump as well as powering a big hydro sponge with an air pump in my sump. not sure if it helps or what it does but it gives me piece of mind, I feel like sponges are a safety net and always power right back up once plugged in.

Also as Ryan says you have a seeded sponge waiting should you need to start up a hospital or qt

Yes they are 2 free sponges so i guess it would be doing the same