Let me introduce myself...

[ReMY]

Hi All

First of all congrats to all of you who make Simply a great reference for all discus lovers around the planet. ;)
I live in France and have been keeping discus for about a year now in a planted tank. The tank is about 80 gallons and I now have 7 discus who are doing pretty well in there. Of course I do not plan on keeping all 7 but until they are fully grown I think it'll do... I hope anyway...

Here's a picture that I took in November (sorry, compared to many I've seen here the quality seems rather poor ::), but I promise I'll do better next time...).

Concerning the equipment, I use pressurized CO2 with a Dupla reactior and 2 Eheim canister filters. Iron is dosed daily. The tank is lighted with 4 x 30W + 2 x 14W 12 hours a day. Also I do 13 gallons WC weekly.

Glad to be on board and sorry for the English mistakes...

Talk to you soon

ReMY

[RAWesolowski]

Welcome, ReMY!

What is the plant in the center of the tank?

[ChloroPhil]

Hygrophila corymbosa "stricta"

[Don_Lee]

Welcome Remy! Great looking tank, thanks for sharing. My wife is French, from the South/Montpellier area......it is a small world eh?

Don ;D

[ReMY]

Hygrophila corymbosa "stricta"


Absolutely correct and believe me that thing grows like crazy. A friend actually gave me a tiny piece (roughly 3 inches high) and here's the result after 5 months. Also the discus seem to like it because it turns out to be nice hiding place...

Hey Don, what a coincidence, that's the place where I was born... talk about a small world :sun:

Here's a more recent picture (not sure about the quality but at least it's recent ;D)

[ChloroPhil]

Bienvenue ReMY; that's a great looking tank. No wonder your discus love that Hygro, it's huge!

Would you please tell us what your water's like out of the tap? I've heard that water in Europe has a good amount of Nitrates and Phosphorus in it. Is that true?

Best,
Phil

[ReMY]

Merci Phil ;D

The water quality in France varies a LOT from one place to another. In Britany (western side of the country), the PH4 and NO3 are high, very high.I guess that's what you get with loads of farms using pesticides all year long...
RO is a must over there. I even know some aquarists who use RO for their African cichlid tanks...

In Paris (this is where I currently live), the NO3 is not too bad (around 20 ppm). The main problem here is chlorine (the tap water really stinks :P). I use 75% RO + 25% tap water.

On the eastern side of the country, RO is really an option. I'm sure you heard of Evian and maybe other mineral waters like Vittel... well they all come from this area. NO3 < 10, Ph is neutral.
Actually, I will be transferred in that area in April... at last I'll be able to get rid of my RO device!

Concerning other European countries, I must admit I don't really have a clue.

Talk to you soon!

ReMY

[ChloroPhil]

ReMY,

I'd LOVE to have a NO3 level of 20ppm in my water, that would be awesome. It's fertilizer every time I add new water, no wonder your plants look so good.

[Don_Lee]

Un rapide bonjour d'Illinois!
Mon mari me dit que vous etes ne a Montpellier? Moi aussi! Quelle coincidence! Cela fait 10 ans que je vis aux Etats Unis. Je retourne en France chaques annees pour voir ma famille situee dans les environs de Nimes. J'espere un jour convaincre Don de vivre en France! Je vais lui faire visiter pour la premiere fois cette annee!...il est possible qu'il ne veuille plus retourner aux USA! ;)
Marie-France

That is a message from my wife Remy! Glad to have you here!


Don ;D

[ReMY]

ReMY,

I'd LOVE to have a NO3 level of 20ppm in my water, that would be awesome. It's fertilizer every time I add new water, no wonder your plants look so good.



;D ;D ;D
Phil,
No wonder I'm always confused when I read threads about dozing NO3!!! Who would worry about that here!!! The down side is that I keeping an eye on NO3 is a must, because sometimes, these levels can increase. Last summer for instance, we had one of the warmest summer ever. In my appartment, it was way over 40° celsius -sorry not sure how much that is in F°...- and the tank water was almost that hot! Believe it or not, only the discus survived! Anyways, following that, the tap water quality changed drastically for a couple of months. Of course that included NO3 that went up to 50ppm :P :P... not good.

Marie-France, Don
Merci pour ce petit message. J'ai moi ême vécu aux USA quand j'étais jeune (Connecticut) mais ça fait trés longtemps... Maintenant grâce à mon métier je suis amené à venir aux USA régulièrement. En tout cas, si vous souhaitez venir quelques jours en France, n'hesitez pas à me le dire, vous serez les bienvenus à la maison.
A bientôt!

All,
Sorry for this short French break ;D If you want to see more pictures or if you want more details concerning my tank, just let me know.

[RAWesolowski]

Phil,

I am very impressed with the quick response on the plant type! I don't care what Don says, you are more than a pretty face! ;D

[ChloroPhil]

Gosh.......thanks Bob!

:gorgeous:

[ReMY]

I must have missed something ::)

Have a great day!

[Don_Lee]

Umm, I missed something too....... ;D

[ChloroPhil]

I think he was having a little fun with you Don. :)

[Don_Lee]

LOL....................you got me there Raw! Is this just a French thing? I am telling my wife! lol ;D

Don

[Wahter]

For those of us who don't speak very much French, there's always:

Babelfish:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr

;D ;D