another new to discus

[rikbar]

Hi, my name is Rik and I am a discusaholic.
I have a 75g slightly planted tank, there are 3 blue heckle, 2 marlbro reds, and 3 discus I am not sure of. There is also a blue phantom plec, banjo cat and guppies. I have had the discus now for about 3 months, the problem is I am not sure if they are feeding properly. It doesn't seem like the feed with the gusto that they should. I feed a mixture of tetre select, wardley cichlid flakes, frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms. My water test as follows.
pH-7.2
Alkalinity-180
Hardness-300
NitrIte-0
NitrAte-20
I do a water change every 3rd day or so. Should I be doing it everyday? Like I said I am new to discus and just am not sure how they should act. Sorry for the long post. Thanks

[ronrca]

Hi Rik! A big welcome to simplydiscus!

I am a discusaholic ;) :thumbsup: You have come to the right place! We all suffer from discusaholic's and we understand you entirely! ;D

You have made an excellant start already using using a 75G tank! Very good size for discus as discus love company. Your wc schedule is pretty good also being every 3rd however how much of a wc do you do? Another question is how big are your discus? Your nitrates are a little on the high side especially for young discus so increasing the frequency of wc or volume may help bring the level down. In a planted tank, you want to stay around the 5ppm to a max of 10ppm. Id also recommend using discus at least 4"+ in a planted tank. Are you using any C02 injection?

And most important question, do you have any pics? ;)

[rikbar]

Thanks for the reply, I change any where from 35% to 50% when I do a water change, it usually depends on how much water I have aged. I use a 40g rubbermaid trash can, fill w/ water and use a rio something pump to turn the water. The discus are different sizes, 2 heckels are around 4" 1 heckel is around 3", and the rest are about the same, around 2-3". I have tried water changes everyday and it doesn't seem to change the nitrates, I have been fighting this since adding the plants. I am not using any CO2, I have tried live plants in my other tanks with no luck, this tank only has one plant in it that lives, and some duckweed. Here are some pics.Thanks

http://members.rushmore.com/~helprin/discus104.JPG

http://members.rushmore.com/~helprin/discus204.JPG

[ronrca]

I change any where from 35% to 50% ;) Good!


I use a 40g rubbermaid trash can, fill w/ water and use a rio something pump to turn the water. How long do you age you water btw?


water changes everyday and it doesn't seem to change the nitrates, I have been fighting this since adding the plants Do you vacuum the gravel when you do a wc? Do you ad any fertilizers?


I am not using any CO2, I have tried live plants in my other tanks with no luck, Have you tried C02 injection? Plants do require C02 during the day to 'breath'. Can you also elaborate on your lighting schedule and the types/wattages you are using? What type of substrate?

;) Sorry for grilling you with all the questions but it will help us give a better understanding to help you out! :D

Thanks for the pics! Looks like you have a nice setup! Do you have any pics showing the whole tank?
The discus themselves seem to be pigeon blood strain especially the 3in the first pic! The other pic with the 2, one is a tangerine or color variation of, again pigeon blood based and the second is hard to tell but could be a turquiose! ;)

[rikbar]

I usually let it age for 3 days or so. I vacuum the gravel every other time when doing a water change. I don't use any fertilizer and I don't really have a lighting schedule, not at least for the plants. I usually have the lights on for 11-12 hours a day. The substrate is a fine gravel, it is actually for ponds, I can't remember what it was called. Here are some pics of the whole tank. Sorry for the quality, haven't figured out how to get good pics with the camera just yet.

http://members.rushmore.com/~helprin/MVC-191S.JPG

http://members.rushmore.com/~helprin/MVC-192S.JPG

[planteddiscus]

hi ronrca,

i have a planted tank with discus with pressurized co2 and dose seachem flourish with eco -complete substrate. i observed that my ph is lower when light on and also co2 on and higher when light off and co2 off but at this time air stone and hob filter start running. i have a 2217 eheim that run 24/24. as i read some article on this board i notify that ph should be stable. can oyu tell me how to keep the ph stable.



ph light and co2 on 6.9
ph light and co2 off but airstone and additional hob filter on 7.6( i measure this in the morning when the light is not on )

[mattrox]

It sounds like that when you put the air-stone on it drives off all the CO2 you just put in. This causes the pH to rise. That is a heck of a pH swing.

[Carol_Roberts]

You will find your discus do very poorly in pH swings of 6.9 to 7.6 and back. Decide which you want to concentrate on. If you want to concentrate on discus stop the CO2.

[ronrca]

When you add C02, your ph will drop and visa versa when not adding C02! In my planted tank I have the C02 on all the time. The ph does not swing much. You can get a ph controller that will keep the ph steady by adding or stopping the C02 injection.

Rikbar,
Tank looks good! It actually looks huge! You may want to slowly add more plants and/or discus and/or little more driftwood to fill out the spaces. ;) The additional of ferts will help you plants survive also! ;)

[planteddiscus]

ronnca,
the ph controler attached to the selenoid is the the milwauke ph controler, isn't it?

thank for all of your replies.