Trying to decide

[Sunny884]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to discus. I'm wondering if they are the right fish for me, before I buy any and try to care for them. I found this board and thought it was a great place to start :)

We have a 90 gallon aquarium that is drilled. We were going to try saltwater fish, but decided not to. Many people were telling us not to do saltwaters. We ultimately decided we don't really want to have to do anything with our water (mixing with salt etc). We have a 55 gallon and 30 gallon that we keep show fancy goldfish in. Our water straight out of the tap is great for them. We have well water, so no chlorine or chloramines. Our water out of the tap is as follows, ammonia-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-0, ph-7.6 and I'd say it's not soft water. I will have to buy a test kit to find out the hardness. We do water changes to keep our nitrates in our tanks under 20ppm.

So what I'm wondering is, is our ph (7.6) too high for discus? Can they adapt to harder water? Does anyone use a drilled tank with Discus? What filtration is best? How low do you keep your nitrates? How often do you do water changes? Also anything else you can think to add.

I appreciate any advice!

Thank you :)

[RyanH]

Hey Sunny,

Welcome to Simply! :)

Your water sounds just fine for Discus. The low pH/ soft water thing with Discus is a myth and should be disregarded. Many on the boards here have had great success with pH's exceeding 8 without any problems. It just needs to be stable. Swings in your pH out of the tap can cause problems.

20 ppm is a bit high for Discus in the nitrate department. I really try to keep mine as close to 0 as possible. Discus do require very clean water and a nitrate level that is <3 is really ideal. As you have realized, water changes are the easiest solution in ridding your water of nitrates.

Juveniles achieve the best growth and health with large daily water changes. They really require very clean, fresh water to reach their full size potential. It's also usually best to keep them in a barebottom tank until they grow to a size that you are happy with. However, I only change the water in my adult tanks twice per week and they are fine.

As far as filtration goes, I rely on biological filtration and water changes exclusively. Carbon is good for removing medications but I personally am leary of using it for daily filtration. A wet/dry is fine, sponge filters are fantastic and plain old hang-on-the-back power filters are great too.

These are the short answers to your questions. I'm sure you'll have more. Feel free to post when they come up.

hth! :)

-Ryan

[Sunny884]

Thanks for replying Ryan H! I've had my goldfish for almost 2 years now and have never had a PH fluctuation, so that is good. In the goldfish world we try to keep our Nitrates below 20ppm, as I'm sure you know goldfish are a very dirty fish and this tends to be the healthy range. I do 2-3 water changes per week.

I think if we bought discus we would buy them at a size that we would be ok if they didn't grow anymore (yes I know how expensive they are lol).

I don't run carbon at all unless I'm removing medications. I completely rely on biological also. I've never had a wet/dry, but being we have a drilled tank I'm assuming that is what we would have to use. In my 55 I run a Filstar XP3 and an Aquaclear 110 aka 500 for my goldfish.

Thank you so much for your reply! It's great to know it's at least a possibility that we could do Discus :D

[Cosmo]

Hey Sunny,

Most my tanks are drilled, and I use cannisters on all of them with great success :) Best to use pre-filters on the intakes and keep the cannisters cleaned regularly so as not to build up nitrates.. thinking you should have no problems :)

Jim

[Sunny884]

Thanks for replying Cosmo!

That is great you use canisters. How exactly does that work as far as connecting goes? I sorta know how to connect the wet/dry type with the sump.

[Howie_W]

So what I'm wondering is, is our ph (7.6) too high for discus? Can they adapt to harder water? Does anyone use a drilled tank with Discus? What filtration is best? How low do you keep your nitrates? How often do you do water changes? Also anything else you can think to add.

I appreciate any advice!

Thank you :)

Hi Sunny! :wave:

Welcome to Simply. Your water out of the tap is excellent just as is. I also have an endless supply of fresh clean well water...something many Discus enthusiast would love to have.

Bottom line is your water needs to remain clean at all times...nitrates should be zero. All my juveniles get large daily water changes...and like Ryan mentioned, smaller amounts for adults. For me, bare bottom grow out tanks for juveniles, and planted ones for adults are the best of both worlds! :)


Howie

[aggie_67]

Having a drilled tank does not mean you have to have a wet-dry. Mine are drilled just for the ease in changing water,

[Carol_Roberts]

I prefer Aqua clear (hang on the back filters) or air driven sponge filters over canister filters. I agree with the advice you've been given regarding water changes and pH. My well water is 6.6 from the tap and raises to 7.8 after circulating for a bit.

[Sunny884]

Wow, thanks everyone for taking the time to reply to me :D I think I'll wait until after the holidays and start buying some filtration etc. I appreciate all your advice!

[SantaFeDiscus]

Sunny-
Discus are definately the way to go! :) We need more people in the hobby. I have always liked the idea that discus are bred in captivity and most salt water fish in your LFS were plucked from the oceans and cheated out of their natural habitat. Discus that are bred and raised in tanks are very happy and never know what their missing as far as not actually being in their natural habitat. I also like the idea of breeding and discus will happily do that in aquariums, wereas most saltwater fish will not breed for you in your tank. As far as filtration goes your statement of "I think I'll wait until after the holidays and start buying some filtration etc." makes me think you might go out and spend a bunch of $ on filtration you may not need. I know I did that. I had canister filters, prefilters, otb filters and I ended up getting rid of everything except my sponge filters (2 per tank). If you do enough or big enough water changes you need won't need much filtration. So don't overkill like I did. By the way one of the canister filters I did away with was a rena xp3 and although it worked well (in a 85 gallon tank) I no longer use it because I don't need it and it is just one more thing to clean. I have found 2 hydro sponges will do the trick. Happy Holidays.
Fred

[Sunny884]

Fred,

I really just meant that I'm not going to start tackling anything until all the stimulation of the holidays is over. In a perfect world I would only have to do 2 water changes per week. So I was thinking of getting fish that I would be satisfied with their size from the start. To only do 2 water changes per week what would you suggest for filtration? Thank you for replying :D Also, I definitely have more reading to do before I start buying any fish. So I think discus definitely seem like a great choice. I'm getting pretty excited!