wgtaylor
06-14-2009, 11:06 PM
Well the title says it, Easy Water Changes for my contest discus.
I hope this method can make changing water easier for someone just starting out that only have one or two tanks.
We moved into a new house a couple years ago and had several projects to complete before I can build another fish room.
Last December we built a two story double garage. Got lucky, the whole month of December was sunny and 75 to 80 degrees.
The garage project got completed ahead of schedule and I am seriously thinking it would make a really nice two story fish room.
Besides, who ever has room in their garage to park a car. My last garage got converted to a fish room.
After the garage was built, in between rains, came a large deck and stairs coming into the front of the house and a stairway leading
into the kitchen area. Just a couple more things to do before final inspection then......the fish room. :):)
In the meantime I started collecting a few tanks and discus which I setup in a spare room in the house. Some of these tanks have
sump tanks built into the cabinets below the main tanks. This room has just about all the tanks I want to handle until I get a more
permanent setup for them.
My small fishroom
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/smfishroom.jpg
Then came Al and the contest discus and I became one of the lucky ones chosen to raise contest discus. I had to figure
out where to put their tank. I wanted to keep them separate from the other fish like they were in quarantine.
Being proud of having contest discus and wanting anyone that come to visit to see them, I decided they should go in the front room.
Contest discus tank
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/tanklocation.jpg
Now, I have to do daily water changes and have learned five gallon buckets are heavy and I would have to carry them quite a distance.
I got a sump pump to put it in the bathtub, attached a fifty foot hose and a valve on the end. I run the pump while the tub is filling at the correct temperature and run the pump about another five to ten minutes after filling the tub to outgas the co2, getting rid of almost all the bubbles that collect.
This works for me but it may take longer to stabilize the water in other areas of the country with different water parameters.
This would be a good time to add prime or other dechlor products but since I have no chlorine or chloramines I can shut off the valve on the end of the hose and the water is ready to pump to the contest discus.
It only takes me fifteen to thirty minutes to clean and fill the contest tank but three hours to suction up and dry out a water spill so now I save time by paying attention. :p
I just have to make sure my timing is good to get everything cleared out of the tub before my wife's bubble bath time.
Actually she has given up trying to change my ways and I leave her with a spotless clean tub. We work well together. :D:D
Can hold up to seventy gallons of water
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/wtr-chg-pmp.jpg
Can adjust the temperature to a tenth of a degree
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/temp-adj.jpg
I use a siphon connected to a regular garden hose and drain the water outside. I never drain more water than what is shown in this picture.
Every other day I wipe all sides and bottom of the tank, airlines and all other surfaces before their water change so all that is washed out the siphon. While the tank is siphoning I can start their new water coming in on the opposite end of the tank and really flush out the tank by letting the water come in and go out the other end at the same time.
The valve on the end of the hose allows me to fill the tank at full flow or turn the valve nearly off and aerate and fill the tank slowly. The contest discus like the full flow now that I give them their noon feeding of pellets when I fill their tank. They really get happy as soon as the water starts.
By changing fifty to seventy five percent of their water and then refilling makes them poop, every time, so they are ready to eat again.
My minimum depth of water
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/waterchange.jpg
After the tank was set up for a while I was comfortable with the water parameters. Now I do weekly checks of ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and tds.
These should stay fairly consistent until the discus get bigger and are eating more and generating more waste. I can easily add another 15 minute water change when that happens.
Gotta check that water
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/watertest.jpg
My tap water in ppm
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/tap-ppm.jpg
My tap water in micro seimens
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/tap-ms.jpg
I got this thermometer at the food section at a grocery store. It has a calibration button to keep it's accuracy to one tenth of one degree f or c.
You fill a glass with crushed ice and water, press the cal button until it reads thirty two degrees f or zero degrees c. Too easy, even for me.
Calibratable thermometer
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/temp-cal.jpg
I have been blessed with clean soft water straight from the tap and this is working really well for me so far. I was ready with a conditioning tank like I had used in the past to age the water. This is a fifty five gallon barrel with a pond pump inside at the bottom and a aquarium heater. By opening and closing valves, that are standard hardware at any hardware store, I can fill the tank or cycle/agitate the water in the barrel or pump the water out to the fish tank. The barrel has a removable lid for easy cleaning.
Lots of good food, wiping out the tank and daily big water changes has always been the favorite method to growing out juvenile discus. :)
Aging water is always best
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/aging-brl.jpg
Fill - Airate - Pump
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/aging-brl-top.jpg
Hope these ideas can be used by someone to grow big happy discus and make water changes a little easier. :)
Bill
I hope this method can make changing water easier for someone just starting out that only have one or two tanks.
We moved into a new house a couple years ago and had several projects to complete before I can build another fish room.
Last December we built a two story double garage. Got lucky, the whole month of December was sunny and 75 to 80 degrees.
The garage project got completed ahead of schedule and I am seriously thinking it would make a really nice two story fish room.
Besides, who ever has room in their garage to park a car. My last garage got converted to a fish room.
After the garage was built, in between rains, came a large deck and stairs coming into the front of the house and a stairway leading
into the kitchen area. Just a couple more things to do before final inspection then......the fish room. :):)
In the meantime I started collecting a few tanks and discus which I setup in a spare room in the house. Some of these tanks have
sump tanks built into the cabinets below the main tanks. This room has just about all the tanks I want to handle until I get a more
permanent setup for them.
My small fishroom
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/smfishroom.jpg
Then came Al and the contest discus and I became one of the lucky ones chosen to raise contest discus. I had to figure
out where to put their tank. I wanted to keep them separate from the other fish like they were in quarantine.
Being proud of having contest discus and wanting anyone that come to visit to see them, I decided they should go in the front room.
Contest discus tank
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/tanklocation.jpg
Now, I have to do daily water changes and have learned five gallon buckets are heavy and I would have to carry them quite a distance.
I got a sump pump to put it in the bathtub, attached a fifty foot hose and a valve on the end. I run the pump while the tub is filling at the correct temperature and run the pump about another five to ten minutes after filling the tub to outgas the co2, getting rid of almost all the bubbles that collect.
This works for me but it may take longer to stabilize the water in other areas of the country with different water parameters.
This would be a good time to add prime or other dechlor products but since I have no chlorine or chloramines I can shut off the valve on the end of the hose and the water is ready to pump to the contest discus.
It only takes me fifteen to thirty minutes to clean and fill the contest tank but three hours to suction up and dry out a water spill so now I save time by paying attention. :p
I just have to make sure my timing is good to get everything cleared out of the tub before my wife's bubble bath time.
Actually she has given up trying to change my ways and I leave her with a spotless clean tub. We work well together. :D:D
Can hold up to seventy gallons of water
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/wtr-chg-pmp.jpg
Can adjust the temperature to a tenth of a degree
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/temp-adj.jpg
I use a siphon connected to a regular garden hose and drain the water outside. I never drain more water than what is shown in this picture.
Every other day I wipe all sides and bottom of the tank, airlines and all other surfaces before their water change so all that is washed out the siphon. While the tank is siphoning I can start their new water coming in on the opposite end of the tank and really flush out the tank by letting the water come in and go out the other end at the same time.
The valve on the end of the hose allows me to fill the tank at full flow or turn the valve nearly off and aerate and fill the tank slowly. The contest discus like the full flow now that I give them their noon feeding of pellets when I fill their tank. They really get happy as soon as the water starts.
By changing fifty to seventy five percent of their water and then refilling makes them poop, every time, so they are ready to eat again.
My minimum depth of water
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/waterchange.jpg
After the tank was set up for a while I was comfortable with the water parameters. Now I do weekly checks of ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and tds.
These should stay fairly consistent until the discus get bigger and are eating more and generating more waste. I can easily add another 15 minute water change when that happens.
Gotta check that water
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/watertest.jpg
My tap water in ppm
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/tap-ppm.jpg
My tap water in micro seimens
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/tap-ms.jpg
I got this thermometer at the food section at a grocery store. It has a calibration button to keep it's accuracy to one tenth of one degree f or c.
You fill a glass with crushed ice and water, press the cal button until it reads thirty two degrees f or zero degrees c. Too easy, even for me.
Calibratable thermometer
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/temp-cal.jpg
I have been blessed with clean soft water straight from the tap and this is working really well for me so far. I was ready with a conditioning tank like I had used in the past to age the water. This is a fifty five gallon barrel with a pond pump inside at the bottom and a aquarium heater. By opening and closing valves, that are standard hardware at any hardware store, I can fill the tank or cycle/agitate the water in the barrel or pump the water out to the fish tank. The barrel has a removable lid for easy cleaning.
Lots of good food, wiping out the tank and daily big water changes has always been the favorite method to growing out juvenile discus. :)
Aging water is always best
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/aging-brl.jpg
Fill - Airate - Pump
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll50/wgtaylor/Water%20Change/aging-brl-top.jpg
Hope these ideas can be used by someone to grow big happy discus and make water changes a little easier. :)
Bill