Calling Discus Planted Tank Owners: Water

[cfi on the fly]

I have an RO unit and use it for my planted discus tank. My plants havn't been doing great, they just dont seem to thrive. I'd like to hear specifics on what others have been mixing their RO water with-besides tap water.

Im having a hard time keeping the TDS low, while still getting the correct Ca and Mg levels, without using to much phospates.

I've been playing around with different mixes of RO right, discus essential, baking soda, and straight Ca and Mg. My mixing tank is 46gallons..

Don't want to mix with tap because it is just too unstable here to be consistent. Please let me know what has worked for you.


thanks

[Chad Hughes]

Well, I keep planted tanks at about 200 to 300 ppm TDS. It's perfectly normal. Are you trying to get down below this level or are you at 600 ppm and trying to drop down to the 300 ppm range?

I have a TDS of about 600 out of the tap. I mix with RO to get about 120 ppm Once I add the ferts to the tank I'm at about 180 ppm. Works for me and I get wild growth.

Canyou explain your water parameters better? The only reason to keep TDS low is for breeding and I would NOT recommend breeding in a planted tank. Show only! ;)

Best wishes!

[cyberhog05]

Are you having plant deficiency problems? What ferts are you using? Dry or liquid? What is your substrate? What kinds of plants are you keeping? Pres. Co2? Lighting?

[cfi on the fly]

75g tank
3 x 54 T5HO Catalina
Press CO2- Electronic Regulator,
DIY Rex Grigg Reactor, Drop checker shows light green
Pool Filter Sand Substrate
RO/DI, have been mixing 40g RO with 5g tap,
EI Dosing Dry Ferts- Macros and Micro
KH-3, GH-9, TDS-250
5 Good size Discus, 25 Neons, 1 BNP, 2 SAE, 3 Amanos, 3 Nerite Snails

Ludwigia Peruensis
Myrio, Red
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Rotalla Wallichii
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Florida Sunset
Limnophila ‘hippuroides’
Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden'
Cabomba Purple (Red)(Cabomba pulcherrima)
Bylaxa Japonica
2 unknown swords


Results: Stem Plants just surviving, not thriving, no pearling, no good growth, what growth does come in is stunted and shriveled leaves. Swords do pretty good as well as the Bylaxa. No real algae issues, just some GSA on the tank walls, easily removable.

Discus don't seem happy- lots of huddling in the corner, I cant blame them as I seem to change up the water parameters alot looking for that sweet spot where fish and plants thrive together harmoniously.

I guess if someone could just give me a very specific regime that they follow to have a good planted/discus tank, what additives to RO water, and specific Ferts used. Also with the frequent water changes needed for discus, what does your schedule for Fertlizing look like? Seems like the EI method might not be so great with Discus water changes. I have the equipment, just not the talent!!

Has anyone had luck in breeding discus in a planted tank? I was kind of hoping to get there eventually.

Thanks for the help

[Eddie]

Has anyone had luck in breeding discus in a planted tank? I was kind of hoping to get there eventually.

Thanks for the help

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=68552

HTH
Eddie

[calihawker]

I think most people, including myself at one time, don't maintain adequate c02 levels. Regardless of what has been said, drop checkers are NOT that reliable. Take a sample of your water and verify the ph as accurately as possible then let it degas for 24 hr's and check it again. The difference should be 1 degree ph for 30ppm c02. If you have a controller then you can easily raise the c02 levels a little at a time and just watch everything. The single most important piece of test equipment is your eye.

It's hard to keep raising the c02 levels while that drop checker is turning yellow. I had 3 drop checkers in my 300 gallon tank and all ended up solid yellow by the time I got the c02 levels correct and the ph/kh test put my c02 levels through the roof! But in the end my plants, and discus are thriving.

These are my personal observations and I have been keeping planted tanks for just a couple years (noob) so take it fwiw.

[darbex]

One problem you may have is you may be removing to much nutrients from the water by running RO water. Are you dosing with liquid ferts?

[cfi on the fly]

That what Im afraid of. I am wondering how people are able to maintain nutrients with the amount of water changes discus require. There does not seem to be much information on this point.

[darbex]

I dont use RO water. I only run mine through a DIY carbon filter. I use Seachem Excel to add carbon and I lightly fert the tank

[cyberhog05]

i am just starting to figure out my ei with dry ferts. Say you do a 50% wc add a half dose of ferts back in after you get your tank full

[calihawker]

i am just starting to figure out my ei with dry ferts. Say you do a 50% wc add a half dose of ferts back in after you get your tank full

The EI regimen is very specific in the amount of ferts added to a given water volume whether it's once a day or 3 times a week. The dosing includes not only macros and micros but a gh booster as well. The process is started or reset all over again after a 50% w/c at the end of the week. EI is not something I would recomend for a novice plant/discus keeper but THE place to go for expert advice is the Barr report.

www.barrreport.com

[cyberhog05]

so how would one go about dosing with multiple wc's in a week

[calihawker]

If you go to the bottom of this link it'll give you dilution rates and what you need to add to account for the daily uptake of the plants and the % of w/c. It's form an old pmdd article but the dilution rates apply to EI as well. It's quite a bit of math. (too much for a musician like me:D) So I ended up doing straight EI with 50% w/c per week.

HTH!

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html