Please help me.

[azpunisher24]

hello all.:)

i am still new to this hobby and i have a quick question.
i have been able to grow out my first 3 discus i ever bought without know nothing AT ALL about these fish to about 4 inches now. with no water changes at all and i never cleaned the bottom gravel ( i didnt know) :o i had the whole gravel, driftwood thing going, you know..but i mean they grew in the past 7 months. lol i know i will not grow them out to their fullest, but ill be satisfied with at least 5 inch discus =]

i recently bought 4 i'd say 2 inch juvies that i would really want to grow out.

since i cannot do daily or weekly water changes in my tank, ( i dont want my father paying too much ):o
i wanted to ask.
is there really a difference in syphoning the waste out and loosing water rather than just sucking it up with a canister filter? I bought a longer hose for the intake and the hose just sucks everything up in the bottom.So the water comes back without the waiste. i do have a bb tank so its really easy. i know that i do need many water changes to grow them out, but i'be be more than happy to atleast get them to atleast 5 inches.

is this a good idea?
any advice would help.

-abner

[zooyorkthang]

I am new to the discus game myself but everyone suggest to put on a prefilter on to keep all the waste and food out. I'm sure you are going to foul out your water and filter really fast doing your method.
If you want to save on the water bill, maybe you can siphon the waste out into a bucket and let all the crap sink to the bottom of the bucket and siphon the top clean water back in. goodluck

[DiscusLoverJeff]

I would think that longevity of the fish will be cut down if you do not at least give the fish a healthy enviornment. Added to that, a dirty tank can cause many health issues not just for discus but for many fish.

You don't specify what size tank you have but I would venture to say that depending on where you live, 5 to 10 gallon water changes a week would not effect your water bill that much as most people waste that taking long showers.

The important thing to remember when you got into fish keeping, keep your water clean and your fish will be healthier longer!

[Skip]

well, look at it this way.. you are sucking up the SOLID wastes that you see.. but there is till WASTE in the water you can't see.. WC just allows you to DILLUTE and help remove it over time..

ex. if you never flushed your toilet and just removed the solid waste that you could see... do you think that water would be the equal to the another toilet that was flushed once day after being used?

[DiscusLoverJeff]

well, look at it this way.. you are sucking up the SOLID wastes that you see.. but there is till WASTE in the water you can't see.. WC just allows you to DILLUTE and help remove it over time..

ex. if you never flushed your toilet and just removed the solid waste that you could see... do you think that water would be the equal to the another toilet that was flushed once day after being used?

EWWWWWWWWW

[tcyiu]

since i cannot do daily or weekly water changes in my tank, ...
is this a good idea?

No. This is not a good idea.


ex. if you never flushed your toilet and just removed the solid waste that you could see...

It's worse than what warlock described. The waste is NOT removed. All the waste is just sitting inside the canister decomposing.

Here's what I would do in your situation:
1. Siphon up whatever waste you see as much as you can during the day. Drain the water into a bucket with a homemade filter. Return the water MINUS the waste into the tank. The key is to get the waste OUT of the system. If it is in the canister, the waste is still in the system and will foul the water.
2. Do small water changes once a day. Change the equivalent of one toilet flush. So if you practice the "If it's yellow, let it mellow" strategy, you will not be using extra water. Or take shorter showers.

If you want some detailed tips on how to do # 1 cheaply and easily, PM me.

Good luck.

Tim

[azpunisher24]

thanks to all that replied i will take in consideration what you guys had to say.

-abner

[srusso]

thanks to all that replied i will take in consideration what you guys had to say.

-abner

To be honest it really sounds like your being lazy... You flush about 5 gallons of water every time you use the bathroom... Give the animals some clean water! How would you like living in your own wastes your whole life?!

[Skip]

HERE HERE SRUSSO! :D

[RudeDogg1]

Or if u realy want to be lazy do them a favour and don't buy discus! Problem solved :0p

[danjadragonfly]

How about. Rain water? yes you would have to filter it first but at least no cost to your fathers bill.

Rain water has also the advantage that it is lower in PH which is beneficial for fish from the amazonas.

whatever you do...please do yourself and the fish a favor and get informed - library internet used books...simplydiscus forum is a great resource (even though some comments are not worth reading them like the one of Rudedogg1)

And please pick the brains of the members here with any little issue you have.

Never forget you have decided on DISCUS - the "kings of the fresh water aquariums" and as such they need to be treated like it.
Otherwise you will invest a lot of your pocket money on dead fish.
good luck

[RudeDogg1]

Why is my comment any worse than anyone elses?! If he doesn't want to do water changes or any kind of maintaince surely not having discus is a better idea for him and the fish? Or do u disagree?

[Jennie]

???:confused:


Why is my comment any worse than anyone elses?! If he doesn't want to do water changes or any kind of maintaince surely not having discus is a better idea for him and the fish? Or do u disagree?

[RudeDogg1]

???:confused:

Lol that was aimed at thingies dig at my comment. I forgot to quote

[azpunisher24]

im not being lazy, i just thought i had to do 100 % water change in my 60 g tank. but now i know i can atleast do a 5g change atleast once every 2 days.

i have an aqua clear 110 running on it and i mentioned the canister filter just to get the poop out.

i do not run that canister filter in the tank, i just use it to clean the poop. i clean the filter after.

thanks again for your comments.

[srusso]

im not being lazy, i just thought i had to do 100 % water change in my 60 g tank. but now i know i can atleast do a 5g change atleast once every 2 days.

i have an aqua clear 110 running on it and i mentioned the canister filter just to get the poop out.

i do not run that canister filter in the tank, i just use it to clean the poop. i clean the filter after.

thanks again for your comments.

Any amount of water changes are better then none, your fish will thank you. Your better off cleaning the canister filter and running it full time. Buy some nylon hose at a hardware store, at home depot just 4 dollars for 10ft. Grab a bucket and use the hose to create a siphon, this will replace the canister as a vacuum. Work quickly and dump all of the water that comes out and replace with fresh water. Try to do at least 50% WC every three days, this is a good minimum for most people who feel that 100% is crazy... To get back to your first question, water changes are the first thing that needs to happen if you want your discus to grow. Also for $4 you can get 50lbs of sandbox play sand from home depot, rinse it well and ditch your gravel. Sand will keep the poop on the top keeping you from having to vacuum the gravel in the first place. Not only will it look great but it will shorten the time you spend cleaning the tank. Siphoning the poop off the top of sand is very easy, much better then vacuuming gravel. Good luck with your fish.

[RudeDogg1]

im not being lazy, i just thought i had to do 100 % water change in my 60 g tank. but now i know i can atleast do a 5g change atleast once every 2 days.

i have an aqua clear 110 running on it and i mentioned the canister filter just to get the poop out.

i do not run that canister filter in the tank, i just use it to clean the poop. i clean the filter after.

thanks again for your comments.

well 5% is a start in the right direction. Much easyer to use a syphone to hoover up all the poop and use the canister as a filter in the tank full time