how often should i change my water

[becca3766]

Hey guys,
Just looking for some expierenced opinions. I am getting 5 discus all from 3 to 4 inches. I have a 125g (4x2x2) with an Fx5 and a sponge filter rated for 80g. Im using RO water with a 6.5 pH regulator and discus essentials vitamins. Oh and im keeping the temp at 84F. How often and how much larger water do you guys think I should need to change?

Any feedback is appreciated!

[Sean Buehrle]

Well I'm just gonna lay it out there for ya :)

You don't need an ro filter unless your water is crap, which is doubtful.

Use tap water for your fish, it's way more stable which is the most important thing for your fish.

Don't jack with you water ph, leave it as is whatever it is out of the tap.

A 125 is a hard tank to raise Juvies in (my opinion) because you need to change such large amounts of water.

Keep your tank real clean. Wipe the walls down a few times a week.
Change at least half your water a day and at least 1 100 % change a week.
That sounds extreme but I've had a few 125s with discus before and the water quality can go downhill quick.

I'm a big believer in the more water changes the better.

Good luck.

[becca3766]

Thanks but I do have to use RO because our house was built in 1936 and the pipes have never been changed. Let's just say out of the tap our nitrates rate at 180ppm out of the tap and the hardness is through the roof aswell.

[Bud Smith]

Thanks but I do have to use RO because our house was built in 1936 and the pipes have never been changed. Let's just say out of the tap our nitrates rate at 180ppm out of the tap and the hardness is through the roof aswell.

I used a RO unit when I started keeping discus but I learned that a storage tank with activated carbon and heavy aeration over a 24 hour period gave me proper discus water - just my experience

I have raised a few groups of juvies and you should do daily water changes coupled with a good nutritional diet
Because juvies need alot of clean water some people will keep them in a smaller tank(in comparison to a 125 gal.) to make water changes more managable until they become young adults and then move them to (for example a 125 gal. display tank) - I do 50% daily water changes in a 75 gal.

[YSS]

In my opinion, it's amount of water you change based on the bio load. If you have 5 juvies in a 120G tank, you don't have to change half your water a day and one 100% a week. I could see this type of water change routine if you are growing 5 juvies out in a 20G tank. You do the math for for a 120G tank.

[Sean Buehrle]

Thanks but I do have to use RO because our house was built in 1936 and the pipes have never been changed. Let's just say out of the tap our nitrates rate at 180ppm out of the tap and the hardness is through the roof aswell.

180 nitrate out of the tap? No way.

[Sean Buehrle]

In my opinion, it's amount of water you change based on the bio load. If you have 5 juvies in a 120G tank, you don't have to change half your water a day and one 100% a week. I could see this type of water change routine if you are growing 5 juvies out in a 20G tank. You do the math for for a 120G tank.

Well I seen a woman try and grow out Juvies in a 4000 gallon swimming pool, everyone around here including me thought along the same lines as you are.
It was a total failure, the fish didn't grow an inch over an entire summer.

She grew out some of the same fry in a 75 and gave them large daily water changes and the growth was phenomenal.

Water changes rule jmo :)

[becca3766]

I have a 30gal too but I was hoping they would be fine in the 125 with the huge filter. Im also using" RO because I am trying to get them to pair up. Thanks for the feedback I will probably do 25gal water changes daily. Im home all day so I will be sure they are eating in the large tank, I just want them to grow fast!

[becca3766]

@Sean yea our water is gross, but my boyfriends great grandfather built the house during the depresion and no on drew up any blue prints or anything. No one even knows for sure where the septic is haha but yea we use the ro for our cooking aswell.

[Sean Buehrle]

I have a 30gal too but I was hoping they would be fine in the 125 with the huge filter. Im also using" RO because I am trying to get them to pair up. Thanks for the feedback I will probably do 25gal water changes daily. Im home all day so I will be sure they are eating in the large tank, I just want them to grow fast!

Well your fish will grow good in a 125 there's plenty of people around here that use big tanks with good results. But it's just a for sure way to have good results by changing a lot of water. I've seen the results of trying to get by with as little effort as possible.
When I see someone like you asking for what I think is the best possible way to have success, my answer will always be change your water.

I have 2 220 gal tanks sitting empty and wouldn't dream of growing any fish out in them, it's just too much work.
Good luck to ya :)

[YSS]

Well I seen a woman try and grow out Juvies in a 4000 gallon swimming pool, everyone around here including me thought along the same lines as you are.
It was a total failure, the fish didn't grow an inch over an entire summer.

She grew out some of the same fry in a 75 and gave them large daily water changes and the growth was phenomenal.

Water changes rule jmo :)

I grew out 3" juvies in my 265G tank with tons of other fish. Fed them 3 to 4 times a day, did 50% water changes every 4 to 5 days. Most of my fish grew to near 6" and some closer to 7". Bio load is what pollutes water and polluted water needs to be changed. If you have a small bio-load, you don't need to change water that often. It's not trying to get by with minimal effort. Why change so much water when you don't need to?

[nc0gnet0]

Sean,

Do you have a link to that experiment trying to grow out juvies in a 4000? gallon pool? I have a feeling there are other factors at play here to the reason for failure other than that of high nitrates.

I myslef prefer smaller tanks with frequent water changes too. A factor that is often over looked is smaller tanks lead to more aggressive feeding do to competition, which I feel is a big factor in good growth.

Rick

[Sean Buehrle]

Sean,

Do you have a link to that experiment trying to grow out juvies in a 4000? gallon pool? I have a feeling there are other factors at play here to the reason for failure other than that of high nitrates.

I myslef prefer smaller tanks with frequent water changes too. A factor that is often over looked is smaller tanks lead to more aggressive feeding do to competition, which I feel is a big factor in good growth.

Rick

It should be here somewhere, good luck finding it, it's at least 6-7 years old.
Liz might know the woman's name that did it, if you can find her name you can find the thread.

[Sean Buehrle]

I grew out 3" juvies in my 265G tank with tons of other fish. Fed them 3 to 4 times a day, did 50% water changes every 4 to 5 days. Most of my fish grew to near 6" and some closer to 7". Bio load is what pollutes water and polluted water needs to be changed. If you have a small bio-load, you don't need to change water that often. It's not trying to get by with minimal effort. Why change so much water when you don't need to?
I like to keep a tank clean. That means wiping the walls down every couple days. If you've ever done that (i know you do) you would know what it does to the water . There's no way you could leave 50 % of that water in a tank, if you did the tank would stink to high heaven.

a 50 % water change will only remove 50 percent of the waste and the levels keep going up.
At some point you are going to have to do a 100% water change .
A 50 percent water change means your fish are constantly living in their own waste, never a break.
No matter how you slice it or what math you come up with, half is half.

With all the crap we feed these fish it's hard not to change it all, when I feed beef heart I can see oil from the beef floating on the surface, that happens to everyone's tanks not just mine. That water has got to go.

I pretty much had to learn the hard way about changing water and until I did, I lost fish here and there. I dunno bout you but throwing a 150 dollar fish in the trash can tends to irritate me. :)

I remember talking to jack wattley on the phone once, I about crapped myself when he suggested I change all my water every day, twice if possible.

I think the number one reason I change so much water is because a guy around here told me a long time ago that if I would quit trying to keep discus in what amounted to a toilet all my problems with discus would go away, and he was right.

Up until I fed my fish live black worms that is. he warned me about that too, its too bad I didnt listen to him.

Ps. I only change half my water in my adults tank every other day with a100 percent once or twice a week, just depends if I feel like doing it all.
:)

[ShinShin]

I am willing to bet that anyone here who has kept, bred and raised discus would not do so in a 125. It is too big. There is too much room for the juvies to swim around and burn energy, energy that could be used for growth. Results are not what most would think. You are better off raising the 5 in your 30 with very large (90-95%) water changes. Even after they get too large for the 30, I would divide the 125 60/40 and keep them in the smaller section until they are a year old. The size of your filter needs only be as big as your bioload requirements. Some think that you can "overfilter" a tank and have cleaner water. A biofilter colnizes to the load in the tank, not to oversize of the filtration system. There is more than bioload for the large water changes and R/O water properly reconstituted is superior to your tap.

Mat

[YSS]

a 50 % water change will only remove 50 percent of the waste and the levels keep going up.
At some point you are going to have to do a 100% water change .
A 50 percent water change means your fish are constantly living in their own waste, never a break.
No matter how you slice it or what math you come up with, half is half.



I think we all agree that clean water is good for discus. I suppose it's the definition of what that cleanliness is. We all do what we can to keep our fish as healthy as we can. I don't breed and my goal is not growing juvies out as large as I possibly can, so my water change philosophy is different than from those who breed and grow the fish out.

I agree half is half and if that half is not clean enough for your discus, you would have to do more than that. I just didn't think five 3" juvy would pollute water enough to warrant that much water changes you suggested in a 120G tank.

[Sean Buehrle]

I think we all agree that clean water is good for discus. I suppose it's the definition of what that cleanliness is. We all do what we can to keep our fish as healthy as we can. I don't breed and my goal is not growing juvies out as large as I possibly can, so my water change philosophy is different than from those who breed and grow the fish out.

I agree half is half and if that half is not clean enough for your discus, you would have to do more than that. I just didn't think five 3" juvy would pollute water enough to warrant that much water changes you suggested in a 120G tank.

Your probably right :)
It's just me and my advice for a beginner. The original poster is a beginner and it's just my opinion that if he changes a lot of water, his chances of success with less problems will be higher.

[becca3766]

Your probably right :)
It's just me and my advice for a beginner. The original poster is a beginner and it's just my opinion that if he changes a lot of water, his chances of success with less problems will be higher.

Yea and im a she lol

Thanks again for all the advice everybody, I wasn't expecting so much feedback haha

[Sean Buehrle]

Yea and im a she lol

Thanks again for all the advice everybody, I wasn't expecting so much feedback haha

We need more chicks around here.

[becca3766]

Thanks for the welcome!