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Rubberducky
02-22-2012, 02:09 AM
1) Please Introduce your self and tell us what your experience is with fishkeeping, give us as much information as possible as to how long in the hobby, what you have kept in the past and what you currently are working with.

I've kept fish on and off for the last twenty years, mostly kept Cichlids.

2) If you have no previous experience with keeping discus, have you done any research to properly prepare yourself, e.g. have you read any Stickies in this section of SimplyDiscus, or other material?

Been researching for about four months.

3) Describe your tank, its size and dimensions, breeding or display. Include how long it has been setup or if it is still being cycled?

I have a cycled 120 gallon display tank. 60''Lx18''Wx26"H. Its been setup for about six weeks.

4) Describe the décor for the tank; type of substrate or bare bottom (BB), whether the tank will be planted or a biotope.

Gravel with a very large piece of driftwood, with a few fake plants.

5) Describe your water changes planned or practiced, percentage and how often. Include if you age your water and use of tap/RO or mix.

I have been changing about 50% every third day.

6) Describe the type of filtration planned/used for the tank; sponge, HOB and/or sump. Also include the other equipment you are, or will be, using in your tank, e.g. heater, lighting, etc.

It has a thirty gallon sump. Two 300 watt jager heaters, one in the sump and one in the overflow. Both heaters are connected to a Finnex HC810M temp controller. I have two 46" Power-Glo 54W T5 HO light bulbs.

7) If the tank is already setup and running, include the water parameters;

- temp: 83 degrees

- tank ph: 7.4

- Ph of the water straight out of your tap: Its off the chart, 8.8+. According to local water dept it is 9.6 but I have not been able to verify due to API test only going up to 8.8

- ammonia reading: 0

- nitrite reading: 0

- nitrate reading: 10.0-10.0 straight out of the tap also

- municipal water: yes


8) Describe your current or planned stocking levels; number/size of discus and number/type of dither fish. Where did you get your discus from or do you have a proposed source for getting your discus?

I currently have 10 Lemon tetras, 10 Cardinal tetras, 4 BN, 6 Cory, 2 GBR. I plan on adding 8 4''+ discus with in the next couple of weeks from Central Ohio Discus.

9) Describe your planned or existing feeding regimen. Include what and how often you are feeding on a daily basis.

Not sure on what I'm going to feed discus when I get them. Currently feed community fish Sera flake food. BN get the occasional Tetra algae wafer.

10) What are your goals in this hobby? For example are you looking to keep discus in a planted community tank, or do you hope to become a hobby breeder of Discus? Do you want to raise Discus with the hopes of competing in shows?

I just want happy healthy discus to stare at!

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd86/DGLemon/c779685c.jpg

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd86/DGLemon/7e422316.jpg

Rubberducky
02-22-2012, 02:18 AM
Last night was the first time I tested my tap water for pH. It looks like I'm going to need to get an aging barrel. I aged some water 24 hours in a glass jar and tested it's ph and it also was 7.4.

discuspaul
02-22-2012, 01:42 PM
Seems like you've done your homework, and you've well prepared yourself to get off to a good start. You may want to consider increasing the frequency of wcs, and pay attention to maintaining a good tank cleansing routine, wipe-downs, vacs, etc., but overall you're in decent shape to get started.
Sort out your feeding plans, buy good quality, healthy stock, and you should do well.
Best of luck.

Rubberducky
02-22-2012, 02:15 PM
Seems like you've done your homework, and you've well prepared yourself to get off to a good start. You may want to consider increasing the frequency of wcs, and pay attention to maintaining a good tank cleansing routine, wipe-downs, vacs, etc., but overall you're in decent shape to get started.
Sort out your feeding plans, buy good quality, healthy stock, and you should do well.
Best of luck.

When I actually get discus I plan to up the WC to 50% every other day. I vaccum half of the tank during every WC. I'm going to let the breeder instruct me on what to feed also. Any suggestions on what size aging barrel I need? I was thinking I should get twice the capacity of my tank. I'm think about 250 gallons. Any thoughts? It will have to go into my basement, which would be about 100 feet from the tank. Not to mention about 14 feet below the top of the tank. What size pump will i need to get the water moving that far?

Dan

discuspaul
02-22-2012, 03:24 PM
With 4" discus to start with, your planned wc routine of every second day should be adequate & satisfactory., along with your concurrent vacs.
A 250 gal ageing barrel would be great, although you may not require something quite that large in capacity. Hopefully it will be heated and aerated. If not heated, that may be ok if the water temp in the ageing barrel is not significantly lower than that in your tank - I'd suggest an approx. 10 degree F difference should not pose any undue problem.
As for pumps, I'm not the guy to ask about that, just do some research and I'm quite sure you'll come up with a suitable solution.

lipadj46
02-22-2012, 03:39 PM
very nice tank. Maybe lose the plastic plants and add anubias and java ferns attached to the driftwood and a couple amazon swords? This mag drive pump would do it:

http://www.kensfish.com/product2774.html

nwehrman
02-22-2012, 03:42 PM
Glad your applying thought to it before jumping in.

My advice go with as much water storage for two 100% changes daily just in case... Never know when you may have too and not having aged water stinks ...been there! My kids got the bright idea to help feed my planted discus tank ....


Nicole

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Skip
02-22-2012, 03:51 PM
Glad your applying thought to it before jumping in.

My advice go with as much water storage for two 100% changes daily just in case... Never know when you may have too and not having aged water stinks ...been there! My kids got the bright idea to help feed my planted discus tank ....


HAAAA!!

what was ph out of the tap?
aged it was 7.4.. but you didn't say out of tap.. or did i miss that?

nwehrman
02-22-2012, 03:54 PM
You missed it-- Skip

It's over 8.8....


Nicole

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Skip
02-22-2012, 03:57 PM
You missed it-- Skip

It's over 8.8....



WHAT THE FUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am just too poor to pay attention!

Rubberducky
02-22-2012, 06:17 PM
WHAT THE FUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am just too poor to pay attention!

What would cause that? From what I have seen from others, usually the pH goes up not down after being aged...I think

Skip
02-22-2012, 06:24 PM
idk.. mine comes out 8.2-8.4 and settles in at 7.6-7.8