Re: High tech planted tank with discus
For some reason I cannot attach my high tech plant tank photo :(
I reduce it to 640kb but still no luck
Re: High tech planted tank with discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
eugenefish
Once you start injecting CO2 into the tank, you have to consider adding fertilizers like phosphorus, nitrogen.... into the water column too. Those extra chemical may have a negative impact to your discus too. Something to keep in mind.
Don't get me wrong, I love high tech Plant tank and Discus as well. However putting them together is not going to be an easy task. Plant tank with 30 ppm of CO2 will need to have at least 30 ppm nitrate and 10ppm of phosphorus for the plant to grow nicely. Discus does not like to be in the water with 30 ppm of nitrate :(
My 210 gal discus tank
I may be wrong on this.
I believe that what discus don't like are dissolved organic compounds (DOC) in the water. These compounds breakdown and end up as nitrate but they pollute water until they do. If nitrate was the only problem everyone would just run nitrate removing resin instead of doing waterchanges. There is no easy test for DOC but nitrate test will tell us all we need to know, so people ultimately just use that.
Tom Barr once ran a planted tank with cardinal tetras with nitrate dosing over 400, no problems, if I remember the details.
Anyhow, my point is that although we use nitrate as an indicator of water cleanliness it doesn't translate the same when we add nitrate as a fertilizer.
If I am correct, you could run a tank and dose nitrate to 50ppm without a problem as long as you kept your tank clean of the waste and other organics.
Re: High tech planted tank with discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
eugenefish
For some reason I cannot attach my high tech plant tank photo :(
I reduce it to 640kb but still no luck
Try uploading to imgur, then resaving it to your computer.
Re: High tech planted tank with discus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dprais1
I may be wrong on this.
I believe that what discus don't like are dissolved organic compounds (DOC) in the water. These compounds breakdown and end up as nitrate but they pollute water until they do. If nitrate was the only problem everyone would just run nitrate removing resin instead of doing waterchanges. There is no easy test for DOC but nitrate test will tell us all we need to know, so people ultimately just use that.
Tom Barr once ran a planted tank with cardinal tetras with nitrate dosing over 400, no problems, if I remember the details.
Anyhow, my point is that although we use nitrate as an indicator of water cleanliness it doesn't translate the same when we add nitrate as a fertilizer.
If I am correct, you could run a tank and dose nitrate to 50ppm without a problem as long as you kept your tank clean of the waste and other organics.
You are absolutely right about the DOC in the water. That why almost all successfully discus keeper are doing massive daily water change (80% or more WC) and that including me too. However daily WC on a high tech plant tank is counterproductive and the plant will not be happy at all.
Just my 2 cents :o
Re: High tech planted tank with discus
I once had a high tech adult discus tank. With 80% WC's every two days. I used EI dosing and it seemed to work well. Buy your ferts at a hydroponic shop and find a recipe on the web to make your own, cheap.