First Discus Tank, Need Help Please!

I have been guided to this forum for Discus advice after posting on many other forums. I am going to start my first Discus tank in a little while. The tank is a 48 by 18 by 20 tank. 75 gallons. The tank will have driftwood and either seiryu stone or river rock. Temp will be 82-86 degrees and ph in the 7.4 range. The tank will have a tetra whisper 40i and two sponge filters meant for 90 gallons. I just have a few questions.

Stock

I would like 6 discus in this tank but was wondering if I can add 2 angelfish
The angelfish will be added later and can be separated and fed less for a slower growth rate. 2 times per day instead of the 4-5 discus will get.
Will the angels cause a problem? Also, they will be wild-caught Peruvian scalare, will wild-caught cause issues? All fish will be bought at the 2-inch mark and raised together.

Hardscape

Will seiryu stone affect my fish? I know it changes ph.
While they are juvies the tank will be BB but once they reach 4 inch I will add hth pool filter sand. While they are juvies the tank will have manzanita branches form blooms and branches and either river rock or seiryu stone.

Food

I will feed freeze-dried blackworms with spinach, Kens Beefheart Flakes and Hikari Discus BioGold. I will feed the discus 6 times a day and the angels 2 times.
Is that adequate to grow out juvies?

Filtration

Will my 3 filters be enough for the potential fish in the tank? I will probably have to wait 4-5 months before getting a canister filter as I am an unemployed high school student.
Also can i leave 2 sponge filters running in my 20 gal for a few days in order to get an instant cycle? And add old media to my tank?

Colors

My current choice is 1 Cobalt, 1 Marlboro red, 1 brilliant turquoise, 1 blue pigeon blood, 1 pigeon blood snakeskin, 1 german wonder from Hans. Please state your opinions on my choices.

WC

As juvies can I do 50% every other day
But I am willing to do 50% every day
Once they are adults I will do 2 50% WC on weekends.

Thanks.

Curious, what forums sent you here

Jeanne

Your plan looks good. I would make 2 adjustments; firstly I would start with 10 discus if you're buying in the 2-2.5" range as they will feel more secure in a 75 gal. Secondly, definitely do your wc's @ 50% daily as able, and add a 75%+ weekly in a day off.
Stock type is each to his own. Many peeps here keep angels and discus together.
Be sure you either age/heat your water for wc's, or at least check to see if you have a pH swing. Check pH out of the tap and then aerating a 5 gal bucket overnight to see if you have a pH change. If it's >0.4 in either direction you'll need to age and heat it for your wc's.

Alright so the Angel's wont cause problems later? And I probably cant afford 10 discus. But my father will be paying for the Angel's so i can buy 3 and hope that 2 pair up and give away the 3rd. To 2 Angel's and 6 discus with 50 percent every other day and 75 on weekends for growouts will be okay? Also will the Angels being wild cause problems? And my filtration is fine? Also I was lead here by fishlore, monster fish keepers, and the plated tank forum :)

Haha, I didn't say angels won't cause problems, lol, only that numerous people keep discus and angels together. A breeding pair would likely cause problems, especially if they spawn in the middle of the tank somewhere. They'll push the discus to the ends and may cause enough stress to create problems.
I'm not clear on the filtration. So you will have 2 sponges rated for 90 gal each? You mention running them in a 20gal for an "instant" cycle. What do you mean by that? There's no such thing as an instant cycle as it takes 4-6 weeks for beneficial bacteria to colonize a filter bed to sufficiently deal with waste, providing the waste produced by your proposed stock density matches the amount of bacteria present. as a living organism they will only colonise to the degree of an available food source. Meaning if you cycle a filter with 4 guppies and then expect it to consume the load created by 6 discus and 3 angels you will get ammonia and nitrite spikes that will damage or kill your fish. That's unless you're doing daily 75%+ water changes until your filter catches up to the load your putting on it.
Discus really need nitrates <10 and do not tolerate ammonia/nitrite very well at all. They will become weak and lethargic, go off their food, and get hexatemia and other pathogenic illnesses.
Not trying to scare you, or put you off, just want you to be clear in what's required to do it well and succeed.
Are you able to age your water? Have you tested your source water pH out of the tap, and then again after aerating for 24hrs? Microbubble sickness is legit, and aging/aerating water to gas off compressed gases from municipal water supplies is the only way to avoid it.

Thank you. The tank will have 1 tetra wiper 40i and 2 sponge filters rated for 90 gals. I'll probably add used filters media and the used sponges and feed the empty tank for a week in order to build up bacteria. Will test the aged water. Will wild Angel's added after the discus mature a little cause and problems in the tank? I can separate ig breeding occurs unless having 2 of the same gender wont cause a problem then I may just keep 2 same sex.

I have a grow out tank with 15 stendker juvies I started 2 weeks ago. Everything in your plan looks good, apart from a couple of concerns dano pointed out that I agree with it.

1) I would increase quantity and/or get a smaller tank. 6 juvies will cause a lot of aggressive IMO. I have 15 and I already see them fighting occasionally, but since there are so many, it dilutes real quick. I would be worried if there were only 6.

2) You will be surprised just how much POOP these little demons and angels (pun intended) will produce. On a heavy feeding day (5 BH feedings), I will empty out my bucket with at least a golfball packed bunch of poop. I typically siphon out the poop 30 mins after a feeding. Sometimes I get busy but notice big time when I come to feed them later.

3) Water changes sounded super important to me, but after actually seeing how dirty they make my water (even though my nitrates read 5ppm), I just have to change it due to cloudy-ness.

4) I also fishless cycled mine with Dr tims ammonia and a bottle of tetra safe start +. Took me 2 weeks with a tiny bit of seeded material, but EVEN after that I had a bio blood where the tank started to smell funny and slime grew pretty fast the first two days of putting in the fish. This went away after daily 90% water changes.

5) Make the work EASY for you. I have pumps and a barrel to age my water and do the change. Even then I have to monitor to make sure everything is going smoothly. Also you will get your hands WET continuously siphoning out the poop.

Yeah that's fine it's just I get home at 8 everyday and have hw but now that I got the python it should be easier. So the fact that the Angel's will be wild caught and added after wont be a problem? And I cant really afford 10 discus because I'm just in highschool but I can divide the tank to make it smaller. So I'll add tetra safe start and feed the tank extra so the bb gets used to a high amount of bioload. Then add the sponges to the tank.

You would need to carefully quarantine and deinfest wild fish from worms, flukes, & other parasites they come in with, before adding them to the discus tank. You mentioned 2" wild scalare...I'm no expert on wild fish, but in most cases they're bigger sizes. Is there any particular reason you don't want domestically raised angels? They'd be a lot less hassle, and even so, I would still recommend QT'ing b4 introducing them.

Only getting wild because I have only found them that way. It is the rio nanay strain from discus madness.

Personally, with limited budget make sure you weigh all the negatives you will get with a smaller group of juvies. There are plenty of other types of fish (ciclid tank, angel tank, etc) that would be awesome and flourish more with a better fitting budget. For example I did a 75 planted tank on a budget instead of go straight for discus last year. I know discus are super appealing but, that $200 will go a longer way with other species of fish that aren't as demanding. Also have to factor in maintenance cost. I go through 50 gallons a day

I'd love to but my mom loves discus and I think I'm up to the challenge. 50 percent WC a day and I have dividers if needed. But would 2-3 scalar or leopoldi work? Even if they are wild?

How should I get my tank ready for the discus? As in how do I up my levels of BB?

Get some seeded material from another tank. Use Tetra Safe Start + and follow instructions on how to fishless cycle using Dr Tim's ammonia or another pure source of ammonia from various different google links. I personally would do 2ppm ammonia fishless cycling. Also dividers will not do anything for your small group of discus except make them fight even more in smaller groups. I do not advice such a small group of discus, especially as juvies.

No the divider is so the tank feels smaller for the discus to make them feel more secure. Will cycle with TSS.