Water Changes

Hey everyone,

new to keeping discus but not keeping fish(have over 10 plus yrs) and decided to do a lightly planted community tank. The plants i ordered are Val's and crypt parva I plan on using root tabs and liquid fertilizer(possibly once a week), my question is i currently do 50-70% water changes twice a week but I've heard doing frequent and large water changes with plants aren't recommended. also probably be wasting my liquid fertilizer since most of it will probably be removed. For everyone with planted tanks do you scale back on the water changes go from twice a week to once?? Just want to make sure before i start planting n doing my maintenance. Also my Discus range around 4" plus

I would pot the plants and use root tabs. I would do WC every other day of 50%. My Val’s and Crytps thrive with that. More importantly the Discus do too. I keep my water at 84

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Originally Posted by FirstTime_DiscusKeeper

Hey everyone,

new to keeping discus but not keeping fish(have over 10 plus yrs) and decided to do a lightly planted community tank. The plants i ordered are Val's and crypt parva I plan on using root tabs and liquid fertilizer(possibly once a week), my question is i currently do 50-70% water changes twice a week but I've heard doing frequent and large water changes with plants aren't recommended. also probably be wasting my liquid fertilizer since most of it will probably be removed. For everyone with planted tanks do you scale back on the water changes go from twice a week to once?? Just want to make sure before i start planting n doing my maintenance. Also my Discus range around 4" plus

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I like the pps pro method from Greenleaf. . It's extremely cheap and easy to dose. Same dose for macros and micros before lights on everyday. The idea is its the amounts that the plants will utilize in one day so frequent water changes should have no ill effect.

If your tank is lightly planted with slow growing plants dosing may not be necessary at all. You can very easily keep it low and tech. Many of the plants that do well in discus temps are low demand low light plants

LJSmith when you pot the plants is it with planted soil? i dont really like the look of pots in the tank unless its for caves and stuff. I'll try n bunch the plants and put the root tabs right under the roots. If the plants dont look great maybe ill dose fertilizer once to see how they react.

I use Mitacle Gro Organic Potting Soil capped with Black Diamond Blasting Sand. I don’t notice the pots anymore. I got sick of fighting with sick Discus. It is so hard to keep a tank clean enough without them in pots. I was convinced when i moved the discus to bare bottom and saw how much waste is produced overnight.

You can buy ferts fairly cheap,both macro and micro can be bought at hydroponic and garden shops.Mix your own;lots of recipes on line.Like mentioned in post #3,you might want to try low tech,where ferts are not needed.Sword plants might need a root tab every now and then.

ok thanks the plants that are coming r very low tech. Im just going to put root tabs under them n keep up with my twice a week wc and see how everything goes.

thanks everyone

You really need to strike a balance in what type of planted tank you want.Ferts and CO2 are not much good without the right amount of brighter light.On the other hand ferts are no good without brighter lights and CO2.You should have all 3 for a high tech tank.When I say high tech,I'm talking lots of lush growth.

If it were me, i'd dump the ferts,, also root tabs tend to play with clarity. Use an iron rich clay fert, basic simple, pot the plants and do lots of w/c's. If you are not going to get into a heavy w/c schedule and you dump all that liquid fert stuff and root tabs in, you gunna get a pretty shitty algae problem.

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Originally Posted by FirstTime_DiscusKeeper

ok thanks the plants that are coming r very low tech. Im just going to put root tabs under them n keep up with my twice a week wc and see how everything goes.

thanks everyone

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monitor your nitrates, i'm concerned my tabs are leaching into the water. even though i bury them in the sand, i see the little balls making there out.