Why dont discus keepers do automatic water changes more often?

[Fishquake]

I use a drip system on my fry tanks running 24/7. In my opinion, fry are fairly sensitive to changes in pH and temperature which can occur with a wholesale water change, with a drip system any change will occur over a period of time and reduce stress. Having said that. the fry tanks are vacuumed twice a day. After vacuuming, water will enter the tank faster until the float valve is activated. So far, so good.

[HappyFace]

I love the drip system. I've had one in place for 7 months so far. My water parameters are always perfect. I change out my fine filter media pads every 2 days and vacuum/blowout debris with a jet 2x's daily. My drip system wastes the same amount of water as a python and it is less stressful for the fish (no large fluctuating PH or up and down water levels). I've had 3 spawnings occur in the last 2 weeks, one discus that arrived a little peppered on the nose lost their spots within 24 hours and my angelfish have grown 3/4" in 18 days. Everyone appears to be thriving.

[FishFanMan]

I can/won't install a drain and supply line to my tank in my family room. I don't have juvies anymore and with a nitrate reactor I'm doing OK with a BIG WC once a week.

[warblad79]

I love the drip system. I've had one in place for 7 months so far. My water parameters are always perfect. I change out my fine filter media pads every 2 days and vacuum/blowout debris with a jet 2x's daily. My drip system wastes the same amount of water as a python and it is less stressful for the fish (no large fluctuating PH or up and down water levels). I've had 3 spawnings occur in the last 2 weeks, one discus that arrived a little peppered on the nose lost their spots within 24 hours and my angelfish have grown 3/4" in 18 days. Everyone appears to be thriving.

How do you clean the waste?

[HappyFace]

How do you clean the waste?

Pretty much the same as everyone else. I have 2 aquariums and both have sumps with a drip system setup. One of my sumps has two 7" filter socks that I change out every 2 days for clean ones. The other sump has a fine filter pad that I change out daily. I never change out the bioballs and other biomedia. They hold all my beneficial bacteria. I clean my sump bottom every month. I vacuum or blowout waste (with a powerhead) from the aquarium bottom once daily.

A drip system doesn't replace cleaning it just means you no longer have hoses running through your house, no more water tanks for aging water, no more accidentally flooding your house because you forgot the water is running, no more worrying about fluctuations in PH, lowering and raising the water level in the tank and stressing the fish out, less time working and more time enjoying your fish.

The drip system only works if you test your water and accomidate for any deficiencies. My water is near perfect except there is chlorine and pesticide runoff from local AG so I have a carbon prefilter that I change out weekly. If your tap water is high in nitrates, tds, extremely hard (over 8?), etc. you may need extra filtration before the water enters into your sump/aquarium.

[Cosmo]

I've know a lot of very knowledgeable people that swear by drip systems. I had one setup in a 4 tank breeder system I constructed several years back but ended up shutting down my fishroom before I really got it started I have the capability of setting up a drip system in my big tank except I currently don't have an overflow. My tanks have Eurotops so a standard overflow and sump system won't work, but next time I do a heavy clean I'm going to drill another hole for another bulkhead and use that to make an overflow. I have a 3/4" pvc pipe going from under the tank to the basement drain I could tap into, and I normally pump up water from the basement anyway. A couple of timers and I'd be in business. It wouldn't be a true drip but it would replace the water in a similar fashion.

I always plumb in drains, but as said above they don't replace cleaning since the feces usually doesn't cooperate But I do like them for small WCs, or if I need to drain the tank I don' thave to use a python and wait all day. When I had ten tanks they really came in handy at WC time cause I could have more than 1 tank in play during cleaning time.

I also have an auto shutoff on the fill line from the basement to my big tank upstairs so once the tank is full to a set level the basement pump turns off - of course I installed that just after I had a 100+gal water spill .. funny how that works

[warblad79]

Pretty much the same as everyone else. I have 2 aquariums and both have sumps with a drip system setup. One of my sumps has two 7" filter socks that I change out every 2 days for clean ones. The other sump has a fine filter pad that I change out daily. I never change out the bioballs and other biomedia. They hold all my beneficial bacteria. I clean my sump bottom every month. I vacuum or blowout waste (with a powerhead) from the aquarium bottom once daily.

A drip system doesn't replace cleaning it just means you no longer have hoses running through your house, no more water tanks for aging water, no more accidentally flooding your house because you forgot the water is running, no more worrying about fluctuations in PH, lowering and raising the water level in the tank and stressing the fish out, less time working and more time enjoying your fish.

The drip system only works if you test your water and accomidate for any deficiencies. My water is near perfect except there is chlorine and pesticide runoff from local AG so I have a carbon prefilter that I change out weekly. If your tap water is high in nitrates, tds, extremely hard (over 8?), etc. you may need extra filtration before the water enters into your sump/aquarium.

Do you know what's the ratio of growth rate for juvies using drip system?

[HappyFace]

Do you know what's the ratio of growth rate for juvies using drip system?

I'm not sure. I bought all adult discus 6+" for my tank. I did purchase a 2.5" angel that grew 3/4" in 18 days feeding only 3xs a day. I'm not sure if thats good or just average. I couldn't find any info on the internet about angel fish growth rates. He actually seems bigger today than yesterday. For the first time he hand fed this afternoon. I think he considers himself one of the big guys now.

If you prefilter/treat the water when necessary and feed good and often then I'm sure your growth rates will be excellent.

[Darrell Ward]

If you have a fish room setup, it's far more effective to plumb the tanks to a common sump, and just drain and refill the sump, never touching your tanks water level, except for tank vacs. You can close one valve to stop return flow to the tanks, and open another valve to drain the sump. When the sump is drained, close the sump drain valve, and open the valve on storage tank, and plug in the pump. When refilled, close the valve on the storage tank, unplug the pump, and open the return line going to the tank.
It doesn't get any easier than that IMO.

[Jack L]

Got a question. So a heavily planted tank like mine where so much plants covers all substrates and with lack of siphoning, is it guarantee that water will continue to go bad regardless of water changes?

Wouldnt the detritus become plant food and not accumulate?

If done in balance, but plants don't consume the quantity like people hope

[RDFISHGUY]

Joey and my friend Brett inspired me about 6 yrs ago to set up an automatic system. Originally I had controllers, float switches, and dosing pumps for chloramine, and it wasn't the most user friendly system. I also had a few equipment failures that led me to install a Pelican whole home water filtration system. I then drilled an overflow in the sump and ran it to a floor drain. Installed a hot and cold tap with a "Y" hose going into the sump. I simply turn the tap to the desired flow and temp and let water flow. I haven't done a water change on my arowanas and rays for 6 yrs other than when I upgraded their tanks.
I also noticed that when I ran out of Prime, in the dosing container, that the fish weren't really affected (prior to installing the Pelican system). The system could deal with the chloramine, at least for a short time, with seemingly little affect on the fish. I'm not telling you go and dump chlorinated water into an unestablished aquarium but rather trying to show you that a drip system is more forgiving than large volume water changes in my personal experience. Several times I unintentionally let the chloramine removing agent run out and never lost a single fish. I lost a motoro ray about 7 yrs ago when the check valve failed on a chlorine dosing bucket and dumped a whole jug into the system but I had a poor set-up and chaulk that up to human error. In the past 6 yrs things have gone fairly smooth....but that just means it works on rays and aros. I haven't tried it with discus yet but I am trading my BDL ray for more discus and selling my gold xb arowana and turning their 280 gallon into a discus tank at some point in the near future. Stay tuned.

[Smendez]

If done in balance, but plants don't consume the quantity like people hope

I have put ridiculous amounts of plants in my planted tank, and the nitrates still got way high. I even let the algae go crazy in the sump. I guess I just had too many fish.

[Rex82]

Hi Ross,

I don`t use single sponge filters in each aquarium.

I use a central filter for all aquariums and this filter is filled with sponge.

I also change 20-30 % of the water every day, so that the nitrate level is about 50 mg/liter.

The fluidized and nexus filters are good for the water quality, but I think it is better, when you add some sponge filters for e better biologie.

Best regards

Alex

^^^
This is the reply I got from Alex Piwowarski back in 2013....50mg/litre with 20-30% water changes.
I'm not saying one way or another what is or isn't better, I've done both flow through and dump and fill water change routines and as I'm back setting up a fishroom once again after a few years off I have a lot better idea of what does work and what is a waste...

[Jack L]

I have put ridiculous amounts of plants in my planted tank, and the nitrates still got way high. I even let the algae go crazy in the sump. I guess I just had too many fish.

And/or food

[RDFISHGUY]

Ok I finally moved and got my discus into the 2 x 280 gallon set up. This set up has a 90 gallon sump with filter floss in the first section. This gets changed every 2-3 days. Under that is a K1 media box. Next is a sponge filter section then the pump. From the pump it flows through an Ultima 2 2000 gallon rated filter, then through a UV sterilizer, through a manifold back to the tanks. Pump is rated for 4000 gph. Water drips into the sump tank at a rate of 100 gallons per day. Its been running since July 15. My discus seem to be loving it. All of a sudden they are developing trailers on their dorsal fins and growing like crazy. I had to go to work before I got the chance to take pictures but I will get them when I am home next.

I am really digging the new set up except for the fact that I had to move the tanks into an "L" shape.

In one 280 gallon I have 16 discus, 1royal panaque and 2 bristlenose plecos. The other 280 gallon tank has a PNT, super red arowana, 9 large clown loaches, 2 large sunshine plecos and 1 large sailfin pleco.