New owner, new complete setup. Making changes. Need advice and opinions please

[Martinus J.v.R]

Hi

I am from South Africa and struggled to get help regarding my discus tank. I bought thew complete setup maybe around 6 months ago.

I recently started to buy plants and making some new changes. My tank is 940 liters with filter tank and top up tank with new water and probably around 850 liters
(224 gallons-if that is correct)

I use R.O water and then add discus trace element and flourish to the water according to new quantity added.

I just need some advice if the setup etc is sufficient and the amount of fish. I also would like to know if I can add more discus and the types of discus I currently have. I bought a 2 discuss from a private owner. One looks in good health but the other one does not look very healthy. You will see them on attached photos, this discus also had a white substance from his belly, but only happened ones and does eat well.

My temperature in 28 degrees Celsius I think about 82 F and the PH is kept at 6.23 and is regulated with CO2.

in the attached photos there will be two pictures of the full tank, one is how it looked before I made the changes. And I think the first one is after the changes with plant etc.

I struggled with the photos, so bare with me. I think they are the correct ones and will add some more to get a clear picture.

Any opinions and advice will be great!!

Thank You all in advance

Regards

Martinus Jansen van Rensburg

[Altum Nut]

Welcome to Simply Discus Martinus

There is much to know from your end to offer a valuable opinion besides loving that tank size.
- Why are you using R/O?
- I'm thinking you had tank running for 6 months?
- Were all other fish in tank before adding new Discus?
- How often are you changing water and is it aged or directly from tap?
- What are parameters of water from tap?
- Photos you posted have been tampered with cannot determine conditions other then the one facing us which is extremely thin.
- Yes you are able to add many more Discus but until you have a grasp on the essentials to properly caring for them I would research further in the beginner's sticky.

...Ralph

[Martinus J.v.R]

Hi Ralph

Thank you for reply.

I will get back to you soon with information regarding your questions.

[Martinus J.v.R]

Hi Ralph

- Why are you using R/O? (BOUGHT THE TANK WITH THE BOESEMANI FISH, ALGEA EATERS AND THE TWO BIGGER DISCUS, PREVIOUS OWNER WAS USING R.O WATER AND SUGGESTED THAT IS WHAT I SHOULD CONTINUE USING)
- I'm thinking you had tank running for 6 months? (YES IT IS BEEN RUNNING FOR 6 MONTHS)
- Were all other fish in tank before adding new Discus? (YES, BEFORE ADDING THE TWO SMALLER DISCUS)
- How often are you changing water and is it aged or directly from tap? (RO WATER RUNS IN TO A SEPARATE TANK, IS TREATED WITH THE TRACE ELEMENTS. WILL REMAIN IN THAT 60 LITER TANK FOR A DAY OR TWO AND THEN USED WHEN I DO WATER CHANGE, WATER CHANGE I DO TWICE A WEEK MAYBE ABOUT 75 LITER A CHANGE. )
- What are parameters of water from tap? (HAVE NOT TESTED THE PARAMETERS YET, BUT I WILL MAKE A PLAN TO DO SO)
- Photos you posted have been tampered with cannot determine conditions other then the one facing us which is extremely thin.(I WILL REMOVE PHOTOS AND UPLOAD NEW ONES)

[Martinus J.v.R]

I am also using radion lights, but some of the LED lights itself are flashing a red light every now and then. And I cant manage to fix it with acosmart live, the online program. Program seems to not been working. Or I am doing something wrong.

I don't know if you guys ever use the radion lights?

[jmf3460]

Hi Martinus and welcome to Simply Discus. You have a beautiful tank, and those bosemani rainbows are huge and gorgeous! People here in the states would pay big money for such huge and well taken care of bosemani rainbowfish. Your tank is very well suited for the bosemani rainbowfish but not so well suited for the discus. The amount of substrate allows for lots of particles to become trapped, thus polluting the water and creating high nitrates. I suggest you up your water changes to daily, and perhaps (depending on your water parameters out of tap) discontinue the RO water and just to regular water changes from aged tap water. If you want to have big fully grown discus, you may try putting them in a bare bottom tank with huge daily water changes until they are at least 5" then adding them back. Your discus may grow in your tank as is, but its hard to grow quality discus in a tank with substrate.

[Martinus J.v.R]

Hi

Jaclyn, thank you for the comment.

Can I reduce the amount of substrate to able to keep the plants happy and the discus?

[jmf3460]

Hi

Jaclyn, thank you for the comment.

Can I reduce the amount of substrate to able to keep the plants happy and the discus?

The best thing you can do is remove all substrate and go either barebottom or with a thin layer of sand. You can still have your plants just put them in glass jars or little pots. Lots of people have potted planted tanks for their discus. It is a compromise of both a planted tank and discus tank.

[Filip]

I agree with everything said above and i second Jacklyn's opinion.
I would switch to sand and put a one inch layer only to cover the glass of the tank . Plants can fit in pots like some of them already are and pots can be easily camouflaged with the decor you have all around the tank .It would be a big step towards discus health and wellbeing and would still have the planted community tank look you like to have .

Here is mine right now overly planted tank with only a one inch sand bottom and pots all around , just to encourage you that it is achievable.

IMG_20160730_234138.jpg

[Martinus J.v.R]

Hi

I have added some more pictures.

The one pic shows a sample of my substrate, I assume the nature of the sand material is different to my substrate, that is why you suggest to remove all of it and add the thin layer of sand. Just planted everything so what I will do is measure the amount of nitrates (that is the main reason for the advice) and if it looks good then for a start just reduce the thickness of the existing substrate.

The other picture shows a white patch on the face of the red discus, does anyone know what that is? Some parasite maybe or just discoloration?

I still need to identify the strain of the discus?

Thank You

[Filip]

Its not about material of sand or gravel , but its about the capacity of the material to catch and trap debris and crud in it .
Sand has much smaller grain size and thus it is much more compact and do not let debris and crud collects in it. That's why it is mor advisable than coarse gravel.

And its not all about nitrates . You can have good ppm measuring of nitrates and still sick discus like the one you have right now. Bacterial count of the water is not measurable and it affect and compromises discus immune system. That's why we change water very often and regularly clean the bottom of the tank along with the filter materials.

I think that discus on your pics are a red turquoise and a Marlboro discus a pigeon blood strain.
Red Marlboro on the picture looks like it has some kind of wound or a hole on his head covered with fungus (the white coating on the wound).

[Martinus J.v.R]

Hi

Okay thank you, I will for now then increase my wc and will resuce the gravel to a minimum to still accommodate some of the plants and keep it clean.

[Martinus J.v.R]

reduce.... not resuce

[Filip]

Hi

Okay thank you, I will for now then increase my wc and will resuce the gravel to a minimum to still accommodate some of the plants and keep it clean.

You can pot some plants in a nutrient plant soil to accommodate them and leave the rest area with very thin layer of gravel or better yet 0.5-1 inch sand.

[Kyla]

really go nuts when u start removing that gravel, dont be conservative, it is a super thick thick layer in some areas and u want to take that way down as much as u can. if the gravel bed has been undisturbed for 6 months i also worry about removing it while the fish are present and the risk of releasing toxic gasses into the water column... so much debris collects in there u would be surprised. when i finally removed the substrate in my tank the water was just gross - i was blown away by how much junk was in around the roots of my plants even tho i regularly siphoned the upper layer of my substrate.

i'd remove the fish to a separate bucket wirh an airstone and strip the tank totally, remove everything, then pot the plants and place them back in the tank, either leaving the majority of the bottom bare or going with a thin layer of sand. my plants really liked the pots, which surprised me, and the BB floor of my tank was so much cleaner it was like night and day.

i eventually removed all my plants and ive recently added some sand back and even this new very thin layer traps debris. gotta be very diligent with the siphoning to keep it clean and its still never as clean as BB.