Discus Novice: Solicitation for Feedback on New Setup

[rightwinger59]

Greetings! Pretty much every forum I've looked at referred me here for advice on keeping discus, and I've watched the video posted by the DIY King on YouTube (which was excellent, btw).

This post will follow the "Tank Setup Questionnaire" outline posted here, so here goes:

1) I currently reside in Salt Lake City, Utah. My prior experience with fish include a 30 gallon setup where I kept angelfish and dwarf gouramis. The tank was not planted, had external sponge filter with bio-wheel, and undergravel filtration. I would say that my angels did pretty well - in fact, I eventually stumbled upon a pair that tried to breed (laid and fertilized eggs multiple times, but I did not remove them and they ended up in the filter or being eaten). We started moving fairly regularly so I was forced to take down my setup and eventually sold it at a garage sale. But when I parted with that tank my resolution was that if I ever took up the hobby again, I wanted to try my hand with discus.

2) I am new to discus, but have read a number of books and watched many videos (including the 1 hour 30 minute video from this forum) on the fish. The inspiration for the setup I am proposing actually comes from this video.

3) I am looking at purchasing an 80 gallon tank, with stand. The tank's dimensions are 48" W X 18" D X 21" H (so it may be closer to 75-78 gallons, but the guy is advertising it as 80). I tried to find one that was 24" high, but this one has a handsome stand and from what I can tell 21" should be adequate (but not ideal - but beggars can't be choosers). The tank is currently stocked with a variety of fish which I plan on attempting to trade in at my LFS for store credit. I then plan on following the suggestions in the video linked above to convert to a show tank for some adult discus. This will include the following modifications:

• Drilling the back in order to install refugium lines
• Installation of plumbing lines
• Installation of refugium below
• I do plan on using a canister filter prior to refugium (as in video)
• I will also use the UV filter (as in video)

4) The tank will have substrate (pool filter sand) and will be planted.

5) Once the tank is set up, I do not plan on introducing discus for a few months while I monitor water quality. I had the tap water of our building tested at Petco, where I discovered that it is already fairly neutral (7.0 to 7.2 pH) but a bit hard (150 ppm, according to their kit). Utah water is relatively hard, so that was expected. Once the tank and refugium have been running for a while I think I'll add some tetras continue to monitor my levels. Ideally I'd like to keep water changes to a minimum, since this is going to be in my office in a commercial building, and so water changes are not going to be the easiest thing in the world.

6) Filtration will include a canister filter, refugium setup, and UV filter. Heater will be either in the tank or in the refugium.

7) Using municipal water: pH was 7 to 7.2, no ammonia, 150 GH.

8) Plan on putting 6 adult discus with tetras and a few bottom feeders.

9) My understanding is that the more mature fish will only need one feeding per day.

10) My goal is to have a beautiful show tank in my office, which includes keeping the fish alive and happy.

Any and all input would be appreciated here. My main concerns are these: I'm setting this up in an office, so frequent water changes are going to be difficult. I've seen videos of people claiming that a tank with this kind of filtration and adult fish will not require water to be changed as frequently as, say, a tank containing juvenile discus. It's doable, but a 40% change in an 80 gallon tank will be quite a bit of water. So I'm considering doing the "trash can" method and using a pump to put the new water back in.

I'm also concerned about Utah's relatively hard water. I've contacted the president of our local aquarist group, who apparently specializes in discus in Utah (I'm hoping to get my fish from him, actually, as he apparently also breeds them), but have not yet had the opportunity to pick his brain. So I thought I'd start here and ask for your collective wisdom/input.

Thanks!

[alron2]

Welcome to the forum, you have arrived at the correct spot to ask questions. IMO your water is fine for discus as long as you are not trying to breed them. If you cannot do at least 25 percent per day or 50 percent every other day water change, do youself a favor and give serious consideration to keeping Afican ciclids instead of discus. Lots of us use brute trash cans or 55 gallon drum and a pump.
I am sure you will get plenty of more feed back here. Good luck.
Ron

[LizStreithorst]

Have you tried putting a bucket of your tap water and checking for a pH swing after 12 hrs? That will tell you whether or not you need to age your water. You will have to find a way to make WC easy or the Discus will suffer. No type of filtration takes the place of a good WC every day or two.

[Ryan925]

+1 to what the others have said. When you say refugium do you mean a sump? Sump is a good idea but refugium not needed

[Kyla]

the easier u make wc the more often u will want to do them and the better off ur discus will be. i do wc on a tank at a local business. we can keep the water barrels in a little janitors closet where their sink has a hose permanently attached to the faucet which can easily fill a bucket. i currently siphon water into an empty bucket on wheels while i clean the sand. that water then goes down the drain. if ur office has a little garden outside u might even be able to use a longer hose for draining out a door or window to water plants. filling a bucket on wheels with water and leaving it overnight with a heater and airstone in a closet may work for u too? u may want to consider securely covering the bucket, even locking it somehow, esp if there r kids at ur workplace. then after u drain the tank u just wheel the new water next to it, plunk in a pump with a hose and fill it up. u would need 2 brute cans at most, a pump and some hose, and a place to store them with an outlet for the heater and air pump.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi, I am still a novice as like you I am here swatting up before setting up my 1st discus tank, but I have set up my 5 other tanks (including 2 heavily stocked 100 gal african cichlid tanks) and I seem to have doubts about your plan of keeping just some tetras for some time after you have cycled the tank, this way the nitrifing bacteria will reduce to the level sustained by a very limited bioload, then you are goibg to introduce a few hefty adult discus and probably the filter will not cope causing a mini(or not so mini) cycle. If on the other hand you cycle the tank with the fishless method on 4 p.p.m. ammonia you know the tank is capable of coping with the discus, if you still want a few teteas you can always put some in once the discus are settled, such a small additional bioload should not cause issues. I am also interested in the topic so value the advice by knowledgeable discus keepers. Ciao

[rightwinger59]

Have you tried putting a bucket of your tap water and checking for a pH swing after 12 hrs? That will tell you whether or not you need to age your water. You will have to find a way to make WC easy or the Discus will suffer. No type of filtration takes the place of a good WC every day or two.

I have not tested for the pH swing. Will do so. More water changes - check. I think the 55 gallon Brute will work - there's a storage closet next to my office that I can use to store it.

+1 to what the others have said. When you say refugium do you mean a sump? Sump is a good idea but refugium not needed

I mean a sump. Looking at the Eshopps RS-100. While we're on this topic, I'm interested if anyone can help me calculate the size of the plumbing and pump I need to achieve around 800 GPH turnover rate? Eshopps sells this internal overflow box - does anyone have any experience with it? It is rated to up to 800 GPH, so once you take into account the head pressure on the return I guess I should shoot for less than 800? Or is an internal overflow unnecessary? The guy in the video I linked in the OP looks like he just used PVC with a 90-degree elbow in the tank instead of a box. Are there advantages/disadvantages to each method?

If on the other hand you cycle the tank with the fishless method on 4 p.p.m. ammonia you know the tank is capable of coping with the discus, if you still want a few teteas you can always put some in once the discus are settled, such a small additional bioload should not cause issues.

Good point. I will probably need to do more to get the biological filtration ready for the addition of the larger fish. Thanks for the heads up - I'll do some more reading once I get my plumbing figured out.