New Tank Setup

[Lionheart]

Hey all,

New to discus but not fishkeeping. Been reading a lot and thinking of this following setup:

6 discus from discusguy.com - like the prices and if I fail, I don't lose $300 in fish from Kenney. Maybe Hans, he seems a little more reasonable, but I like the selection better at discusguy.com

Standard 55 gallon - because I have one
Bare bottom - bottom painted black, black background
2 AC 70s w/o the carbon - it is what I know and I just don't like the look of sponges in the tank. I don't trust canisters.
2 Eheim Jager 250w heaters - when one fails, the other will prevent a disaster

50% WC daily, 4-5 feeding per day - luckily I work from home so can manage this

Only possible concern is pH. 8.2 out of the tap, 7.6 aged and aerorated 24 hrs. So, with a 50% water change, pH goes from 7.6 to 7.9 then back down to 7.6. Larger changes would naturally mean larger fluctuations, so wondering if doing 100% changes out ot the tap would be too shocking.

Well, this is the idea for grow out anyway.

Thoughts?

[Adam S]

Hello, and welcome to SD. Sounds like you already did some research on your discus tank, but here are some things I'd caution against:

- What size fish are you planning to get?

- Black is usually a poor discus background/floor color, as the discus will often darken as well. Besides white, medium or light blue is popular. I've also seen some tanks with light tan backgrounds that look sharp.

- You don't need two, 250w heaters. Unless the room is freezing, one will suffice. Two, 100w heaters would be even better.

- Do you have room to age your water? Even "small" changes in pH can be very stressful to fish. Not to mention dissolved gases. A Brute 33 gallon trashcan on a dolly is easy to use and hide when company comes over.

[xKevinx]

Hello, welcome to simply discus!
Adam has made some very good points to take into consideration in the post above.
Also going for value fish can sometimes bite you in the long run... IMO I would rather have the tank sit and cycle while I saved for gaurenteed quality stock
Cheers
Kev

[Lionheart]

I was planning on juvies around 2-2.5”, again for cost. I don’t see Hans listed as a sponsor, but I assume he is not considered a value seller, right?

Wife has issues with bare bottom as it is so having a garage can floating around would be a harder sell. Is it really that big of a swing?

[Adam S]

Maybe 7.6 to 7.9 is fine, maybe it's not. I can't do large water changes straight from the tap, even though the pH starts and stays at ~7.8. Not sure if it's dissolved gases or low oxygen, but it stresses fish. Aging (in my case, rapid agitation for 3 hours) completely eliminates the problem.

Remember to consider things beyond cost when determining the value of fish. I haven't spent a dime with Kenny, Hans, or discusguy.com, but I trust Al's taste in sponsors. A year from now, a couple hundred bucks isn't going to mean much compared to the amount of time invested in raising your fish, so it's worth waiting if it means getting exactly what you want.

[xKevinx]

Well said Adam

[Tshethar]

I agree that it's probably risky to try small fish with that much of a swing. Other people have more experience keeping and raising young fish, but I've found I'm pretty good at killing them. I have no pH swing and I still stressed out my first batch of 2-2.5" fish with water directly from the tap. I've found it's easy to do at water change time, though everyone's water is different. Maybe if you don't go over 50% you can get away with it, but if there are times you have reason to do more, I think you'd risk stressing them out too much. And if you don't do them, you'll sacrifice growth or risk disease.

Totally understand about the problem of living room aesthetics and such... two options that you might think about are either something like a decorative rain barrel you can stash in a corner (it's a plant pedestal!), or the Brute can in the utility room plus a good pump and a hose for potable water. Ideally you can have something like this in the same location you'll be draining your water in the first place.... For sure working out some of these systems ahead of time will make the whole experience more manageable and more enjoyable.

[Filip]

HI and welcome Lionheart.
Hans sells Stendkers discus and they are proven to be parasites free , healthy and hardy discus to raise and keep . Im not sure about other sellers source but I think he imports Asians , i don't know the source though .

Two possible cocerns i have about your plan would be not aging water and sand substrate .
Regardless of the PH swing non-aged water contains gasses and they tend to stress discus , especially at young age . Try finding a way to put an custom made aging tank in your tank cabinet and aging at least 30 -40 gallons of water there for WC .

If you must go with sand , use a very thin layer of white PFS sand and siphon it regulary during WCs otherwise it traps a lot of dirt and mess the water quallity .

Good luck and please keep us updated with photos and infos of whatever you decide to do next .

[Lionheart]

thanks for the feedback.

If 2" are challenging, are the 3" ones better? or does a new discus owner need to start larger?

Also, was not planning on any substrate, and will look into white/blue instead of the black.

[fljones3]

thanks for the feedback.

If 2" are challenging, are the 3" ones better? or does a new discus owner need to start larger?

Also, was not planning on any substrate, and will look into white/blue instead of the black.

Being new to discus, I would buy as big as you can. Say, 4.5+ inches. 5 inch if possible.