First Discus Tank - 75 Gallon

[gotwins86]

Pretty excited to finally get some discus. Been wanting to for a long time. Wanted to start a thread to ask questions and keep track of things.

Using a 75 gallon tank. Going bare bottom for now. Might add sand and driftwood down the line(6 months to a year.)

Here is a pic of the tank getting set up. Been cycling for a week now, added some bacteria helper, hoping the ammonia drops soon.

Plan is to order 6-8 3" Stendker discus from Hans here once the tank is cycled.

Tank set up.jpg

[Mando]

Can't wait to see the update of when the fish arrive. Do you have in mind what kind of discus?

[gotwins86]

Question. Right now i have 2 canister filters with spray bars pointed up to break the water surface. Should I consider adding an air stone too? Or is it not needed?

Finished building and painting the door to the stand. I will post a pic of that later.

Tank is cycled. Ammonia dropped to 0ppm. Added more ammonia and it was back to zero this morning when I tested. Nitrites jumped up and down too. Should be good to go.

Just placed an order with Hans.
1 - Brillant Turquoise
1 - Checkerboard
1 - Dark Angel
1 - Flachen Snakeskin
1 - German Wonder
1 - Leopard SnakeSkin
1 - Marlboro Red
1 - Blue Pigeon Blood

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Zac, congrats on your almost new discus. Be ready for a mini-cycle after you add the fish for the first week. Basically you are adding more bio-load then beneficial bacteria can handle. It will catch up with the new bio-load in about a week. Large daily water changes will be your friend.
Pat

[Pices]

Looks just like my 75 gal set up. My discus did very well with daily wc’s and are in a 125 gal now. When do you get your fish? Can’t wait to see them!
Do you have pre filter sponges for the canister filter? I read about them here when I started and was glad I got them. Also learned this trick to help keep canisters clean: Turn filters off-SET TIMER for 10-15 min. Feed fish. When timer goes off plug filters back in, then (and only then) turn off timer alarm. Forgetting to turn filters back on would be the downside to this method and why I leave alarm ringing till filters are plugged in. Just passing on a couple pearls I picked up when I started. Your set up looks perfect. Is that an ink bird sensor I see on the right hand side? Another good investment that I made. Lucky fish-lucky you! Are you excited yet?
Patty

[Mando]

Looks just like my 75 gal set up. My discus did very well with daily wc’s and are in a 125 gal now. When do you get your fish? Can’t wait to see them!
Do you have pre filter sponges for the canister filter? I read about them here when I started and was glad I got them. Also learned this trick to help keep canisters clean: Turn filters off-SET TIMER for 10-15 min. Feed fish. When timer goes off plug filters back in, then (and only then) turn off timer alarm. Forgetting to turn filters back on would be the downside to this method and why I leave alarm ringing till filters are plugged in. Just passing on a couple pearls I picked up when I started. Your set up looks perfect. Is that an ink bird sensor I see on the right hand side? Another good investment that I made. Lucky fish-lucky you! Are you excited yet?
Patty

OMG, the discus on your profile pic is beautiful. How would you install the pre-filter sponges on canisters?

Question. Right now i have 2 canister filters with spray bars pointed up to break the water surface. Should I consider adding an air stone too? Or is it not needed?

Finished building and painting the door to the stand. I will post a pic of that later.

Tank is cycled. Ammonia dropped to 0ppm. Added more ammonia and it was back to zero this morning when I tested. Nitrites jumped up and down too. Should be good to go.

Just placed an order with Hans.
1 - Brillant Turquoise
1 - Checkerboard
1 - Dark Angel
1 - Flachen Snakeskin
1 - German Wonder
1 - Leopard SnakeSkin
1 - Marlboro Red
1 - Blue Pigeon Blood

Marlboro are my all-time favorite and it's the discus that led me to want a discus tank. I have two juvies at the moment. Let's just say that I never had discus before, let alone, juvies, therefore, I kinda lost my first batch. Flachen, german wonder, and Leopards follow closely! great selection.

Not sure if breaking the surface with the two canisters enough. Discus do like warm water, and perhaps a stone would be more beneficial.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi, looks like you are on the right track and doing everything by the book.what is your tapwater like? Have you considered how to make water changes less cumbersome, particularly if you are getting fish with a fair bit of growing left to go you will be changing a lot of water

[gotwins86]

Tap water is fairly hard, about 325 TDS out of the tap. PH is about 7.6 out of tap and after aging, but I still have a 44g brute trash can for aging water. Was planning on 50% water changes every other day. But might up that to everyday for the first few weeks to avoid mini cycle and get everything established.

Water change plan... Have a syphon and 5 gallon bucket. Filling 5 gallon to suck up all the debris. Then I have a pump to pump the rest of out of the tank and down a drain.
Brute can with aged tap water on wheels, roll it across the basement to stairs. Bought an oil free sump pump and food safe hose to pump fresh water up and into tank.

Did a test run last night. Took about 45 mins, but that was with some bumps in the road and trying a few different ideas. Also included refilling aging barrel. Defiantly a process, but pretty sure I can get it down to 30 mins or less with practice.
Would be way easier if tank was in basement, but I wanted the tank in our main living area. If everything goes well I will get a larger tank in the basement down the line.

[gotwins86]

No ink bird, but something i should look into. I have to 200W inline heaters. Have the tank set to 84.
I do have prefilters on the canister filters.
Here is a pic of the tank after the water change. It was dark out, I will try to get better pics this weekend what it is lighter.
Tank.jpg
And a pic of the stand and door. I made it myself and my wife painted and white washed it for a aged look. Pics don't do it justice, looks way better in person.
Stand.jpg

No idea why the pics are sideways...

I think that answers all the questions and comments... O yeah, fish will be here tomorrow!

[Mando]

Cabinet looks amazing!

[Pices]

[QUOTE=Mando;1301419]OMG, the discus on your profile pic is beautiful. How would you install the pre-filter sponges on canisters?
Hi Mando, I bought mine and just snap them on the end of intake filter. I have Eihem canisters. Here’s a pic. Others here use sponges they simply cut to fit over their intake that will catch debris but still allow good flow of water. They pull them off, rinse and put back on during wc’s.
Here’s a pic of mine, sponge sits inside so I pull off, clean sponge and snap back on. 51C41AEF-8B8D-4CE1-996A-5AAAA03CAE00.jpg

[Pices]

No ink bird, but something i should look into. I have to 200W inline heaters. Have the tank set to 84.
I do have prefilters on the canister filters.
Here is a pic of the tank after the water change. It was dark out, I will try to get better pics this weekend what it is lighter.
Tank.jpg
And a pic of the stand and door. I made it myself and my wife painted and white washed it for a aged look. Pics don't do it justice, looks way better in person.
Stand.jpg

No idea why the pics are sideways...

I think that answers all the questions and comments... O yeah, fish will be here tomorrow!

Very impressed that you made this stand yourself! Also very cool that your wife is into this too. Have you looked into a python for wc’s? They make quick work of it for us. They aren’t cheap, but worth it for time saved. I’m sure others here have great ideas to share-especially for a DYI guy like you. Can’t wait to see your beautiful fish. Good luck tomorrow with shipping. You’ve got everything else covered imo.
Patty

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Zac, crop your pictures just a bit and see if they will load upright.
Pat

[slicksta]

Looks great... And will look even better with fish in it! ;-)
No need for an air stone at all with the current filter setup. If you did want to get one anyway, wait until you have your fish as over oxygenated water can raise your pH.
Follow Pat's advise on water changes after the fish arrive as your filters will struggle with the bioload at first.
I'm also a big fan of pre-filters. . .
Good luck!

[gotwins86]

Got the fish, doing great. Pretty shy and spook easy, but getting better. Will put up some pics soon. Have to take out my laptop to resize images. Any way I can do that from my phone. All pics I take are over 2mb in size.

They are eating a little, seem to be shy to eat, but getting some. Once they get used to this new tank, what is a good feeding amount? Will 8 x 3" discus eat a whole cube of black worms? Or should I feed half each time? Also have colbalt discus flakes. Do I need to get beefheart? Only place in town would be Petco/PetSmart. Not sure if I want to pay to ship and order online. Any other food I should consider?

Any meds I should preemptively stock up on? Just in case.