Help - Advice needed for moving to Discus tank

[SamG]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post (and long one) in this forum and I am hoping for some advice / help from Discus gurus here.

Some background - I have been in freshwater tanks for over an year now. Discus was the reason I got into the hobby but was scared away by all the feedback online on how difficult it is to keep Discus. I started with 75g tank, cycled it and set up as community tank (Gouramis, Beosemani, Denison barbs, albino corys & BN pleco) with dual sand and gravel substrate, a giant fish decoration and some hardy plants. The tank helped me understand the basics of tank maintenance and i managed to keep a healthy tank with no sickness and not losing any fish. I am regular with weekly cleaning and water changes.
My water from tap has nitrates about 10ppm and ph of about 8, nitrates in source forces me to change water 60-70% weekly to keep the nitrates in my tank below 30-40ppm.

Now, after learning the basics I think I am ready to get into discus (and a lot of reading) and need help with some setup and maintenance. I am planning of changing my tank set up completely to go bare tank with tiles at the bottom, give away my current stock to LFS and have 4-5 Discus (5"), 10-12 cardinals and some bottom feeders (can I keep my BN pleco and 5 albino corys?)

Have some questions
- Does the above stocking work in a bare bottom tank?
- Well, does the above stocking work for 75g at all?
- Can I keep the 2 feet long ship decoration or just keep a bare tank ?
- I am worried about 10ppm nitrates in my tap water source , how do I handle it as my understanding is that water needs to be with very low nitrates for healthy discus
- My filter setup is sunsun 304b & emperor 400 - little over filtration - hope this is a good set up for discus
- any other advice?
- good and not super expensive place in nj to buy discus?

Help please guys!!

[SamG]

any advice guys?

[dagray]

plecos will work with Discus. I keep bristlenose plecos at temperatures of a discus tank (81-85 degrees Fahrenheit). Corry cats depending on specie will work with discus, but some like a little lower temperature.

yes you can keep your decoration, but you will have to clean it once in a while as it can trap uneaten food and fish waste (and it might start growing some algae).

Nitrates get eaten by aquatic plants, so a plant or two in pots inside the tank, or a Pothos or other plant that can grow with roots in the tank can help cut your nitrate. I have seen people grow Peace Lillies in a hang off back filter to reduce nitrates in their tank.

Your filters will work, but you might want to be sure to have an extra Sunsun or spare parts for it and your emperor filter.

[SamG]

Thanks!
I am not so worried about filtration and parts for it - My worry is more of a high PH of 8 for Discus fish and bigger worry with nitrates (~10ppm) in my tap water.
Would the setup I am thinking of require daily water changes if I start with 4-5" Discus that would probably need twice daily feeding?

[Pices]

Hi Sam,
I kept more discus in a 75 gallon, but I have 5ppm nitrates out of the tap. I also did 80% wc daily as I wanted them to grow as big as I could get them (I had a 125 gal waiting). I’d go with 6 discus.
Does your ship decoration allow food to get trapped in it? That would be my only concern, but moving one big piece around during wc’s is easy. I say go for it.
My biggest advice and I can’t stress this enough is buy quality Discus from a sponsor here. They have reasonably priced high quality healthy discus. To start with anything less would be a big mistake and one I can tell you is not worth the pain of watching them get sick and slowly die. Save yourself the frustration and heartache and spend the extra money on healthy discus instead of medications that can’t fix unhealthy stock.
Patty

[SamG]

Hi Sam,
I kept more discus in a 75 gallon, but I have 5ppm nitrates out of the tap. I also did 80% wc daily as I wanted them to grow as big as I could get them (I had a 125 gal waiting). I’d go with 6 discus.
Does your ship decoration allow food to get trapped in it? That would be my only concern, but moving one big piece around during wc’s is easy. I say go for it.
My biggest advice and I can’t stress this enough is buy quality Discus from a sponsor here. They have reasonably priced high quality healthy discus. To start with anything less would be a big mistake and one I can tell you is not worth the pain of watching them get sick and slowly die. Save yourself the frustration and heartache and spend the extra money on healthy discus instead of medications that can’t fix unhealthy stock.
Patty

Hi Patty,

This was really helpful - can you please suggest some discuss stores where i can get my fishes? i absolutely agree in buying good quality fishes - i did the same from my LFS earlier for the community tank which helped me maintain a record of zero fishes lost! My LFS is great for all fishes except discus, he usually doesnt have them and has been honest with me not to get discus from him The only discus store i know in NJ is discus madness.

My biggest worry is the nitrates as I mentioned earlier - i know i can be really regular with water changes twice a week and thus was thinking of only keeping 4 - 5 discus, 12 cardinals, BN pleco and 5 albino corys - little on the lower side but hoping if I start with discus that are already about 4 inches in size - i can get away with twice a week water changes. If you think that is not good enough for discus then probably atm i would not get into discus until i am in a position to do daily or every other day wc.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi and welcome to Simply Discus. You are definitey in the right place to get advice on how to avoid the worse pitfalls in discus-keeping. I would maybe consider a nitrate filter to remove nitrates from your tapwater before you use it for water changes. This one
https://www.pozzani.co.uk/water-filt...duct_info.html
has a good track record with UK fishkeepers, costs the equivalent of $45 and the replacement cartridges cost about $17. It may allow you to stretch the discus group to 7 or 8 that I think is a healthier number. Aggreed sime corys are great (sterbai), others (peppered) not so good at discus temperatures. Definitely keep the tank bare bottom and with minimal decor, at least to start. I also find dimmable lighting is very suited to discus (I have LEDs controlled by a TC420)

[SamG]

Being a noob for discus, i have too many questions
With using the above filter and keeping the discus count to 4-5 in 75 g with other fishes i mentioned - is twice weekly wc enough?

Oddly enough this filter is not available anywhere in US, i would end up paying double the price to get it shipped. How much does a filter for this last? Does it give enough output for 75g wc for 3-4 months? I will order enough cartridges to last me couple of years accordingly
I have been using Nitrazorb in my filters - it is good for keeping nitrates really low for couple of months.

[Adam S]

Hello and welcome to SD,

To answer if 2x weekly water changes are enough for 4" discus, I would say sure with the understanding that they won't turn out as nice as 4" discus who receive daily water changes. If you're okay with that tradeoff, go for it.

Potted plants are fine and make a tank look better, but don't rely on them for water quality and expect the catfish (maybe even the discus if they can fit) to root around the substrate.

Albino cories will live at discus temps but sterbai cories will thrive. I'd equate albino cories to keeping discus at 90F. It works but really isn't optimal.

A bristlenose is fine, just give it something to hide under. Concerning the ship and the rest of the hardware, make sure to bleach them or at least let them dry out before making the switch.

An unfortunate guideline of buying most stuff is: affordable, available, quality. Pick two! Quality discus aren't cheap, but you'll be stuck with them for a while. It's definitely worth the wait if the funds aren't ready just yet.

[Pices]

Hi Patty,

This was really helpful - can you please suggest some discuss stores where i can get my fishes? i absolutely agree in buying good quality fishes - i did the same from my LFS earlier for the community tank which helped me maintain a record of zero fishes lost! My LFS is great for all fishes except discus, he usually doesnt have them and has been honest with me not to get discus from him The only discus store i know in NJ is discus madness.

My biggest worry is the nitrates as I mentioned earlier - i know i can be really regular with water changes twice a week and thus was thinking of only keeping 4 - 5 discus, 12 cardinals, BN pleco and 5 albino corys - little on the lower side but hoping if I start with discus that are already about 4 inches in size - i can get away with twice a week water changes. If you think that is not good enough for discus then probably atm i would not get into discus until i am in a position to do daily or every other day wc.

Hey Sam,
If you go to the sponsor section of thr forum you’ll see sponsors listed. I bought mine from Kenny’s Discus and was really afraid of shipping from California to Sw Florida. That’s quite a journey for little discus. I’ve read good reviews about all the sponsors here. Having only dealt with Kenny, I can say his customer service is exceptional and he is there 100% for his customers before, during and after you get your fish.
If you don’t mind my asking, how do you do wc’s?
As you’re finding out, the people here are great folks. They taught me all I know and I didn’t have a clue when I started! My first visit to simply discus was in the Sickness and Disease section, so kudos to you for a much better start with these fascinating fish. I took the advice given here and started over with good stock, hence my earlier warning.
Patty

[Tshethar]

Hi Sam,

Just want to add that I, too, very much wanted to limit my water changing to about 2x/week when I was thinking about getting into discus, and I honestly found it hard to believe after years in the aquarium hobby that this wouldn't suffice. Once I got fish, however, I really wanted them to grow fast, be healthy, and look as large and beautiful as possible. (It really is night and day between people's breeding pairs or adult tanks on SD, let alone show fish, compared to a stunted, sickly discus, and no one who has found their way here is likely to want to end up with the latter.) So, once I started I found myself wanting to change a lot of water to give myself the best chance of success. And I also found out pretty quickly that my discus didn't really like something about the water straight out of my tap, despite the fact that it tested well for virtually all parameters. Next thing I knew I was aging my water, and looking for ways to change water fast on a daily basis. (Lucky for me I could manage to pull this off.)

So, what I'm trying to get at is that the more planning and equipment you can put into making your water changes really efficient, the better off you're likely to be. Since then, I'm keenly interested in my quickest options to get water out of the house from my tanks, places I could age water if necessary, pumps, hoses, heaters, pre-filters, aeration, etc., so that the fish would be happy and I wouldn't find the maintenance too burdensome. Everyone has to find the balance that works for them, of course, but I don't think you'll regret putting some thought (and maybe some money) into prepping as if you're going to do more maintenance than you actually hope to!

Good luck with it!

[SamG]

Thank you so much guys, this was a lot of helpful information. I will try to answer some of the questions and shoot some more

The reason I am hung up with 2 wc a week is more to do with my work schedule, what I am trying to figure out is if keeping discus and keeping them healthy is something that fits in. From what I have read above, getting 4” fishes is ruled out, I do not want to see any fish stunted or not reach its potential max

I am trying to see what would work, so please bear with my multi line of questions... I see the grown 5.5”+ size fishes are expensive- if I get 4-5 of those (5.5”+), would they need a daily wc or as they are already grown they would need less?

As for wc and tank maintenance - I do 2 wc weekly, first one in mid week is quick one, throw in a pump, get about 70-80% water out and then fill water back in. For adding water back I use python - first get water temp as close by checking with a digital therm and then flip python to start filling in, I add prime at the start and mid of water filling up and to cover 1.5 times of water being added in.
My weekend maint is little more detailed, I vacuum gravel thoroughly, lightly vacuum the sandy part - again around 70-80% wc. I take the ship and wood out every other week to clean under it, clean emperor hob every 2-3 weeks and my sunsun 304b every 6 weeks. Oh and before every wc, I scrub my tank glass with the magnetic scrub and run the uv on sunsun 2 days weekly.

Looking forward to suggestions on how it would need to be diff for discus setup.

[fljones3]

I have a 75g and do a at least every other day WC (40%) and throw in a daily when I can. IMHO, I would go with 6 5.5+ inch, I think you will be fine. The larger you can get the better you are. I know they are expensive but a good quality pre-adult/adult fish will be worth it. Also, the larger the fish the less feedings needed which cuts down the bioload.

[SamG]

Thanks guys for all the help and tips, i am trying to figure out a setup that helps with a daily wc - definitely moving to a D tank

[Paul Sabucchi]

Whatever size you decide to go for, avoid putting gravel in the tank, collects too much cr@p. If you can manage only 2 wc a week leave the tank bare bottom. This way it will be much easier to keep clean and maybe you could manage just to syphon the bottom even on the days you don't change the water.