Water changes almost 0%

[Swed]

Hi I still haven't dared to get into the discus yet. I try to learn more about discus and how to take care of them. Today I have a number of aquariums between 20 and 540 gallons.

I'm thinking about this about water changes. There is a local breeder where I live that barely changes any water at all in the breeding system.
He has a large biofilter and the whole plant is about 5000 gallons.
About 500 discus swim in there.

How does this work?

[danotaylor]

There's not really enough info here to make an educated determination. Are the 500 discus all in one tank, or in one interconnected system? Biofilters produces nitrates, not reduce them. "More" biofiltration doesn't really do anything to reduce nitrates, infact they are nitrate generators. It's like the over filtration myth. Beneficial bacteria are living organisms. The colony numbers are determined by the availability of food, not the amount of surface area in the filter media, providing their is sufficient, you cannot really benefit by adding anymore than you need to support the bioload of the system.
This breeder is either not telling the whole truth about the water change schedule, or not someone in would buy from because high levels of nitrates and bacterial loads (non-beneficial) make for stunted and sickly discus. I have heard some suppliers playing down the amount of necessary water changes so as not to put people off buying discus. It has been proven here, in the general sense, that clean water is a critical factor in growth & health of discus. You only have to spend time in the fish health section to see that many of the issues people have arise from poor water quality, or not following proper QT practices.
Just my 2c worth...

[Filip]

Three options here IMO .

1. He has some seriously stunted , sick and poor looking discus
2. He is lying or holding back some important facts of his whole keeping routine .
3. He is Alexander Piwovarski

If all 3 answers in the a above questionnaire are NO , don't buy from him

[Swed]

danotaylor:

I think it is about 15 tanks in difrent size. (all connected in a system)


Filip:

1 IMO the fish looks good. (but I'm not very experienced)
2 The guy feels honest but of course I don't know what they are behind the scenes
3 It's not Alexander Piwovarski (I do not want to name my local grower as it would not be kind.)Funny that you say this when I was thinking about going and watching his discus. In what way are these different and why does he not need to change water in the same way as everyone else?

[LizStreithorst]

Please try to find the answer. We'd all like to know how he does it, me especially. I've been changing water daily for 18 years.

[eugenefish]

Me too. Please try to find the answer for us.

My discus journey is very new (only about a year). But I follow all the good advice from this forum for growing out baby discus from a quarter size. It is very simple to do. Feeding them like 5 to 6 times a day and at least 90% WC everyday. Within one years, all my 30 discus are over 6.5''. I start with a 60 gal and move them into 120 gal in 5 months. Now I am about to move them to the 210 gal.

[Swed]

I, as a beginner, is probably the last one to come up with how it should go.

But people must have some theories how he does?

[LizStreithorst]

Can't you just ask him? I've been in Discus for a long time and I have never heard of anyone who has raised Discus successfully with little or no WC.

[Swed]

And I've done that. he only responds that there is no need for a lot of water changes. Then when I read in all other places I get confused.

[RogueDiscus]

Hi I still haven't dared to get into the discus yet. I try to learn more about discus and how to take care of them. Today I have a number of aquariums between 20 and 540 gallons.

I'm thinking about this about water changes. There is a local breeder where I live that barely changes any water at all in the breeding system.
He has a large biofilter and the whole plant is about 5000 gallons.
About 500 discus swim in there.

How does this work?

I'm in southern Oregon and go through Redding a couple times a year. Not many other discus folks nearby so I'd be interested in finding out who the breeder is to stop by sometime.
Steve

[Swed]

Oh, funny. I didn't even know that there was a place called Redding. I live in Europe.

LizStreithorst:
It says on his website how his filters are designed. Have you seen this?

http://www.diskuszucht-piwowarski.de/technikengl.htm

[Second Hand Pat]

Oh, funny. I didn't even know that there was a place called Redding. I live in Europe.

LizStreithorst:
It says on his website how his filters are designed. Have you seen this?

http://www.diskuszucht-piwowarski.de/technikengl.htm

That is Alexander Piwovarski and he basely runs a water treatment plant for his setup.
Pat

[bluelagoon]

Seems it can be done if you have RO filters in your system.

[alron2]

Seed, does he use plants in his filter system? Ron

[jeep]

Well, the man certainly knows what he's doing