Still researching my tank setup. Sump and sand question

[ctrout]

I posted some questions several weeks ago that have brought me to do a lot more research. One of my questions regarded the poor parameters of my tap water. Straight out of the pipes, my PH was 8.4. After 24 hours with an air stone, the PH is 7.6 and the nitrates are 5PPM. The plan now has changed to setting this up as a planted community SA tank with some peat moss in the sump and see what the PH settles in at. Additionally, I'll be lighting and planting the sump to hopefully help with the nitrate levels. If this strategy doesn't bring my water parameters into a better safe range, I'll be giving up on adding discus to the tank. I can't commit to the money and level of maintenance that would be required to correct for bad initial water conditions. In other words, I won't be purchasing an RO system and doing 50% water changes every other day. I'll probably give the tank 6 months or so with fish and plants before I decide if I can add discus or not.

I have my 90 gallon in place and am ready to start slowly (budgetary restrictions) getting things set up. I was planning to use an existing 20g long as a sump, but discovered a chip at one of the seams that must have happened while it was in storage during the past 2 months. Now I have the option of using either a 20 long or a 30 breeder since I have to buy a new one. Aside from the roughly 5 gallons of additional water volume that I would gain, is there any advantage in going with the 30 breeder rather than the 20 long?

Another question has to do with substrate. The plan now is for three pairs of rams, probably Bolivians, since the Germans seem to have pretty rotten inbred genetics these days, from what I've read. I will also be adding about a dozen or so neon tetras and a half dozen dwarf gouramis. Since the rams like a sand substrate, as well as the discus liking it, I was thinking of using white quartz pool filter sand. Is this: https://www.amazon.com/Fairmount-Min...gateway&sr=8-2 the right stuff?

[JamesW]

Lots of people use pool filter sand but I've found if it is too fine then it is impossible to collect poop without picking up a whole heap of the sand as well. It is cheap but you might need to replenish periodically.

Rams and neons probably aren't the best partners due to temperature variation. Neons need it cooler while rams like discus temps. I've enjoyed the endlers I added to my discus tank, cardinal tetras, and rummy nose tetras are another common choice.

Your water is that bad, it certainly isn't ideal but I'd test the GH, KH and TDS to get a better feel for your water. Does your house run a water softener? 5 PPM nitrate isn't ideal and while nitrate inhibits growth at higher levels (>40) we also use it an easily measured metric for all accumulated waste. For you the baseline would just be 5ppm not 0ppm.

[ctrout]

Thanks for the reply. I have changed my companion fish list to include the cardinals as opposed to neons. I have tested the GH and KH and they both look good. I don't have a TDS test kit. Also, I don't run any water softener at my house. From your reply, it sounds like my plan, although not ideal, should be fine as long as I keep a reasonably close eye on my chemistry and maintain a reasonable water change schedule.

[Milaz]

Food for thought:

1) If you will add a lot of true bog wood into your tank - not the hardwood commonly sold in pet stores - but true bog wood - this would acidify your water by leaking tannins and humic acids into your water the same way peat filtration will do as well - yes - giving it a bit yellowish tinted color - but actually very healthy for the fish.

2) If you would use DENITRIFYING filter setup - by using Biohome Ultimate filter media for example - this will keep your nitrates really low - even cleaning up your tap water on the go - just you would need enough of it in your filter setup - and count on 3 - 5 months for the anaerobic denitrification to kick in at full speed - check out this link to Richard's web site - Pond Guru - https://filterpro.co.uk/ - he has done and filmed filter upgrades to de-nitrifying setup for many different makes

3) take time to really mature well your tank prior introducing discus to it - one year is the commonly accepted period, during which the beneficiary bio-film bacteria will settle in all your tank - inside bottom gravel layer, on all the walls and inner surfaces - and off course on filter media - there it will go faster - as the flow accelerates the process - the key here it is truly stable environment not causing any unnecessary stress to your fish from large parameters fluctuations....Seneye water parameters monitoring system will give you most of the details you need - https://www.seneye.com/

Good luck!