Purpose of water changes

[Ocellaris]

Discus aware a fish that requires some level of work. But if you're feeding normal like bloodworms and some other Foods mixed in and you're not overfeeding. Probably a total gravel vac 70% water change and tooth brushing all of The Hardscape and clean the glass once a week should be enough. I do that in my tank it stays absolutely clear naturally ammonia and nitrates are 0 and nitrates are 10 to 15 PPM I need those at 10 to 15 because I have some live plants it is not a heavily planted tank but has some plants in it. 50 percent water changes every other day the data I'm gathering through water testing is not supporting that as necessary. If you're feeding something messy or you're overfeeding to try and get them to grow out faster, then yeah you might have to do large and frequent water changes. If however you are just enjoying the tank you should not need to do that and I would question someone that says that even though I'm sure they are way more experience and better at discus keeping then I am show me your test results and data that support that level of water changes. I wouldn't call my tank light stock either. And The discus are healthy and happy in fact they just attempted the first spawn sorry if there are typos I'm voice typing this.Screenshot_20200410-101228_Gallery.jpg

[Willie]

Here's a shot of my 75 gallon tank yesterday morning. This tank gets 100% water change daily. I also wipe at least the bottom pane every time (yes, I'm obsessive). The fish get 2 feedings a day of beefheart. The rest of the fish, including some rams and corydoras, get Tetra-Bits and the like. One nice thing about barebottom tanks is that the amount of food you feed can be calibrated exactly. Everything was eaten and I know they can't eat more than this.

See how much fish poop is sitting on the bottom of the tank? All this is just one day's accumulation. With gravel and sand, you wouldn't see this stuff. A planted tank with substrate can't really ever get cleaned. Even if I were to vacuum the substrate every day, there would be no way to get rid of all of it.

See those stacked sponge filters in the background? They get squeezed once a week. When I squeeze do that, the water in the bucket turns black. Most aquarists think the tank is clean because the water is clear. In fact, the dirt is just hidden.

[Ocellaris]

Beautiful fish.... but I would suggest that 100%daily is not necessary according to my testing. Does youre testing indicate the need for 100% daily? Maybe with double beef heart it really elevates nitrate levels? Those fish are stunning.

[coralbandit]

Nitrates are not the only reason one should change water .
I am firm believer that we can't test for the most important things ..
I have not tested a tank in over a year myself .
The time it takes to run test you could be half way done changing water ..Which one do you think the fish appreciate more ?

[captainandy]

Many Discus are from an area of the northwest Rio Negra area where it rains so much their habitat probably gets a complete water change every day

[Willie]

The difference between a 50% and a 100% water change to me is ~3 minutes at the computer surfing. But to the fish, I think the impact is huge. Everybody here is 6.5"+.

Willie

[Ocellaris]

Yes I agree that water changes do not take very long people make them out to be very challenging. I think that a water change and a full toothbrushing of my Hardscape full vacuum and clean the glass takes less than 20 minutes. So you're saying that for bulk size the hundred percent water change is vital. Okay I can understand that I appreciate the info I met up my water changes to see if the my fish size increases as well. I am not going to go to the beefheart route though. Yeah I could tell those fish were gigantic

[Ocellaris]

Most discus come from breeders unless you have wild caught. So their environment is our tap water assuming the people are doing 50 to 100% water changes daily then yeah that could apply but we're not talking about mimicking the Amazon.

[Ocellaris]

So you don't know you're parameters, and you change because you "think" the fish will appreciate it.... well if the water is testing well or known to be in great condition based on consistent regimen and previous testing, then a water change is a waste of time.... glad we can all see that.

[bluelagoon]

Once you know your water source and get in to a regular routine for that particular tank. I see no reason why you'd need to test your water on a regular basis. Willie will get bigger discus using his method. I've been here long enough to know that about discus. It is very difficult to get 6.5-7.5" discus in a planted tank. I have yet to see them. Lets see the pics and the measure on a ruler to those with big discus raised in a planted tank from a 2" to a 6.5 to 7" discus. I will believe it when I see it.