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Thread: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

  1. #31
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Nice. Good to know the source of your fry, and be able to see them in person!

  2. #32
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Hi All,

    2020-08-31
    Today (Monday) I did a 12 gallon water change (50%) and added 3/8 tsp of CaSO4 for 2.98 ppm of Ca (hardness increase approx 0.42 dGH); 3/16 tsp of MgSO4*7H2O for 1.04 ppm of Mg (hardness increase 0.24 dGH); 3/16 tsp of K2SO4 for 5.93 ppm of K. I also added 15 ml of Excel/glut for algae prevention. All fish are active and eating well. They have finished off the three (3) portions of live adult brine shrimp I bought on Saturday with some help from the Turquoise Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia lacustris) that I am conditioning to breed. I try to feed at least one portion of dry food (FD tubifex, Krill flakes, Extreme pellets) and one portion of frozen or live food per day. I have a white worm (Enchytraeus albidus) culture that is not quite ready to harvest yet but I will add them to the food rotation in the future.

    2020-09-01
    Dosed 4.5 ml of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive for plant micro-nutrients and 3/64 tsp KH2PO4 (2.0 ppm of PO4; 0.66 ppm P; 0.8 ppm K) for GSA

    2020-09-03
    Today (Thursday) I did a 9 gallon water change (37%), added + 3/4 tsp CaSO4 (6 ppm Ca / 0.8 dGH); 3/8 tsp MgSO4 (2.08 ppm Mg / 0.48 dGH); 3/8 tsp K2SO4 (11.83 ppm K); 3/64 tsp KH2PO4 (2.0 ppm of PO4; 0.66 ppm P; 0.8 ppm K) for GSA. I did a light gravel vac in the front of the tank and siphoned any detritus on the rest of the substrate. It was time to clean the canister filter so I rinsed all the bio-balls and Purigen in tank water as well as one of the two sponges in the filter. The other sponge got thoroughly cleaned in tap water. I replaced the filter floss and started the filter. Here are some pictures I took today.

    The full tank shot


    Time to rethink some of the plant species. The Persicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum'. Limnophila rugosa, and the Erio 'Vietnam' don't seem to like the conditions necessary for the discus. I will have to try some different species. On the other had the Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana', Oldenlandia salzmannii, Ludwigia arcuata, and Ludwigia sp 'Red' seem to be doing well. I have a couple of other species I want to try maybe I can do some changes this weekend.



  3. #33
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    You have a way, Roy, of making a 30 gallon tank look three times larger than it actually is. Your plants are most impressive.

  4. #34
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Quote Originally Posted by peewee1 View Post
    You have a way, Roy, of making a 30 gallon tank look three times larger than it actually is. Your plants are most impressive.
    Thank you @peewee1

  5. #35
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Hi All,

    2020-09-07
    Yesterday was water change day. I did a 50% water change and took the opportunity to make some of the plant species changes I mentioned earlier. I removed the sad Persicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum' which had very little root system and they went into the compost pile. I removed all but one of the Limnophila rugosa which had good root systems but poor growth and I moved them to my 75 gallon. The Ludwigia sp 'Red' (which to me doesn't look like L. sp 'Red') was cut down to remove the emersed growth at the bottom and replanted just the submerged growth tops; the stems all had a good root systems. I dug around in my tanks and plant bank and added a couple of Nymphoides hydrophylla (aka sp. 'Taiwan'), some Rotala H'ra (aka 'Vietnam'), and a couple of stems of Limnophila sp. 'Wavy'. Here a picture showing the new layout and trial species.



    1) Nymphoides hydrophylla (aka sp 'Taiwan') hiding behind the 'Trident'
    2) Rotala H'ra (aka 'Vietnam')
    3) Limnophila sp. 'Wavy'

    Here are a better shots of the three species I added. First Nymphoides hydrophylla


    Next Rotala H'ra


    Lastly Limnophila sp. 'Wavy'


    I also took a full set of water parameter readings after the water change and plant changes; here are the results:
    pH = 6.8
    dKH = 2.0
    dGH = 4.0
    Ca = 20 ppm
    Mg = 5.23 ppm
    NH3 = 0.25 ppm (possibly from disturbing the substrate?)
    NO2 = 0.00 ppm
    NO3 = 10.0 ppm

    The fish are eating three meals a day consisting of frozen bloodworms, frozen adult brine shrimp, frozen adult brine shrimp with spirulina algae, freeze-dried tubifex worms. The discus are not really interested in Fluval Bug Bites, Extreme Krill Flakes, or Extreme Pellets. My live white worm culture has grown large enough that I should be able to add that sparingly to the food rotation.

    Have a great week everyone! -Roy

  6. #36
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Very nice plat growth. I would be cautious of a KH of 2. If the carbonate levels drop because of the nitrogen cycle, if they drop enough that is, your ph will plummet. Thats what happened to me as I also have a KH of 2 out of the tap. Your tap water has no NH3? Or does it have chloramines?

    Very nice regardless
    Amateur discuskeeper, Professional doofus

  7. #37
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Hi @Shan_Evolved,

    I live in a suburb outside of Seattle and my water company uses Seattle city water. The City of Seattle gets their water from two primary sources, both sources are dams high up in the Cascade Mountains and the water is derived from snow melt. As a result our water has very little dissolved nutrients such as nitrogen (<100 ug) and no phosphates. No chloramines are added to our water; just a small amount of chlorine and fluoride (fluorine).

    It's great water for most soft water species of fish such as Apistogrammas, Rainbowfish, Killifish, Angels, Discus, tetras, etc. but not so good for livebearers or African cichlids. I am using a small amount of CO2 in this tank, about 19 ppm of CO2. The nitrogen cycle was completed over a month ago and since the fish have been added the pH stays in the 6.8 to 7.2 range. I measure the pH, NH3, NO2, NO3, and PO4 levels weekly and the dKH and dGH levels a couple times per month.

  8. #38
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Hi All,

    2020-09-10
    Today I did a 9 gallon water change and did a light vac at the front of the tank. Added 1/2 tsp CaSO4 (3.97 ppm Ca / +0.56 dGH); 1/4 tsp MgSO4 (1.38 ppm Mg / +0.32 dGH); 1/4 tsp K2SO4 (7.9 ppm K); 1/32 tsp KH2PO4 (1.34 ppm of PO4; 0.44 ppm P; 0.55 ppm K for GSA. All the discus are eating well and seem to be establishing a comfortable pecking order.

  9. #39
    Registered Member Shan_Evolved's Avatar
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Take some videos bro, would love to see the natural flow of discus and plants
    Amateur discuskeeper, Professional doofus

  10. #40
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Quote Originally Posted by Shan_Evolved View Post
    Take some videos bro, would love to see the natural flow of discus and plants
    LOL Shan, I'm 70 yo and I consider it an accomplishment just to post a picture! -Roy

  11. #41
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Wow 70!! I thought you were in your 40s. Good for you!! Always enjoy reading your input.

  12. #42
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    Wow 70!! I thought you were in your 40s. Good for you!! Always enjoy reading your input.
    Roy is 10 years old and 70 in dog years.

  13. #43
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Hi All,

    I apologize for being a little late in my posting this week. I am on the Board of our local aquarium club, Greater Seattle Aquarium Society (gsas.org) and we had a board meeting last night that I had to prepare for. I did do my water change as scheduled on Monday.

    2020-09-14
    Today was the big water change of about 50% or 12 gallons. After the water change I took readings and these are the results.
    I also took a full set of water parameter readings after the water change and plant changes; here are the results:
    pH = 6.4
    dKH = 2.0
    dGH = 4.0
    Ca = 20 ppm
    Mg = 5.23 ppm
    NH3 = 0.00 ppm (possibly from disturbing the substrate?)
    NO2 = 0.00 ppm
    NO3 = 10.0 ppm

    The ammonia came down from 0.25 ppm last week to 0.00 this week which kind of confirms that changing the plants and disturbing the substrate caused the slight increase in NH3 that we saw. Because we have hit my target dGH and Ca and Mg levels I did not add any calcium sulfate (CaSO4*2H2O) or magnesium sulfate (MgSO4*7H2O) for the plants. The fish are doing fine and still eating like swimming pigs although they seem to feel entitled and only eat frozen bloodworms, live adult brine shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and FD tubifex worms. They turn their noses up at krill flakes and Fluval Bug Bites, any suggestions as to how to encourage them to eat other foods would be appreciated.

    Here are some pictures from Monday; first the overall tank shot.


    The Rotala H'ra (aka 'Vietnam') is doing as expected. With the low nutrient levels in the water column the Rotala has taken off, can you see all the new stems starting to emerged along the original stems?


    The Myriophyllum sp. Guyana is starting to branch at the top of the stems; the Oldenlandia salzmannii continues to grow toward the surface and will need trimming soon. And on the far right the Hygrophylla arcuata continues to grow slowly. Regrettably the Eriocaulon 'Vietnam' in the foreground continues to just sit there. It will be moved to another tank in the near future.


    They Limnophila sp 'Curly' that was added last week is also growing nicely.


    Just like the Oldenlandia salzmannii the Ludwigia sp 'Red' (*doubtful this is correct identification) is growing to the surface, this is after I removed the original emerged growth from bottom of the stems last week.

    And a partial 'Family Portrait'


    Lastly, for @Shan_Evolved a video of the fish eating FD Tubifex Worms
    https://vimeo.com/458641598
    Last edited by Seattle_Aquarist; 09-16-2020 at 04:20 PM.

  14. #44
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Looking fabulous Roy!!

  15. #45
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    Default Re: Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

    Quote Originally Posted by danotaylor View Post
    Looking fabulous Roy!!
    Hi Daniel,

    Thank you, it's not really aquascaped, at the moment along with growing the juvies I am just trying different plant species to see what is compatible with the soft water / low water column nutrient level that is best for the discus. This is preparation of moving the discus to my 75 gallon.

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