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Thread: Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

  1. #1
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    Default Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

    Hey Everyone,

    I have 6 4 inch discus in a 75g planted tank. What levels of nitrates do you guys like to keep for a planted discus tank? I'm open to frequent water changes as I'm feeding 4 times a day as their still not fully grown yet - 1 cube of different frozen foods (should I be adding more?). However, I'm not sure how often I should change water due to wanting to keep the plants healthy as well.

    I'm currently feeding frozen bloodworms, frozen myosis shrimp, frozen beefheart, and hikari vibra bites. I'm new to discus in a planted tank so curious what nitrate levels are good for plants as well as discus.

    Thanks in advance!

  2. #2
    Registered Member Shan_Evolved's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

    I would keep no more than 20-40ppm nitrates at a time. Good range for plants and not super toxic to discus. If discus show odd behavior, lower it to 10-20ppm. Manage this with water changes and fert dosage of course
    Amateur discuskeeper, Professional doofus

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    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

    At 4" your discus are still in the rapid growth phase. If you want them to reach their growth potential, and maintain good health, your should keep your nitrates <10 at all times. Part of the challenge of growing discus in a planted tank is that the ideal parameters for growing discus are not ideal for growing plants, and vice versa. People walk the line and succeed, but it is definitely easier with adult discus in a planted tank because they are typically more tolerant of higher nitrates, but I would still keep them <20 with adult discus cause they just do better.
    What are your goals? Discus 6"+, or a nice looking planted tank with 5" discus? Define your goal, and go from there, but understand that discus of all sizes do best in clean water with low nitrates and low bacterial counts
    Last edited by danotaylor; 08-25-2020 at 10:27 PM.

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    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

    At 4” you should be changing water at least every other day 30g. Also vacuum the substrate. Pics of your tank and discus helps. I do planted tanks and as said not all you discus will be big. I’ve got 5-7” in my planted 125. Clean water is key.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

    Quote Originally Posted by Shan_Evolved View Post
    I would keep no more than 20-40ppm nitrates at a time. Good range for plants and not super toxic to discus. If discus show odd behavior, lower it to 10-20ppm. Manage this with water changes and fert dosage of course
    Super helpful, thank you so much!

    Quote Originally Posted by danotaylor View Post
    At 4" your discus are still in the rapid growth phase. If you want them to reach their growth potential, and maintain good health, your should keep your nitrates <10 at all times. Part of the challenge of growing discus in a planted tank is that the ideal parameters for growing discus are not ideal for growing plants, and vice versa. People walk the line and succeed, but it is definitely easier with adult discus in a planted tank because they are typically more tolerant of higher nitrates, but I would still keep them <20 with adult discus cause they just do better.
    What are your goals? Discus 6"+, or a nice looking planted tank with 5" discus? Define your goal, and go from there, but understand that discus of all sizes do best in clean water with low nitrates and low bacterial counts
    Thanks for this. It definitely is a challenge indeed but I do find a lot of joy in it. Obviously though, push comes to shove -- I much prefer my Discus healthy vs. my plants being healthy. I've been doing a 50% water change every 3 days currently. The fish are still active, eating, and healthy thankfully. Plants aren't growing as fast as before but that's expected. My goal is definitely not to have the biggest discus, but a very peaceful and tranquil planted tank. Anytime my nitrates go above 20, I do a water change -- However after reading about keeping them below 10 -- I might change my water change frequency.

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    At 4” you should be changing water at least every other day 30g. Also vacuum the substrate. Pics of your tank and discus helps. I do planted tanks and as said not all you discus will be big. I’ve got 5-7” in my planted 125. Clean water is key.
    Hey Iminit, thanks for the advice! I've been doing a water change every 3 days, keeping nitrates below 20 ppm. I always vacuum my substrate, but in addition to that, I use a turkey baster to blow all the debris up in difficult to gravel places (rocks, carpeting plants, etc). My goal definitely isn't to get large discus. As long as they're healthy and happy, then I'm content.

  6. #6
    Registered Member Nochbesser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrate Levels in Planted Discus Tank

    Originally Posted by Noahdiscus
    I'm a Taiwanese student doing my essays.agency research for National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology. Need to know the recommended nitrate levels for planted discus tanks. Is it 5-10ppm or 15-20ppm?
    Depending on the way the nitrates are derived: if they are from septic tank wastewater, 20ppm may cause issues later. I ran my planted discus tank with 15ppm or even 20ppm NO3. But then decided to go between 5ppm and 10ppm.

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