Filtration

[Roddo]

I’m in the process of setting up my first discus tank after having kept tropical in the past and have a few weeks until my 115 gallon arrives to do more research. Would appreciate any advice on what filter(s) to invest in. I’m planning on starting with 15 to 18 4-inch discus with +-30 cardinals in a planted tank.

I’ve seen tank water turnover rate recommended anything from four to ten times per hour so for my 400 litre thats anything from 1600 to 4000 lph.

I’m considering the Fluval FX6 (3500 lph) as a first choice or 2 x Oase Biomaster 600’s (1250 lph each). Any advice on whether the Fluval would be too much or the 2 Oase not enough? Wondering if two may be better than one? I’m thinking less of a jet pumping out from 2 smaller units?

[ganesan]

Welcome to the world of discus. There are a couple of things for you to note. Discus love very clean waters so my advice is barebottom aquarium but if you still prefer to keep plants do so by growing them on pots so that while siphoning and clean them daily you can easily remove the discus poo,uneaten food. Secondly keep large cardinal tetras as the discus would swallow a few. Regarding filtration I think fx 6 x 2 canisters would be the best along with a couple of sponge filters and an airstone. Keep the water current to the minimum as discus fish don't like high water current.

[LizStreithorst]

Your tank is overstocked. 1 discus per 10 gallons is the rule of thumb. Fewer in a planted tank.

[Iminit]

A lot for you to look into. I too think your overstocking. I also think your making a mistake going into discus with a planted tank. I’ve done it both ways now and had good results both ways. But in the end the ones that went through a bare bottom start came out a full size bigger. When new they will need clean water daily. A minimum of 50% daily. Plants hold to much waste under them. So you will need to vacuum them daily. For a 115g I’d say 10-12 discus. You may want to start 6 at a time and in a smaller bare bottom tank for at least a month.

[Andy27012]

Depends on the source, stendker recommends 1 adult fish per 8 gallons and even states it is detrimental to the animals to not stock at that density.

[Roddo]

I got my figure from the Stinker website, where they recommend 24 x 8cm to promote 'healthy coexistence' reducing down to 10 - 12 as they approach adult size. If I can get away with this from the outset this will save me some money.

Dr G, Do you mean 2 x 1250 lph filters or 2 x 3500 mph? I'd have thought the latter would create too much current and that 18 to 20 tank turnover per hour may be a bit much?

[Roddo]

A lot for you to look into. I too think your overstocking. I also think your making a mistake going into discus with a planted tank. I’ve done it both ways now and had good results both ways. But in the end the ones that went through a bare bottom start came out a full size bigger. When new they will need clean water daily. A minimum of 50% daily. Plants hold to much waste under them. So you will need to vacuum them daily. For a 115g I’d say 10-12 discus. You may want to start 6 at a time and in a smaller bare bottom tank for at least a month.

Useful tip re starting them out in a bare bottom first and then moving across. I'd been considering growing the plants in pots as suggested by Ganesan to make cleaning easier. Also see on you tube most planted set ups have gravel followed by soil followed by sand on top. I was thinking instead to go for a finer grain soil (1-2mm) exclusively to be able to vacuum up properly without worrying about mixing up different substrate layers.

[Iminit]

Unless you’ve done this before I would NEVER suggest soil/aqua soil/plant substrates with discus. First none of these last and must be either replace or nutrients added. Again nothing you want to do in a discus tank. Yes utube is full of great looking planted discus tanks! And many many other unbelievable things only found on utube! Lots of these tanks are set up just for the pictures and videos.
I use bare bottom for all new discus. I qt for months now. Look in the planted tank section here I have a thread. One cross contamination will destroy a planted tank. Tank and discus were fine and I never had problems (very lucky). But when you have to start adding meds to save fish plants are the first to go. Read my thread in the disease section. Yes planters are much better and easily removed. Most of my plants are now in planters. All my plant are easy plants. Planted tank in general are a whole different part of the fish keeping hobby and just as hard as keeping discus. Both together should be left for the pros!!

[Andy27012]

I got my figure from stendkers 10 golden rules for discus. Any my first discus tank was heavily planted not in pots,never a problem but I used eco complete.

[Roddo]

Unless you’ve done this before I would NEVER suggest soil/aqua soil/plant substrates with discus. First none of these last and must be either replace or nutrients added. Again nothing you want to do in a discus tank. Yes utube is full of great looking planted discus tanks! And many many other unbelievable things only found on utube! Lots of these tanks are set up just for the pictures and videos.
I use bare bottom for all new discus. I qt for months now. Look in the planted tank section here I have a thread. One cross contamination will destroy a planted tank. Tank and discus were fine and I never had problems (very lucky). But when you have to start adding meds to save fish plants are the first to go. Read my thread in the disease section. Yes planters are much better and easily removed. Most of my plants are now in planters. All my plant are easy plants. Planted tank in general are a whole different part of the fish keeping hobby and just as hard as keeping discus. Both together should be left for the pros!!

I had a read of your thread Iminit - helpful thanks. Great looking tank. Sounds like I need to grow them out first before thinking about introducing plants in any form. Not what I was hoping for but will defer to the better judgement of those that have gone down that path! So to revise my initial question - with 10 to 12 discus and bare bottom, would 1 x 3500 lph canister work or 2 x 1250 lph better?

[Iminit]

One fx6 should be enough. But I like to have 2 filters in all my tanks. For my 125 with the fx6 I back it up with a odyssea 350 power head with a pair of sponges on it. This will hold it over if the main filter goes. Now as to the fx6. I’ve had it for a little over 2 years and I clean it every 2 months. As of the last 6 months it’s lost a lot of flow. Not to happy with it and I’ve added a wet/dry system for a 100g tank to help with its loss. The W/D moves 400gph. Now on my other 125 I have a different W/D that moves around 800gph and the same odyssea. So far this set up is working much better. For me the wet/dry is better filtration.

[jeep]

I had a read of your thread Iminit - helpful thanks. Great looking tank. Sounds like I need to grow them out first before thinking about introducing plants in any form.

This is very smart! There's no reason to make your start in discus end up in failure. It's really hard to begin again.

I agree with the others about overstocking. 10-12 discus in a 110g tank will be pretty much maxed out. Add all the dithers and you're still facing a stocking problem down the road. I think 8 discus along with a reasonable school of neons would be pretty attractive, adding the decorations as you gain experience!