Adam Discus Tank

[bluelagoon]

You mentioned activated carbon. Most folks don't use that with discus on a regular basis. I think you'd be better off using more media in it's place. Some do use it to get meds., tannins and odors out of the water.

[Iminit]

Yes carbon is not needed. Its purpose is to remove smell or meds in a tank and also to a minor point it can clear water for a short amount of time. Many suspect it has something to do with hith.

Great looking discus! But if you’re not seeing them eating that could be a problem. Assassin snails can also be nuisance snails and over populate a tank. They are also the laziest snails. All they do is eat other snails they don’t eat algae or any thing else.

Al I don’t know I’m no pro. But my swords always grew great and had huge roots. Even in pots. There I would have root balls that pushed the gravel out of the pots over time. I do feed ferts now but nothing like I use to in planted tanks. All swords got tabs when the growth would slow down. I’ve been having a very hard time growing swords lately. Again just not putting enough time into the plants I have. Too much time with discus! Also with the shops all selling emersed plants it’s harder to get these sword growing correct. I recently got 4 very small swords I’ve planted in pots with aquasoil on the bottom(using like root tabs) and these so far are looking good.

[brewmaster15]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...140153-For-Tom

[Adamski77]

Thank you all for words of encouragement and words of wisdom.
- Carbon is an extra thing I used to use 20+ years ago… seems now I understand what it does/doesn’t… appreciate this… space for adjustment
- on food… I might have not been clear enough… they are eating like sharks… attached some photos taken just before morning feeding. Babies were very patient today as I was doing weekly “bigger” cleaning so they had to wait longer
- assassin snails noted… all I need them to do is to eat little snails… rest is done by otonicluses… 7 in main tank and just got extra 7 currently in quarantine tank. My idea was to put assassin snails in quarantine tank and move only one in main tank… let him ravish. I think they need at least 2 (male/female) to reproduce so if I put one there is no risk… but that might be not enough

And some mandatory photos… I wish my photo taking skills would get better… don’t do even half of a justice to how pristine all of this looks

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[Adamski77]

I love these evenings when house is getting quiet and lights in the tank slowly go down... I can stretch myself on my little sofa and just watch... beautiful...

... I know I know... I said only weekly updates...

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[brewmaster15]

Nice View! Adam is that stand custom made?
Al

[Adamski77]

Nice View! Adam is that stand custom made?
Al

It’s actually not… was there when we moved in couple of years ago… and I immediately felt something was missing (I guess it was just display before). Had to reinforce it with some 4x4s to hold 1000lbs but works nicely. The only downside was I had to tailor the size of the tank and was limited to 40cm (16 inches) width. Wanted to go really big with my tank but space was what it was. The upside is that it’s in my office so very limited traffic during the day… I actually leave the door open when I go to work and some people can pass by the door so the fish don’t freak out seeing human… plus I can enjoy the view when working sometimes longer evenings… or take a nap on my sofa

[Adamski77]

Short and delayed update on my tank as we went with my wife for a little trip… Maldives… kind of watching different fish currently. Have friend watching my tank and feeding the fish… will lose Tuesday water change and Tue/Thu substrate vacuuming but hope my prior care and time put in keeping the tank clean will pay back. The only issue so far is nitrates that went up to maybe 10 (thought it’s going to be much worse)… but fish are holding prefect colors and eating like tigers. Had to dial-in feeding regime as my friend is not a hobbyist but so far so good. Back on Saturday morning… just in time for routine water change… so will lose only one WC out of my regular cycle. It is what it is.

First obviously few photos from paradise

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Temperature check

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Water check

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Babies check

[brewmaster15]

Wow.. thats beautiful scenery Adam!

Would love to more pics since its doubtful I will ever visit there!
We have a vacay thread here..

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...e-Vacay-Thread

[Adamski77]

Ok... we are "back from Paradise" ... into reality. Tank/fish did quite well during my week of absence... but I did have my fears before leaving and during the trip. All in all everything went well and all babies are doing very well. Couple of lessons learnt:
- there are no shortcuts... I missed water change on Tuesday and substrate vacuuming on Tue/Thu... guess what... Saturday morning took me two hours (double normal) to restore order... so if you think you can save time... stop thinking
- there is solution for everything... patience and persistence is the key. Finally found a way to vacuum my substrate during water change. As I mentioned somewhere before my set-up is quite primitive and includes using hoses/cables for water change (which works for me) but vacuuming substrate was a problem for many reasons (will skip the details). Finally got it right this Saturday morning so now it's all cool.

... obviously few mandatory photos... and question: I read quite a lot about stress/emotion bars and they seem to be quite natural... the way the fish 'talk'... my question is how much is too much? Have one fella (second photo) that seems to have it more/more often and much darker. It's kind of smallest in the tank so would indicate higher level of stress... everybody is chasing somebody else... but he has nobody to chase. His brothers/sisters have much less (third photo) but I'm pretty sure they're from the same batch of fry. So when it's too much? Any wisdom?

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[Adamski77]

Little bit of an update on my tank… snail problem seems to be contained to big extent… little bit picking them out, little bit of assassin snails… I think I’m getting the positive traction on this topic. Problem of the week started to be algae… and I suspected this is going to be one. I’m still working full time and leaving home very early (6am normally) so had to set up the light for very long… so I can feed discus before I go and after I come back. 16.5 hours total with 3 warm up and 3 hours cool down… I knew it’s way too long but tried. Heavy algae obviously… changes needed. Now have it for 3 hours in the morning and 7 hours in the afternoon/evening… total 10 but 2 hours total is warm up and cool down so effectively have 8 hours full light. Also changed intensity to 30% at max. Algae started to be much “slimmer”… feel like 30% is too little but will give it a week or two to see where this is going to go. Other than that all cool.

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[Adamski77]

Nobody really reads this posts but I’ll try anyway. This week has been good however I had to go for business trip again. Friend of mine taking care of the tank and have to say he’s doing pretty good… just changes water today.
Discus are all cool just funny enough… affairs of him. I thought for the fish the “body” is the body but seems they can feel who is feeding them. Good girls/boys
This week no additional problems except one dead Cory fish… really not sure why… but it is what it is.

Few photos:

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[brewmaster15]

Nobody really reads this posts but I’ll try anyway. This week has been good however I had to go for business trip again. Friend of mine taking care of the tank and have to say he’s doing pretty good… just changes water today.
Discus are all cool just funny enough… affairs of him. I thought for the fish the “body” is the body but seems they can feel who is feeding them. Good girls/boys
This week no additional problems except one dead Cory fish… really not sure why… but it is what it is.

Adam, its not that people don't read the posts, they do, but for some mysterious reason, acknowledging the time and effort you put into posting is just not as common as it used to be. I don't personally get it, but I assure you the posts are read.


I wanted to comment on two fish in that tank...Though they are all a nice group of Discus, ... I am particularly drawn to these...


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al

[Iminit]

Im reading Adam !. Ok your tank and discus look great! Think your problem with lighting may be those huge reflectors! They are magnifying the light. My lights mostly just sit on top of the tanks. I’m using hygger 957 led lights. Made in China . Thing is they are cheap and fully adjustable. So you can leave these things on all day at 30%. The intensity is so low algae doesn’t grow as much. Or you can put them on at higher intensities at different times of the day. Also turn them off at different times of the day. Before these adjustable lights I used to put my lights on timers. Plant pros had explained to me that algae grows by the constant light but if you left the lights on for 4 hrs the plant used the light but it wasn’t enough time for the algae to grow. So I used to set my timers for 4on 4off 4on. Worked wonders on algae and lights were on when I left for work and when I got home .

[Adamski77]

Thank you Tom! I did change my lights recently… and seems the problem got smaller… frustrating that I’m traveling so much recently and can’t see my fish every day and check/control what’s going on. Really appreciate your comments… simple acknowledgment from somebody very experienced means tones to me as I walked into this discus journey… and I really care for them to be healthy and happy. The light are now at 30% and seems plants still grow well… the only thing I spotted is that leaves on anubias are smaller comparing to the ones that plant had when I bought it… probably combination of shortage of CO2 and fertilizer that I don’t provide. But it’s just my guess.

And thanks Al for your comments… good day, bad day… yesterday was the latter… weekend on and I’m is some hotel on the way to another place. Wish I could sit in front of my tank.