Discus hobby 2.0 - a restart and a reset

[Jandiscus]

This might overlap a bit with my tank journal that I started a while ago and maybe I will just use this thread to continue with my journal and then crosslink it. So, for those of you who have read my journal, please bear with me.

Back in 2020 I finally was in discus heaven. I had it all. A 220gal tank with 13 beautiful adult healthy discus from Kenny, nestled away in my basement's boiler room. Four 44gal water holding tanks, 50:50 r/o to tap ratio. A couch in front of the tank and the home's sump pump close to the tank, making daily water changes very manageable.

Then I received that phone call from a head-hunter talking to me about a job in Saint Louis, Missouri, 9 hours away from my home in Michigan. Fast forward, I took the job but decided to not relocate my family and keep my house. Instead, I went by myself, ended up renting and later buying a loft apartment and going back and forth between the 2 places ever since.
And then the inevitable had to happen. I had to sell my discus, as there was no way for me to relocate them. Especially since I did not really know how much business travel this role would eventually involve, plus my need to be with my family in Michigan as often as possible.

To make things worse, there isn't much of a market for discus fish in my area. I finally found 2 buyers who actually had discus and made halfway sense in what they were saying about the fish. Except that I ended up giving them away for a fraction of the cost. Oh well, water under the bridges.

For the last 3 years I stayed away from fish tanks. The occasional visit to my boiler room with a sad looking empty fish tank and all the gear still being there. But it is hard to stay away from this hobby. And this wasn't my first time having to abandon the hobby due to relocations, some international.

October 15,2023

So here I go again. a brand-new setup in my Saint Louis place that is currently cycling. A 125gal tank, Fluval FX4 canister filter, LED lights, heater with external thermostat, r/o water blended with aged tap. A light dusting of pool filter sand and some pothos rooting into the tank to help with Nitrate absorption.

Next step: waiting, planning, overthinking ��

[brewmaster15]

Jan welcome to the contest! Best of luck to you here!glad you decided to enter!
Al

[jimmyjoe]

Welcome back Kotter!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice start to the contest great looking tank love the invisible discus, really beautiful tank. Wish I could talk my wife into something like that............. Jim in Ohio

[Jandiscus]

Now with the tank up and running (cycling) I needed to decide on how to manage my water chemistry and water change cycles. I used a 50:50 r/o to tap ratio in the past which worked well. Saint Louis City water (Mississippi/Missouri river) is hard with a TDS of 216-436 (average 326). The ph is 9.5 which is much higher than what I had back in Michigan.

Clearly, that is pushing the limits of simply using aged tap water. I decided to utilize a simple r/o unit to remove most of the TDS and bring the ph down closer to 7. It is a small unit that I bought on amazon for $48. It has a 100 gallon membrane, a sediment filter and a post carbon filter.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H2TSNZM...roduct_details

Once hooked up it produced water with a TDS around 20. To my big surprise however, it did not change the ph value by much. It was still around 9. Al suspected that there might be some other chemical present, added by the water department to stabilize the ph value. He recommended to add a deionization (DI) filter, which I did. And that did the trick. The ph is now around 7.
Now I have everything I need to dial into a mix ratio that will provide me with consistent water parameters. If I do a 50:50 blend I get a TDS of 173 and a ph of 8.25 of unaged water. At this point I don't have the aeration and heating set up for the storage tanks. I want to use the equipment I still have from my Michigan setup. It is also clear that I need to add a second pump or pre-mix the water in another barrel to avoid swings. I have a trip planned of going back to Michigan and pick up any gear I might want to use in my new setup. I am also contemplating adding some manzanita wood i used in my old setup.

[Jandiscus]

Nov 1, 2023
Back from Michigan and I brought a lot of things with me ranging from another water storage bin to heaters and air pumps. Even brought my microscope that I had used in the past to look at fish poop 😊.
I brought my 2 pumps I had been using to pump water from the storage barrels. I will have to replace the hoses as they are nearing end of life. Hooked up the heaters and added the air pumps to help with the water conditioning (aging). The setup now has the two barrels in the back holding r/o water, and the one in the front tap water. Also added float ball valves, check valve, automatic shut-off valve to the r/o unit to automate the refilling process.

water.jpg

It looks a bit chaotic right now since this has just quickly been put together to test for functionality. My goal is to be able to quickly disassemble the setup in the spare bathroom when I have guests coming over. When the tanks are empty, I can do this in less than 10 minutes.

[Jandiscus]

Thank you Jim! Adding fish will have to wait until all is ready. Probably after xmas. Starring at empty tanks is fun!

[jwcarlson]

It's good to see a fellow fish poop magnifier. Your tank looks great!

[LizStreithorst]

Jan, you might be able to sell fry here or if that fails Aquabid is always an option. Shipping isn't fun but it's really the only way.

[Discus Fever]

I heard that those invisible discus were really expensive for sure!!! I know about waiting to get the discus later, I am in the same boat. I am waiting to do a fishless cycle on my 75 gallon after January because we are taking a family cruise on January 27th and didn't want to get discus before the trip because I wouldn't trust anyone to take care of them for a week. I plan on buying 8 discus for that tank so it would be an expensive investment if someone screwed up taking care of them.

[Jandiscus]

Jan, you might be able to sell fry here or if that fails Aquabid is always an option. Shipping isn't fun but it's really the only way.

Hi Liz,

I won’t have time for breeding. My intent is to buy adult discus and keep them healthy and alive:-)

[Jandiscus]

November 1, 2023

I added the Manzanita wood. It is soaking and should be good to go in a couple of weeks or so. I have to say, while it is tempting to add fish early in the hobby, it is more relaxing to set everything up first, observe, make changes, test etc. I also added a second 800 W heater and am testing various INK BIRD controllers I still had. The temperature probe on at least 2 units is way off from the actual temperature. Using the calibration setting I had to adjust by 12 degrees F. I might buy a new one?

[Jandiscus]

I heard that those invisible discus were really expensive for sure!!! I know about waiting to get the discus later, I am in the same boat. I am waiting to do a fishless cycle on my 75 gallon after January because we are taking a family cruise on January 27th and didn't want to get discus before the trip because I wouldn't trust anyone to take care of them for a week. I plan on buying 8 discus for that tank so it would be an expensive investment if someone screwed up taking care of them.

Right on Scott! Soon I will pivot this thread from "me setting up a tank" to "me managing this hobby while dealing with the reality of prolonged and reoccurring travel. It is going to be massive :-)

[Bathi]

Wow..nice driftwood..
Waiting for the final view.

[Jandiscus]

A lot has happened since my last post. The tank is pretty much cycled and ready for fish. I was gone for the last 10 days and added >8ppm (test does not show results above that) to the tank to ensure that there is enough food for the bacteria available. Upon my return, NH3=0; NO2=0, NO3=5ppm. It also shows that the pothos plants are effective in removing NO3. Speaking of which, they have branched out new roots and are developing new foliage. That's the good news. The bad news is that they are covered with wooly aphids. I have no idea where they came from, since I have no other plants in my place. There is no vegetation around me either since I live in downtown Saint Louis on the 7th floor. Most likely the eggs were already present when I bought the plant at Home Depot. I understand it takes them 10 days to hatch. I tried to remove them as thoroughly as possible but already found another few the next day. This is a bit frustrating but oh well :-)

The second issue I am observing is the formation of dark grey algae on the manzanita wood. This wood comes from my previous tank that has been sitting idle and dry for the past 3 years. I scrubbed the wood clean before putting it into the new tank. The phosphate level is very low at 0.1 mg/L. I don't recall having this issue in the past.Algae.jpgroots.jpgpest.jpg

[Jandiscus]

I did quite a bit of work on the tank today. Changed out the entire water column. I took one on the manzanita wood pieces out to open up more space for my imaginary fish to swim :-). Also meticulously cleaned the wood to remove the algae. I decided to move all of the sand towards the back to have more of a bare bottom for ease of cleaning. My current thinking is to use just enough sand to cover the back of the tank to hide the plastic frame that would otherwise be visible. What bothers me even more than the frame is that some of the paint I used on the outside back, creeped between the glass pane and the frame. I thought I did a good job with the masking tape but apparently not. It is an eye sore, hence the sand to cover it up. I am open to any other ideas you might have to hide it without the sand.

I really like the idea of the sponge filter attached to the canister filter inlet. It keeps the canister much cleaner and once I have fish, will also avoid sucking in food. I had good results with that in the past.

Finally, I have been scrubbing the pothos plants to remove any remaining woolly aphids. and have cleaned any surroundings. I think (I hope) I got them all but in my previous experience with other house plants they are tough to eradicate, especially if you don't want to use pesticides, given that they are part of the fish's eco-system.tanksand.jpgtankpainting.jpgtankbranch.jpg