Tom has given you good advice. The only other thing I need to mention is that your tank is not yet cycled if your nitrate reading is 0. How are you planning to cycle the tank?
Sound advice! There have been too many horror stories over the years. Our sponsors are vetted for quality and service, but even if you choose buy from a different seller, definitely ask for opinions here first...
Welcome to the forum!! Here's a great thread for new and experienced discus keepers http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...TCH-THIS-VIDEO!
Tom has given you good advice. The only other thing I need to mention is that your tank is not yet cycled if your nitrate reading is 0. How are you planning to cycle the tank?
Mama Bear
Just got these guys from pingco 7FA383E3-231F-4BE2-ACAC-1BAFA46A6022.jpg
) My Experience with fishkeeping has been mainly cichlids since around 1990ish. Current 90 gallon purchased in 2009 kept Cichlids (Oscars and Parrots) my last Oscar passed about 6 months ago tank is now stocked as community tank with Angels,neons ect. .
2)I recently as of about 3 days ago purchased a tank setup with 6 5"-6" Discus and have been trying to crash course myself with information mainly on SimplyDiscus and some Youtube.
3) Tank is 110 gallon drilled Bowfront with 40 gallon sump, sump has 3 sections drains into filter media and sponge/Bio Balls and air stone /Return. Previous owner raised them from quarter dollar size
4) Bare bottom (BB) right now
5) I Have done 1 water change since purchasing and moving, water changes planned percentage and how often are yet to be determined I do plan on WC today .I do plan on aging water with heater and powerhead but not yet determined if I should use straight tap ,tap/RO or Seachem Equilibrium,Seachem Acid,Seachem Alk mix.
6)Currently sponge, and sump. Green Kiling maching UV sterilizer . 1 main heater 1 backup heater and Inkbird controller (on order) . Lighting is a LED Nicrew off amazon (also on on order ).
7)water parameters;
- temp 82
- tank ph 6.8 (TDS 315)
- Ph of the water straight out of your tap 7.8 (TDS 150)
-Currently have 40 gallons aged 60% RODI 40% Tap PH 7.6 (TDS 80) for after work water change
- ammonia reading 0
- nitrite reading 0
- nitrate reading 25
Municipal water from their website
Calcium ppm 2.191
Iron ppm 0.05
pH units 8.55
Sodium ppm 226
Total Hardness ppm 8.781
8) Purchased used setup with 6 5-6" Discus
9) Currently feeding beef heart frozen cubes 1 cube 2x daily.
Currently crash course researching what my safest ,best procedure, percentage, schedule and water parameters (Use tap, RODI/Tap mix or RODI Seachem buffers) need to be so I dont screw up
Last edited by franktx; 12-07-2022 at 04:15 PM.
So, what are the nitrate reading out of your tap water? The ph seems fine from the tap without RO water. After aging your water, take another measurement. As you can see from the rise in TDS and that amount of nitrates more WC's should be done. The high nitrates also can be from some die off of BB after you moved and reset up the tank again. I would go with a manufactured good food. These are grown out discus and really don't require messy beef heart which will make your water deplete sooner.
These are great questions. I would suggest you open a new thread n the beginners area. You’ll get more interest there and your tank will be the sole discussion. Pictures alway help. What I’m wondering is why is the tank ph at 6.8 and your tap at 7.8? Did you bring the water from the tank with you or is this after refilling it 3 days ago?
Last edited by franktx; 12-08-2022 at 12:56 PM.
I would try aged tap water first.
After aging my tap water the PH actually went up from 7.8 to 8.3
Your tap should be fine. Please buy an API test kit. Those strips you're using are notoriously unreliable. You should change enough water to keep the pH of the tank and the aged water the same. If you do that your the nitrate reading in the tank will be between 5 and 10 where it belongs.
Best of luck with your new project with the king of the aquarium.
Mama Bear
Tap shouldn’t go up should go down.
It can do either depending on whether the water comes from a well or from a reservoir. Well water has too much CO2 that needs to be gassed off, surface water often has too much O2. Well water will go up after aging. Surface water will go down. At least my understanding of it. Remember, he's using test strips not the API test.
Mama Bear