New in the forum and new to discus world

[Gaber]

Hello everyone I'm Gaber from Egypt and this is my 1st post here in this great forum,
i am also new to discus world, i have a 900L or 238G tank with the size of 300cm x 50cm x 60cm (hight)
with two Ehiem heater 300w, one Ehiem external filter professional3 1200XL which is 1200 liter/hour, Ming external filter -china made cheap quality- 2400 liter/hour and two sponge filters plugged with air motor 1000 liter/hour
70 kilos of driftwood around 9 pieces
the bottom is black sand over old small stones gravel
the background is black
The PH level using Sera kit is between 6 & 7 looks like 6.4 for me -the tap water in egypt is in the PH range of 7-

i used to run american cichlid community in this tank for a year and then decided to move on to discus after reading and studying a lot about discus -your forum played a great role here in teaching me a lot- after selling the american cichlid in the tank i did a 70% water change and added the 2400 filter and the spongue filters specially for the discus cause i knew how sensitive they are and how they need good filtration and also good airing

i did a lot of cleaning and wc for 3 weeks and added water conditioner for reducing the stress before i got my 1st juveniles i got a group of 20 juveniles with the size of 2" -i will be posting some photos soon as they didn't adapt to the tank yet-
they have tank mates 10 siamese algae eaters, 3 albino bristlenose pleco 2 inch long

the temp in the tank now is 29c 84.2f
the tank got some plants but not heavily planted

i toke my time in adding them to the tank even more than i used to do with american cichlid i spent like 2 hours so they get the same temperature and get slowly introduced to the tank
right now they in the tank for 3 days and they are still so scared i tried to feed them once a little bit of Tropical D-ALLIO PLUS they didnt eat and the mates ate the food
i am a bit worried they are all hiding in the wood and i am worried they dont look happy
i measured the ammonia today using Sera kit and it was more light than the range of 0.5 maybe its 0.3 or so -the kit says 0.5 in a water of the PH 7 is not harmful-

i wanna know if there anything i am doing wrong or i need to do something to help them ease and reduce the stress to them to feel better

[Poco]

Welcome to Simply!

Ammonia is harmful no matter what your pH. I guess your tank is not cycled. You need to do daily large water changes to keep ammonia in check. You can also keep the tank lights out or dim to let them settle in the new surroundings.

[Gaber]

Thank you so much for your reply,
i didnt know that its harmful in any precent i thought that a specific amount it becomes harmful,
i will do daily water change but maybe not in large amounts because of the weather is cold -sure not compared to many other countries but its still cold here-
i wanna also ask about the anti ammonia products i saw once in the store cant i use that to get the ammonia level to zero?

i just wanna do anything for not to get the discus harmed or bothered specially in them 1st days in the tank

[Poco]

You can use Seachem Prime or Safe it also removes chlorine from water. Best option will be water changes. You can get water barrels to age water with some air and heater.

May I suggest read the stickies in the begginers section.

[Gaber]

i will check on the stickies and read them now,
i just wanted mainly to make sure that the filtration i am using and the heaters are good enough for the tank and the problem isnt that i dont have enough filtration
thank you so much for your patience and helping

[Poco]

Your filteration is fine. As long as you can maintain the temprature around 29 you are good.

[discuspaul]

Welcome to simply and good luck with your discus tank.
Once you do away with any traces of ammonia, and are able to maintain a 'zero' presence of any toxicity, then all I can suggest is you keep an eye on those 10 algae eaters. As they get older, fatter and lazier, some might tend to take a liking to those juvie discus' slime coats as part of their diet - it can happen occasionally.

[Gaber]

i am already doing water change now taking off 250 liters and will do that everyday for the comming two weeks maybe that will help me maintain a zero presence of ammonia
for the siamese algae eaters i did alot of research before i got them everyone said that its fine with discus and wont touch its slime :(((
i did alot of research on every fish i am planing to put with the discus for the main reason of not bothering the discus or try to eat its slime and this is why i got bristlenose pleco and not any other kind of plecos
and thats also why i got siamese cause all the reading online said they will not attack the slime
will keep an eye on that
but for now wc wc wc
thank you guys you are so helpful

[discuspaul]

Well, the research you did on suitable tankmates may not have been entirely complete, as I have actually had 2 separate instances of siamese algae eaters attempting, and succeeding, in attaching themselves to my discus to get at the slime coat, and I know of a few other discus-keepers who have had that same experience too.

I have also had the same thing happen with Otos too (Otocinclus)

So as I said, keep an eye on them - it doesn't happen that often, but it can happen.

[Gaber]

thank you so much for letting me know then i will keep an eye on them, for the past days they been busy cleaning the driftwood and the glass but will keep watching -they are in the tank to help create a better home for the discus not to harm them-
thank you once more :)

[navydiscus]

Letting your water sit in a 55 gallon barrel with a heater and air stone with the right amount of prime is also key. That way you can maintain temperature, lower your ammonia, and chlorines as well. Good luck. Read about bare bottom tanks as well. It has changed my ideas completely on my new set up.

[Gaber]

thank you so much i will buy a barrel -at least see how can i get that here in Cairo its not as easy to buy supplies here than in the states- i wanna ask now actually about the pre filter sponge is it that important?
its gonna be so much work for me cause i have w filters which is 3 filters intakes to clean these daily witht he wc will be so much work
doing the wc for a 900l tank aint easy and so much work

[SMB2]

If you can get two 33 gal Rubbermaid (or equivalent) trash cans you will have the volume you need and fairly "small" space requirements. But then you need two heaters and air-stones!

[Gaber]

i just found out a way to get 250 liters barrel will get that tomorrow and work on aging
how long you usually age your water? 24 hours or more?

[Poco]

24 hrs

[navydiscus]

+1 just remember to at least stick your fingers in the barrel and make sure the temp is about the same as the tank. That is if you don't have a thermometer to throw in there.