Last things needed before I get discus? Pre-filter sponge, aged water, PH, Nitrates?

[Fish from Philly]

I've had aquarium for about 18 months now and recently upgraded tank size to try the ultimate: keep a planted discus tank! ;) After a few months of working my aquascape, I'm very close to being ready to add my first discus. A well reputed lfs has some pretty mature wild caught and since I've gotten friendly with manager, is willing to sell me entire school of 7 for under $300. Since I live in Philly, I plan to make a trip to Hans and hand pick the next batch after "get the hang of it." Before I do it, wanted to ask your opinions on the following:

1. I think my nitrates are still a bit high for discus so I wanted to do a few water changes this week and get nitrates down to 5 or so (like it comes out of the tap). It is currently at about 20. Been a few months since changing filter so I will do that tonight which will likely help.
2. I plan to get my water tested for hardness. If it is very hard, I am willing to purchase RO system (see some on CL every once in a while). I am quite sure it is because I have white streaks if I don't wipe it clean.
3. I don't have a pre-filter sponge but have read the sticky and plan to add the filter I had for a 20 gallon tank since it isn't deep like the FX5s and can skim top.
4. How important is it to age water? I used to add 5 gallon buckets at a time just using dechlorinator and moving it around a bit. Now I add the dechlorinator right to the tank and fill it slowly with a water changer direct from sink. In order to maintain 150 gallon, I read to get a 55 gallon food drum and sanitize it then put heater and aerator. This would be challenging to find room for but I would figure it out if it is important.
5. How important is it to have an accurate PH reader for discus? I currently use the API test kit

My tank:
150 gallon, 72" X 30" X 18", LED from BuildMyLED, sand with some eco complete in heavily planted areas, two (2) FX5 for filtration, no CO2
PH about 6.8 and nitrates about 20
Planted with low to mid light plants - various crypts, vals, anubia, rotala echinodorus tenellus, tiger lotus, heteranthera zosterifolia
Fish - 25 rummynose, 12 emperor, 8 cardinal, 12 corey sterbai, BN pleco, royal farowella, pair of GBR, snails, amano and cherry shrimp,

[GrayLadyPat]

Just a recommendation....

If you are going to visit Hans in a while anyways, call him first. He may have some suggestions. Also, (my opinion) If you're going to buy fish from him later anyways, I would start with them, because wild-caughts are more "finicky" about water parameters than tank raised fish will be. There are some good folks here who are way more experienced than I, so keep reading.

If it were me, I'd rather have the healthy, beautiful adults (along with the support) from Hans than risk adding something to the tank from a LFS. Even though your LFS is "well reputed" he will have no control over the supplier, and therefore there may be issues that you aren't aware of. Even if there aren't, and you successfully keep the ones from your LFS, if you were to add more fish from Hans (or anyone else, for that matter) it might be an issue down the road.

I wish you the best!

[troysdiiscus]

Hey Philly, couple of things that jump out to me...
* you say you are going to have plants, Heavy planted tanks need a decent amount of nitrates to flourish. My tank (lightly planted) nitrates hand around at 5 to 10 ppm.
* aging water depends, test your tap and age water for 24 hours with circulation and see if there is a sudden swing in ph, it also helps in degassing, no micro bubbles but you can do it from the tap but really to see if ph swings....
* using api test kit is ok but using something like prime etc will most likely give you a false positive, sea chem ammonia test kit test for N3 and N4 ammonia, the toxic and non toxic ammonia.
* RO system only if your water is trash or you want to breed, if not you should be fine.
* Use a prefilter I have an FX5 and I use the floss filters for HOB and put around the intake and man it gets dirty quickly, so every WC I pull it off and clean it.
* Go with adults at 4.5 to 5.5 inch and up nothing smaller in that size tank.
* Get them from Hans since you are that close, you will NOT be dissapointed and he will stir you in the right direction!!!!!!!!!!!! No need to go to LFS....
Good luck and enjoy...

[Fish from Philly]

If you are going to visit Hans in a while anyways, call him first. He may have some suggestions. Also, (my opinion) If you're going to buy fish from him later anyways, I would start with them, because wild-caughts are more "finicky" about water parameters than tank raised fish will be. There are some good folks here who are way more experienced than I, so keep reading.

I wish you the best!

I read similar posts on another forum and will likely not purchase these from local lfs - mainly because I'll never get more like the 7 and also because they are wild. Hans told me to call him before the visit and I will certainly respect that.

[Fish from Philly]

Hey Philly, couple of things that jump out to me...
* you say you are going to have plants, Heavy planted tanks need a decent amount of nitrates to flourish. My tank (lightly planted) nitrates hand around at 5 to 10 ppm.
* aging water depends, test your tap and age water for 24 hours with circulation and see if there is a sudden swing in ph, it also helps in degassing, no micro bubbles but you can do it from the tap but really to see if ph swings....
* using api test kit is ok but using something like prime etc will most likely give you a false positive, sea chem ammonia test kit test for N3 and N4 ammonia, the toxic and non toxic ammonia.
* RO system only if your water is trash or you want to breed, if not you should be fine.
* Use a prefilter I have an FX5 and I use the floss filters for HOB and put around the intake and man it gets dirty quickly, so every WC I pull it off and clean it.
* Go with adults at 4.5 to 5.5 inch and up nothing smaller in that size tank.
* Get them from Hans since you are that close, you will NOT be dissapointed and he will stir you in the right direction!!!!!!!!!!!! No need to go to LFS....
Good luck and enjoy...

I'm going to age water in a 5 gallon after conditioning and wait 24 hours to test and compare to the neutral water that comes out of tap and to the "normal" water in the aquarium right before next water change to understand the variances.

Thanks for tips!

[abuckley75]

I would add the conditioner directly to the tank right before filling it.


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[Fish from Philly]

FYI - I ended up going to Hans. Fish are amazing. I posted updates in another thread:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?106426-Tips-on-creating-depth-for-150-gallon-tank/page2

Thanks for advice!