more newbie prep questions

[clusty]

Hey,

My Discus will be arriving in about 2 months, and I am trying to learn everything i can so they grow into nice round plump fish.
Question of the day is water change schedule:
My current tank is 80 gallons with some minimal fish and a fair share of plants. I know this is suboptimal.

Question is: is there some indication (recipe) as to when to change water for Discus ?

So far after 2 weeks my nitrate is still 0, but I change about 30% nevertheless when I do my hosing.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Your water routine will depend on the size of your new arrivals and how many.

How heavily planted is your tank? Are you using tap water? What are your water parameters (TDS, PH, Kh, Gh)?

[clusty]

Planning on getting 9 3in discus.

The tank is not an unruly jungle, but fairly full of plants.
I will be using tap water.
To my knowledge the params are:
PH: around 7.6
Kh, Gh around 9
I never measured TDS so far. Is there a way to measure it without the electronic gizmo ?

[DiscusLoverJeff]

The problem with 3" discus in a planted tank is you will need more frequent water changes to help them grow and stay healthy. The down side with the plants is, if you do a 50% or more daily, you will keep taking out the nutrients that the plants require.

Remember 3" discus have a lot of growing left to do. And, a clean tank is necessary. You can do it with what you have but bare bottom would be best and you can't do that in a planted tank.

The TDS meters are in-expensive.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tds-3-handheld-tds-meter-hm-digital.html?gclid=CILp8Zef1bkCFc4-MgodviYAdg

[clusty]

The problem with 3" discus in a planted tank is you will need more frequent water changes to help them grow and stay healthy. The down side with the plants is, if you do a 50% or more daily, you will keep taking out the nutrients that the plants require.

Remember 3" discus have a lot of growing left to do. And, a clean tank is necessary. You can do it with what you have but bare bottom would be best and you can't do that in a planted tank.

The TDS meters are in-expensive.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tds-3-handheld-tds-meter-hm-digital.html?gclid=CILp8Zef1bkCFc4-MgodviYAdg

So you suggest I abandon my plan?
There is not a chance I can get another aquarium for baby discus-es, and the grown up ones are crazy expensive.
Any thing I can do to grow them given my constraints ? (dose plant food with every water change).

[alexsano]

^ i agree with jeff.

either you buy another tank or remove your plants.

[strawberryblonde]

To give juvie discus the best chance at growing well and not getting sick, consider making a few changes to the tank.

You don't have to throw away all your plants. Just buy a rubbermaid tote for the extras (we'll get to those in a few), then take 3-4 of your favorite easy going plants and put them into either clay pots, or "squishy pots".

To make a squishy pot, go buy a pair of pantyhose... not super cheap, but not the expensive ones either. Now cut off the leg, then fill the toe of one leg with gravel. Nestle a plant tab into the gravel, then add one plant. Now use a rubberband and wrap it around the top of the gravel at the base of the plant. Next, pull the rest of the leg of the pantyhose down over the gravel and tie it in a knot at the bottom of the squishy pot. Once you've done that, cut off the excess material and you have a self contained, easy to move around, never gets messy squishy pot!

The other thing you'll want is some white paint.

When you're ready to make your changes, put your current fish into a bucket of tank water and set them in a quiet place. Now drain the tank and remove the gravel. Next, scrub the tank well, then turn it on its side and paint the bottom of the tank with the white paint.

When it's dry, refill the tank with FRESH water, and add your plant pots, heater and filters. Now add your fish and you are good to go! The pots will be easy to move around while you're cleaning, but they'll still add some nice decor to the tank.

For the rest of the plants, put the gravel that you removed from your tank into the rubbermaid tote, bury two plants tabs in the gravel, then add the plants, fill with water and add a small heater and air stone. Be sure to place the tote where it will get enough light for the plants to thrive. Add fertilizer once a week and change about 30% of the water once a month.

Your 3" discus will reach 6" in about 6 months and at that point you can add a thin layer of sand, some driftwood and the rest of the plants to the tank. Just always be sure to leave a LARGE area of the substrate open and unplanted so that your discus can have a place to graze for food. They are bottom feeders in that they like to hunt for food on the sand..so they need that space.

[clusty]

I have a hunch my dwarf baby tears and a few other "carpets" won't survive this... :(

[strawberryblonde]

Awwww, I know how hard it is to grow a nice carpet!

I can't imagine how painful it will be to have to dig it up, but I can tell you that I had a nice little carpet of dwarf chain swords when I got my new discus and within a week it was a mess because of all the water changes and siphoning. On top of that, my darned discus kept uprooting it when they went searching for food. I ended up pulling the few remaining bits out of the tank by the end of the third week...and cried just a little bit.

Try scooping it out along with a nice spoonful of substrate, maybe you can preserve some of it that way.

[seashell_midwest]

I am a newbie too. If you hae extra space look at craiglist, you will easily get cheap tanks compared to the expense involved in getting the live stocks.

Regarding TDS meter: http://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-EZ-Measurement-Resolution/dp/B002C0A7ZY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379777712&sr=8-1&keywords=tds this seems to work fine for me. I don't know whether it's accurate. but gives sensable and reliable number everytime.