amount of water changes with low tech planted discus tank

[matt2426]

was just curious if you guys do less water changes with planted discus tanks i know discus love fresh water but plants like the opposite. I currently am still doing daily 40 perfect water changes on my planted tank but have plant deficenties some plants do ok but its not perfect i use daily dry ferts was wondering if i should cut down the water changes and see if that helps never knew it was so hard getting the right balance with a low tech planted tank ive played with the lights on how long to keep them on and what not just trying to find out what works i keep anubiaus java fern and crypts its so weird because some patches of java fern does great and others die off same with the anubiaus but would appreciate any feed back thanks alot and happy holidays!

[Phil4Discus]

I have two planted discus tanks, one that has been established for awhile and has lushes amazon swords, anubias, and java ferns (some of the easiest plants to grow) and the discus are doing great though I do have to keep my swords a bit thin to provide enough swimming room. Another I'm trying to develop a carpeted dwarf sag tank because I enjoy a challenge. I'm seeing the dwarf sag starting to shoot out and spread, but I'm dealing with a quite a bit of that hair algae. Discus for the most part are fine, though I did just have a discus with some strange whirling behavior that I ultimately decided to cull. As for water changes, I still do 40-80% daily depending on if I have time to get an additional change in.

[danotaylor]

Matt I am relatively new to discus but have been a hobbyist consistently for 37 yrs. I researched on SD and ask lots of questions for months before I bought my fish. What I learned is that if you want to minimize water changes without negatively affecting the growth and condition of your discus you need to buy adult fish, like 5" plus. They are past the rapid growth phase and are more tolerant of higher nitrates and nutrient levels. Having said that, I believe they still prefer clean water.

You didn't tell us much about your fish and set up except that you use dry ferts. CO2 injection and the use of root tab ferts would certainly boost your plant growth and condition whilst keeping more discus friendly TDS levels. Achieving the balance essential to healthy fish and plants is very difficult if you're trying to grow out juveniles.

The plants you have chosen are some of the more temp tolerant varieties. What type of lighting and schedule do you use?

Cheers mate.
Danny

[Jack L]

i do WC for the fish, the plants are secondary. i've not seen much difference in WC and plants. i do think when i used the harder tap water that the plants picked up. but other than that, no.

i messed with liquid ferts, root tabs, EI dosing, etc. the only think i saw from that was root tabs helped the sword some, but then my water nitrates went really high. so now i don't add any ferts and the plants are still growing.

[matt2426]

kinda what im figuring out that the ferts really haven't done much. still get plants that die off regarless ill just have to live with it. think in the end my water is just not the greatest for plants with being such a high ph think ill just focus on what my discus need and hopefully the plants will still do ok thanks

[matt2426]

I have two planted discus tanks, one that has been established for awhile and has lushes amazon swords, anubias, and java ferns (some of the easiest plants to grow) and the discus are doing great though I do have to keep my swords a bit thin to provide enough swimming room. Another I'm trying to develop a carpeted dwarf sag tank because I enjoy a challenge. I'm seeing the dwarf sag starting to shoot out and spread, but I'm dealing with a quite a bit of that hair algae. Discus for the most part are fine, though I did just have a discus with some strange whirling behavior that I ultimately decided to cull. As for water changes, I still do 40-80% daily depending on if I have time to get an additional change in.


ok thanks for the reply so you still do daily water changes think my water just isn't the best for plants is what it comes down to i have a high ph maybe this is my problem just never had much success with plants been trying for 6 months or so with this tank and some plants do ok while others just die

[matt2426]

Matt I am relatively new to discus but have been a hobbyist consistently for 37 yrs. I researched on SD and ask lots of questions for months before I bought my fish. What I learned is that if you want to minimize water changes without negatively affecting the growth and condition of your discus you need to buy adult fish, like 5" plus. They are past the rapid growth phase and are more tolerant of higher nitrates and nutrient levels. Having said that, I believe they still prefer clean water.

You didn't tell us much about your fish and set up except that you use dry ferts. CO2 injection and the use of root tab ferts would certainly boost your plant growth and condition whilst keeping more discus friendly TDS levels. Achieving the balance essential to healthy fish and plants is very difficult if you're trying to grow out juveniles.

The plants you have chosen are some of the more temp tolerant varieties. What type of lighting and schedule do you use?

Cheers mate.
Danny


i have a 125 gallon tank 6 adult discus there all in the 6 inch range i do use root tabs for my crypts but the crypts are really not doing good lighting i use aquactic life leds lights have on full strength for 6 hours and the rest of the time colormode heres a link to the lights anyway thanks for the reply https://www.aquaticlife.com/light-fixtures-accessories/edge-led-light-fixtures/aquatic-life-edge-led-light-fixture.html

[Filip]

Stay with the same amount of WCs for the sake of discus , but double the ferts dose and extend light strength / photoperiod for the sake of the plants in the same time .
Although high PH and KH can inhibit plants nutrient uptake to some extent they are not detrimental for good plant growth.

[Phil4Discus]

ok thanks for the reply so you still do daily water changes think my water just isn't the best for plants is what it comes down to i have a high ph maybe this is my problem just never had much success with plants been trying for 6 months or so with this tank and some plants do ok while others just die

I too have higher pH from the tap (8.2), though I've seen others have higher. I use driftwood in both my planted tanks to try and help lower pH with the tannins that are released. In my 125 gallon, I also use peat in the canister filter as another "natural" way to lower pH. In my 75 gallon, I have a couple tanninaquatics.com products lying all over the substrate. This stains the water, but with frequent water changes it's not that dark biotope water anymore. Both of my tanks sit at 7.2 pH right now and plants are doing well and propagating.

[matt2426]

i think i just have to give it time i just changed the light settings over the last few weeks and ive noticed alot more plant growth and not as much yellowing in the plants especially this last week i think i just needed more light i had my lights set on color mode for 10 hours a day and now switched to regular leds for 7 hours a day and color mode for 3 hours but have been getting alot of algae now maybe now i need to cut down on the ferts i have to find the right balance but i think im on the right track anyway looks like i just have to test to see what works. think the plants were dying due to not enough light

[matt2426]

I too have higher pH from the tap (8.2), though I've seen others have higher. I use driftwood in both my planted tanks to try and help lower pH with the tannins that are released. In my 125 gallon, I also use peat in the canister filter as another "natural" way to lower pH. In my 75 gallon, I have a couple tanninaquatics.com products lying all over the substrate. This stains the water, but with frequent water changes it's not that dark biotope water anymore. Both of my tanks sit at 7.2 pH right now and plants are doing well and propagating.

thanks for the reply phil the plants are looking alot healthier since im using the higher light settings i also have alot of driftwood in my tank but really don't feel to comfortable with playing with the ph levels maybe ill research it a little more about using peat but im going to see if this higher light may of solved my issue

[Jack L]

my tap water is high pH, plants are doing fine.
the only time i really saw the plants care about the water was when i was using softened water, they started dying off

too much light seemed to make algae grow, oh and liquid ferts were REALLY good at making algae grow.

i've recently added more light bars(so the Discus were more visible), but I'm wondering how the plants will react to it. to early to tell.

i've found its more trial and error than anything, just keep notes, and make a change a month a time.

burn time, and intensity and RGB values

[matt2426]

my tap water is high pH, plants are doing fine.
the only time i really saw the plants care about the water was when i was using softened water, they started dying off

too much light seemed to make algae grow, oh and liquid ferts were REALLY good at making algae grow.

i've recently added more light bars(so the Discus were more visible), but I'm wondering how the plants will react to it. to early to tell.

i've found its more trial and error than anything, just keep notes, and make a change a month a time.

burn time, and intensity and RGB values


Ya Jack i completely agree its trial and error i use dry ferts and once i made the light brighter combined with the ferts i started noticing more algae maybe now i need to cut down on the ferts i have to hit the right balance between the two but i did find out i did for sure need more light its making a big difference with plant growth and overall health of the plants