Thinking about changing tank over

[fearless]

I have a 55 gallon tank that is currently Africans and when I move out ( within the next 4 months) it will be left with my parents. My dad wanted me to have discus when I set it up 5 years ago. He had them for a while when I was growing up.
So my 3 questions are 1. How is Chicago water for discus? 2. does anything need to be done to it? 3. How much work would need to the be done to the tank to make dicus happy? Right now it's rock work w/ a could silk plants and gravel bottom and has a Hot Magnum.

[korbi_doc]

:D Fearless, there are members here who can answer better than I, but meantime here goes: Chicago water is from what I remember from other members very good for discus right from the tap. You can IM RandalB for surety on that. The Hot magnum is a terrificly good filter unit & polishes the water really well. You could add 1 or 2 sponge filters as well. As to the gravel substrate, most will tell you it's better to have bare bottom (easier to clean, gravel holds too much mulch) to help keep the water as pristine as possible for these wonderful but demanding fish. The silk plants & rockwork are fine, & you might like driftwood if you want more decoration in the tank.

My 55g tank is BB, has an Aquaclear 500, 2 sponge filters, a large & a smaller one, a large piece of driftwood with 2 attached plants, an amazon sword, (also real) & heater. & yes, I have lately decided that the plastic plants I have in other tanks are just fine, look real & require little care, the amazon swords need pruning & re potting etc, JME, Dottie :fish:

[Cosmo]

Nice tank Dottie :)

I live in Chicago too, and yes, Chicago water is good right out of the tap. Since I'm told (by RandalB) that certain substations add chloramines while others don't, wouldn't hurt to check yours first or always use something like Prime to play safe :) Age it too :)

Jim