rookie looking for some water change and heater help

[onin2]

hi fellow fish keepers, new to the site and looking for a little help. been keeping freshwater fish for 35 yrs so i am pretty experienced but this is my first shot at my discus dream. set up a 125 planted about 3 months ago, rose swords,melon swords, ruffle swords flourite gravel,nice piece of driftwood ,2 fluval 304 filters. put in 3 cory cats and let it go. tank broke in great and 3 weeks ago i put in 7 discus, everything is going great, fish are beautiful. i am happier than a pig in it. i am doing 50 percent water changes every 4 days. but i see in the forum that some people do alot more. i am thinking of going to 50 percent changes every other day or even every day, i live in queens ny and we have great water 6.8 and pure out of the tap. will more water changes be beneficial? i am also holding 83 degrees with 300 watts at present, i plan to add another 300 watts for the winter. is 600 watts enough to hold 83 in a 125 gallon? also can someone tell me if one of the signs of discus addiction is eyeing your non discus tanks and wondering who you can trade the present occupants to and how many discus you can fit in them, cause if it is i may have a problem. love the site jim from queens

[fishman]

jim, i'm glad to see you got the discus bug like me and many others on here. you said you've had the discus in there 3 weeks, and they are doing great, then i wouldn't change much of what your doing. many people do more water changes when they are breeding their fish. you could up it a little, but if the fish are doing good, i would leave it as is. you are very blessed with you water, i wish i had water that good, lol. the tank temperature is good, you are wondering about upping the wattage in the winter, as long as the room the tank is in stays the same temperature, then you probably can get by with what you have now. i'd love to see a picture of the tank. good luck with your discus.

HTH

[ValorG]

hello fellow discus lover from ny. ur water change schedule is fine in keeping healthy discus.

[onin2]

thanks for your opinions guys valorg i saw your arrowana tank in another thread , beautiful, both the fish and the tank. how many watts of heat do you have on it im trying to figure out how much i need for mine. fishman unfortunatly i live in a co-op apartment i dont control the heat. heat pretty much goes off at midnight and comes back on at five, so about 4 am it drops to the high 60's or low 70's. i'm thinking i may need to up the watts of heat to deal with this. any thoughts . yea fishman i live i new york city and we are blessed with great water i go straight from the tap to the tank and the fish love it. what some guys go thru just to do a water change would drive me nuts. thanks again guys jim from queens

[ValorG]

thanks for your opinions guys valorg i saw your arrowana tank in another thread , beautiful, both the fish and the tank. how many watts of heat do you have on it im trying to figure out how much i need for mine. fishman unfortunatly i live in a co-op apartment i dont control the heat. heat pretty much goes off at midnight and comes back on at five, so about 4 am it drops to the high 60's or low 70's. i'm thinking i may need to up the watts of heat to deal with this. any thoughts . yea fishman i live i new york city and we are blessed with great water i go straight from the tap to the tank and the fish love it. what some guys go thru just to do a water change would drive me nuts. thanks again guys jim from queens
thanks for the compliment, well mine is actually a 200watt for a 75. Yes i know its low but its been fine for few months now. umm basically u should have 3-5 watts per gallon on ur heater. so id be better off with a 250 in my 75.