Order placed... now the wait begins

[salth20]

Hello to all. Reletive newb here. Made a few posts in other areas, including an intro early on. Been reading a lot, and waiting for the tank to do it's thing. A fishless cycle, the ecoutrement of testing, fiddling, piddling. Had a little trouble early on with getting the PH down, the KH down, the Nitrates down. But, all is well, even my basic DIY coil denitrator seems to be doing it's thing, with nitrates down from am initial 25ppm to a measley 10ppm today. PH is 7, KH is nil, GH is 100ppm, ammonia 0, nitirite 0. I put in 4 Julli cories, and a Bristlenose late last week. The kids are well, and the tank appears to be very stable with lives in it. So,today, I pulled the trigger and ordered 4 fish from a breeder. 1 each of Leopardskin, Red Turquoise, Striped Butterfly, and Whiteface Red Melon. All this time waiting for the tank to cycle was easy. Now I'm like a kid at Christmas. The fish will be here next Tuesday the 18th.
Thanks to those who have posted in the past, sharing knowledge for those of us interested. Thanks to scolley for having pictures and narrative of what has to be one of the highest tech tanks in the world, and giving everyone something to shoot for. Thanks to Rock for the discussion on denitrators. And to Amber, for being the first to reply and welcome a stranger. It is good to be here. :D
Carr

[happygirl65]

This will be the longest week of your life....lol. Congratulations!

[Don Trinko]

You do not want the KH down, It will lead to ph swings that are hard on the Discus. ( and could kill them) You do not need the PH down either. Stable ph is more important. Tank raised discus can take ph over 8. Most tap water is fine. ( removing clorine or cloramines of course) Don T.

[judy]

Let me second that: your Kh should be at least four, or you will find your ph dropping like a stone and causing a Ph crash that will kill your fish.
How did you manage a zero Kh???

[RockHound]

Have to agree with those above.
Any time I had kh under 4.5
PH was subject to crashing.

Kh 5 to 6 would be far more stable.

What is the kh of your tap water?

[salth20]

Thanks for the replies. The water here is very hard, well over 8.0PH, with KH at 200+ppm. The water company gets the water from the Mississippi river. In addition to adding the usual chloramines, they add more buffers, because the chloramine is more stable (as I am told) with high PH and lots of buffering. As if there isn't enough already, considering the Miss cuts through limestone on its journey. So, in working with the breeder, I have been replacing large amounts of the tap used to cycle the tank with RO, and ran a water softener pillow.
Perhaps the statement requires some clarification. The KH kit has a 50ppm range for each drop. The first drop that hit did not change color, indicting a 0 to 50ppm on KH. The breeder indicates that this is fine, and in future, to keep it at this level with additions of a buffer to the RO water used for changes. I got info from the breeder, and this link.. http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html
I know that a low KH can cause swings in PH, due to lack of buffers. I'm watching it VERY closely,(couple times a day) and will be buffering the RO used for changes to keep it stable. Increasing the KH will be easy at this point when needed, vs. stress on the fish when they arrive from being in water polluted from shipping, and the low PH the breeder has his tanks at. I can do it gradually, with daily changes.
One advantage I have is the wet/dry. I'm running a large air pump with two outlets. Both airlines run to the area under the trickle column. With a body of water under the air tubes in the sump, and only a small vent in the drip plate itself, the air has basically no where to go except in the water and to feed the bacteria on the Dupla balls. This should help keep the PH up.
I appreciate the advice, and agree. But, until the kids are here, and settled in, I'm attempting, as closely as possible, to match the breeders water parameters. Then, I can slowly adjust what will work for this tank.
Thanks,
Carr

[White Worm]

Your tap water is fine for keeping discus. After you get them, start bringing your water to the same parameters as your tap and then you wont have to worry about the rest unless you plan to breed. My water is similar @ pH8, kH9-11 and gH9-11. I have been keeping them in this water for years now and they do just fine. Just make sure you use a water conditioner like prime for the chlorine and chloramines.

[salth20]

Well folks, all went well. The fish arrived on time Tuesday AM, and all are alive. One of the kids is huge, 3.5 inches maybe a hair more. I acclimated them as the breeder instructed, put them in the tank, and left the lights off for several hours. I fed before going to work (second shift) and checked again when I got home. All are well this AM, but I'm certain will need some time to adjust to the new tank and routine. I hope it's soon. The BN got upset and wiggled his way under a rock, getting stuck. The cories are very busy, they haven't stopped for a sec since the kids hit the tank. And the discus are basically huddled together, hanging out near the bottom, in a group. I did my usual WC this AM, and added Discus Trace. PH7, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate, less than 10ppm, KH 50ppm or less (no color change with one drop). After things settle a little, I'll take some pictures and get them up.

[Brian Mc]

Well folks, all went well. The fish arrived on time Tuesday AM, and all are alive. One of the kids is huge, 3.5 inches maybe a hair more. I acclimated them as the breeder instructed, put them in the tank, and left the lights off for several hours. I fed before going to work (second shift) and checked again when I got home. All are well this AM, but I'm certain will need some time to adjust to the new tank and routine. I hope it's soon. The BN got upset and wiggled his way under a rock, getting stuck. The cories are very busy, they haven't stopped for a sec since the kids hit the tank. And the discus are basically huddled together, hanging out near the bottom, in a group. I did my usual WC this AM, and added Discus Trace. PH7, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate, less than 10ppm, KH 50ppm or less (no color change with one drop). After things settle a little, I'll take some pictures and get them up.
Congrats and good luck, it is always exciting to get new fish.

[happygirl65]

Sigh of releive eh? Congratulations! :)

[Apistomaster]

All the advice about keeping your KH somewhere between 4 and 6 has been very good advice.
I would not fight against a higher value unless I was trying to breed discus or other soft water fish.

Working with extremely soft water with KH of less than 4 or less than 50 TDS is best left until you have more experience. Bad things can happen very quickly when you are lacking sufficient buffering capacity.

[salth20]

apisto, I agree. I am new to discus far from new to fishkeeping. The tank is now 7 weeks into it's life. PH is holding very steady at 7.0, KH is still at 50ppm (one drop ) 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, no color change on nitrate test. I think between the trickle filter and it's ability to saturate the water with oxygen, and the DIY denitrator, my PH should remain very stable. As fast as it's made, the nitrate ( and this is where I'm fuzzy) is either being consumed by the oxygen deprived bacteria, or being changed from one form to another (nitrate to nitric acid back to nitrate or nitrite... I'm still studying the conversion process.. I do know that nitric acid has a very short life in biological systems before changing states from what I have read). Anyhoo, I'm happy, the kids are happy, and all is well. I'm enjoying this aspect of the hobby as much as I enjoyed reef keeping, plus I feel a little more "green" by obtaining tank bred specimens, rather than depleting nature.

[digthemlows]

pics!!!!:)

[Apistomaster]

Wet/Dry filters are my personal first choice of filters for discus tanks. They always ensure good gas exchange and the babbling brook effect of the trickle through the tower allows for O2 to closely approach the saturation level at any given temperature better than other filters and maintenance requirements are low.