Stocking a 90 Gal Planted Discus Tank

[Alistriwen]

I am finally just about ready to get some discus for my 90 gal that I was finally able to set up yesterday. I put in the rockwork and the driftwood and will be getting the plants in soon. The tanks is going to be filtered by an ac 70which I have been maturing in another tank for a month and a half as well as a penguin biowheel 300 and probably a large fluval power head filter that I ended up with somehow. I do 30 - 35% weekly changes on all 26 of my tanks. With this in mind, I was wondering how many discus you think I could keep in the tank? Id like to have as many as possible without getting myself into daily water changes.

I was also hoping to find some good tankmates for my discus. I was thinking guppies, Rosy barbs, albino bn plecos and perhaps one or two other species you all could suggest? Ideally I'd like something smaller because the idea is that the smaller fish will not be able to eat the large pellets I have for the discus and thus will not outcompete them for food.

Looking forward to your responses!

[digthemlows]

In my opinion that's not enough filtration. Discus don't like really strong currents so the power head wouldn't be good for much (are you hooking it to the bio wheel?). So an AC70 on a 90 isn't going to give you much bio filtration. Add an AC110 and you'd be doing well...........If you get adults you could get away with the lesser water changes, but with that filter I would get 4-5 adults max..............Don't get juvi's and expect full growth with that water change schedule............

[Alistriwen]

The Penguin biowheel is a full filter rated for 70 gallons. It would basically be 2x 70 gal filters. 140 gal filtration capacity wouldn't be enough for a 90 gal with discus ? I was putting on the power head because it has a filter box in it for additional 30 gal capacity of filtration and I figured I'd throw it deeper in the tank to add some current below the surface for the plants. I could as an alternative throw in a hydrosponge but that would kill the aesthetics.

[Alistriwen]

Should also mention that when I said powerhead I meant internal filter. Not sure why I didn't pick up on that quicker. It is rated for 30 gallons as I mentioned before. Total filtration capacity would be ~ 170 gal.

[Apistomaster]

I would recommend more filtration, also. You really can't go by what the filter makers print on the box. It is very difficult to have too much filtration but on the other hand it is easy to have too little. You can always add a good canister filter later. Especially if you are beginning with juveniles, they will give you some time to evaluate your needs as they grow.

I usually recommend using a filter rated for a tank twice as large as you actually have at a minimum.

Larger and more frequent water changes are also a good idea. 50% twice a week is a good start.

[GrillMaster]

Put an XP3 on that tank an it will have all the filtration ya need...:)

[Alistriwen]

Well all the filtration combined would be 10 gallons short of double the tank capacity 90 x 2 = 180, 3 filters combined = 170.

It is my first venture into discus so I would rather err on the side of caution but am I really going to have to invest in an ac 110? I found doing 3x a week 30% water changes in fry tanks of other species that fry grew more slowly and plants died. I eventually cut back on water changes to 1 or 2 x a week at 30 - 35%. I mostly use hydrosponges in my tanks but the few that do use h.o.b style stuff tend to need even less in the way of cleaning, although I still do them weekly. How many Discus would I be looking at (in the end not right away) if Im doing 50% twice weekly? Are these fish really that fragile or is it just the poor quality of many of those sold in fish stores (like guppies only way more expensive?)

It's not that I'm not willing to do any of these things, Im just wondering if it isn't overkill? With the 110 I'd have 280 gallons of filtration (4 filter boxes at that) on a 90 gal?

[happygirl65]

Are these fish really that fragile or is it just the poor quality of many of those sold in fish stores (like guppies only way more expensive?)

It's not that I'm not willing to do any of these things, Im just wondering if it isn't overkill? With the 110 I'd have 280 gallons of filtration (4 filter boxes at that) on a 90 gal?

Twice the normal "rating" of filtration will probably be fine, but just watch and see. Everything is so variable IMO in the aquatic world.

Get the fish in there, and watch them, they will tell you what you need to adjust. (Especially in terms of water changes) Many beleive that several smaller changes are better than one large one because it is less stress to the fish without the drastic change.

In my planted tanks I do 50% -60% weekly water changes with a smaller change in between of about 20% or so depending on how everything looks, and to clean up debris (both fish waste and plant maint.)

Remember also that plants are a great biological filter which helps but that they can also produce a lot of debris and if you have to prune them back a lot you will most likely be in the tank anyhow doing plant maint....so you might as well change some water while you're at it :)

[Alistriwen]

Well, I just ended up with a cannister filter that came along with a tank I purchased so I guess it is going on the 90 gal lol.