Preparing my water for discus?

[Yassmeena]

I have a planted tank which I will tear down. I plan on making it a barebottom tank for discus juvies.

What should I do to make the water ready for them when they come? I will be using tap water by the way. I need to keep things simple in order to realistically maintain my tank.

[kaceyo]

Chances are all you'll need to do is add dechlorinater and adjust the temp so it's the same as the tank. Aging it for 24hrs is a big plus but not nescessary most places. To be sure though you'll need to do some testing and find out what your tap waters pH, GH, KH, & nitrite levels are. Might as well test for nitrate and ammonia too while you're at it.
Once you get the kits and post the results we can figure the rest out.

Kacey

[ShinShin]

I agree with Kacey. Find out your water's parameters. Post them here, then. I do not agree with alot of people who say discus can live in any parameters as long as they are constant. Some water is suited for East African cichlids, some for barbs and danios, some for Central American cichlids, some for discus.

Mat

[Yassmeena]

Okay - I will check my nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and pH. I don't have a hardness tester but all the LFS's, including my local strictly- Stendker vendor and Cary from Great Lakes Discus say the hardness is fine...

Is there anything else I should be checking for?

[Yassmeena]

I just bought a used canister filter (plus a used 55 gallon setup). The previous owner left the bionuggets in the filter.

Should I use them to cycle my tank?

[Wahter]

I just bought a used canister filter (plus a used 55 gallon setup). The previous owner left the bionuggets in the filter.

Should I use them to cycle my tank?

What are the bionuggets? You'd better show us a photo of the bionuggets.



Walter

[Yassmeena]

What are the bionuggets? You'd better show us a photo of the bionuggets.



Walter


lol - I just made up that term. Essentially I am referring to the substance that composes the bio-bag. In the fluval 305, the previous owner has that substance sitting bagless at the bottom of the canister.

[Wahter]

lol - I just made up that term. Essentially I am referring to the substance that composes the bio-bag. In the fluval 305, the previous owner has that substance sitting bagless at the bottom of the canister.

Not meaning to sound harsh, but we can't help you out if you make things up.

What items did you get with the Fluval 305? I don't have one of those cannister filters (I have an Eheim), but I'm sure someone else on here does. Did you get all of the necessary hoses, intake, output, etc...? Did you get the instructions? If you didn't get the instructions, I've found them for you here in a .pdf document:
http://www.hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Fluval_series5_manual.pdf

According to this, the filter uses foam inserts for the foam screen, then for the upper media tray there's the BioMax ceramic rings and a polishing pad. For the middle and lower trays, you have the option for Ammonia remover, Carbon (you can use it, but not needed since you'll be doing lots of water changes), Peat Granules (I think your water is soft enough, so you probably won't need this either), or ZeoCarb (a mix of Carbon and Ammonia remover).

It's up to you on which media you put in the trays.


I just bought a used canister filter (plus a used 55 gallon setup). The previous owner left the bionuggets in the filter.

Should I use them to cycle my tank?

I'm guessing the filter has been disconnected for awhile; all the nitrifying bacteria would be dead. Besides, there would be a risk of bringing in some parasites or bacterial disease when you reuse live media. It's best to either clean out the entire filter and media very well (bleach, hot water, etc...) or get some new media. Not knowing all the details, but perhaps the previous owner's fish all died from Vibrio alginolyticus or Mycobacterium marinum. I wouldn't want those in my discus tank. (and before you ask what those are, check google.com first :) ).

Hope that helps,


Walter

[Yassmeena]

I was also fearing that it may bring some contamination.

I have my filter from my 29 gallon. It's still running on my old tank. I was planning on putting the 29 gallons from my old tank topped off with fresh dechlorinated water, running my old filter and throwing in my current fish to cycle the tank (maybe a plant as well). Does that sound like a good plan, or should I just use fresh clean dechlorinated water.

Item to consider: I will keeping my current pleco and my german blue rams in my discus tank.

[seanyuki]

Hi Yassmennam

If you were to use a filter media or any equipment from another tank or another culture, you might just accidently innoculate disease from the other fishes to your further discus and that disease may not be harmful to the existing because the fishes there already got the immune but introducing it to the new discus might just make the discus sick if not mortality.
Perhaps someone here could comment this.

Cheers
Francis:)





I was also fearing that it may bring some contamination.

I have my filter from my 29 gallon. It's still running on my old tank. I was planning on putting the 29 gallons from my old tank topped off with fresh dechlorinated water, running my old filter and throwing in my current fish to cycle the tank (maybe a plant as well). Does that sound like a good plan, or should I just use fresh clean dechlorinated water.

Item to consider: I will keeping my current pleco and my german blue rams in my discus tank.