dm6464
01-27-2009, 03:11 PM
Hi Everybody,
This is my first post and I have no idea what I am doing so any feedback is surely welcomed. I set up my tank after it had been garaged for 7 years. I was thrilled to find it again and in complete shock that the ex wife had not smashed it to pieces... lol. Anyway, it's been a year now and I wanted to share my experiences and hopefully get others opinions in return. I also want to preface this by saying I make no claims of expertise, I am sure I've done some things wrong... My real purpose is to encourage other people considering discus keeping to go ahead and give it a try... It's fun and really not all that hard. I started with an old 38 gal. Marineland tank and a Fluval 304. See my equipment really was old. :p I went by the LFS and found that he had three 2"-3" discus in stock and they were beautiful. In that moment I decided I was going to get them and I setup my tank as follows: I used a fluorite substrate with regular gravel on top of it, as I intended to have plants too. I would not say I have a planted tank, rather a tank with plants. I setup my filter with the sponges, ceramic rings, charcoal and peat granules. The water here is hard with a KH OF 8 and a PH of 7.8 I was hoping the peat would bring both of those readings down which it did. By changing the peat every 6-8 weeks I can keep a pretty stable KH reading of around 4. I also had an old CO2 injection system that I fumbled with for a while and finally got installed. I use the Milwaukee SMS 122 ph meter and it works great. Coupled with the CO2, it keeps the PH at a reasonably steady 6.7 and is pretty much just set it and forget it. After getting everything setup, working properly and making sure nothing leaked, I planted several plants and went ahead and cycled the tank with 10 Neon Tetras. It's been a year now and I am pleased to say that 9 of those Neon’s are still alive today. In fact, that one little Tetra is the only fish that has died in my tank. I used two large bottles of 'Cycle' and let the tank do its thing for about 20 days. During this time I was obsessing daily. I just could not wait to get my Discus as I had already put a deposit on them. I was testing the water daily and as soon as I was sure no ammonia was present I went ahead and picked up my fish. As I said, my KH was 4 and my PH was 6.7; This is just my personal feeling, but for the new guy keep this in mind. The Discus you buy have never seen the tea colored, acidic, soft water of the Amazon. They were raised in tanks, and while I believe millions of years of evolution and the fishes DNA dictate the ideal conditions in which they will thrive, the bottom line is they were raised in tanks. I have found my Discus to be far more hardy than most of the things I read would lead me to believe. I brought my fish home from the LFS where the PH was 7.5, the KH 8 and they have done fine. In addition to my Discus and the original Tetras I cycled the tank with, I have also added two Clown Loaches and two Otocinclus. The snails were out of control and I did not want to put copper into my tank, the loaches have done a great job on the snails and they are fun to watch. They are also beautiful. The two I have are so bright and orange they almost look like saltwater fish. I plan to upgrade to a 60-70 gal tank within 6 months so my fish will have more room to grow. At that time I plan to add another Loach so they can be in a school of three. As far as plants go, I have about ten. I've found that in the warmer water, 84 degrees, Ferns, Onion Plants, various Mondo Grasses, Dwarf Sagittaria and Jungle Vallisneria seem to do well. I add liquid fertilizer twice a week and let the fluorite handle the roots. I have made a few equipment changes since setting up. I replaced my Fluval 304 with a Rena XP3 and I also replaced my 150 watt Ebo Jager with a 250 watt Rena Smart Heater. My son uses the Fluval on his 20 gal and it still works fine. After getting the XP3 I was obsessing on the Smart Heater. I did not have a backup so I went ahead and got it. I now keep the Ebo as a backup. A note on the Smart Heater... I love it! As with the Ebo Jager, the temp never fluctuates by even one degree. Regardless of when I check it, it's always 84 degrees. My tank sits near my patio door too and that door stays open quite a bit, still the temp never fluctuates. In summary this is my setup today: 38 gal tank, Rena XP3, 250 watt Rena Smart Heater, large air pump, CO2 injection w/bubble counter, Milwaukee SMS 122 PH Probe and a Vortex D2 Diatom Filter. I run the Diatom once a week for 12-24 hours after water changes. I do 70% water changes once a week. I used to do 40% changes twice a week; however, I've found that either way, my nitrates never go above 20. That being said, the fish seem to be doing fine. My ammonia and nitrite readings are always zero. The XP3 has 6 chambers. The bottom two have, two 20 and two 30 sponges, the middle two have Seachem Matrix, the fifth has Seachem Matrix and about 1/2 cup peat granules in a filter bag and the top one has, one pouch Bio Chem Zorb and a super-micro filtration pad. I know the Bio Chem Zorb has charcoal in it. Any thoughts on this as far as plants go? I also pump air into the tank. I've read that air dissipates the CO2 during the day but I'm always worried about the fish rather than the plants. Any ideas on this? As of today my PH is 6.7, KH 4, nitrates 20, nitrites 0 and ammonia 0. My tank seems to be doing very well. I have an almost moss like algae growing on the rocks that is beautiful. My plants are healthy and my fish seem happy. Even though the tank is in the middle of my living room and near a door, they never seem to get spooked. They always come to the front of the tank and act excited to see people. I feed them three times a day, with four types of food. Hikari Frozen Blood worms and Hikari Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Sally's Emerald Entree and TetraColor Tropical Granules. They pretty much seem to devour all four. Any thoughts on the food are welcomed too.
I apologize for this being so long, maybe I should have joined the forum sooner... lol. As you can see I am no expert and am looking for any advice you may have. I don’t even know what types of Discus I own. I went to a couple of stores where the first guy had to order them and wanted to charge $75.00 each. The other store had them in stock and wanted $35.00 each. I'm sure you can figure which store I bought from. If you're new to this, the negative side to getting them this way is, I knew more about Discus than the LFS did. If I was to do it again I would order over the internet from a reputable breeder. They guarantee the fish and you can actually pick what color, or type you desire. I had read so much over the internet about these fish I was almost overwhelmed. If you’re new to fish, or Discus, I encourage you to just go for it. Buy the largest tank and the best filter you can afford and stock the tank accordingly. Discus need to be kept in at least schools of three. One will be lonely and stressed, two will fight and at least three gives them the type of social structure they need. I’ve found that good plant lights, regular doses of fertilizer, CO2, massive amounts of filtration and regular water changes are all that is necessary to have a happy and healthy tank. I have included pictures of my tank and all three of my Discus. Please let me know what you think and if anybody can identify the type of Discus I own I would appreciate it!
This is my first post and I have no idea what I am doing so any feedback is surely welcomed. I set up my tank after it had been garaged for 7 years. I was thrilled to find it again and in complete shock that the ex wife had not smashed it to pieces... lol. Anyway, it's been a year now and I wanted to share my experiences and hopefully get others opinions in return. I also want to preface this by saying I make no claims of expertise, I am sure I've done some things wrong... My real purpose is to encourage other people considering discus keeping to go ahead and give it a try... It's fun and really not all that hard. I started with an old 38 gal. Marineland tank and a Fluval 304. See my equipment really was old. :p I went by the LFS and found that he had three 2"-3" discus in stock and they were beautiful. In that moment I decided I was going to get them and I setup my tank as follows: I used a fluorite substrate with regular gravel on top of it, as I intended to have plants too. I would not say I have a planted tank, rather a tank with plants. I setup my filter with the sponges, ceramic rings, charcoal and peat granules. The water here is hard with a KH OF 8 and a PH of 7.8 I was hoping the peat would bring both of those readings down which it did. By changing the peat every 6-8 weeks I can keep a pretty stable KH reading of around 4. I also had an old CO2 injection system that I fumbled with for a while and finally got installed. I use the Milwaukee SMS 122 ph meter and it works great. Coupled with the CO2, it keeps the PH at a reasonably steady 6.7 and is pretty much just set it and forget it. After getting everything setup, working properly and making sure nothing leaked, I planted several plants and went ahead and cycled the tank with 10 Neon Tetras. It's been a year now and I am pleased to say that 9 of those Neon’s are still alive today. In fact, that one little Tetra is the only fish that has died in my tank. I used two large bottles of 'Cycle' and let the tank do its thing for about 20 days. During this time I was obsessing daily. I just could not wait to get my Discus as I had already put a deposit on them. I was testing the water daily and as soon as I was sure no ammonia was present I went ahead and picked up my fish. As I said, my KH was 4 and my PH was 6.7; This is just my personal feeling, but for the new guy keep this in mind. The Discus you buy have never seen the tea colored, acidic, soft water of the Amazon. They were raised in tanks, and while I believe millions of years of evolution and the fishes DNA dictate the ideal conditions in which they will thrive, the bottom line is they were raised in tanks. I have found my Discus to be far more hardy than most of the things I read would lead me to believe. I brought my fish home from the LFS where the PH was 7.5, the KH 8 and they have done fine. In addition to my Discus and the original Tetras I cycled the tank with, I have also added two Clown Loaches and two Otocinclus. The snails were out of control and I did not want to put copper into my tank, the loaches have done a great job on the snails and they are fun to watch. They are also beautiful. The two I have are so bright and orange they almost look like saltwater fish. I plan to upgrade to a 60-70 gal tank within 6 months so my fish will have more room to grow. At that time I plan to add another Loach so they can be in a school of three. As far as plants go, I have about ten. I've found that in the warmer water, 84 degrees, Ferns, Onion Plants, various Mondo Grasses, Dwarf Sagittaria and Jungle Vallisneria seem to do well. I add liquid fertilizer twice a week and let the fluorite handle the roots. I have made a few equipment changes since setting up. I replaced my Fluval 304 with a Rena XP3 and I also replaced my 150 watt Ebo Jager with a 250 watt Rena Smart Heater. My son uses the Fluval on his 20 gal and it still works fine. After getting the XP3 I was obsessing on the Smart Heater. I did not have a backup so I went ahead and got it. I now keep the Ebo as a backup. A note on the Smart Heater... I love it! As with the Ebo Jager, the temp never fluctuates by even one degree. Regardless of when I check it, it's always 84 degrees. My tank sits near my patio door too and that door stays open quite a bit, still the temp never fluctuates. In summary this is my setup today: 38 gal tank, Rena XP3, 250 watt Rena Smart Heater, large air pump, CO2 injection w/bubble counter, Milwaukee SMS 122 PH Probe and a Vortex D2 Diatom Filter. I run the Diatom once a week for 12-24 hours after water changes. I do 70% water changes once a week. I used to do 40% changes twice a week; however, I've found that either way, my nitrates never go above 20. That being said, the fish seem to be doing fine. My ammonia and nitrite readings are always zero. The XP3 has 6 chambers. The bottom two have, two 20 and two 30 sponges, the middle two have Seachem Matrix, the fifth has Seachem Matrix and about 1/2 cup peat granules in a filter bag and the top one has, one pouch Bio Chem Zorb and a super-micro filtration pad. I know the Bio Chem Zorb has charcoal in it. Any thoughts on this as far as plants go? I also pump air into the tank. I've read that air dissipates the CO2 during the day but I'm always worried about the fish rather than the plants. Any ideas on this? As of today my PH is 6.7, KH 4, nitrates 20, nitrites 0 and ammonia 0. My tank seems to be doing very well. I have an almost moss like algae growing on the rocks that is beautiful. My plants are healthy and my fish seem happy. Even though the tank is in the middle of my living room and near a door, they never seem to get spooked. They always come to the front of the tank and act excited to see people. I feed them three times a day, with four types of food. Hikari Frozen Blood worms and Hikari Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Sally's Emerald Entree and TetraColor Tropical Granules. They pretty much seem to devour all four. Any thoughts on the food are welcomed too.
I apologize for this being so long, maybe I should have joined the forum sooner... lol. As you can see I am no expert and am looking for any advice you may have. I don’t even know what types of Discus I own. I went to a couple of stores where the first guy had to order them and wanted to charge $75.00 each. The other store had them in stock and wanted $35.00 each. I'm sure you can figure which store I bought from. If you're new to this, the negative side to getting them this way is, I knew more about Discus than the LFS did. If I was to do it again I would order over the internet from a reputable breeder. They guarantee the fish and you can actually pick what color, or type you desire. I had read so much over the internet about these fish I was almost overwhelmed. If you’re new to fish, or Discus, I encourage you to just go for it. Buy the largest tank and the best filter you can afford and stock the tank accordingly. Discus need to be kept in at least schools of three. One will be lonely and stressed, two will fight and at least three gives them the type of social structure they need. I’ve found that good plant lights, regular doses of fertilizer, CO2, massive amounts of filtration and regular water changes are all that is necessary to have a happy and healthy tank. I have included pictures of my tank and all three of my Discus. Please let me know what you think and if anybody can identify the type of Discus I own I would appreciate it!