9-13 Update

[fishyj]

Hi everyone, The quick growth spurts I had have seemed to be slowing down. They still are being feed 3 times a day with treats in between. The 2 smaller fish are catching up to the rest of them. I have noticed a little more aggression in the tank between them. The colors are starting to fill in nicely and the red in the eyes are also filling in more. The tds and other water parms are still the same since day one. The only problem I am having is building up of algae. Any ideas on this would be appreciated. I was thinking of adding on a refugium on the tank with plants to help control the algae. I can clean it in the morning and by evening I have more to clean. Nitrates and nitrites are reading zero. I also thought of changing the back color of the tank from white to blue or black. Here are a few pictures I took tonight.

[rickztahone]

how many hours are you keeping your lights on?

[kirkp]

Hey Jim,

Fish are looking good. You must be doing something right.

Keep up the good work.
Kirk

[wgtaylor]

Hi Jim
Boy that is some nice crisp clear pictures and a meticulous clean tank.
Makes me embarrassed. The color of the one in the third pic is awesome.
Big tank and water changes keeps your nitrate 0 ? That's great.
I was thinking the algae was because of the heavy feeding we do. I just wipe it off.
Healthy looking discus, clean tank, great pictures, awesome job.:):):):)
Bill

[Scribbles]

Discus are looking great! I'm thinking along the same lines as Ricardo that maybe the number of hours that the lights are on may be what's causing your algae. Also, is the tank near a window?

Chris

[Ibanez540r]

Hi everyone, The quick growth spurts I had have seemed to be slowing down. They still are being feed 3 times a day with treats in between. The 2 smaller fish are catching up to the rest of them. I have noticed a little more aggression in the tank between them. The colors are starting to fill in nicely and the red in the eyes are also filling in more. The tds and other water parms are still the same since day one. The only problem I am having is building up of algae. Any ideas on this would be appreciated. I was thinking of adding on a refugium on the tank with plants to help control the algae. I can clean it in the morning and by evening I have more to clean. Nitrates and nitrites are reading zero. I also thought of changing the back color of the tank from white to blue or black. Here are a few pictures I took tonight.

I have a few albino bristlenose in all of my tanks and do not have a problem with algae nor any problems whatsoever between them and the discus. And just wanted to say that many people do not recommend black background with Discus as it tends to make them go dark and lose color. Search it and you will find many horror stories. ..Nice fish!

[fishyj]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will be cutting my lighting time down to 6 hours to see if this helps. I have them on 9 hours now. They are located in the basement and their are no windows near by.

[zn394]

Try GE's "Plant & Aquarium" flourescents if you have regular fixtures available. The tanks I use these on have no algae while the one's with other bulbs do.

They are found in Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

You could also throw in some hornwort or water sprite to soak up the nutrients and starve the algae. Plus the discus love the shade.

[fishyj]

Thanks Jeff.

[calihawker]

Nice job there Jim! I have algae growth as well but I don't stress about it. I just wipe the tank down once a week. I think it's more important to have the long day and the ability to feed more often. I'd add a pleco or 2 but with my strict qt procedures, the contest will be over before the fish have been fully qt'd!

[pcsb23]

Fish are looking good Jim :)