Water changes.

[James G]

Hi guys :). Yesterday i added 5 discus to my planted tank (107 UK gallon), At the moment i dont have an RO system (one is on order and shall arrive within 3 days, along with a TDS meter) I have tested all peramiters and the water is well, quite good atm. In my tank is 40 harlequin rasbora's, 2 bristlenose plecs (v small) and the 5 discus. My question is, would it be ok to do a 50% wc every other day, im thinking while the fish are small they have a lot of space to swim in and i vac after every feeding and replace lost water. Once my RO system arrives i plan to do a 50% wc every other day.

Some pics, sorry not perfect but best i could do with my blackberry, plus the little buggers move quick :)

The tank
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00060-20100326-1828.jpg

The fish
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00090-20100328-2044.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00089-20100328-2044.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00088-20100328-2043.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00087-20100328-2043.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00086-20100329-1035.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/epouhage/IMG00086-20100328-2043.jpg

sorry for all the links, i have no idea how to put a pic on a page, thanks for the help :)

[DerekFF]

i dont have a planted tank, but i think that planted tanks can go longer between water changes, unless youre trying to grow out the little guys with a wasteful food like BH then itll pollute the water. But most people ive seen here do WC less often than people with BB grow out tanks. I would say every other day on a planted show tank would be fine.

[LizStreithorst]

Are you using an HMA or going straight from the tap? Some areas if England have a lot of nasties in the water that the test kits won't tell you about. The folks on BIDKA would be more knowledgable about the water in your specific area.

If you are filtering your water through an HMA you should be fine with 50% every other day, although you may not have to change quite that much since you Discus are small. If you're not using an HMA I'd go with 20 or 25% daily to be on the safe side. The fish will let you know if they are stessed.

I do see heavy bars on some, which sometimes means nothing and other indicates stress. I see good black poo which is a good thing.

You said that you've tested your parameters. What ae you gH and kH readings? If they are low, you may not even need RO.

[korbi_doc]

Just a ? 'bout that white rock....have you tested it? It looks like texas holey rock which would cause alkalinity & raise the tank ph...but maybe over there it isn't & would be ok...do check & if ph is always increasing, maybe that could be the cause....JMO

Dottie

[wesleydnunder]

James, I personally wouldn't raise juvies in a planted tank because of the work involved in keeping it clean. BB is so much easier. Also, I've found that when the juvies begin to work out their pecking order the subordinate fish will often hide in the plants and not get enough to eat and wind up stunted. Spot-feeding may help counteract that. I do daily partials when raising juvies, at least 50%, which can really throw off co2 and fert dosing.

Dottie, if the water isn't acidic and gets changed several times a week, the limestone will have a minimal, if any, effect on water chemistry IMO.

[James G]

Hi guys thanks for the replys, sorry mine is late i had to go to work just after i posted. LizStreithorst sorry for my ignorance im new to this site what is HMA and BIDKA? My KH is 4d and GH is the only one ive not tested yet due to a lack of a testing kit which im gonna get tomorrow before work. As i mentioned my RO unit should be here by the end of the week and then im gonna stick with a minimum of a 50% every other day but probably will take your advice of atleat 25% everyday as im trying to grow these out. Also you mentioned the dark bars on some fish. All fish are feeding very well and are on a veriety of different foods, im assuming (and hoping) the fish arnt stressed i suppose if they are this can be expected as they havent even been in the tank for 48 hours. Hopefully all will be fine :) korbi_doc the white 'rock' is a plastic aquarium decoration i got, i was gonna try to root some anubis or java fern onto it but then i decided i preferred it naked so to speak. On a side note my LFS, is getting some quality discus in on tuesday so they should be available for sale by saturday i plan on adding 3 more juvies to this tank to make a total of 8 alltogether. Hope ive explained everything properly! Thanks again for your replys and help guys :)

[LizStreithorst]

BIDKA is a Discus forum based in the UK. http://forum.bidka.org/index.php

HMA (heavy metal axe) is a filter that removes impurities from the water. http://forum.bidka.org/showthread.php?t=14574&highlight=hma..You may not need an RO.

[James G]

Ahhhh sweet thanks for clearing that up for me :) And ive already ordered the RO system, got it at a steal from this place http://www.vyair.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=54
bargain if ever i saw it, a 50gpd RO system for £39.09 +vat. I got one of those and a TDS meter all in with delivery for £63 odd . I will also check BIDKA out aswell thanks for the info :) appreciated!