New to Discuskeeping: Filtration Question

[Mark.arguelles]

Hi all,

I've been lurking and learning as much as I can about discus from these forums, and I'm about to make the jump into discus keeping!

I'm going to be getting a 90g and have a rena xp3 running on my old 46g planted tank. Do you think the xp3 will be enough filtration alone for the 90g or should I get another filter? For reference, the media in the xp3 is coarse foam, fine foam, ceramic stars, and purigen.

Thanks!

[Eddie]

Hi there Mark, great to meet you! Just a little bit more info would be great. Are you planning to have a show tank with adult fish, gravel and plants or will you be going with a bare bottom tank? What type of water change routine are you thinking about?


Eddie

[Mark.arguelles]

Hey Eddie! Thanks for the response. I plan on having a planted show tank with about 6 adult discus, maybe 20 rummynoses, a small school of sterbai cory, and about 4-5 ottos. The substrate will be pool filter sand and I would like to do a 50% wc every week. Would that be sufficient?

[jball1125]

I would advise to get more filtration if your only going to change 50% once week.

Make sure to get fish from a reliable source. It will save you headaches in the future. The sponsors here all have great quality fish.

Welcome to simply... :)

[jballauer]

Yes, a lot more filtration.

I have a 100g with Fluval FX-5. And because I run CO2, I discovered quickly that I needed even more circulation than the Fluval provided alone, so I had to add a 1200 g/h powerhead. As a result, I have a stunning dutch-style show tank...and am currently growing out discus that will eventually reside in it.

BTW, in such a tank, I need to actually ADD nitrates in order to grow the plants. So, water changes depend on many factors. However, with typical dosing schemes of fertilizers, 1/week water changes are typical...but more never hurts.

For you, you'll want to be certain that your planted tank is well-established. Whether it is low-tech or high-tech, you have to make sure it is consistent and well-tended. I believe that if you can grow a wide-variety of plants VERY well, then you'll know that you can also keep your discus happy.

But don't compromise on that. Get your tank healthy first before you ever decide to put your discus' in it.

[Eddie]

I'd add another canister filter and one extra 50% water change throughout the week. Its hard trying to balance a lush planted tank and water changes but you'll find that the discus may run into problems down the road. There are some pretty advance set-ups out there that will give you the ability to perform only one water change a week. Check out Chad Hughes set-up that he was running in the last Discus Challenge. He had them in a fairly planted and substrate tank, performing once a week water changes and the fish did well. I believe he was using ozone and I have zero experience with that. ;)


All the best,

Eddie