My setup- looking for some input- Peat

[PatronFishMan]

Hi guys-
My name's Mike- I'm a new member here. I'm also new to the discus world, but I've been doing a boat-load of research trying to get everything right before I source a breeding pair. I'm hoping you guys can take a look at my setup and let me know if I'm on the right track.

The most notable thing I've been trying to do is get the water to the correct spec's for breeding. Treated with conditioner, my tap water is pH 7.5, with a total hardness of 150. I did some research and it seems that a hardness below 100 is necessary to get eggs to hatch properly. I saw that it is possible to lower hardness through peat, so that is what I have been experimenting with over the last couple days.

I have an old Marineland Penguin 350b filter with the add-on carteridges that are fillable with any organic media. I filled these cartridges with peat from Home Depot- after 3 hours, my pH shot down to 6.5 and my Total Hardness is at 75. These numbers sound ok, correct? I continued to run the peat filter for an additional day, and my pH shot down just a tad bit lower than 6.5

Basically, my setup consists of (2) 29 gallon tanks, stacked as seen below. The tank on the bottom will be used to prep and age the water, and the tank above will be for the breeding. My plan is to run the peat filter on the bottom tank to get the water quality correct before adding it to the breeding pair. I'm purchasing a Mag Pump 500 water pump to place in the bottom tank for transferring the water to the other tank. Also, I'm sourcing a sponge filter for the top tank. My water temps are at 83.

So what do you guys think? Thanks in advance
http://axepolish.tripod.com/Tanks1.JPG
http://axepolish.tripod.com/Tanks2.JPG

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Hello and welcome!

I was recently introduced to this website as well to find out about discus and well, I can say, I am addicted to this place.

You appear to have a good start going for you with your setup. My question is, have you thought about RO instead of peat?

I have an 3 chamber RO unit off eBay (50 gal per day) for about $120.00 and I must say, it has done wonders not only to my breeding tank, but I use RO for my planted tank and my reef tank. I see a noticable difference in the plant growth, the fish colors and my breeding tank fish love it too.

I bought 2 - 34 gallon pales from Home Depot for water storage and a couple heaters to keep the water just a couple degrees cooler (82), my main tanks are 84 degrees.

Now with that said, I have a 90 gallon tank I will be setting up for the fry if I get lucky enough. That tank will run 50/50 RO/tap as someone suggested.

For discus, I know that Kenny in California has some beautiful discus as I am sure other breeders here do as well.

Good luck on your new addiction and welcome to SD.

DiscusLoverJeff

[PatronFishMan]

Hi Jeff- thanks for the response :D
Yes ive noticed it seems that everyone is swearing by RO water. Although I'm not ruling it out, I've seen alot of pro's talking up peat as well. I would prefer to avoid purchasing a RO unit, but like you said, $120.00 is really not that bad... I'm looking to give peat a try first. I was really surprised at the almost instant effect it had on the pH and hardness.

[diveshooter]

There's more to the cost of running a RO unit than the initial price tag. Cartridges have to be replaced on a regular basis, not to mention that 80% of the water going in to the unit is rejected/ wastewater. If you can recycle the wastewater to water the yard, great.
Sounds like peat would be the more economical and resourse-freindly way to go. Just my 2 cents!

[Willie]

Your tap water is perfectly suitable for spawning discus. I recommend you just stay with tap water for breeding domestic types. Maybe use peat if you've got wild discus, particularly heckels. Otherwise, don't worry about water chemistry.

If you are successful with breeding, where are you going to put the spawn as they grow out?

Willie

[PatronFishMan]

Hi there- thanks again for your replies.

I have a 55 gallon in the basement that I plan on setting up when the pair produce fry. I'm going to be purchasing a pair that have already been successful at breeding, so I want to be sure that I am successful myself.

Isn't it true that Eggs cannot hatch if total water hardness is over 120 ppm? I know that they can spawn in these conditions, but, from what i've read, people have said they cannot successfully spawn in anything over 120 total hardness- meaning the eggs cannot hatch. The peat seems to be producing consistant numbers for me, as I set up the bottom tank yesterday as well. I got identical numbers after running fresh peat through the filter for 3 hours yesterday- pH 6.3, total hardness: 75ppm

[BOBT00LS]

The parameters of my tap water are identical to yours 7.5 PH and 150 TDS. I have had many pairs spawn successfully in my tap water including a pair of Rose Reds that gave me 600 fry in one spawn. Keep it simple. Your tap water will work out fine as is just use a conditioner such as SAFE which is what I use.


Bob

[DerekFF]

You sir are a BRAVE soul to try and dive into discus breeding with no previous experience. These aren't the common fish as I'm sure you've read. I would advise against this, but best of luck if that's what you do. I'm 9months into discus keeping and they are still throwing things at me that would kill me if it happened to my breeding pair. I have a pair breeding in water with a TDS of 200 from the tap and I have a 95% hatch rate. RO is 100% unessesary unless you live off a well or just some crazy abnormally high tds water. Your water is more than adequate. Anyways, Good luck with you venture. You'll be stressed like the dickens I'll bet my life on it at the first sign of something wong with your $3-400 breeding pair

[roclement]

Use your tap water and SAFE to condition, no need to mess with your waters chemistry if it already is at these great levels, I would suggest that the changes you are seeing in your ph and hardness are more due to aging the water than the adition of peat.

Use straight tap, age it in your lower tank, add SAFE from Seachem or any other de-chlorinator of choice and that it. The important thing is to keep it simple and constant, make it as easy as possible so you are ablr to adhere to your routine.

Just my respectful opinion

Rodrigo

[Rod]

Hi guys-
My name's Mike- I'm a new member here. I'm also new to the discus world, but I've been doing a boat-load of research trying to get everything right before I source a breeding pair. I'm hoping you guys can take a look at my setup and let me know if I'm on the right track.

The most notable thing I've been trying to do is get the water to the correct spec's for breeding. Treated with conditioner, my tap water is pH 7.5, with a total hardness of 150. I did some research and it seems that a hardness below 100 is necessary to get eggs to hatch properly. I saw that it is possible to lower hardness through peat, so that is what I have been experimenting with over the last couple days.

I have an old Marineland Penguin 350b filter with the add-on carteridges that are fillable with any organic media. I filled these cartridges with peat from Home Depot- after 3 hours, my pH shot down to 6.5 and my Total Hardness is at 75. These numbers sound ok, correct? I continued to run the peat filter for an additional day, and my pH shot down just a tad bit lower than 6.5

Basically, my setup consists of (2) 29 gallon tanks, stacked as seen below. The tank on the bottom will be used to prep and age the water, and the tank above will be for the breeding. My plan is to run the peat filter on the bottom tank to get the water quality correct before adding it to the breeding pair. I'm purchasing a Mag Pump 500 water pump to place in the bottom tank for transferring the water to the other tank. Also, I'm sourcing a sponge filter for the top tank. My water temps are at 83.

So what do you guys think? Thanks in advance
http://axepolish.tripod.com/Tanks1.JPG
http://axepolish.tripod.com/Tanks2.JPG

I think it sounds like a great setup and should work well.

Good luck :)