I am new and need help.

[roshan2946]

Hi guys and Girls,

Well, i am irshad and all the way from Sri lanka and a discus A holic, Well, i am setting up a discus tank and bought a 55 gallon tank about a month ago and filled water to the top and put some cheap fishes to sort out the water cycle the tank required to start with. But it cycles without my equipments fixed. Is that way alright...? As i have been employed in Dubai and my fish tank equipments are on its way back to Sri Lanka. Well, at the moment, the small fishes are doing alright and i asked my wife to cycle the tank every 7 days which she does perfectly well and small fishes looks to be happy. I still have 3 months to get back to SL and will that time be enough to do the cycling as the way i do or should i do it again with canister and internal filters installed. Need advice here.......

At the same time, I am coming from cold place in Sri Lanka and water is little bit cold and will be using well water which we use to drink as it is not polluted. Will that be fine....? I will be going ahead with bare bottom according to the experts advice from this forum but surely planning to place few beautiful rocks which i have purchased and few artificial plants give it a good look. The rocks are kinda white rocks. Is it fine....?

If the PH happen to be between 6.5 to 7.0 in my well water, can i go ahead with that....? All the fishes we kept in the past has remained well and healthy. So, can i take that as water is of for discus. I don't know to do check ups on hardness of the water. So, should i just try my luck on discus...?

Do i have to have a storage bucket or can i just do water changes directly from over tank what we have at home....? I am just killing myself by reading about discus. Is it too hard to keep them...? I am planning to get lots of juveniles as we have too many breeders in SL. So, that some would at least survive into the adulthood. I need advice so please help me.....

Sorry if my english is not good enough

Irshad from Sri Lanka

[David Rose]

Hi irshad...welcome to Simply Discus!

Well, i am irshad and all the way from Sri lanka and a discus A holic, Well, i am setting up a discus tank and bought a 55 gallon tank about a month ago and filled water to the top and put some cheap fishes to sort out the water cycle the tank required to start with. But it cycles without my equipments fixed. Is that way alright...?

As i have been employed in Dubai and my fish tank equipments are on its way back to Sri Lanka. Well, at the moment, the small fishes are doing alright and i asked my wife to cycle the tank every 7 days which she does perfectly well and small fishes looks to be happy. I still have 3 months to get back to SL and will that time be enough to do the cycling as the way i do or should i do it again with canister and internal filters installed. Need advice here.......

You need to add your filter equipment containing the bio-media to cycle your tank. This is where you beneficial bacterial colonial will develop and function in the nitrogen cycle. If your equipment is not available to be installed now, I would recommend adding two sponge filters to the tank now to cycle and help you transition to your canister(s) later on.

At the same time, I am coming from cold place in Sri Lanka and water is little bit cold and will be using well water which we use to drink as it is not polluted. Will that be fine....? I will be going ahead with bare bottom according to the experts advice from this forum but surely planning to place few beautiful rocks which i have purchased and few artificial plants give it a good look. The rocks are kinda white rocks. Is it fine....?

You will need to test your well water to determine pH, gH, kH, TDS, possible nitrate or ammonia content. You may need to pretreat or age your water based on the results. Also, for pH, you will need to test for high CO2 levels by aging water over 48 hours. To start, you could test right from the tap, put some water in a separate container and add aeration. Test pH in 24 hours then again 48 hours later. If your pH changes over time, you will need to age your water.

What type of rocks are you planning to use? They change your water chemistry unfavorably; unless, you have used them before with Discus.

If the PH happen to be between 6.5 to 7.0 in my well water, can i go ahead with that....? All the fishes we kept in the past has remained well and healthy. So, can i take that as water is of for discus. I don't know to do check ups on hardness of the water. So, should i just try my luck on discus...?

It's best to buy a water test kit that can tell you what your water parameters are to be sure rather than risk you investment and health of your fish. Here in the States we use API Master Test kits (http://www.igopro-online.com/API-Master-Test-Set-p/labapi.htm). Perhaps you can find something similar in your area.

Do i have to have a storage bucket or can i just do water changes directly from over tank what we have at home....? I am just killing myself by reading about discus. Is it too hard to keep them...? I am planning to get lots of juveniles as we have too many breeders in SL. So, that some would at least survive into the adulthood. I need advice so please help me.....

Having well water, you may need a storage bucket, but you will know better once you test your water. It's important to provide plenty of good quality water that is consistent in temperature, pH, gH, kH, TDS

Adults/Sub-adults & Juvies
pH 4 to 8.5 ideal being 5.5 to 6.8
gH 0 to 20, ideal being 2 to 6
kH 0 to 20, ideal being 2 to 6

Breeding:
pH ideal 5 to 6.5 range 4 to 8
gH 0 to 10, ideal 2 to 6
kH 0 to 10, ideal 2 to 6

[Skip]

Welcome Roshan!

[roshan2946]

Thanks for the invaluable advice, Just got a very clear picture about how to set up but having said that, the problem is my wife may not know how to set the canister filter branded Haqos 1200L. So, my presence at home will surely be necessary in terms of installation of equipments.

I did checked with a aquarium shop in Dubai about the API master test kit you mentioned and found to be available but relatively expensive though. Lets say, i bought a API Master test kit, Would i be able to analyze all the required water parameters such as PH, KH, GH nitrate and etc.... I may sound strange and fool here but my situation is in such state where i require a good teacher to progress further. By the way, is submersible filter and external canister filter will go along well...?

Advice is required, again sorry for wasting your time with foolish questions

Thanks

[David Rose]

Thanks for the invaluable advice, Just got a very clear picture about how to set up but having said that, the problem is my wife may not know how to set the canister filter branded Haqos 1200L. So, my presence at home will surely be necessary in terms of installation of equipments.

I did checked with a aquarium shop in Dubai about the API master test kit you mentioned and found to be available but relatively expensive though. Lets say, i bought a API Master test kit, Would i be able to analyze all the required water parameters such as PH, KH, GH nitrate and etc.... I may sound strange and fool here but my situation is in such state where i require a good teacher to progress further. By the way, is submersible filter and external canister filter will go along well...?

Advice is required, again sorry for wasting your time with foolish questions

Thanks


API Master Test kits will tests pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. You will need a separate API test kit for gH & kH that comes in one box. You can wait to get the gH/kH test kit when you return.

The submersible sponge filters should be inexpensive. They will cycle now and help seed your canister when you return to set it up. Perhaps your wife canalso put the bio-media that you will be using in your canister into the aquarium now in a mesh bag.

Do you I understand correctly that your wife changes water every 7 days and there are no filters now? No aeration or circulation for the water?

[tcyiu]

I did checked with a aquarium shop in Dubai about the API master test kit you mentioned and found to be available but relatively expensive though.

Welcome. Your questions are not foolish. Rather they are quite thoughtful. We all started from the same place. No worries.

As for the test kit, my suggestion is that if it is too expensive, I would skip it. Unless you are planning on breeding, water conditions tend to matter less as long as they are stable (i.e. do not fluctuate a lot). Domesticated discus can be quite forgiving about water conditions if they are stable.

When you get back home, see if you can bring some sample water from the well to the fish store or the water company for them to test. Even if they charge you, it will cost much less than the entire kit. Also, there is a chance that the test kits that you can buy may already be out of date. Chemicals and test kits do not fare well sitting in very hot (and possibly humid) warehouses.

See if you can increase the water changes from once a week. This will be important for juvenile discus that you may be growing out.

Tim

[roshan2946]

Guys and girls, It's absolutely incredible to see the number of advices flooding in. This has to be the best discus forum i just ever visited. Thanks all of you for the great helps you offer here.

In all cases, i am just going to go for API Master test kits although it's expensive just for the sake of i have for discus fishes. Guys, just tell me, is it good to go with my rocks which i brought or is it healthier to go with a piece of wood.

I just love to have fine sand substrate that i brought the other day and do have a gravel cleaner. So, can i go with it, if i do so, how often gravel needs to be cleaned baring mind water changes will be carried out once in 2 or 3 days about 40 percent.

Whatever you guys tells me will be the final plan before the execution. Guys, i am just thinking so much about discus fishes. Would i be able to succeed....? Wish me luck and throw me more advice and will surely bother all of you in the coming couple of months.....

Thanks and waiting for advices....

Regards

[Jennie]

I would say if the rocks are smooth then yes use those. rough jagged rocks can injure your discus.:) wc depends on discus size, feeding. if juvies do wc every day.
Guys and girls, It's absolutely incredible to see the number of advices flooding in. This has to be the best discus forum i just ever visited. Thanks all of you for the great helps you offer here.

In all cases, i am just going to go for API Master test kits although it's expensive just for the sake of i have for discus fishes. Guys, just tell me, is it good to go with my rocks which i brought or is it healthier to go with a piece of wood.

I just love to have fine sand substrate that i brought the other day and do have a gravel cleaner. So, can i go with it, if i do so, how often gravel needs to be cleaned baring mind water changes will be carried out once in 2 or 3 days about 40 percent.

Whatever you guys tells me will be the final plan before the execution. Guys, i am just thinking so much about discus fishes. Would i be able to succeed....? Wish me luck and throw me more advice and will surely bother all of you in the coming couple of months.....

Thanks and waiting for advices....

Regards

[roshan2946]

Can anybody tell me how can i post a picture in this forum so that i could post my tank and my newly built stand. Would love to show it to all of you......

[Skip]

roshan....

look.. right under the two discus next to SIMPLY DISCUS logo .. top left of pager..
go to your USER CP link...

there is a section for albums & folders.. looks like you can just make a folder and start uploading!! give that a try and get back to me! : ))

skip
:book:

[roshan2946]

Guys i have uploaded couple of pictures of my tank and stand in my album. Just take a look at it tell me how is it....? also, describe me what kind of a set up would be good for this for discus..... regards... Eid Mubarak guys........

[roshan2946]

Guys,
I just read in a article that internal power filters are not good for discus fishes. Is that true....? If so, can i only use the external filter...? By the way, as i have mentioned above i am planning place some rocks in tank so there is good chance the PH may get increased. in that case, if PH stays within the limit of given PH level discus fishes. Will that still be harmful....?

Advice me

[Discus master]

Guys,
I just read in a article that internal power filters are not good for discus fishes. Is that true....? If so, can i only use the external filter...? By the way, as i have mentioned above i am planning place some rocks in tank so there is good chance the PH may get increased. in that case, if PH stays within the limit of given PH level discus fishes. Will that still be harmful....?

Advice me

To know if they contain any kind of minerals like metal which is what you want to stay away from, scratch the surface if the rock with a sharp tool just a little bit like on the bottom maybe and pour a little vinigar on it, if it does not fizz you are good to go, if it does fizz it contains metals like iron ore or something like this and you will not want to use it. You should use nice rounded non pouruos rocks, I know of a few that are definatley safe, flag stone, granite, shale, and petrified wood are all safe to use. I am not sure about marble, but I do not think quartz is safe I could be wrong though. If you do not know what the chemical make up of the stone is perform the vinigar test. I used a little flag stone and perfomred the vinigar test no fizz I needed it to anchor some drift wood. Oh I forgot SLATE is also SAFE, hope this helps I read all this in a book about discus fish! So I am assuming its good information good luck!

[David Rose]

Can anybody tell me how can i post a picture in this forum so that i could post my tank and my newly built stand. Would love to show it to all of you......


I use an online storage for my photo called PhotoBucket. It's free and easy to use. Here are some instructions I put together if you choose to use Photobucket.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=80594&highlight=Photobucket