72 gal. looking for suggestions

[joeandmeagan]

1. 72 gal with 7 discus from kenny eating great and always begging for more. also 2 clown plecos, 1 bushynose, 6 cardinals, 4 cory's 1 sm. angel who wants to be a discus. one of the discus (shooting star) has been hiding a little bit but is out on the hunt for food again and is always right there to grab food out of your hand.
2. penguin bio-wheel 350. undersized?
3. gravel bottom, 3-4 live plants,rest plastic and some wood
4. bought api test kit from store had definetly been there awhile(covered in dust) let the tank cycle with all the other fish,for two months before adding discus two 1/2 weeks ago. tests for ammonia now i can't get below .25 ppm nitrite comes out a funny color thats looks below the scale and nitrate hovers around 40 ppm.
5. wc every day or every other day 40 percent.
6. ph seems to be falling it started out at around 6.6 now at 6. just using tap water (water conditioner for chlorine, chloramine) with which iv'e been told 30-40ppm hardness

my goal is just to have a show tank for me and the wife to enjoy in our living room. so i guess let me have it with the critiques in mind that i'm not interested in breeding just beautiful healthy fish continueing to beg for food. thanks ahead of time and please ask anything or point out ideas

[4discus]

If the rule of thumb is correct about 1 discus for every 10 gal then you have a lot of stalk factoring in the other 14 fish. If it were me I would add filtration. Were your numbers stable before you added the discus fish? Your ammonia should always read zero. Have u had tanks before or is this new territory?
Anyway, Im also thinking you might be disappointed with gravel in the long run. Ive been disappointed with how much gunk it harbors and I only have a thin 3/4" layer. Every-time I vacuum it takes hours to clear, cant be good for the fish so I plan to go Pool filter sand.

[walt3]

if you dont have room for a sump i would add some more filtration as well. i have a 75 gallon, gravel, 5 discus, 9 cories, 12 lemon tetras, 12 cardinals, 3 pleco, and an otto and run ehiem 2217 plus ac - 70 with 33% daily water changes and it keeps the water quality good. i would recomend aggresive deep gravel vacs every 3 days or so in addition to the daily water changes. i have live plants as well. i also run a airstone and use a powerhead across back of tank to get goo circulation. the fish love it. mellow current and fish are thriving.:) good luck. lets see a pic. :) p.s. my gravel is 4 inchs in rear and slopes to 2 plus! live and learn.:( but reagular vaccuming will do you just fine.

[joeandmeagan]

thanks for suggestions! working on adding a canister filter. i every the gravel every time i do water changes. use to own a fish store 15 years ago but haven't had a tank since. amazing how much has changed. never sold discus at ur store though didn't have the call for them and didn't want the wrong people trying to keep them. oh and i forgot i do have an airstone goin on the other end of the tank from the filter.