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My experience with discus began about 10 years ago. Although I've had aquariums all of my adult life (I'm now 74), I have to say that out of all these years, the discus has been my most satisifying and delightful fish of all. (I love those beautiful round flat fish). My interest centers around the display tank with adult fish. Also, I have to say that I had my share of failures with discus, but with most failures I learned something. Recently I stumbled onto something that has allowed me to have a display tank that is significantly cleaner (big time) and at the same time, requires a whole lot less time and work to maintain it (big time).
How did I accomplish this, you say? The easy answer is: by putting together all of the elements for a properly sized and functioning filtration system, which includes a Purigen Reactor. Now, I'm fully aware that there is more than one way to accomplish everything, so what I'm presenting to you is my approach, and not necessarly the only way. Also, please keep in mind that the filtration system presented here is primarly intended for keeping adult discus in a display tank. I don't know much about breeding, grow-out tanks, biotopes, or tanks with sumps, so I recommend that you read all five parts of this presentation, and then proceed with caution before attempting to add a Purigen Reactor to an existing filtration system. I'll be glad to help by answering questions. I put a lot of time in preparing this because I have learned so much from others on SD, and this is my way of perhaps passing something to others.
The Results Obtained In the Tank: I'm going to begin by showing some pictures of my fish that indicate their general health and condition. These pictures show the status of my tank and fish about 6 months after implementing all of the elements of the filtration system I present in Part 3. If you are not familiar with Photobucket, the explanation below may help.
How Photobucket works:
Click on the link below
Click on the upper left thumbnail
Use scroll to center picture
Use pointer to click on arrow to advance
Photobucket has a feature which allows me to let others copy the pictures. I have enabled the copy feature providing it is for personal use only and not for commercial purposes.
Next, some pictures that show the condition of the tank:
Finally, a video of my fish at feeding time:
Reduced Maintenance: This is how the implementation of the filtration system has reduced the amount of effort to keep it clean: the only cleaning that I now perform to the tank is monthly. Don't have to siphon fish poop or debris off the tank bottom between monthly tank cleanings, because there's not enough to bother with. The amount that is there is less than one days accumulation. There is absolutely no visible signs of algae anywhere in the tank six months after setting it up. There are some VERY small signs of slime on the artifical reef and a few other things in the tank, but this has not reached the level where I have to remove it for cleaning after six months in the tank. I've been using a magnetic cleaning device on the bow front, but its probably not necessary to clean it every month, as I really can't tell the difference after cleaning. Since algae and slime are the major contributors to the work involved in cleaning, the job is much reduced. When I finish with the monthly cleaning, I siphon off the bottom, but there is really not much there. One thing that I do have to do is to replace the bubble stones in the lift tubes about every three months.
A Side Benefit: The filtration system keeps the water polished to a degree matched by a diatom filter that I once used a long time ago. The water is so clean that the fish seem to be floating in air. When the sun shines thru it from one end to another, there's almost no visible signs of anything in the water. This is illustrated in two of the pictures showing the condition of my tank. My water has always been clean, but I was supprised by the improvement.
The WOW Affect: Visitors come into our home and, when entering the family room, are immediately drawn to the aquarium. Almost everyone wants to know about it and remarks about how beautiful it looks, especially the fish. On a few occasions someone will take one look at it and simply say "WOW." The affect is due to a number of factors, starting with the black cherry cabinet: it immediately focuses the attention to the interior of the tank. The colors of the fish are really quite striking, especially when viewed thru crystal clear water and illuminated with a LED lighting system that intensifies the blues and reds. But it's the pristine clean conditions of the tank and the decorations in it that sets everything off. If an aquarium shows obvious signs of needing cleaning it really subtracts from the total affect. The best part of all of this is that I don't have to work like a dog to keep it clean. With the elemination of algae, slime and fish poop, it looks like its just been cleaned, and it stays that way for an entire month.
Thus a summary of the results are given above. I will present the method that I used to achieve these results in the remaining four parts:
Part 2: Water Exchange System
Part 3: Water Filtration System
Part 4: Purigen Reactor Design Requirements and Reactor Details
Part 5: Concluding Remarks
Will post Part 2 soon, perhaps tomorrow.
Paul
How did I accomplish this, you say? The easy answer is: by putting together all of the elements for a properly sized and functioning filtration system, which includes a Purigen Reactor. Now, I'm fully aware that there is more than one way to accomplish everything, so what I'm presenting to you is my approach, and not necessarly the only way. Also, please keep in mind that the filtration system presented here is primarly intended for keeping adult discus in a display tank. I don't know much about breeding, grow-out tanks, biotopes, or tanks with sumps, so I recommend that you read all five parts of this presentation, and then proceed with caution before attempting to add a Purigen Reactor to an existing filtration system. I'll be glad to help by answering questions. I put a lot of time in preparing this because I have learned so much from others on SD, and this is my way of perhaps passing something to others.
The Results Obtained In the Tank: I'm going to begin by showing some pictures of my fish that indicate their general health and condition. These pictures show the status of my tank and fish about 6 months after implementing all of the elements of the filtration system I present in Part 3. If you are not familiar with Photobucket, the explanation below may help.
How Photobucket works:
Click on the link below
Click on the upper left thumbnail
Use scroll to center picture
Use pointer to click on arrow to advance
Photobucket has a feature which allows me to let others copy the pictures. I have enabled the copy feature providing it is for personal use only and not for commercial purposes.
Next, some pictures that show the condition of the tank:
Finally, a video of my fish at feeding time:
Reduced Maintenance: This is how the implementation of the filtration system has reduced the amount of effort to keep it clean: the only cleaning that I now perform to the tank is monthly. Don't have to siphon fish poop or debris off the tank bottom between monthly tank cleanings, because there's not enough to bother with. The amount that is there is less than one days accumulation. There is absolutely no visible signs of algae anywhere in the tank six months after setting it up. There are some VERY small signs of slime on the artifical reef and a few other things in the tank, but this has not reached the level where I have to remove it for cleaning after six months in the tank. I've been using a magnetic cleaning device on the bow front, but its probably not necessary to clean it every month, as I really can't tell the difference after cleaning. Since algae and slime are the major contributors to the work involved in cleaning, the job is much reduced. When I finish with the monthly cleaning, I siphon off the bottom, but there is really not much there. One thing that I do have to do is to replace the bubble stones in the lift tubes about every three months.
A Side Benefit: The filtration system keeps the water polished to a degree matched by a diatom filter that I once used a long time ago. The water is so clean that the fish seem to be floating in air. When the sun shines thru it from one end to another, there's almost no visible signs of anything in the water. This is illustrated in two of the pictures showing the condition of my tank. My water has always been clean, but I was supprised by the improvement.
The WOW Affect: Visitors come into our home and, when entering the family room, are immediately drawn to the aquarium. Almost everyone wants to know about it and remarks about how beautiful it looks, especially the fish. On a few occasions someone will take one look at it and simply say "WOW." The affect is due to a number of factors, starting with the black cherry cabinet: it immediately focuses the attention to the interior of the tank. The colors of the fish are really quite striking, especially when viewed thru crystal clear water and illuminated with a LED lighting system that intensifies the blues and reds. But it's the pristine clean conditions of the tank and the decorations in it that sets everything off. If an aquarium shows obvious signs of needing cleaning it really subtracts from the total affect. The best part of all of this is that I don't have to work like a dog to keep it clean. With the elemination of algae, slime and fish poop, it looks like its just been cleaned, and it stays that way for an entire month.
Thus a summary of the results are given above. I will present the method that I used to achieve these results in the remaining four parts:
Part 2: Water Exchange System
Part 3: Water Filtration System
Part 4: Purigen Reactor Design Requirements and Reactor Details
Part 5: Concluding Remarks
Will post Part 2 soon, perhaps tomorrow.
Paul
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