Here we go…again…

[danotaylor]

The title has a 2 fold meaning.

First and foremost, I must extend a MASSIVE. thank you to Dan, and sincere condolences to Brian jeep , as I have recently been appointed as the recipient of Dan’s very generously gifted set up. Unfortunately, Brian is not able to make the pick up happen due to distance, timing, etc, and he reached out to me knowing that I am about a 4.25hr drive from where Dan lives. Dan and I have been in contact, and on June 16 I will be driving a U-Haul van up to his place to collect the set-up and fish.

As some of you know, I was the recipient of a complete 500gal acrylic set up several years back from my brother in laws mom. Now, in an unexpected turn of events, a 2nd complete acrylic set up will be coming home with me. Wow!

Thank you Dan for your exceedingly generous gift!!

Thank you Brian for bringing me into the equation. I am truly sorry you aren’t able to make it work for you.

Secondly, related to the title, I will be getting organized to make keeping the discus possible. So here we go again in the discus realm!! I think I am going to reduce the number to 6-7 to reduce the bioload.

You may or may not remember from other posts, that the source water at our property has 5ppm of nitrates present straight out of the faucet. Fortunately, Dan’s discus are full adult size, so growth issues won’t be a factor. To mitigate potential health challenges related to the presence of nitrates, I am planning to set up rain water catchment to dilute the aged municipal water, and additionally store our dehumidifier water which is about 4gal/day in the warmer months. I will begin with weekly 75-80% water changes and see how things look.

So, I am excited about Dan’s generosity, Brian’s thoughtfulness, and getting this new adventure with discus going next week.

More to come SD friends…

Oh, btw, I just happen to have the absolutely perfect spot for this tank, an alcove on our front sitting room whose width and height were made for this tank…20 years ago! Here is the current 36” occupant. The height of Dan's tank will fill the space to within 8” of the upper beam

[LizStreithorst]

Congratulations Danny. With all you've been through with Discus, you've earned this. One note of caution. When I added the water from my dehumidifier, I found that over time, the Discus did not do well with it. I think it may have had something to do with the copper from the dehumidifier. I believe you'll be better off using the rainwater you've collected.

Best of luck. I'm delighted for you.

[danotaylor]

Congratulations Danny. With all you've been through with Discus, you've earned this. One note of caution. When I added the water from my dehumidifier, I found that over time, the Discus did not do well with it. I think it may have had something to do with the copper from the dehumidifier. I believe you'll be better off using the rainwater you've collected.

Best of luck. I'm delighted for you.

Oh my, I never even thought of that Liz. Thank you for the heads up, and the well wishes sis!
Appreciate you! Blessings

[jwcarlson]

Congrats, Danny!

I have always wondered if you could pull the nitrates out of tap water with an aging tank with a nitrate hog like hornwort.
our well here has 22 ppm out of the tap. Farm country

[danotaylor]

Thanks Jacob!

During the summer months I was thinking duck weed might work as well

[jwcarlson]

Yeah, duckweed would work. I wouldn't want to try to keep the infestation at bay.
for a floater, I'd rather go with dwarf water lettuce personally. Grows fast, nitrate hog... big enough to be able to maintain it in one place.

[Charlyc11]

Danny congrats looks like a awesome setup for the space.
Cheers

[danotaylor]

Danny congrats looks like a awesome setup for the space.
Cheers

Thanks Chuck. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all looks once in place

[Second Hand Pat]

Danny, congrats on the new tank and fish. I think there is a type of filter which is used on Europe. I will contact Paul who lives in the UK and ask.
Pat

[Charlyc11]

There is also media that removes nitrates, one from API and another from Seachem. I never used either but it's a thought

[danotaylor]

Thanks Pat, and thanks Chuck!

TBH I am hopeful that changing 75% of the water weekly and not over feeding, that I’ll be good to go.

It is nice to know there are some options out there to mitigate potential issues though. I am in a phase in my fish keeping where I’m trying to reduce the work load, whilst maintaining a willingness to “do what is healthy for the fish” mentality

To keep my nitrates consistently <10 I may simply have to resort to multiple 75% wc’s per week

[pitdogg2]

I've used both of those, neither work for the intended purpose. The Seachem is just large Matrix. It works very well as biological substrate, it does nothing for nitrate.
The API is a resin. It may have removed something, it was NOT nitrates.
YMMV

[danotaylor]

Roger that. Increasing water changes it will be then

[Charlyc11]

The seachem product has over a thousand good reviews. I probable takes weeks to take effect since is a type of media if it works at all. Also it looks like it need a slow flowing filter to take effect.

Overview:
de❊nitrate™ is an economical, natural, porous material with a pore distribution and geometry that promotes both aerobic nitrification within the first few millimeters of depth and anaerobic denitrification at the core. The material has a high surface area and supports a high density of bacteria. Although de❊nitrate™ has capacity to trap nitrate, this, as with other nitrate retaining materials, such as certain zeolites and synthetic resins, is quite limited and the primary mechanism of nitrate removal is anaerobic.

“Live” rocks or reef rocks remove nitrate by anaerobic denitrification. de❊nitrate™ removes nitrate by the same process. Efficiency is magnified several folds by forcing the water to filter through the porous de❊nitrate™. As with reef rock, anaerobic conditions are achieved by the porosity and the depletion of oxygen by the aerobic process at the surface. Excessive flow rates should, therefore, be avoided, as they may impede development of an adequate anaerobic environment to support denitrifying bacteria.

de❊nitrate™ is also an excellent media for aerobic nitrification and it makes an ideal biological filter in drip trays, canister filters, sumps, or even box filters. At high flow rates (greater than 100 US gallons per hour), it will function solely as an aerobic filter. At slow flow rates (less than 50 US gallons per hour), it will function as both an aerobic filter and an anaerobic denitrifying filter.

[brewmaster15]

Danny Awesome news here! Congrats!

If you want to reduce the nitrates in your water I would give pothos a try. That space you have set up for it could easily be made into a climbing vine friendly space with lattice. I posted this experiment sometime awhile ago but I was able to knock out 10-12 ppm nitrates with just a moderate amount of pothos.

Alternatively with your plant growing experience maybe a little hydroponic project would work.