Keep up with the 90% Daily or even possibly do 2 a day if you can wing it. It wouldn't be long term.
Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread
Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread
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Ruud, very nice thread your little fish are very cute. I think you are doing an excellent job growing them out. Keep up with the large daily water changes and you will be fine. Adding more media for beneficial bacteria is a great idea especially if you think you had less than enough to begin with. Some people (me included) just throw bio balls in the tank and let them settle on the bottom for added bacteria coverage. then scoot them around during vacuums.
cant wait to see these little guys all grown up.
~JACKLYN~
Thanks Jacklyn, I will try some bio balls in the tank as well. I can always transfer them to my (to be build) 150G tank.
Week 4 update:
So, still battling a high ammonia (~0.4ppm) with daily 80-90% WC. The kiddos do not seem to mind though, eating and growing great. They even start to colour!
IMAG1822.jpg
Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread
Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread
http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
Cafepress.com
is it possible food is somehow getting sucked in the filter and rotting?
ive also heard of false-positives on ammonia tests due to the conditioners used during wc, but i dont know much about this concept
Ruud, just caught your thread for the first time. You are thinking of growing this group in a 33 gallon tank until they are about 5 inches?. I really don't believe you can pull this off and you'll need a bigger tank soon. At a minimum you need 75 gallons. Ricardo can attest to growing a large group in a 75, even so he did bring down the number as soon as they were getting too big to handle the load. May want to chat with him about it.
Jorge Q
Hey guys, thanks for the replies.
I was thinking if my test kit might be inaccurate. It’s a JBL testlab case containing several test, including NH4. However, when I measure my tap water NH4 readings are zero… I will go to my LFS this week to test my water there.
I checked my filters multiple times and made sure no food or debris is sucked into it. No pockets of rotting debris were found.
I agree that a 33G is too small to grow out this group until they are 5”. Reading information on this forum made me realise this is not possible. Therefore my 150G is getting here sooner then I planned, hopefully in 3 weeks. Add another month of cycling the tank and the group will be swimming in their new home in 2 months. They are about 2.5” now, so I will transfer them at 4” I guess… Hope this will work out, everything about discus is still new to me.
EDIT: I guess I got the whole inches thing messed up in my head. They were ~5cm (2") when I bought them, now reaching 2.5" (estimated guess).
Last edited by ruudvk; 04-19-2016 at 05:44 AM.
if u transfer ur small tank's filter & media to the 150g with the fish u can skip the cycling process in the larger tank because the transplanted BB located in the filter will work instantly to convert ammonia > nitrite > nitrate. no need to cycle the new tank for month that way
Week 5 update:
Ordered my 150G! Hopefully it will be here in 3-4 weeks!
Got a second JBL Cristalprofi canister filter cycling in a bucket now to speed up the process. Adding this filter to my growout tank will cause a whirlpool I’m afraid.
Now I will look around to find some white pool filter sand. Not too white, I will think it will reflect the light too much and will annoy the fish.
Yesterday I went to a local stone supplier to find some nice rock for my 150G. Found a type of stone called “black beauty” that will look awesome with the white sand and a black background. I brought some vinegar to test the stones for calcium, no bubbles so I think the white lines are some sort of quarts. I don’t know the exact type of rock, anyone has a guess?
stone.jpg
Indeed, they do seem to color up. Nice work! I would like to ask, how many days you have them and jaw much have they grown?
Paul
Hey Paul, thanks!
I went to my LFS where I bought my fish 5 weeks ago. It was really funny to see how small they were when I got them (felt like I’ve forgot how small they were). They were 2 months old at the time reaching 5 cm (2”). I think the biggest is 7.5 cm (3”) and the smallest 6.5 cm (2.5”) at the moment.
Last edited by ruudvk; 04-25-2016 at 04:14 AM.
Week 6 update:
Another week had flown by and the group is still doing great! They seem to get hungrier by the week, haha. The daily big water changes are a routine now and I am thinking about my WC schedule and method for the 150G tank.
I am having some problems with microbubbles when filling the tank. The main reason is my tap creates a pressure gradient causing my tank to cloud up (and effect the fish, heavy breathing and bubbles on the skin). Right now, the solution is a garden nozzle. Works great in a BB tank, any ideas on avoiding microbubbles in a sand bottom tank without disturbing the substrate?
Also, added some Amazon swords:
IMAG1844.jpg