Hammerhead
Sun May 13, 2007, 01:50 PM
Hello from southwest Louisiana. I've gotten "back" into fish after being without a tank for 30-ish years. As a favor to a friend, I bought his used 60-gallon tank who wanted to switch to saltwater. The tank sat idle for a few years. I got a 60-gallon tank, nice wood stand, three air pumps, Eheim 2217 cannister, and Eheim 2215 canister ... for $150. Some parts were missing from the cannisters and after spending nearly twice that much just to get the system up and running ... I'm just a couple of days into cycling the tank with a half-dozen neons and two albino cories. I had three cories, but one got sucked up the intake before I realized it. Quickly cutting a piece out of a $3 filter and securing it to the bottom of the intake saved the others from suction-death!
Anyway ... the local fish folks have a new stock of Discus arriving in the next few weeks. I plan on getting 5. I have to admit ... I'm nervous. My biggest concern is my tap water. The water is moderately hard to hard and comes out at a pH of 7.5 to 7.6. Until I get a better handle on this, I'm stuck using chemicals to reduce the pH. I'd rather do this "naturally", but for right now this is my short-term plan.
Anyway ... the local fish folks have a new stock of Discus arriving in the next few weeks. I plan on getting 5. I have to admit ... I'm nervous. My biggest concern is my tap water. The water is moderately hard to hard and comes out at a pH of 7.5 to 7.6. Until I get a better handle on this, I'm stuck using chemicals to reduce the pH. I'd rather do this "naturally", but for right now this is my short-term plan.