Water Changes Poll

[africandiscus]

Regarding water changes, how often?

[Proteus]

1-2 times a week (usually 1)

300L approx each change (35-40%)

[parasite]

Daily water changes,

approx 200ltr

[Proteus]

to get more of an idea of what everyone really does...

post approx litres changed as well...

since the bigger the tank the less changes are needed (but in return, bigger water changes are needed)

[lesley]

In litres, don't know - too much!!! I generally now do every second day approx 8" from the top of the tank. I found that mine did not like waiting for a longer period and then doing a larger change. I do have unstable water though, so larger changes affect them more.

Lesley

[Billy]

Daily W/C 80 ltrs

only around 10% of total water!
Is this enough ?

[kalebjarrod]

i'm bakc to 149ltrs every second day, every day if i can

490 ltrs tank :wink:

[A1pryo]

220 lts twice a week.

Combined tanks capacity 1100lts.

[D.J]

I do 35 lts every second day.

Tank capacity is 150 lts.

[Caleb]

I change 50 litres once every two weeks on a 430 litre display tank. I have used this method for about 12 months now and the discus are doing fine. i never expect them to breed in these conditions, but they seem happy, healthy and are growing well.

[Dave76]

I aim for about 200l twice a week on my Discus tank (about 30%) although sometimes depending on work it is only once a week.

Dave

[Del]

I'm very new at this! I bought my first discuss on saturday (2 baby checkerboards). They are having a great time playing hide and seek with me as I have a few driftwoods, plants, etc on a gravel floor. I am hoping they will love me soon and come out to play...!?

Facts - 150lt tank with a large canister filter, water at 7PH, temp at 28, peat for softness (floating on the side in a stocking - very technical, I know).

I have previously kept community fish (last 2 years) so the tank is fairly established. I have kept my dwarf gourami, one corydora and 8 cardinal tetras to accompany my discuss.

I have devoured the forum for the last 3 days and have a learnt a few things I didn't know (funny that) but I still have a few questions (pardon my obvious ignorance as you read them please)...

WATER... I should be doing a 20% WC twice a week with aged water of the same temperature. (so did not know I had to do this...)
Questions 1. "will filling a large bucket with water the night before and dangling in a heater be the way to go - or can I get away with no heater and add boiling water to get it to the right temperature at time of change?" 2. "my tap water PH is about 7.8 so do I add PH-Down at each change?" 3. "how often do I use the gravel vacuum tube? Does the gravel need to be cleaned as well at each change or just the water?"

FEEDING... I should vary their diet.
Questions 1. "one cube of frozen Fish Dinner in the morning and one cube of frozen Blood Worm at night be sufficient?" 2. "should I include dry food as well?" 3. "is a treat of frozen Brine Shrimp once a fortnight be enough?"

FILTER CLEANING... I should rinse the canister filter in a bucket of water taken from the tank every 6-8 weeks.
Questions 1. "if I get another 2 discuss will this need to be rinsed every month?"

TANKMATES...
Questions 1. "Should I get another 5 or so corydoras to help clean the gravel in the tank?" 2. " What other fish can I get to make it look like there are actually some life in my tank (the old hide and seek is not that exciting really)"

Apologies for all the above, but any help would be of great help and then I can pretend to know what I am doing... ! Maybe a "dummies guide to not killing your discuss" manual would be the answer for a novice like me...?

[ctvu]

I have devoured the forum for the last 3 days and have a learnt a few things I didn't know (funny that) but I still have a few questions (pardon my obvious ignorance as you read them please)...

Welcome to DF, we’re all here to learn and help each other.
I’ll try to answer you as much as I can, and maybe the other will help you as well.



WATER... I should be doing a 20% WC twice a week with aged water of the same temperature. (so did not know I had to do this...)
To me I do 30%-50% WC every second day, The more the better.


Questions 1. "will filling a large bucket with water the night before and dangling in a heater be the way to go - or can I get away with no heater and add boiling water to get it to the right temperature at time of change?"
I put an airstone and one heater in the large drum try to match the same temp with tank.


2. "my tap water PH is about 7.8 so do I add PH-Down at each change?" 3. "how often do I use the gravel vacuum tube? Does the gravel need to be cleaned as well at each change or just the water?"

I am not worried much about using the buffer, as long as it does not swing too much, as you said before ph=7 so it should be fine. My tank is bare bottom so I can’t answer you that. Note that BB is so much easy for you take care of the food left over and the waste.


FEEDING... I should vary their diet.
Questions 1. "one cube of frozen Fish Dinner in the morning and one cube of frozen Blood Worm at night be sufficient?" 2. "should I include dry food as well?" 3. "is a treat of frozen Brine Shrimp once a fortnight be enough?"


It really depends on what size of your fish. When young you need to feed them more frequent with small amount 4-5 times per day and so on. My foods are colour bit, blood worm and beef heart.



FILTER CLEANING... I should rinse the canister filter in a bucket of water taken from the tank every 6-8 weeks.
Questions 1. "if I get another 2 discuss will this need to be rinsed every month?"
Mine I clean every 2 months maybe I am a bit slack I should clean more often


TANKMATES...
Questions 1. "Should I get another 5 or so corydoras to help clean the gravel in the tank?" 2. " What other fish can I get to make it look like there are actually some life in my tank (the old hide and seek is not that exciting really)"

Sorry I don’t have tank mate.

HTH

ctvu

[DiscusMan]

I have abotu 2500 litre central setup and change between 200 and 400 litres a day depending on time.

On inside tank of 860 litres i do 50% once a week.

Wayne

[chris]

Sounds like we go through a few litres, at least we all water our gardens. :P :twisted: :roll: :wink:

[mistakes r crucial]

12 tank grow out system and change 3000 litres every other day, around 80%. I fiddle around with the breeding system trying different things but generally change 2-4 times per week, 2000 litres per change.

I bet the local councils love us Discus keepers/breeders, I cringe every time I see a council vehicle in our cul de sac.
MAC