Am i ready for discus

[dpgc4life]

Hey, ive currently got a tank with geos in there and im wanting to make the move to discus.

KH : 3
GH : 4
PH : 6.6
Nitrite : 0 ppm
Nitrate : 20 ppm
Ammonia : 0 ppm

are these figures suitable to keep discus ?

[Merrilyn]

Sounds good to me.

How long has the tank been running ?

Will you move the geos out or are they small enough to stay in with the discus ?

[dpgc4life]

Hey M, the tank has been running for a few years now so it is well cycled. i will be removigng all the geos and placing in another tank.

i will keep a close eye on my water parameters b4 placing discus in the tank

[Merrilyn]

Then it's all good.

Go for it.

You'll love having discus. They're much more interactive with their owner than geos.

[samir]

They're much more interactive with their owner than geos.

do you mean owner, or the piece of food in the owner's hand ? :lol: :lol:

[Merrilyn]

Could just be that they associate their owner with food all the time LOL

[dpgc4life]

Any ideas as to where i can get myself some good quality discus ? ( in melb )

[axl]

Hey,
go down to Finland Aquarium on a weekend and ask for Ravi and tell him your on the forum. He will look after you in price as he dii for me. I purchased 12 discus from him about 4 months ago and they are all quality fish. I travelled 3 hours from Horsham to get discus and every time Im in Melbourne i call in there and see what he has got in stock, generally I walk out of there with no money in the account. ha ha ha. Cheers Axl

[valkyrie]

Hey, ive currently got a tank with geos in there and im wanting to make the move to discus.

KH : 3
GH : 4
PH : 6.6
Nitrite : 0 ppm
Nitrate : 20 ppm
Ammonia : 0 ppm

are these figures suitable to keep discus ?

Discus don't like Nitrate I would try to get that down before I put in the discus IMHO.

Cheers

[apistodiscus]

Nitrate up to about 25 mg/l has no adverse effect on juvenile discus and you can go as high as 40mg/l with adults. The tank's good to go

[dpgc4life]

thanks. whats the prefered level of nitrate ? whats the best way to reduce it ?

[samir]

the lesser the better < 10 is a good number.i wouldn't go over 20. water changes to reduce, unless your tap water has more nitrates than your aquarium.

[apistodiscus]

The less nitrate the better. It's the same with all pollutants.
Best way to keep nitrates low is to perform frequent water changes. But check your tapwater first. It might be high in nitrates already.
Re-mineralized RO water is best

[dpgc4life]

Re-mineralized RO ?

Im running 2 x eheim 2217 in my 4x2x2 which the discus are going to go in. I havent cleaned the canisters for about 6 months, are they due for a clean ?

[ILLUSN]

yes they are!!! i do mine once a month!

[apistodiscus]

Re-mineralized RO ?
Pure RO water is not really stable enough and you will risk a pH crash. There are several ways to re-mineralize RO water. You can either mix it with tapwater until you have your desired water parameter. Not really suitable if your tapwater is high in nitrates or phosphates.

There are numerous products on the market as well. I use thae stuff made by Preis but I don't know if that's available outside Europe. I am sure API and Sachem probably fo similar products

[dpgc4life]

hey Illusn, shoud i be replaacing my filter media ?

i might need ot do some more reading on RO water.

[ILLUSN]

I'd just give it a clean in a bucket of tank water. the only i replace monthly is the white fine filter wool. everything else just needs a good dunk and rinse. with 2 filter you can clean one one week end and the other a week later so theres no signicant drop in your biofiltration.

[Merrilyn]

Definately don't replace all your filter media.

The bacteria that convert fish waste to harmless nitrate are living in there, and you don't want to disturb them.

You can carefully remove your filter wool and replace that, but the rest of your media, the noodles or bio balls or whatever else only need to be rinsed in old tank water (water straight from the tap will kill the bacteria) and put back in the canister with the new filter wool.

Don't do both filters at the same time. Do one, and the next week do the other one, or you will find you will have an ammonia spike.

Clean your filters about once a month or so, and you'll always have lovely clean water.

[Merrilyn]

LOL we must have been writing at the same time ILLUSN.

[dpgc4life]

thanks guys.

will do one this week and measure my water again.

Do you guys replace the water straite from the tap. i get my garden hose and pop it straight into the tank.

[Merrilyn]

That's a bit of a risk.

How do you maintain the temperature of the water ?

[ILLUSN]

Do you guys replace the water straite from the tap

no I age and treat mine for 24hrs before it goes anyware near my tanks.

[samir]

Do you guys replace the water straite from the tap. i get my garden hose and pop it straight into the tank.

I used to do that, then one day they all went belly up.

[apistodiscus]

Depends how much water you change. 10% straight from the tap won't make much of a difference, 50%, however, would.

[dpgc4life]

how do i age 130 L of water. i would need 30 buckets ?

[ILLUSN]

where are you located? 13o isn't too bad i used to use a spare 4foot tank for that. get yourself a water aging barel from a home brew shop or some place similar. you fish will really notice the differance.

[samir]

just make sure you get healthy fish to start with, don't feel sorry for the small one. they should be begging for food each time you approach the tank, if they don't, don't buy them. imo that's the most important part if you're starting out.

a uv steriliser is also a good idea.