How long to cycle a tank before adding discus?

[MattB]

Hello again, sorry another pretty basic question coming up :).

Just wondering whats the recommended time to cycle a tank before adding discus.

My tank has been going for 26 days now. I have added commercially prepared bacteria (Cycle) roughly once every 2 weeks and have been water changing about 20% every week. I added 10 neons on day 7, 15 on day 18, and 4 corys today (day 26). I am planning to add discus next weekend (day 35) and I am just questioning if this is safe or not?

My water params are as follows:
Amm 0
Nit 0
Nitrate (no test kit :()
pH 6.7
dh 3

I am planning to add 2 juvenile turqs first- i know they like to be in groups but I am not prepared to risk the money and lives of the fish if something goes wrong, i will later add more. Any advice on when it is safe to add discus would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Matt

[MattB]

Sorry tank size is:

120cm x 45cm x 35cm (48" x 18" x 35")

189L (50 gal)

Thanks again.

[Mulisha]

Well what u need to be carefull with it over loading the bio load you have. So adding 2 discus should be ok.
I would suggest before buying your discus you test your Nitrate.

When a tank has fully cycled is when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a a reading of nitrate.

If you don't have a reading of nitrate your tank hasn't been cycled yet.

A high temp like 30 would be good for young discus and lots of w/c and heaps of food.

A temp of 30 is good becuase diseases don't like high temps.

You should do as many w/c and largest possible % as much as possible becuase discus can't have to many i promise :wink: (Ask Ben) LOL

Good luck mate and ask as mnay questions as you like becuase we are all happy to answer them. 8-)

:D

[taksan]

Get a nitrate test kit
if its showing Nitrate that will show you if its cycled.

[Ben]

Get a nitrate test kit
if its showing Nitrate that will show you if its cycled.

Its that simple!!

Once you test and get Na its tickety boo! you can add fish after a %70 WC!

[MattB]

Thanks a lot for all the advice :)

Forgot to post that my temp is 29C.

I'll look into getting a nitrate kit sometime soon. The only reason I dont have one is I have been trying to save money while i set this tank up, being a student I have quite limited funds :).

I'm planning to do 1-2 x 30% water changes a week, this is the maximum I can do because of time constraints :(.

Thanks again, and if there is anything else I should know please tell me.