First Discus

2 heaters are better than one.

Are these adult or juvenile?

Get aclimating instructions from the breeder, either drip in tank water to the holding bucket or grab and put in the tank once temp is matched.

Generally heat to 88 and salt for the first few days. Slowly, lower by 1 degree a day to 84 - 86. You may want to add insulation to the back and bottom of the tank to hold the temp better.

do a lot of research!

Discus tank... lucky you! Someday I'd like a tank like yours.
Get ready for some serious water changes - every couple days at least.
I agree that you might want to have two heaters, and keep the temperature a bit higher than 83. Everything I've read about discus seems to indicate that they like to be kept at 85-86F.

I agree with the others, you should be aiming for higher temperatures, they help discus ward off diseases by giving their immune system a boost; I try to keep my tanks between 84F and 86F. Anything under 82F is hazardous for their health and pretty playing a game of who will get sick first, 82F, IMO is too low for young, new fish.

Also, why do you want to lower your pH? What is it now.

In most cases, you want to leave the pH alone. Especially avoiding any chemical means, they are generally not stable and cause more harm than good. If you are just keeping discus, a pH of 8 and in many cases, up to 9 does not generally effect the fish's health as long as proper acclimation proceders are taken.

Originally posted by PumaWard
Also, why do you want to lower your pH? What is it now.

In most cases, you want to leave the pH alone. Especially avoiding any chemical means, they are generally not stable and cause more harm than good. If you are just keeping discus, a pH of 8 and in many cases, up to 9 does not generally effect the fish's health as long as proper acclimation proceders are taken.

Click to expand...

I agree with Pumaward, although pH in the high above 8 will increase the chance of problems. Discus need low pH / very soft water for breeding -- to get viable eggs and fry.

It is best to buy your fish from breeders with similar pH/ KH if possible.

Originally posted by NikkO
My pH is at 7.4 and the breeder that i am getting the discus from is i think around 6.5-6.9. When I get them, I will probably put small amounts of my water into their bag so that they can get used to it before i let them go.

Click to expand...

I'll let other experts answer, but here's my
2 cents -- adding water to the bag method
won't make a difference, but if it makes you feel better, by all means do it

If there is a big pH difference, an option is to add ro / distilled water to lower the pH of your tank, then over a few weeks add less ro water and use 100% tap water. That may not even be
necessary. I suggest you go to simplydiscus.com or daah.info -- spend a few hours reading searching and reviewing the posts. Also, ask your breeder for advice. Good luck and keep us posted!

You might want to add peat to the filter to both lower the pH and make the water softer. Plus it'll add trace elements to the water which the discuss will enjoy.

IMO unless you intend breeding in that tank there is no point in lowering ph 7.4 to 6.5-6.9. The very low pH's are mainly for developing/hatching eggs.

Acclimating them to your conditions will help tremendously when you are doing all those water changes. My tap is around 7.6 (thankfully soft, though) so I just drag a garden hose in for a fill up when I change the water.
You can jump through hoops chasing parameters if that is what you want to do- but it is not necessary for happy display fish.
Breeding fish- yes. Display fish- no.

I would encourage you to stock up and accustom them to a very wide variety of foods, and add vitamin supplements like Selcon to one type daily. My Discus eat every frozen food I can find, plus spirulina, nori, shelled peas, minced seafood bits, and live blackworms. Some folks think live foods are dangerous, but I get mine from Aquatic Foods each month and find them to be completely safe. They are specifically raised for food, are very clean, and easy to keep. I feed them to everything aquatic that I keep and think the results are excellent.

Keeping the water pristine will be your main concern. And again- the easier you make it for yourself with regard to pH the more likely you are to do it often.

And yes- keep the temps up. Minimum 85ºF

They are beautiful fish and not at all as difficult as some would like you to believe.
Enjoy them!

my understanding is that plants will do ok in temperatures up to 82-83 or so and healthy plants will improve the water quality enough that the lower temperatures are not as big an issue.

one thing you could do if your big tank is going to be planted is to have a bare bottomed 30 gallon tank to grow them out if you get very small fish. that way they arn't as lost in all the space and can find the food you put in easyer and the extra food is easy to remove.

when they have grown abit and become adapted to your water you can move them to the big tank.