Bree's Discus Tank Build Thread

i wouldn't worry to much about a drop of a few degrees at night, it's mostly PH and other water parameters fluctuating that should cause worry. temp drops at night would be natural for them, BUT, it is always good to have their environment as stable as possible.

what brand of heater are you using?
 
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what type thermometer?
is is a probe?
is it mounted in the tank?
or is it an external thermometer?

typically the temp drops a bit at night if the heater /heaters are large enough they should be able to compensate.. but if they are not then thetank temp might drop a bit.

the temps you are describing should not be a problem.
 
I agree they should be ok but it might be good to get another heater. Many people use 2 slightly smaller heaters. It should be keeping the tank at the same temp. I had a Stealth that worked for discus temps for months then it just didn't keep up, it came on but the temp was lower than it had been keeping it. I'm going to try Jaegers next, kensfish has good prices & foods too..

Yes, we'd love to have updates on your pretty babies!
 
I would think about a second heater...not because of the drop in temps at night, but that way you have a backup. If one stops working, you got number 2 doing the job.

Can't wait to see the babies after their first week! I love the FTS...nice colors in those fish. I would post pics of mine, but I am battling BBA bad in my show tank. It looks like
crap and I am so disgusted with it!!

Anyway I am glad ur guys are doing well and look forward to updates!!
 
KingOfTheDeep said:
i wouldn't worry to much about a drop of a few degrees at night, it's mostly PH and other water parameters fluctuating that should cause worry. temp drops at night would be natural for them, BUT, it is always good to have their environment as stable as possible.

what brand of heater are you using?
Click to expand...

Thanks,
the PH and other water params are all really stable- so that's good. I won't worry as much about the temp. I figured in the wild the temp must drop at night, so it seems natural to.. although I will try to keep the fluctuation as minimal as posible.

The heaters I use (one in the aging container and one in the tank) are Elite 300watts.

Star_Rider said:
what type thermometer?
is is a probe?
is it mounted in the tank?
or is it an external thermometer?

typically the temp drops a bit at night if the heater /heaters are large enough they should be able to compensate.. but if they are not then thetank temp might drop a bit.

the temps you are describing should not be a problem.
Click to expand...

I have two thermometers. 1 is the suction kind that sticks to the inside of the glass. The second is the sticker kind which was applied to the outside. Both show the same temperature results.

fishorama said:
I agree they should be ok but it might be good to get another heater. Many people use 2 slightly smaller heaters. It should be keeping the tank at the same temp. I had a Stealth that worked for discus temps for months then it just didn't keep up, it came on but the temp was lower than it had been keeping it. I'm going to try Jaegers next, kensfish has good prices & foods too..

Yes, we'd love to have updates on your pretty babies!
Click to expand...

I'll look in to buying a third heater so I have two in my tank and one in the aging container. I've heard great things about the Jaegers! Let me know how it works for you! :)
stephcps said:
I would think about a second heater...not because of the drop in temps at night, but that way you have a backup. If one stops working, you got number 2 doing the job.

Can't wait to see the babies after their first week! I love the FTS...nice colors in those fish. I would post pics of mine, but I am battling BBA bad in my show tank. It looks like
crap and I am so disgusted with it!!

Anyway I am glad ur guys are doing well and look forward to updates!!
Click to expand...

Good idea, steph. I'm really enjoying these guys- can't wait to post the 1 week pictures! The Altum Flora has completely changed and is showing his more accurate, lighter colors. Finally.

The white butterfly is more than enthusiastic about everything in the tank, and the albino is by far the bravest. It looks like they're trying to work out a pecking order, and currently it's between the biggest guy, the altum flora, and the second biggest, one of the checkerboard pigeons. We'll see! The blue diamond is the shyest, but he's coming out more and more. Overall, they are a great group of discus.

Today I got a container of PRIME water conditioner and two prefilter sponges. Removed the intakes off of the tubes and put the sponges on. They seem to be working awesome so far. Just didn't want to have all of that left over food up in my filter media.. it slowed the flow down a little as well, which is nice.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be able to remove one of the HOB's and rely mainly on the sponge filters. And eventually take off the second HOB. Too loud! Right now the sponge filters are just sitting in the tank (without air pumping through- it made too much flow) and hopefully collecting tons of beneficial bacteria so I can start using them once I remove the first HOB.
 
Bree7 said:
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be able to remove one of the HOB's and rely mainly on the sponge filters. And eventually take off the second HOB. Too loud! Right now the sponge filters are just sitting in the tank (without air pumping through- it made too much flow) and hopefully collecting tons of beneficial bacteria so I can start using them once I remove the first HOB.
Click to expand...

I would not do that. I would keep at least one HOB unless you can do large WC everyday. Put an airstone inside the sponge filter if the bubble is too big or loud.
 
DiscusOnly said:
I would not do that. I would keep at least one HOB unless you can do large WC everyday. Put an airstone inside the sponge filter if the bubble is too big or loud.
Click to expand...

Actually, I meant that the HOB's were too loud. What is the reason for keeping the HOB's if I may ask?
 
DiscusOnly said:
Running sponge filters only on growing discus (usually mean heavy feeding) requires large daily wc.
Click to expand...

Good point. Although, I'm currently doing one 50% wc daily, and three 25% changes after feedings.

However, I may wait until they are all around 5" to remove the second HOB.

Does that sound like a good plan? Thanks much for all of the great insight.
 
I never had a HOB on my juvie tank. It is to each her own! As long as you have a couple of big ones (Sponges) in the tank, are doing daily water changes anyway...you will be fine.
Many argue you don't even have to have cycled media if you do daily water changes, and really you are doing 3 changes a day, a big one and 2 smaller ones. I would do an entire tank wipe down once a week, to get the slime off, take the sponge filters out and give them a good cleaning. That was about it. If I raised the temp more than 86 degrees, I would drop an airstone in as well.

Steph
 
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