discus in a high tech planted

debaric

debaric

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I would love to have a few discus but since they dont like nitrate in their water then how do you fertilize? Also, some people talk about water changes a few times a week, which is fine, but they say to store your water in barrels. Can I not keep discus by using a Python with addition of Prime?

If anyone can help me with these questions I would appreciate it.

Chris
 
geez I dont know, they are so beautiful.. I would buy a 5 incher if they are easier to care for. So for an adult 1 large water change per week is enough? And ferts will not harm them?
 
Ferts should not harm them. The frequency of water changes depends on your water parameters. I prefer twice a week water change than weekly for discus though.
 
Discus in a planted tank is great. So, yes, discus need clean water. In a properly fertilized planted tank, you try to keep your nitrates between 5-10ppm, which actually is quite low. Sure, it's not 0, but it's pretty low. The reason you fertilize is to ensure that nitrate is available consistently.

So, EI, PPS, PMDD are all acceptable dosing plans with discus.

And Lupin is dead on, adult discus are certainly more forgiving of changes in water conditions.

How big is the tank?
 
debaric said:
I would love to have a few discus but since they dont like nitrate in their water then how do you fertilize? Also, some people talk about water changes a few times a week, which is fine, but they say to store your water in barrels. Can I not keep discus by using a Python with addition of Prime? Chris
Click to expand...

While I don't have a high tech planted, it's low tech planted, my nitrates come out of the tap anywhere from 7 to 20 in the spring when fertilizers on the farmers fields are being washed into the water table. So my nitrates are on average between 20 and 40. While the discus were young I did 2 huge water changes weekly, taking the water down to their top fins. Now that most of them are older, it's one huge water change weekly. If your tap water has a stable ph, you can probably python, add prime, temp. match and refill from the tap. I have always done this. I use municipal tap, conditioner treated, it has a stable ph of 7.6, moderately hard.

debaric said:
I would buy a 5 incher if they are easier to care for. So for an adult 1 large water change per week is enough? And ferts will not harm them?
Click to expand...

Larger discus are definitely easier to care for! One large water change a week is fine as long as you're not overstocked or overfeeding.

Lupin said:
Ferts should not harm them. The frequency of water changes depends on your water parameters.
Click to expand...

:iagree:


jmhart said:
Discus in a planted tank is great. So, yes, discus need clean water. quote]

:iagree:
Click to expand...
 
In a moderately planted tank you COULD grow out 2" discus with some close attention to detail. I do this in heavily planted tanks and have had great success. With 4 feedings per day, only feed as much as they can consume in about 20 minutes. This will ensure that the food is not sitting in the tank for too long and it will prevent you from having to go behind the discus and clean out the food that was not eaten. You'll have to experiment with that part. Never start a discus tank with a filter that is not cycled. You're going to have probelms!

Fertilizers, dosed correctly will not harm to discus. Nitrate will typically be higher with the large bioload that discus present. You may not have to dose nitrate at all so I would go with seperate fertilizer ingredients with discus so that you can adjust accordingly. As an example, I dose a 150 gallon tank with 16 discus (all grown from 2" in this tank) and I do not add phopshate. I have to add nitrate since the plants will strip the nitrate to zero in 2 days. The phosphate stays in the acceptable range for plants, so I don't dose that.

Depending on tank size, you may be able to do less water changes since you have plants. The 150 mentioned above gets one 50% water change weekly with no ill effects and the discus spawn in this tank. It's a well balanced tank and that should be the goal with discus.

Hope this helps! Best wishes.
 
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