filteration, and waterchanges for discus

Jun 8, 2013
3
0
0
#1
hello all! i am new to the forum, and have a quick question. i would like to create a 90 gallon discus tank featuring about 6-8 small discus fish. this will be an unplanted display tank, with a fluval fx 5, stocked with Chemi-Pure, and seachem matrix. in addition, i will use an Aqueon pro-flex 3, 20 gallon sump, as a refugium stocked with freshwater miracle mud, and alot of hornwort to attack nitrates. i will also put more seachem matrix in the return chamber of the sump. return pump will be a magdrive 5, and estimated sump waterflow turnover rate approx 4 times per hour. now using this setup along with the fx5, how frequently, and how much water would i have to change to keep those discuss happy?
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#2
Nice to see you here too mrmagic. Welcome.

I would say you've got extremely ambitious filtration plans. Awesome plans BTW!

What is your total stocking plan going to be for this 90g? That (and water parameter measurement) will determine how often and how much water you'd need to change out I'd think.

I think most fish keepers will concur that plants and filtration help your water parameters, but partial water changes are still required.

I gotta say one thing.. based on the recommendations you got on another site, there's NO WAY I'd be able to support the needs of discus. Five 50% water changes per week on a NINETY gallon tank?!? Whoa.
 

Last edited:
Jun 8, 2013
3
0
0
#3
Thanks so much fresh! And yes, I'm going in deep on the filtration! In addition to water stability, the fx5 with sump combo will also come in useful when I finally get my hands on the 150g tank of my dreams sometime next year! Plus I'm of the mindset, that if ONE experiences mechanical failure, I am going to be GLAD I have backup. As far the discus fish, MAN I WANT TO DO A FULL DISCUSS TANK WITH 6-8 of these AWESOME CREATURES! I think that they may be the most ELEGANT freshwater fish on the market!!! But from what I'm reading, I may have to change up my gameplan. I have read of guys doing 60-80 percent water changes MULTIPLE TIMES PER WEEK! I am far from lazy, but my work schedule will not accommodate the time to do more than ONE weekly water change. I have seen guys set up there systems to accomplish automated water changes on a pre-timed basis. I think for larger tanks, that would be a pretty good way to go! But I am weighing the decision, and worst case scenario, I can always just choose a different species of fish for now, and revisit the discus thing again when I get the bigger, and MORE AUTOMATED tank setup
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#4
I understand that discus are sensitive to water quality, but I have a hard time believing 6-8 discus in a 90g tank would require more than one partial water change per week.

I hear you on the multiple WC's per week. There's no way I'd want to get involved with that.

Hopefully some of our more experienced tankologists will chime-in on this. I know some have owned discus. Like I say, I know discus require a bit more resources than your typical run of the mill FW fish, but I think the multiple weekly thing is excessive.
 

Jun 8, 2013
3
0
0
#5
Well said my friend! I think part of all of this (from what I've read) is that the discus was not held in mainstream captivity until the early 1980s. As such, you had several generations of discus that were very sensitive about the tank water. Nowadays you have many discus that come from a lineage of TANK RAISED AND BRED backgrounds, so they are not so finicky as in past years. To my understanding, unless the discuss is small, and in early growth stage, you simply do not need to do inordinate amount of WC per week on an already clean and stabilized system. So I will continue to research this further, becuase I REALLY WANT THOSE FISH MAN!