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Clearing up Discus Myths (Need Help!)

12K views 55 replies 7 participants last post by  Roberacer1 
#1 · (Edited)
hi i am starting to get a bit more serious about keeping discus. already bought over $350 worth of them. and its about time to protect my investment.

the guy i bought some of the discus from gave me some useful advice. i am not sure if they are true but i would like some of you to clear things up for me and give me some of your advice.

first of all he told me to get a RO/DI unit. (i am thinking if RO is good enough)

next he told me to get UV sterilizer to decrease risks of parasites and such.

he also told me not to use a power head in the tank (my tank is 75gal and the owner at the LFS told me to buy his power head to increase water flow)

also he told me not to use air pump/air stone with discus because it is not needed. (even with a canister filter)

he also said there should not be anything in the filter other than aquarium filter floss. no ceramic rings or anything for that matter.

this is all very confusing please give me your thoughts.
i can follow everything on that list but first i would like some advice.
i am already saving up for a RO unit or a UV sterilizer, which one would be more important?

also i heard adding aquarium salt is god for them. how much is enough?
 
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#44 ·
ill go take a look there. i never purchased a discus from aquapets before. i dont really like their selection. and i always go there at the wrong time, when they dont have many left or when a shipment just arrive and its still under quarantine
 
#54 ·
Discus Myths

I noticed a post earlier in regard to a few Seachem products. "Discus Buffer" definitely brought the PH down and softened the water in my tank. I have now this issue that my tank likes to grow red algae. This is really bad for plants not to mention that in any real amount "Red" (AKA Black Beard or hair) algae emits significant toxins into the water. Discus Buffer is a phosphate based product. My phosphate levels were off the scale. Which encourages algae growth. red was growing at least on par if not better than the green (good) algae. Phosguard city to say the least. I always used peat but switched Discus Buffer for Acid Buffer (non phosphate). The red is starting to go away and green (algae and plants) is slowly taking it's place. Ph is down and water is starting to soften again. I let it get hard when I stopped using Discus Buffer a few months back before I went Acid Buffer. Was hoping the Peat would be enough by itself. It isn't. The plants didn't like the hard water and I don't think the fish did either.

"Prime" and "Safe" were also mentioned. They are almost the same product. One is granular instead of liquid and much more concentrated. In a basic sense these are to remove the chems (primarily chloramine and/or floramine) that the city adds to the water to make it safe for us to drink as well as try to kill anything living in it (our fish). If you are using one of these products in tap water why are you letting it stand for days? Temperature...OK but PH and hardness (the main differences between our water and "Blackwater") aren't being effected one bit by that alone. I am not sure if you can overdose with that stuff but I am Leary of that. When in doubt follow the directions on the label I always say.

RO you do know that if you only use RO water in your tank unless you replenish the trace elements your fish will eventually all die... right? (Check out Osmotic shock) Like us they need vitamins and minerals too. We get them mostly from our food but they get them mostly from their water. If you like Seachem they make a product called Discus Trace for that very purpose. Incidentally, Seachem states on their web site that Salt is not usable for Discus as they are not very tolerant of it. In truth their waters are about the least brackish on the plant. That makes sense. Does anyone know what one should use to replenish minerals in a planted Discus tank. Discus Trace says that it only adds what the fish need. RO or in my case chemical dissipation depletes the water of these very necessary elements so we need to add them back. With what? I've been using Equalibrium only because I don't know of anything else but I have to keep dissipating that in order to keep the hardness down.
 
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