Going to give Discus a try

[CheChe]

So, I have been wanting to get back into the aquarium hobby again after a 7 year hiatus. My last tank was a 125g mixed reef. Prior to that I had a couple of saltwater tanks and a couple freshwater community tanks.

I've always enjoyed fish in every capacity. My initial inclination was to get back into reef keeping, but I have recently become completely enthralled with the idea of keeping Discus.

Yesterday, I impulse purchased an aquarium. Not a complete impulse purchase, but...
The tank is the Fluval Roma 240. The interesting thing is that I was not able to find this tank for sale anywhere else locally or even on the internet except for on Dr. Foster and Smith where it was inordinately expensive.

When I talked to the sales clerk he said that they purchased the kit at a trade show. He said he could order more, but could not guarantee the same sale price.
Here is a pic of the tank after delivery:
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The kit included the tank (240 liters/55-60g?), stand, light, heater, and canister filter (Fluval 406).

I wanted to run it bare bottom, but there is a green sticker between the bottom frame and the glass and the gap around the drain and return standpipes is not covered by the paper that is glued to the bottom glass.

My local tap water is 250 tds. I have an RODI unit that I had from my saltwater days that I plan on using at least partially, but haven't made up my mind as to whether I should use 100% RODI and re-mineralize or mix 50/50 with tap water. Leaning toward starting with a 50/50 mix and seeing how the maintenance goes.

I have a crazy idea of gluing a thin layer of sand to the bottom with silicone to give it a natural look, but still benefit from effectively being bare bottom. Bad idea?

Also, I have this Neptune Apex AC - should I consider using it with my tank setup? It is new and still in the box. I won it at a saltwater/reef keeping society meeting.
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I'm not in a hurry to get this up and running because I want to get it set up right and make sure that I am ready for fish when I order them.

My questions:
1. Absolute must read articles that you can recommend regarding husbandry. I am not sure what I want to feed just yet. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

2. Maintenance - aside from making water, testing water parameters, feeding fish, and water changes/cleaning, what other maintenance items am I forgetting?

3. I live in San Antonio, Texas. Are there any other discus keepers out here?

4. Anybody else see this tank available in your neck of the woods?

5. Who is your favorite discus breeder/vendor?

6. What have been your greatest challenges?

7. I almost forgot! I was thinking about using window film on the back glass. In your opinion, what colors show the discus best?

[Kyla]

I think light colours show them best, esp pigeon blood discus which tend to "pepper" on dark backgrounds.

My greatest challenge was multiple water changes per week. I had a hard time accepting the frequency and % of wc needed, when all my previous fishkeeping projects involved much fewer wc. Once I accepted this husbandry need and started doing the work, discus keeping became easy.

I am in Canada, so I don't have much choice in vendors.

Read all the stickies in the beginner section. Watch this video: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?122038-Are-you-new-to-discus-WATCH-THIS-VIDEO!

I would not recommend to glue sand on the inside bottom pane of glass... I expect that would be a nightmare to clean... is it possible to get some spider wood branches and build up around where the sticker is, to hide it visually?

Bare bottom tanks are so much cleaner, it's a great to start off BB.

Freeze dried black worms are an awesome food choice for discus. You can buy them from simply discus. I recommend u get even a small pack to try, and you'll see what I mean. The discus love them.

I don't know much about TDS, but discus can handle a wide range of water parameters. Ideally, u should age and aerate your tap water in a barrel before using it in water changes. And hopefully some others can chime in on whether u actually need to cut it with RO, or if it's fine at 250 TDS. Using your regular tap water would make wc that much easier. And for how many wc they need, easier is always better!!!

[Kyla]

Ps welcome to the forum! I look forward to lots and lots of pics :))))

[CheChe]

Thanks Kyla, great points. I suspect that the water out of the tap is really hard. I haven't tested it yet, but even with a water softener I still get hard water stains on my dishes and everywhere else water touches. My like the idea of cutting my water with RODI is just to help with the overall hardness.

It is my goal to do 3-5 water changes per week. I was hoping to find a "sand"/off-white color window film for the back glass. If I find it maybe I can use it on the bottom as well.

I have a tendency of wanting to "work" on my tanks as I look at them. I suspect that I will be vacuuming out any debris in the tank multiple times a day and doing a significant (50%) in addition to that 3 or so times a week.

I am hoping to be able to feed both frozen and dry (flake or pellets). I will feed personally in the morning and evening and have a automated feeder feed a couple times during the day while I am at work. (Not exactly sure how I will set that up, but I have done this on a different tank in the past and it worked out well.)

[Kyla]

I have an autofeeder filled with loose freeze dried black worm, they love the little snacks throughout the day and seem happier with better appetites since I set it up

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi, I am new at the discus game too but I got my juvies from soneone who grows them in water twice as hard as yours (if your tds is accurate). I am gradyally gwtting them used to mine that is very soft. I would suggest you test your tapwater for pH (before and after aging it 24 hours) and nitrates at least. Ciao

[Ryan925]

Welcome and good luck. Nice looking tank.

I don't see any issue with using the apex. Actually if I had one I would use it too.

I think the biggest challenge for me was being patient in the setup of the tank. I did a lot of things wrong and had to make many costly and time consuming changes.

Take your time and plan and you will have success.

If you would like to only do a few changes per week I would start with larger fish.

Background should be a lighter color. Frosted looks nice.

Maybe favorite supplier is Kenny but you would do well with any of the sponsors in the sponsor section

[CheChe]

Thanks Kyla, Paul and Ryan, great points. I suspect that the water out of the tap is really hard. I haven't tested it yet, but even with a water softener I still get hard water stains on my dishes and everywhere else water touches. My like the idea of cutting my water with RODI is just to help with the overall hardness.

It is my goal to do 3-5 water changes per week. I was hoping to find a "sand"/off-white color window film for the back glass. If I find it maybe I can use it on the bottom as well.

I have a tendency of wanting to "work" on my tanks as I look at them. I suspect that I will be vacuuming out any debris in the tank multiple times a day and doing a significant (50%) in addition to that 3 or so times a week.

I am hoping to be able to feed both frozen and dry (flake or pellets). I will feed personally in the morning and evening and have a automated feeder feed a couple times during the day while I am at work. (Not exactly sure how I will set that up, but I have done this on a different tank in the past and it worked out well.)

[CheChe]

Sorry, I didn't realize that I sent the initial reply.

[Ryan925]

Thanks Kyla, Paul and Ryan, great points. I suspect that the water out of the tap is really hard. I haven't tested it yet, but even with a water softener I still get hard water stains on my dishes and everywhere else water touches. My like the idea of cutting my water with RODI is just to help with the overall hardness.

It is my goal to do 3-5 water changes per week. I was hoping to find a "sand"/off-white color window film for the back glass. If I find it maybe I can use it on the bottom as well.

I have a tendency of wanting to "work" on my tanks as I look at them. I suspect that I will be vacuuming out any debris in the tank multiple times a day and doing a significant (50%) in addition to that 3 or so times a week.

I am hoping to be able to feed both frozen and dry (flake or pellets). I will feed personally in the morning and evening and have a automated feeder feed a couple times during the day while I am at work. (Not exactly sure how I will set that up, but I have done this on a different tank in the past and it worked out well.)

If you are vac'ng debris out daily I don't see why a few wcs per week wouldn't be sufficient. I would probably do more than 50% though. . I do about 80% every other day in my 75

[Neptune]

I'm a little over a year into my first run at discus.

Let me give you some non-specific pointers.

1. Plan everything you can up front.
2. Figure out and IMPLEMENT the easiest way to do WC's. Everybody thinks they can carry buckets to do water changes. Well it gets real old real quick, and of course human nature, if you don't like it you won't do it.
3. By all means us the Apex.
4. They are just fish/hobby, relax use common sense and enjoy the ride.
6.Listen to the good advice on here...it will save you some headaches, heartaches and money.

[Neptune]

oh and ya, nice tank!
Can you take a picture into the cabinet so we can see how it's plumbed.

I'm into sump porn!

[CheChe]

I can't tell if I am double posting, but here goes nothing.

The drain standpide goes directly to the canister filter.
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[Ryan925]

I don't use fluval filters so I'm sure someone else can answer this. Do the hydor inline heaters work with the fluval ribbed hoses. That tank has a very clean look. Would look really clean without the heater and wire.

I recently had both my in tank heaters crap out at the same time. I replaced with the hydor inline and really like it

[Paul Sabucchi]

You can change the hoses on the 406 to regular tubing (I have on both mine - just don't like the look) but I have read on various posts about the inline heaters malfunctioning and Hydor objecting if mounted other then the "plain vanilla" way, vertical by the side of the tank.

[CheChe]

Do the hydor inline heaters work with the fluval ribbed hoses. That tank has a very clean look. Would look really clean without the heater and wire.

That would be awesome. I will have to look into that. I planned on trying to hide the heater behind the return pipe, but inline outside of the tank would be way better. Great idea.

[CheChe]

You can change the hoses on the 406 to regular tubing (I have on both mine - just don't like the look) but I have read on various posts about the inline heaters malfunctioning and Hydor objecting if mounted other then the "plain vanilla" way, vertical by the side of the tank.

If the Hydor inline heaters aren't reliable, I wonder if there are any other better options.

[Ryan925]

If the Hydor inline heaters aren't reliable, I wonder if there are any other better options.

I don't know if I'd say they are unreliable. I have read many posts where people have great experience. I suppose all heaters have a margin for failure. I was running a fluval e300 and aqueon pro 250 (about 4 months newer than fluval) and they both failed at the same time. Thankfully for my inkbird as well as my tank maintaining about 81º with the bad heaters. The hydor was the only heater I could get same day Amazon prime. It seems it's on less than what my other heaters were. I do have mine mounted vertically as it's suggested.

[CheChe]

Just curious if anyone has a piece of equipment that they think every aquarist should have. Anything that is specific to discus?

[Paul Sabucchi]

Don't know about being specific for discus but given their sensitivity to temperature variation the above mentioned Inkbird 308 is a pretty good bit of kit for the cost. Keeps the temperature within a 0.3C and beeps if it strays. Setting up my discus tank I have learned both from past experience and from this and other forums. My "better safe than sorry" approach is Schego titanium heater controlled by an STC-1000 and an Inkbird on top of that. All in it comes to about $100 that is probably twice the cost of a decent heater butit gives me peace of mind

[CheChe]

I will most likely use the Apex to turn the heater on and off regardless of which poses a whole different set of problems. Where do I put the temp and ph probes if I don't have a sump? I wonder if I can drill out the top of the return outflow pipe and drop the ph probe in there without too many problems. Hmm?????

[Neptune]

If you don't have a sump, they have to go in the tank!
Did I mention I love sumps! :evilgrin:

[CheChe]

Neptune, I might have to find someone who can make me an overflow weir and move in the direction of a sump for this tank. It would definitely help solve a few problems. It would increase my volume and give me a spot to place probes and maybe even allow for a refugium.

Is anyone running a refugium on their discus tank? Is that just asking for problems?

[farebox]

Welcome to SD my fellow San Antonio discus keeper. Willing to assist you in getting going if needed. I have an 125G bare bottom tank with an 20G DIY sump. All my current stock came from Discus Hans, also Kenny discus have been in the tank. Either one are an good choice, just can't mix Asian with German discus.

[Ryan925]

Neptune, I might have to find someone who can make me an overflow weir and move in the direction of a sump for this tank. It would definitely help solve a few problems. It would increase my volume and give me a spot to place probes and maybe even allow for a refugium.

Is anyone running a refugium on their discus tank? Is that just asking for problems?

You can buy an external overflow like an eshopps. Obviously if you haven't started your build drilling is the way to go but external is an option.

No need for a fuge

[CheChe]

Ryan, the tank is already drilled. if you notice in the pics of the tank, there are two pipes: a drain and a return. The drain goes directly to a canister filter and the return comes straight from the canister filter.

[CheChe]

Farebox, I will definitely take you up on any assistance and advice that you are willing to share. I look forward to meeting you down the road.

[farebox]

Cool, anytime, you can check out my setup just private message me.

[Neptune]

can you adapt the preexisting plumbing for a sump?

[CheChe]

can you adapt the preexisting plumbing for a sump?

I am a little concerned because the instructions for the aquarium say to NEVER remove the existing bulkheads. The are proprietary and the standpipes have strange gaskets because they go completely through the bulkead. I am a little reluctant to remove the bulkhead for fear of odd sized hole in the bottom of the aquarium for which I might not be able to find the correct size bulkhead.

so, I don't know...

[CheChe]

So, I had a couple heart attacks (not literally) this weekend.

I decided to put a frosted window film on the back and sides of the tank. In order to do so, I had to remove the paper covering the bottom of the tank. There was all sorts of black silicone holding it onto plastic tabs that were built into the bottom of the black plastic frame of the aquarium.

I didn't want to remove too much of it as some of the silicone seemed to be in the form of a foot that fit into the bottom frame.

After putting on the window film, I was disappointed because it was too transparent and didn't hide the cords behind the aquarium and the black of the stand left the bottom looking pretty dark.

I wanted to try to keep some of the window film texture, so I ended up painting over the window film with a paint that is supposed to adhere to just about anything. (PPG Breakthrough - not cheap!)

I am satisfied with the outcome even though it is not near perfect. There are a few blemishes and flaws. Things that I couldn't cover and bubbles that showed up after painting. But here is how it looks after the painting:
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