Discus food recipe?

[Mario424]

I am starting a 75 gallon discus tank soon. I was wondering If I could make this at home and feed it to them.

 

[Malawi Freak]

Would probably just be easier to buy nls. You could do this but by the time you're getting to the end of your supply it won't be good anymore.

 

[Fallout801]

I would suggest it. Though make sure it is sealed and maybe even double bagged so it doesn't freezer burn. Also make sure you keep an eye on your water and change regularly. It will promote a higher amount of ammonia and even with very rapid nitrification it will leave you with many nitrates. My discus love this recipe so much that they prefere it over blood worms or any flake. They became very partial to it so I had to stop feeding it for a week or 2. Heres some of my discus I raised for breeding

 

[Mario424]

Wow thank you and your discus are beautiful. I am thinking of having 5-7 discus in this tank and that is it (no other tank mates). Now when you say do regular water changes how often is that.

 

[Mario424]

Also I was going to cut that recipe In half so it won't go to waste.

 

[Fallout801]

I don't believe it would go to waste. I feed VERY heavy and I don't clean up the scraps they don't eat. This resulted in me changing my water every 2 days. If you feed moderately I would still suggest a once or twice a week though

 

[Mario424]

Oh that's not bad a was expecting you too say like everyday do a 50% wc

 

[Fallout801]

Hahaha. No. That would suck.

 

[Mario424]

Ok thanks for the info. Can I know your water parameters, and I want to get an emperor 400 and a marineland c360 do a 75 gallon tank would this be good

 

[Fallout801]

Sure. I use conditioned tap water. Hard water with a 7.6 ph. I kept my tank at 84 but it's currently at 82. The higher temp will make the discus eat more but will also allow oxygen to leave the water quicker and cause food to spoil sooner. As for filtration. Buy a test kit and keep an eye on it. It will vary greatly depending on how much and how often you feed. I have a 300 GPH canister filter that is more than adequate yet doesn't quite suffice spending how how I'm feeding. I recently took a gamble and put a colony of 10 wild caught hypancistrus in the bottom of my discus tank which increased my bioload.... But since I over fed already not much changed because just cleaned up what my discus didn't get to quick enough

 

[Mario424]

Alright in my tank I will have 760 gallons of flow so I think that would be good

 

[Malawi Freak]

Sure. I use conditioned tap water. Hard water with a 7.6 ph. I kept my tank at 84 but it's currently at 82. The higher temp will make the discus eat more but will also allow oxygen to leave the water quicker and cause food to spoil sooner. As for filtration. Buy a test kit and keep an eye on it. It will vary greatly depending on how much and how often you feed. I have a 300 GPH canister filter that is more than adequate yet doesn't quite suffice spending how how I'm feeding. I recently took a gamble and put a colony of 10 wild caught hypancistrus in the bottom of my discus tank which increased my bioload.... But since I over fed already not much changed because just cleaned up what my discus didn't get to quick enough

300 gph? What kind of canister is that? Seems very low to me.

 

[HUKIT]

I recently took a gamble and put a colony of 10 wild caught hypancistrus in the bottom of my discus tank which increased my bioload.

Not to side track but considering wild caught L46's and others in that genus sell for $200-300 each I'd love to see some pictures this.

 

[Paxlerod]

Not to side track but considering wild caught L46's sell for $200-300 each I'd love to see some pictures this.

Definitely need to see these.

 

[Mario424]

I live in Charlotte NC. The ph of my water is at 8.0. What is the best way to get it down to 7.0 or lower

 

[Fallout801]

Playing with your water is a big process unless you have an RO unit. I would suggest some peat moss in your filter to help lower it. Easiest and cheapest way. Unless you are buying wild caught discus a ph in the 7s should be fine. My hypans are salt queens. I have had queen arabesques in with them as well though they are basically the same fish. They are closer to the 100 dollar mark instead of 200+.

 

[Mario424]

Would I have to add anything to the water if I get an ro system

 

[Fallout801]

You would want to mix your RO with a little dechlorinated tap water. The ratio will depend on your water and what you would desire your ph to be. It's unsafe to use only RO water for your discus or any fish because the water is so soft ph can extremely fluctuate and crash. Also nitrification is said to cease in water around and below a ph of 5.0

 

[Mario424]

So my ph is around 8.2. What is the ph of ro water. Sorry this is really confusing to me :/

 

[Fallout801]

The amount of minerals in the water determines how soft or hard it is. The hardness of the water determines how safely you can alter the ph. The key to RO water is that its basically as soft as soft gets. The softer the water though the easier the ph is manipulated and changed. You could have a ph of 6.0 with pure RO water but because there are no minerals to affect ph change the smallest change in parameters could completely crash your tank. Drift wood, plants and feces as well as wasted food become acidic and will drop your ph very slightly in medium hard water. The reason you mix RO water and tap water is because you are taking dangerous 0% hardness water and 100 %unchangable (tap) hardness water and creating a safer 50% water. That's not even close to the true math of it but should demonstrate the basic principles. I suggest like I said, use a little peat moss in your filter. It will soften your water and drop the ph. My discus grew up and are breeding great in 7.6 ph and medium hard water