Aquarium advice master
Aquarium Advice Activist
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2012
- Messages
- 146
Ok thanks
I would base the percent and frequency of water changes on the bioload and changes in the parameters. You need to do daily testing to determine how much nitrate is generated per day and over a period of days. From there you will get a better picture of how much and how often. Each tank is different.
I like the nitrate reactor idea. Of course it does not replace PWCs but it helps. A heavily planted tank is a natural approach to managing nitrate.
The main reason that some discus owners say do a 50% water change a day is that they are feeding beef heart to them. This is a notoriously messy food for a notoriously messy eater. If you are feeding beef heart then I would probably recommend a fairly large water change directly after the discus have finished eating otherwise it will ruin your water quality rapidly. Depending on the aize and dimensions of your tank I would probably say 2 water changes a week as a starting point would be good with regular water tests. You may find as time goes on that you can drop the frequency back to a water change a week. This is what I tend to do on my main tank which has discus in it and the params are fine.