Am i ready for discus now?

[Chess46]

Hi everyone,

I'm back with more questions...
My tank is now fully cycled. It was done with fish in it. My readings are.. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10. After a water change my readings are.. Ammonia .25, nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10 the next day the ammonia is back to 0. I have had 10 neon tetras and 3 gbr in there for about a month and they are in perfect health. Am I ready for discus now?

The only problem is my ph is running around 7.2
I have driftwood in the tank but it doesn't seem to help.

 

[Rhino]

You really want it to where that no matter when you test it there is no ammonia. The fact that it popped up again could mean you are still not fully cycled. Also with discus being so expensive if it was me I would give the tank more time to mature.

 

[absolutangel04]

Have you tried testing the tap water? Honestly, having .25 ammo is no big deal. I know we use it a thresh hold frequently, but .25 ammo isn't harmful. It is quite likely that your tap water has a bit of ammo in it. But, you should test the tap water to make sure. If your tap has more than .25 ammo, I suggest using Seachem Prime as a dechlorinator because it temporarily neutralizes ammo, but the ammo will be eaten up by the BB by the time the Prime wears off, so you will be good.

 

[Chess46]

At rhino: the reason for the ammonia after the water change is because my tap water has 1.0 of ammonia in it. This goes away with little time due to my bacteria.

At absolutangel: I use prime with every water change due to the high amounts of ammonia. I've never seen ammonia this high in tap water before. I moved from a place where there was no ammonia in the tap water at all so this was a shock to me. Do you know what I could do about the ph? That seems to be the only problem I'm having.

 

[absolutangel04]

Honestly, I do not think 7.2 is a problem. Most fish are really good at adapting to a stable pH, so I think its fine. I belive peat moss should help lower it, but if I was you, I wouldn't be concerned. Gbr can be crazy sensitive, so if you are keeping them without a problems, thats a really good sign. If you do want to try to lower it, you can put a bag of peat moss in the filter by the out-put so it lowers the pH and circulates it through the aquarium.
Yeah, that is pretty high ammo in the tap water, but you already know to use Prime, so I think you are ok. And the .25 reading isn't harmful to the fish.
IMO, you are ready for discus. Like I said, if you have been stable enough to keep neons and gbr, then discus should be ok.
Good luck!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

The pH is fine. Don't mess with it. Try to match it up with your seller's pH if possible to make the transition smooth.

What size tank????

 

[Rhino]

Fair enough my tap waters ammonia is 0.

 

[swimwithme]

I too have ammo in my tap water. Usually around 1ppm. I think it's mainly due to the fact that where I live is in a drought affected area.
Anyway, I agree with absoluteangel, I think you are ready for discuss as long as you have a large enough tank for them.

 

[Chess46]

It's an 80 gallon tank. I feel so much better that I don't have to mess with the ph. I'm very ready to get discus. It's been months with barely any fish in my tank which I think is awful. I am glad that my tank is cycled though.

 

[abrahamavelar]

usually these fish are captive bred and by that they have bred in and grown in a different ph level also if i was you ill drip acclimate them that will help them out and will make it easier for them and that should make them used to the ph and anything else in ur tank, also remember discus are schooling fish

 

[Chess46]

At abrahamavelar:
Could you please explain how to drip acclimate them?
Also, how many should I buy to start off?

 

[abrahamavelar]

well drio acclimation its simple what u want to do its instead of floating the fish u want to put them in a bucket then wit air tubing and if u have one of those valves to regulate the flow u could just siphon water and u could regulate u usually want about six drops per minute, when it doubles the amount of water in the bucket/container take out half and doit again when it doubles again they r ready to be put in their new home,ill try to find a vid and post it

well i would think atleast 3-5 but i dont have experience with them but being schooling fish thats my guess

 

[Chess46]

Thanks!
That would help alot!

 

[abrahamavelar]

http://youtu.be/AaEA3CDesGY but use drops between 5-6 per second 1-2 will take forever and u need to remove half of the water when the water doubles the amount u started wit and then doit one more time and after it doubles you should be good the fish will be already used to the temp, ph etc

 

[abrahamavelar]

hopefully that will help, u dont heed to buy a kit u could diy and just hold the tubbing wit a veggie clip or wit the aquarium lid