Wattley on Discus

[itafx]

I saw an article from Jack Wattley in the Jan 08 issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. He was recommending 40-50% wc's daily for Discus.

I'm thinking about getting into Discus, but I couldn't imagine the feasibility of doing manual wcs like I do at that frequency and of that size.

So I thought, maybe I could automate it with a skimmer and auto topoff device, and pump. At $100+ for each of the 3 elements, that didn't seem realistic either.

So then I thought, why couldn't I install a toilet auto top off device like you get at Home Depot or Lowes? That would save on cost quite a lot. Then it's just the question of how to slowly release water into a sump and the toilet topoff would take care of the rest. To release the water, maybe it's as simple as a siphon hose with a ball valve set to just slowly drip. Anyone tried this? Any advice on how to succeed with it?

 

[mom2reds]

I am not much help here, but you may try posting this in the diy project forum, or the general hardware/ equipment forum those guy may beable to help you more.

Good luck

 

[itafx]

I was thinking that too as I was submitting it, but I don't think you're supposed to double post and I don't know how to move it.

 

[rkilling1]

I know Discus need GREAT water quality, but daily PWC's? that seems a little over the top. I know quite a few people whom have Discus and do either biweekly or weekly PWC's with no ill effects.

IMO, I would keep them in a heavily planted tank inorder to keep the water quality pristine.

As far as your setup, I'm sure you could get it to work, just remember to ensure the water that is being added does not contain chlorine or chloramine.

You may also want to search through the DIY section, as I know I have seen some pretty nice auto-water change setups there.

 

[itafx]

Thanks. It's well water. I'll check out the DIY section.

 

[rkilling1]

After a quick search, here is one of them:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=89574

I also have concerns over the temp of the incoming water. From the way that you discribe it, it sounds as if it will come from your normal drinking water supply. Don't forget about temp swings within your aquarium. Adding COLD water will shock your fish during the PWC. Of course this all depends on how much water you are changing during the PWC.

 

[itafx]

That post has some good ideas.

Yes, I am planning to use normal drinking supply water. Wattley says Ph isn't critical with juvenile discus. On the temperature score, I'm figuring the flow rate will be so slow for a continuous 24x7 schedule (50%/24h ~ 2%/h) that there will be no significant temperature swings.

 

[Innovator]

With Symphysodon aequifasciatus, consistency is more important than exact water parameters. A temperature range from 80-84F is acceptable a pH anywhere from 5.5-7.0, and softened water with a conductivity under 100. 10%+ daily water changes are also acceptable, to result in 100% change by weeks end, as long as your filtration is high, which it should be anyways; Cleanliness is very important. Most captive-born/raised discus also fair better in a wider range of water parameters than wild counterparts. Wild counterparts should also be expected to carry internal/external parasites so a thorough qt is advised before adding to any display and consideration for a UV sterilizer. Symphysodon discus require a slightly stricter parameter schedule.

 

[Zagz]

I'll move the thread to the diy section for you. I have discus and they are adults. Have had them since juvies. Heavily planted tank 2 wc's per week. All discus are doing fantastic.

 

[itafx]

Thx!

 

[itafx]

I'm at the next stage in my auto WC adventure. I've cut a 1.5" hole in my floor so I can pipe the discharge to my house sump pump which will remove it automatically. I'm starting to connect up the piping. The large size is so I can stick the output of a python or any other dis charge hose down there and easily do WCs and other maintenance on all the tanks in close proximity. I plant to use a ball valve to constrain the syphon output to 1 gal/hour. That will give me 24/55 = 44% WC/day on the 55 gal discus tank. I purchased a silent toilet intake valve, but the challenge is getting it all connected up to the house water supply. The fittings don't readily match. Does anyone have a neat way to solve this?

 

[BillD]

The way wattley did it in his Florida hatchery was by simply dumping a tank of water into his tanks, and the extra overflowed out a standpipe in each tank. His reservoir tank in Miami was 1200 gals, filled one day and dumped the next. They determined that the change amounted to 50 % by measuring the pH before and after the change.

 

[itafx]

That sounds interesting. I don't exactly understand how the standpipe works. How do you get it to flow out keeping the water level, say, one inch below the top of the tank? It seems like either you have a siphon and it flows till the level gets below the siphon intake and then you have to prime the siphon again for the next time, or else you don't get any flow to start with.

 

[BillD]

The standpipe determines the depth of water in the tank. You add water to the tank and the excess flows out the standpipe. Generally the water coming in does so at an opposite side (and bottom) of the tank from the standpipe.

 

[itafx]

So you have to cut a hole in the tank like a reef-ready tank to accomplish a standpipe?

 

[BillD]

Alternatively, an overflow can be added to the side, but standpipes are usually added to bottom holes.

 

[happygirl65]

We plumbed water to my 55 gal by tapping into the cold water line under the kitchen sink and through the wall into the living room. It helped that the living room was still under construction of course and the walls were open.

We use a 1/4 line and tap like you would use for your icemaker/water to your refrigerator. It works pretty well and fills very slowly. when I do large water changes I have to bring in a few buckets of warm water to even out the temp difference but in your case that shouldnt be an issue since you are changing very slowly.

We want to do an auto top off and have even purchased a small float valve that will work with the 1/4 inch line but have not done anything qwith it yet.

I am very interested in following your thread! Thanks for posting it!

 

[itafx]

Through Craigslist, I sold some fancy guppies to a guy last weekend who had been in the TFH circles and knew Jack Wattley and some of the others. The guy I sold the guppies to had been a long time discus raiser and had supplied the LFSs in the area. He thought 40-50%/day was overly high and thought the Wattley column was mainly ghost written now that Jack is reaching the octagenarian stage.

 

[BillD]

I have Wattley on tape, doing a presentation at a convention, where he described his 50% daily water changes, at his Florida hatchery. The amount of change that would be necessary would be determined by the number of fish in the tank. In order to get a good rate of growth, clean water is essential, and doing what they did at that hatchery was probably the easiest way, to do that with growout tanks.

 

[itafx]

What do you think it would be for 6 discus in a 55g tank? I was thinking about getting them at 3" and growing them up and having them pair off in that tank.