Discus Advice Question 2

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Buckfins

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Feb 1, 2013
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New Braunfels Tx
Ok...now that my other post was answered, I now need to know what a good filtration system would be for my COMING SOON discus tank. It is a 75 gal. Planted and full of root driftwood. I know they don't like currents so I need a good filter (s) that are powerful but don't create a tsunami.
 
Well, it's a specialised question. Not trying to be cheeky but I'm sure people would help if they could. I'm interested myself as have discus on the bucket list next up. Probably driftwood and maybe potted plants with very shallow gravel I was thinking. I run canisters and an internal filter with angelfish which is as close as I can get unfortunately to similar fish. The canisters I think will be fine as I have the outlets (the ones with several holes along a pipe) pointed to surface however could add a plastic bottle baffle if needed.


My main concern is an internal filter that has a strong jet for a foot or so and I have seen the angelfish caught in this. Was thinking of removing if a problem. But I'm hoping that if the plants are ok, then the driftwood / ornaments will give enough quiet spots for them to rest if needed. Sorry, that's as much as I have thought on this. The tank I have is 150gal so perhaps I have more room to play with as well.


Should add I wouldn't be looking at breeding to start with.
 
Get a good canister and put a baffle on the spray bar. You could easily put a piece of PVC around it and break up current. Bonus points if you drill a bunch of small holes in it.

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Aqua clear 110....
Maybe 2...
I run a 110 on my 75 grow out for juvi angels and rams and they swim fine in the flow.
Will the tank be BB or planted? This will make a big difference in flow pattern .
 
When I kept discus I had a pretty powerful canister filter but ran the outlet through a spray bar. I drilled the holes a little larger so that there was less of a spray action.
I found that whilst discus didn't like a strong directional water flow that they didn't hide away in the slow water flow areas either.
It's a bit trial and error but don't under filter just to get the turbulence down, use some experimenting to defuse the water entering the tank.
Very envious, discus, in my view, are the kings of freshwater fish.


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I've had discus for a couple of years and used both wet/dry and hob filters with no problem. The wet/dry pump is strong but if you diffuse the current a bit, there's no problem. If you want the filter to work,you need a good current. As long as the fish can escape the current, they will be fine
 
My angels in my 55 aren't bothered by my spray bar. I have a Rena filstar canister and my spray bar is on the back wall pointed upward and the only for is down the front wall in one area and they don't seem bothered by it.

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Not to steer folks away from this site but there is a specialized Discus only site (simplydiscus) that certainly can answer all your questions if you are not finding them here.
 
Delapool said:
Well, it's a specialised question. Not trying to be cheeky but I'm sure people would help if they could. I'm interested myself as have discus on the bucket list next up. Probably driftwood and maybe potted plants with very shallow gravel I was thinking. I run canisters and an internal filter with angelfish which is as close as I can get unfortunately to similar fish. The canisters I think will be fine as I have the outlets (the ones with several holes along a pipe) pointed to surface however could add a plastic bottle baffle if needed.


My main concern is an internal filter that has a strong jet for a foot or so and I have seen the angelfish caught in this. Was thinking of removing if a problem. But I'm hoping that if the plants are ok, then the driftwood / ornaments will give enough quiet spots for them to rest if needed. Sorry, that's as much as I have thought on this. The tank I have is 150gal so perhaps I have more room to play with as well.


Should add I wouldn't be looking at breeding to start with.
Click to expand...
Yep...You have a LOT more room to play with...lol. My tank is 75 gallons and planted nicely with good driftwood roots. I am intrigued by all the info on diffusing the water flow because I do have a good sized canister with it. Would I need to get a piece of PVC as close to the tubing size as possible? And how would I go about attaching it? Again guys...thanks for all the input your giving. It is greatly appreciated and helpful.
 
Buckfins said:
Yep...You have a LOT more room to play with...lol. My tank is 75 gallons and planted nicely with good driftwood roots. I am intrigued by all the info on diffusing the water flow because I do have a good sized canister with it. Would I need to get a piece of PVC as close to the tubing size as possible? And how would I go about attaching it? Again guys...thanks for all the input your giving. It is greatly appreciated and helpful.
Click to expand...


Sadly wish I had a bigger tank still :)

The internal filter has directional outlets so I was just going to direct it at a pile of fake rocks and driftwood and rearrange a few things around.

One canister filter is very strong even with the spray bar pointed towards surface so was just thinking of putting a plastic coke bottle along the spray bar in sections between the suction caps. So flow will be sideways (not towards tank front) and should break up. I saw a few threads on this years back and was going to look at them (when I finally get completely fed up with planted tanks - probably next Thursday...).
 
Filtering can be optional, anything compatible with your tanks size. With discus, you'll need to rely more on water changes than filtering.

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I've seen breeders using nothing but a small HOB in their tanks and some don't even use filters, since they don't allow ammonia levels to rise for a cycle to start. This is all due to massive water changes.
I understand this is way extreme and in a real world I can't see myself or many of us doing daily water changes, unless of course the discus are being bred as a business.
Back to the original question... I think any filter that does not create too much current as Delapool mentioned is fine but keep in mind frequent water changes.
 
I use a Fluval FX-5. It is a monster filter 400GPH it really is a great filter, you can adjust the outflow in 2 different directions to creat flow, and surprisingly it doesn't create too much imo in my 72G bowfront. There is a newer version, which I can not answer to.

Am secretly looking for another one of these for when I get a much bigger tank and get some Discus too. And an auto water changing system!!! :) As mentioned fresh water changing is critical to excellent growth and health.

Start observing pics of Discus and their eyes. SO many of the fish seen in average home aquariums are stunted.
Which means not kept in a large enough space and not fed properly and not kept in best water quality.

Check out the pics from the North American Discus Association the pics that are the winners from the annual show.
http://www.discusnada.org/2014-show-info/
 
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