quack Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 i have a 250l bearbottom tank that im using to grow out my discus. i have many plants in the tank in pots. i also have co2 and heaps of lighting. the plants pearl all day long. the thing is that when i check for nitrates the test always reads at 0ppm. does this mean that i dont need to do water changes, or is there other toxins in the tank that needs to be removed. also should i start doesing nitrate? any help appresitated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 Growing plants and growing out discus in the same tank is a bit of a catch 22 as one needs nutrient and the other needs water changes to strip nutrient. I bought some Cryptocoryne plants on trademe that had been grown in pots of clean gravel in a discus tank with 50% water changes dailey and the newest 3-4 leaves were white from lack of nutrient. They grew well when transplanted to a planted tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 What would the answer be if it wasn't for the discus plz? ie: if you're not changing water to remove accumulated nitrate then what are the benefits of water changes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 If the nutrients get high it will stimulate algae growth. Plants growing well help to strip some nutrient but not all. If you have a heavily planted tank with only a few fish that are lightly fed you don't need as many water changes. When trying to grow out fish you feed them heavily and this produces a lot of waste and the catch 22. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 If you provide well for your plants, they'll use up all the nitrate as it's produced and grow well. You can get great looking plants and maintain a 0 nitrate. Nitrate is only one of very many nutrients plants require. I do weekly 20% changes on my tanks, planted or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted January 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 ok so in my situation how often should i WC? my nitrates are always at 0ppm and they get well feed? the plants seems to be growing really well and all the leaves are green, there is one plant tho (some type or sword) that grows nice big red leaves and then they turn green after awhile is this a difecincy? should i just do WC once a week or more often, the discus come first the plants just there to remove the toxins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 Just monitor your nitrates, if you get a reading higher than 0 then its time for a water change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 Doh! I hadn't made the correlation with 'growing out' the fish ie: extra feeding and hence the extra risk of polluting the water. It's all suddenly very clear :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 A number of the sword plants have red new growth that will go red/brown then green ( osiris, red special, ozelot and red rubin etc) This is normal but the red can be encouraged with strong light and adequate iron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted January 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 cheers alan, thought that would be the case. when i got it, it had little leaves but now all the new ones in my tank are nice big leaves and are a nice red colour when first grown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 If you're not feeding your discus numerous times a day and doing waterchanges, don't expect the discus to grow much. If your main aim is to grow the discus, my advice is to feed your fish as many time as possible (little bit at a time) and waterchange at least every second day. The plant serve no purpose in a grow out tank for discus. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted January 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 yeah im feed as much as possible throughout the day, the plants are only there to help lower the nitrate which they are doing really well! if my nitrate is 0 does that mean i can get away with less water changes(every week) or is there other toxins that the plants dont use that will slow the discus growth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Nitrate is only one part of the waste stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 i wouldnt drop the w/c's just because there is no nitrate reading. discus like clean water and plants arent going to be absorbing everything. their poop is still on the bottom rotting away (ew lol) and that is still going to be polluting the water the way i see it is you only have one shot at growing those specific discus out and they are animals, plants can be replaced. my amazon sword is only in my tank for a bit of naturalness and security. the tank has 48W of lighting (for veiwing) and the one potted plant. it still puts out leaves regularly but it certanly isnt growing like it was in my planted tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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