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Learn the best way to set up the best discus fish tank for your new pets

By Randy Green


A real, obsessed aquarist knows that the tank is only as good as its capability to sustain marine life. At the end of the day, it is your private calculations and changes that may dictate if your discus fish will live for another week or succumb to a natural death in the captive waters of your tank.

Knowing the essentials of an ideal discus fish tank will bring you one step closer to having the ability to raise little discus fish types to full maturity. Here are some guidelines to get you moving on the right track:

The minimum size for the species' tank that will house discus fish 24 across. Do not put your discus fish in any other tank that is smaller compared to 24 as the water volume may not be enough to raise healthy fish. Use a smaller tank only as a transient quarantining area for new or sick fish.

Tank cycling is a S.O.P. Standard operating procedure, irrespective of what species you are looking to keep. The minimum time for cycling is one week. Seasoned aquarists may even insist to cycle a tank for a complete five weeks before keeping discus fish there.

With the price of discus fish rising every year, it is not surprising that private breeders and pro aquarists are not willing to take any probabilities with their new discus stocks.

The ultimate tank has three types of filtering systems installed: biological, chemical, and mechanical. The biological system will look after the ammonia by inspiring the expansion of favorable bacteria that may denitrify the water.

A chemical system, from the other perspective, will
absorb and disable other chemicals that can build up in the water. The water in your tank is referred to as a system because one or two natural processes happen in it without your knowing it.

Eventually, a mechanical filter system will take care of solid waste and other pieces that the two other systems cannot lose. Mechanical filters are frequently kitted out with an easy floss mesh that traps large particles in the water. All three systems require electricity in order to work, because water has to be pumped through the system and back to the tank. The renewing of the water must be done continuously to maintain high water quality in the tank.

The endorsed pH for a discus tank is 6.5 to 7. Commercial discus strains will prosper tolerably on hard water while the wild strain likes softer and more acidic tank water.

At this point in time, it is a sensible move should you buy a water hardness testing kit and a pH testing kit, so you can observe your water closely. Zeolite might be used if the ammonia in the water is getting beyond control.

Zeolite is loaded into a chemical filter as a substitute filtering media. This mineral traps the ammonia till it can?t soak up the chemical any longer. If the water is getting too acidic, an alkaline buffer may be acquired to govern the astringency. If the water is getting too alkaline, acidifying agents may be utilized as well.




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