Discus water prepping

[Ron Sower]

I just pulled this from a GSAS post this morning. Have Any of you discus keepers ever done either of these 2 things? I thought the coffee was especially interesting since that's how we start our mornings here with Mugs every day!!!   

I have a creek in my yard I would pump water out of when I had my discus breeding room going in its glory. It is really hard water; the creek is spring fed. I would fill a 350gallon tank with no fish full of creek water. Then I would float PILES of green hygrophilia in it and leave a t5ho on it 24hours a day. It would only take a week for the plants to soften the water as they grew out of control. I would then put the extra plants in my compost tumbler. They look shitty growing floating so not sellable, roots everywhere. Then use the water for water changes. Cheaper than RO just had to wait (as in prep the water) before next water change.  My other trick was coffee. I would put the unused cold left overs from the pot in there. It would tan the water and help drop the ph.

[Mugwump]

I just pulled this from a GSAS post this morning. Have Any of you discus keepers ever done either of these 2 things? I thought the coffee was especially interesting since that's how we start our mornings here with Mugs every day!!!   

I have a creek in my yard I would pump water out of when I had my discus breeding room going in its glory. It is really hard water; the creek is spring fed. I would fill a 350gallon tank with no fish full of creek water. Then I would float PILES of green hygrophilia in it and leave a t5ho on it 24hours a day. It would only take a week for the plants to soften the water as they grew out of control. I would then put the extra plants in my compost tumbler. They look shitty growing floating so not sellable, roots everywhere. Then use the water for water changes. Cheaper than RO just had to wait (as in prep the water) before next water change.  My other trick was coffee. I would put the unused cold left overs from the pot in there. It would tan the water and help drop the ph.

I'd never heard of that before.....wow, if it works?...I'm set.....LOL....he seems to be talking about the coffee...I'm wondering too if the used grounds in a little bag could be used to seep it into the tank....??....and if it would work too??.......a ha, it's experiment time...

just checked 'google',,,,it seems that the grounds won't work...they're not as acidic as the coffee it self.....cool...

[Ron Sower]

I just pulled this from a GSAS post this morning. Have Any of you discus keepers ever done either of these 2 things? I thought the coffee was especially interesting since that's how we start our mornings here with Mugs every day!!!   

I have a creek in my yard I would pump water out of when I had my discus breeding room going in its glory. It is really hard water; the creek is spring fed. I would fill a 350gallon tank with no fish full of creek water. Then I would float PILES of green hygrophilia in it and leave a t5ho on it 24hours a day. It would only take a week for the plants to soften the water as they grew out of control. I would then put the extra plants in my compost tumbler. They look shitty growing floating so not sellable, roots everywhere. Then use the water for water changes. Cheaper than RO just had to wait (as in prep the water) before next water change.  My other trick was coffee. I would put the unused cold left overs from the pot in there. It would tan the water and help drop the ph.

I'd never heard of that before.....wow, if it works?...I'm set.....LOL....he seems to be talking about the coffee...I'm wondering too if the used grounds in a little bag could be used to seep it into the tank....??....and if it would work too??.......a ha, it's experiment time...

just checked 'google',,,,it seems that the grounds won't work...they're not as acidic as the coffee it self.....cool...

I've just sent him a question about what he meant. Will keep you posted here!

[Mugwump]

Thanks.....

[LizStreithorst]

I have never done those things, but a large fine mesh media bag filled with peat moss works a treat.  Put it in the water storage container.  Dead leaves from hardwood trees in the tank works well too, but I found it to be too messy when the leaves started to decay.

The discus really like the peat moss water  You can tell by the way they act.  I should start doing that again.  Thanks for the reminder.

[BallAquatics]

For the last year or so, I've been using Oak leaves in spawning set-ups to protect the eggs from fungus.  Works like a champ, and when the fry hatch, there is plenty of micro-fauna growing on the leaf litter to feed them.

Dennis

[PaulineMi]

I've  used oak leaves, catalpa leaves, alder cones and peat. The water from the creek and his treatment methods are interesting. I think the coffee may add a nice tannin-like color if it's not doing anything else.

[Mugwump]

I've  used oak leaves, catalpa leaves, alder cones and peat. The water from the creek and his treatment methods are interesting. I think the coffee may add a nice tannin-like color if it's not doing anything else.

Coffee is acidic.......depending on strength....

[BillT]

I guessing the coffee works as some kind of ion exchange like Liz was talking about with other dead plant material.

The plants sound like a turf scrubber system used in some salt water systems. Algae is grown in a sump or something to remove nitrogen compounds like nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia which they incorporate into their little plant bodies. A large volume of the plants are then removed which also permanently removes the chemicals. As I recall, while they are removing the nitrogenous compounds the plants will also take out other chemicals they need. In salt systems with turf scrubbers other chemicals also have to be added back. Same with protein skimmers I think.
I would think that some plants are better than others at this.

[BallAquatics]

Several years back there was an article about how Goliad fish farm uses Mangrove trees and various plants to scrub their tank water.....

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/plant-filtrationno-water-changes.htm

As water costs rise, more and more aquatic business are using methods to scrub their water to cut down on water needed for water changes.

Dennis

[BillT]

Goliad fish farm is that guy Charles something that writes about livebearers inn TFH, right?
He writes good articles.

[BallAquatics]

Goliad fish farm is that guy Charles something that writes about livebearers inn TFH, right?

That's the guy. Charles Clapsaddle is his name.  I agree, he has some very interesting articles and I'm not even that interested in livebearers.  I believe his background is in genetics.  He has written some very interesting stuff on the subject.....

Dennis

[Mugwump]

Goliad fish farm is that guy Charles something that writes about livebearers inn TFH, right?

That's the guy. Charles Clapsaddle is his name.  I agree, he has some very interesting articles and I'm not even that interested in livebearers.  I believe his background is in genetics.  He has written some very interesting stuff on the subject.....

Dennis

Think he's related to this guy???