Re: filterless discus

["Wayne Jones" <waj at mnsi_net>]

Wayne Jones wrote:

> I don't think Discus without filtration is a good idea either. The
water
> changes required would just mean too much work.

Roger Miller wrote:

Out of curiosity, what sort of water changes do you think it would take?

I reply:

I hear that some Discus keepers do 90% per day on their growout tanks. I
was changing about 35% per week and the nitrates were still rising so I
decided to cut back on the food. Maybe 75% per week would have done it.
My lighting is a little low on that tank but it would still be the
equivilent of about 2 watts per gallon so maybe the key would be to use
more light and this wouldn't happen. Plant growth is very good though. I
find Discus to be extraordinarily messy eaters. They are so wasteful
that it seems abnormal that a fish could survive in the wild with these
habits. If they had to find their own food maybe they wouldn't even make
it to 4". I am by no means a Discus expert I just bought some blue
Discus and threw them in my planted tank to see how it would go. The
only thing I can really say is my Discus didn't grow very large. Even so
it has been a happy experience for me. Even 4" Discus are still very
beautiful and once the Discus were grown I didn't feel they are nearly
as much of a problem. I expect they will be in that tank for a long time
to come.

Roger wrote:

I'm a long-time proponent of filterless planted tanks.  I think they
have
more up sides then down sides.  As in all things you have to weigh your
needs
and make decisions to fit your circumstances.

I reply:

The way I run my tanks is in part due to your postings on filterless
tanks but I have noticed that when I went to a small pump that the fish
load I could support went down. I think that maybe I screwed things up a
bit for the plants by reducing my circulation too much. I now use a
larger 20 watt pump so I have more circulation. I use an Aquaclear 500
sponge cut in half over the pump intake. I try and remember to clean it
once a week so I think this qualifies as mostly filterless as the sponge
is the only filtration provided.

Wayne