High flow discus tank

[BeefyG]

I'm moving some fish around to give my trophs a bigger growout tank. I have a 30 gallon tank they were in that has about 18x turnover with a wet dry. I now want to put the small discus (2 2" and 1 3") that I am growing out in that tank. I've heard growing discus in a high flow tank makes them bigger because they have to swim all the time. Lots of feedings and water changes go along with that of course. I threw a sponge filter in there the other day so that I can switch the tank over to just that if I needed.

Any thoughts?

[Darbex]

I havent heard that before. I just know that water changes and lots of food helps grow discus the best. But I also dont keep juvis so that could be true.

[myjohnson]

no.....slow flow man.

[BeefyG]

no.....slow flow man.

Yeah I figured but I'm being lazy and don't want to redo the wet dry plumbing. What flow should I shoot for then? The pump I originally had bought for it is 290GPH. Harbor freight has a 66GPH pump for cheap I could get. I think that is more inline with what I had read somewhere for discus especially if I keep the sponge filter in there.

[black_knight]

Think of a paper plate in a wind storm.

[WhiteDevil]

I use twin 1200 gph pumps on my discus tank. there is very little current in the tank. tank is a 210 with a 300g rated sealife systems wet/dry both pumps are supreme mag drive 12's. I get more current out of my eheim pro 3 then I do the return system. I do have ball valves in line however they are pegged wide open.

I do have 6 outlets and that cuts down on the pressure, I use 4 fan dispersers and two accelerators as return heads. You can use everything you got you just need to design it to NOT be a straight current rather be more of a residual current in the tank, slow yet turning over a massive amount of water.

MY discus do not get blown around, the current is strong enough for the SAE's and OTO's to get current surfing but not get TKO'd.

[wesleydnunder]

With enough diversion to break up current I wouldn't necessarily think high filter flow a bad thing. If the discus have a hard time navigating the tank then I would definitely add diverters or lower the flow.

Mark

[WhiteDevil]

Wesley is correct, I have 4 of my 6 aimed towards the overflows and the back glass and two that come into the center of the tank. It keeps debris out from the back wall and the wood and plants make awesome current breaks, I have about as much current running close to 2000 gph as a bucket of water being dumped down a driveway.

You can have alot of current you just need to aim the diffusers correctly, yes all 6 of mine create an environment more like the congo river then an amazonia stream.

[myjohnson]

Yeah I figured but I'm being lazy and don't want to redo the wet dry plumbing. What flow should I shoot for then? The pump I originally had bought for it is 290GPH. Harbor freight has a 66GPH pump for cheap I could get. I think that is more inline with what I had read somewhere for discus especially if I keep the sponge filter in there.

You might actually be able to use that pump. Look into using a bigger return line and wide outputs. Maybe even spit them into two returns. When the flow is wide there is less current compared to a narrow stream of flow.

Plus, head pressure should take the 290gph down a bit.

[BeefyG]

Should I downgrade to the 290GPH pump then? I bought it but never used it. The 560GPH pump is hooked up right now. I have a single 1" output. Would adding a bunch of 1" T connections to that be good enough to widen out the flow? Like stack them all the way to the bottom of the tank and use a 90 for the end piece?

[WhiteDevil]

you can do that, I use the 12's and thats 1200 gph, They however run into 3/4" returns rather then 1" then I have about a 5' 1" piece of pvc on top that I run from each return. Basically it looks like this


[-----T--------T--------T-------T------T-----]
return fans accel. fans return
Y'd -2 Y'd-2 Y'd-2
The ends are caps I did have dual fans out each end but If I recall correctly a squirell takes a leak with more pressure then the two ends being used gave me. I am at a very steady pressure but not enough to knock one of my 4-5" discus off its path.

here is a pic of the top of my tank the return line


I hope this is helping you, I was in the same boat and had to consult with a reef shop to help me set up, FW guys were a little dumbfounded when I asked these questions.

for some reason this area is a canister area for FW planted folks, and while I do run two canisters on this tank my main filter is the wet/dry

[black_knight]

Sorry,
I was just being humorous. Some wild discus are found in high flow waters, but they live along the tree roots, where they are shielded from currents. You may try placing piles of Malaysian Root (very dense, sinks right away). Discus will feel musch more secure with it. Try making a background wall out of it, you can even super glue java moss to it, and it has the added benifit of softening the water.

[BeefyG]

Sorry,
I was just being humorous.

I gotta admit, you made me laugh

WD, yeah it is helpful. Its really good information and of course a picture is worth a thousand words. My tank is a 30 tall so I'm going to come straight down with the Ts instead of across like what you have. I double checked when I got home and my connections are 3/4" as well. Probably buying the stuff tomorrow and we'll see how it turns out.

[WhiteDevil]

I gotta admit, you made me laugh

WD, yeah it is helpful. Its really good information and of course a picture is worth a thousand words. My tank is a 30 tall so I'm going to come straight down with the Ts instead of across like what you have. I double checked when I got home and my connections are 3/4" as well. Probably buying the stuff tomorrow and we'll see how it turns out.

I went across with them for space,, It gave me 8" of room for the plumbing and lets me introduce current on the front side of the plants instead of having them all aimed behind the row of plants in the back.

I can say one thing, behind my plants is where my accelerators are. I do have a pair of 5" blue diamonds that are breeding back there directly under the accelerator ejectors. I know that flow is more then my fans put out. You can see the current in his fins thats for sure but they seem to be doing fine(lazy fish IMO letting the current fan their eggs)

Good Luck, I also used Krylon fusion flat black for the PVC paint.

[BeefyG]

The 560GPH pump went to another project so I redid some plumbing to hook up the 290GPH pump. It looks like it will be just perfect.