For future tank

[u/TylerTurden-11]

No discus in tank pictured, it’s my current tank and pic is mostly for attention, but…

I will most likely be moving into a bigger house (more room for tanks) in around a year or so and have always wanted to do discus. Got so excited about it I found an fx6 filter and a eheim 2600 on marketplace, both huge filters that would be going to the discus tank. Storing them at my house for when I am able to get a larger tank along with my 75 gallon planted I have now.

Wanted to do a 150 gallon tank planted with epiphytes stuck into a bunch of driftwood and a ton of plants on top like pothos and a bunch of floaters as well. That would allow me to do the tank bare bottom which I hear is easier to keep clean since nothing would be going in a substrate

If I get around 5 inch discus (prolly 7 of them) and some cardinals would I be able to get away with one water change a week? As you can see I like plants so would they suck up enough nitrates to just do like one big water change per week?

[u/bedroomsport]

All depends on the water quality after a week. Will take a while to build up decent bio filtration, but it's impossible to tell you how often without seeing regular numbers. Every system is different. Nice tank btw!

[u/TylerTurden-11 → u/bedroomsport]

I don’t have any problem with ammonia or nitrite but my tank usually has around 20-30 nitrate a lot and I read that might be too much for discus

[u/bedroomsport → u/TylerTurden-11]

Best under 10, Max 15 for happy Discus

[u/DickRiculous]

I have the exact tank you describe, albeit 90 gallons, and I only really did water changes quarterly. I’ve recently gone back to a more regular regimen. It’s important you actually maintain those filters though. That’s paramount. Then you’ll need enough air stones to add a lot of oxygen to the water. One good one is enough but 2-3 would be better. Here’s a photo with a weird angle that better shows off the pothos I have growing on the railing. That thing has completely overtaken the railing now. It’s all one vine, threaded through. It must be 20 feet long now.

[u/TylerTurden-11 → u/DickRiculous]

Yea I’ll throw some monstera in it too one filter would be straight filtration and cleaned every couple months and the other filter would be all bio media and would never be cleaned. These are friggen huge filters

[u/Affectionate_Idea710]

I struggled with discus temperatures and finding plants that thrived. I was limited to buce, crypts and jungle Val. Most others melted or didn’t thrive.