Putting my fish back in the tank...

[SpyderSpy6]

I've been waiting to put my discus fish back in my 75 gallon for about two weeks. I'm currently holding my 6 discus in a 20 gallon. I kept all the same media, rocks, driftwood, etc. The water looks extremely clear, pH is 6.7 with CO2 running. I like to keep it at 6.5-6.6 for breeding and they seem to be more active and colorful at this range.

When I put them in the 20 gallon, I used media from my 75 gallon. I was told this would ensure no stress for them. They have been doing great too. I have used some of the water from my big tank to water change the 20 as well, and I've done water changes everyday.

I've been testing the water too, and the one thing making me nervous is the nitrates. I am showing a low almost 0ppm. Over the week the color of my test has become a little darker, but has not hit 5ppm's. I have 6 serpae tetra's swimming around in it right now to help stimulate the cycle. I've used Dr.FosterSmith's Colonize and TLC beneficial bacteria supplement. The fish in my large tank have done well and seem to have no problems.

Is it safe to put my fish back in the tank? I also have a pleco, loach, & rummy nose to put in too. Should I stagger their arrivals? or being that the bacteria should be the same, is it ok to put them in after I acclimate them indvidually?

[RainMan]

Are you saying the holding tank is starting to rise in Nitrates? Little confused (but it doesn't take much) sorry.

Anyway, using all of your old media in your 75g tank probably kick started your cycle really fast. You probably didn't even need those cycling additives.

Anyway, It should be easy to acclimate them all at once... your discuss are probably close to being acclimated with those water changes.

Sounds like you had a lot of good advice about this. good job.

[SpyderSpy6]

That's what I wanted to hear! I just had read that the Nitrate's must show up before moving fish back in to the tank. When I had them in there before and it was established, the nitrate's never showed up anyways.

Thanks for the reply!

[RainMan]

Oh... I misunderstood. Usually you will see a rise in ammonia, nitrites, then they will drop to 0 or barely traceable. Then the nitrates go up slightly when the cycling is complete. Are you saying nothing changed the whole time except for nitrates when up a little (5ppm)? Probably because you're biological cycle was already established with all of your past media.

You can do a 10-20% water change and see if that drops your nitrates down to 0 and stays there. That's a pretty low amount of nitrates anyway.

What is your ammonia/nitrite level?

[NWMountainTroll]

Anything under 5ppm is an impressive number to reach, as long as there's no ammonia or nitrite present.

[Fishguy2727]

CO2 in the 75? So there are plants? Sounds like the plants are keeping the nitrate concentration in the 75 so low.

[SpyderSpy6]

My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates are all low. Ammonia and Nitrite is just above 0. I use the API tester's and the color have shifted slightly darker, but have not gone to the colors of 5ppm. I've also been cleaning my tank as much as possible. I added a mini-canister to help pick up debris and also interchange media. If anyone is looking for a great additional filter... DrF&S has a great one on sale for $20 I think. It's awesome.

Anyways... All of my fish are back in the tank. They look great. First night back and my Red Dragon and Pigeon laid eggs. Even though they ate them, this is a good sign that my water quality is very good, Right??

I did have a TON of plants, but I lost most of them in the move. Some of them I pulled up because they weren't looking good and I don't want to risk having the plants rot in my tank. I currently have some annubias, cilaitia, cryptocorne, ludwiga and a wendtii plant in there right now. I had to clip my annubias so now I have a bunch of little ones I'm hoping will fill in the front of my tank within a month or so.

Anyone else have a planted discus tank? What plants did very well and which ones didn't. I shouldn't have a porblem growing any plants. I was nervous I had messed up my flourite base when I moved, but apparently the muck is just a build up of fish waste. I thought it was nutrients that I was sucking out of the gravel, oops :).

Thank you for the comments and suggestions! Every one is doing great and I couldn't be more pleased to have my homie's back home.

[Fishguy2727]

My discus tank is planted. I have the same plants in the 40breeder discus tank as I do in my 75 goldfish/axolotl tank and all the plants seem to do better in the 75. If you stick with biotope specific plants like swords you should be good.

If they laid eggs that is a very good sign.

[SpyderSpy6]

Everything is perfect right now in the tank... Thanks for the help!

I've been looking in to biotope plants and supposedly they thrive in discus tanks. We shall see though.

Thanks again!