# Discus and EI



## Sly_Marbo (Jun 12, 2006)

What should you do when your dosing dry ferts with the EI method which calls for a 50% water change weekly and you have Discus which need as many WC as humanly possible? I'm guessing WC throughout the week will mess up the ppm of the nutrients in the tank am I right?


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Hi Sly,

I'm not real up on the technicalities of dosing so I copied this thread over to the fert forum http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/science-of-fertilizing/30835-discus-and-ei.html as well.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Sly_Marbo said:


> What should you do when your dosing dry ferts with the EI method which calls for a 50% water change weekly and you have Discus which need as many WC as humanly possible? I'm guessing WC throughout the week will mess up the ppm of the nutrients in the tank am I right?


I'm not a Discus expert but I think that the large, frequent water changes associated with Discus are more for a bare tank environment where you are overfeeding in order to grow them (and usually overstocked)... or at least not in a heavily planted tank environment.

A heavily planted tank is not a Discus grow out tank. High light, heavily planted and with CO2, the plants will suck up Nitrogen compounds as fast as they are produced, hence the requirement for dosing. Of course this is assuming a reasonable Discus stocking level (eg max of four in a 200l/55g).

I've kept Discus in the past with EI and 50% weekly water changes and they were healthy and spawned several times.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

Laith said:


> frequent water changes associated with Discus are more for a bare tank environment where you are overfeeding in order to grow them (and usually overstocked)... or at least not in a heavily planted tank environment.


Yes that's true and it's those discus that are attractive because they have rounded foreheads[not pinched sharp malnourished]. I'm not saying yours are but generally speaking, most planted enthusiasts don't care for their discus to be dinner plate sizes. :lol: 
IMHO it's unnatural but those are the champion size ones.
For me 5-6 inch ones head to peduncle are fine.

6 Discus in a 55G is still manageable and the poop has to be vacuumed diligently daily and the water topped up. Not a WC perse but good to keep the organic waste down as pathogens may take advantage of it. anyway strings of discus poop isn't a pretty sight. :lol:


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

Just to add that most experience discus keepers[me 5years+] are a bit paranoid when it comes to discus as we've been hit with all sorts of disease. So please forgive us if we kinda sound like a broken record.
My 60 discus are in bare tanks on drip. 1 cycle daily. 2X daily pork heart feed. I used to keep them in planted tanks but learnt better not to feed them meat mixes as it really fouls the water.

They will go into my planted tanks someday...a 120G waiting.


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## kotoeloncat (Mar 17, 2006)

I can vouch for the fact that discus do better in a bare bottom tanks bare of anything else

but I have also been keeping discus in a planted tank for 5 years+, I havent have any problem with my discus in planted tank, but they really dont grow to their full potential.


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