2 Questions

[sj022698]

#1
I am restarting from scratch. I have not had any fish in my 55 gallon tank for about a week. I did numerous water changes and I still have just a little bit of algae on the sides. Should I keep that there? Should I fill with completely new water or go ahead and use that since there is some bacteria buildup already. However, some of my fish were sick and I'm going to a sand bottom and removing all the marbles.

#2 I am thinking about Discus but my water is very hard. Since I will be doing 30% water changes weekly so distilled water will be very expensive. What should I do to help with the hardness? Is there something I can get from the LFS?

Thanks for your help!

 

[annka5]

1 There's almost no nitrifying bacteria in water (the good kind) it's in the filter. Drain tank, clean it, then cycle the filter fishlessly before adding fish.
2 Discus are lovely but need super-clean water, IMO you should use a bare-bottomed (no substrate) tank until you feel more confident with them. They can be fine in harder water, it's far more important that it's stable and CLEAN.

 

[karlp]

I can't comment on the Discus keeping, because I've never kept them, but with regard RO, have you checked out www.ro-man.co.uk and www.osmotics.co.uk ?

A 50 gallon per day unit costs less than an average external filter. I've gone for a 75gpd for about £80 and it feeds a cheap plastic domestic water tank I got from Wickes (about £25).

Just bear in mind that they rate these units much higher than you'll probably actually get.