Discus fish with other felow fish

How Often Do Discus Need Water Change?

The health of your Discus fish depends heavily on your ability to properly assess how often and how much their tank water needs to be changed. Discus are very sensitive to water changes. In this article, I will provide you with some extremely helpful suggestions that you can use to preserve the quality of your discus tank.

No matter how good your filtration system is, you will still need to change the water in your aquarium on a regular basis. It is important to do partial water changes on a regular basis to prevent the buildup that your filtering system hasn’t been able to get rid of.

When I think this, the next question that comes to mind is, “If Discus need their water changed often, how often should I change it?”

On average, discus tank water should be changed at least once a week. At each water change, 20 to 30% of the total tank water should be changed. Keep in mind that the amount of water and frequency of changes will vary from tank to tank. If the tank has a good filtration system, you can reduce how often and how much you change the water.

As I said before, the frequency of the water changes and the volume of water that has to be changed will vary from tank to tank. There are a number of different considerations that go into determining how often a discus tank needs to be cleaned and maintained. Continue reading if you are interested in gaining some extremely important knowledge on how you can efficiently manage your discus tank.

How Often And How Much Should You Change The Water?

Discus fish near gravel

Everyone knows that the water in aquariums with tropical fish needs to be changed regularly, but aquariums with discus fish need to have their water changed more often. Since discus makes chemicals that are bad for their health, the water in their tank needs to be changed more often to get rid of these chemicals.

I know that a filtration system can get rid of some chemicals, well, it is still very important to change the water in the tank regularly. but I also know that it can’t get rid of all the chemicals. Even if your water filtering system works really

Ideal Water Parameters For Discus Fish

Parameter NameValue
Water Temperature82-86°F (28-30°C)
pH Level6-7
Ammonia and Nitrite0 ppm
Nitrate
General Hardness (GH)1-3 dGh
Carbonate Hardness 1-4 dKH

As I’ve already mentioned that it’s recommended that 20–30% be changed at least once a week. The more often you change the water in your discus’ tank, the more harmful things will be flushed out and your discus will be able to have more babies.

The Best Time To Change The Water

Just as important as how often you change the water is the timing of the water changes. Changing the water in your discus’s tank can make them nervous if you do it in an unsteady way. One possible solution is to change the water after feeding. This helps get rid of any trash that has piled up and any food that has been wasted.

Tap Water Is The Best Option You Have

Tap water is one of the best options you have available to use in your discus tank because it already has the essential trace elements that are required for the growth of fish and plants.

Do not use 100 percent distilled water for discus because it is devoid of essential trace elements and it will be a lot harder to maintain the pH level of distilled water. If you want to, you can mix tap water with distilled water, but you should not use 100 percent distilled water for discus.

Water Temperature For The Discus Fish Tank

The temperature should be maintained between 82 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit, although some species of discus prefer water that is closer to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, this is an unusual circumstance, and you should attempt to keep the average water temperature in your discus tank at all times.

Maintaining The pH level Of The Tank

The ideal PH level for keeping discus is 6, but younger discus will do better in levels as high as 7. There have been reports of people successfully maintaining their discus at 5.8 while others have reported success at 7.2.

When working with buffers, exercise extreme caution because many of them can contain phosphates, which will not benefit your discus in any way.

Water Hardness For The Discus Fish Tank

The GH measures how hard the water is across its entire spectrum. The water will have a greater tendency to be abrasive if it contains a greater number of dissolved minerals and salts. Any reading under 10 is considered to be soft water, and it is perfectly acceptable for discus to be kept in such water; however, the ideal GH level is 3.

When the pH level is above 10, the water is considered to be hard. It is possible to keep still discus in a GH ranging from almost 0 to as high as 18 or 19

To achieve the desired level of hardness, you only need to fill your entire aquarium with tap water and then run the entire volume of water through peat until you reach the desired level.

Why Are Discus Fish So Hard To Keep?

This is not necessarily true that discus is hard to keep fish. Even though the Discus fish has a well-deserved reputation for being hard to take care of, I still think you should give it a try.

Keep in mind, that you can’t just throw a few discus fish into a regular community aquarium and hope for the best. If you want your Discus fish to be happy in your aquarium, you will need to take special care of them.

Wrapping Up

Changing the water in your aquarium on a regular basis is an essential component of providing proper care for your discus fish. Altering the water’s composition can be accomplished in a variety of different ways. I really hope that this blog post has provided you with sufficient information to get going. In spite of the fact that discus fish are well-known for their resilience, keeping one as a pet is still likely to result in a lot of excitement and satisfaction.