Adrienne

Given that a pH of 8. is higher than most tap water, do you have anything in your tank to get it that high? Beach sand, shells, slate, coral? Peat placed either in the tank or filter, driftwood or a matured tank will drop the pH without going down the path of pH down. Hollywood Fish Farm sells it in their shops so I assume other shops may stock it.

Acotton like growth could be fungus from a scratch. I suspect possibly ammonia looking at that photo as there is certainly scale damage. You will never know unless you test the water.

I am wondering how much serious thought you have given this with regards to having animals unless you are living there. All four animals you have talked about require daily attention, twice daily at times. Goats won't stay in those fences unless they are tethered, ponies or horses require hard feed and hay, covers taken off in the warmer days and put on at nights, donkeys can be noisy and pigs also require feeding daily, to say nothing of what they will do to the land if you don't put a ring in their noses. Tenants are not going to look after your animals properly unless you pay them, not them pay you rent. You are more likely to get tenants if you leased out the whole property and let them bring their own animals. I gather that this is bare land, no house already on it?

As a parent who has been there with young children, discus are too much work when the children are young. They have to have regular water changes and don't do well having to wait because of a sick child, birthday party, sports events etc. Angels are are better option than discus

You can also buy micro granules - can't remember the brand but it has a photo of a ram on the outside of the container. Small sized container only and its around about $10 I think. I am thinking nutrafin but not certain - all fish with small mouths can eat it.

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Its either water wisteria or indian fern so I stand corrected These plants like to float on the top of the tank. Has it grown any pups? The pups should grow where the leaves meet the stem. If so just break them off and replant them. The second photo might be hygrophila and if so you can break that off and replant.

Tips Discus are slow moving fish so ensure you don't have tank mates who are going to gobble up all the food. Buy decent sized discus if you have never had them before - anything under 6cm is going to create an awful lot of work - and purchase from a reputable breeder. Keeping discus in a planted tank is not as easy as in a bare bottom one. Be prepared for good large water changes - preferably twice a week Purchase a minimum of 4 discus, 6 is better for that sized tank as they need a group to spread aggression. Provide shade cover particularly if you are going to have high lighting - discus do not like bright lights heres one of my threads from when I had my planted discus tank - the discus were hiding as the lights are on - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46364&hilit=Adrienne the tank is exactly the same dimensions as yours

Rangitoto Island is a good place to go and its a nice ferry ride

Its unlikely to be indian fern - any stem plants will grow tall as they search for light. With a lot of those plants you can cut the bushy bits off and replant them and they grow up again from the bottom. What about java or windelov fern? Can you post a photo?

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