Kermit Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Hi all, well i've finally stopped talking about setting up a discus tank and started the process. I've got a 915L x 455W x 455D tank soaking my wood, i'm wanting to run a 40L wet/dry sump filter to help skim the top of the tank, hide the running equipment and easy to maintain, any other ideas? Now i've been thinking about a number of other things, such as do i use peat for the plants or use CO2 injection or not, if CO2 injection do you need to run a air stone to maintain Oxygen levels at night? As for tank mates i was thinking of about 4 Ram's, 6 tetras of some sort, 1-2 plack's any full backs with any of these fish with discus? Heating all sorted 300w heater in the sump controlled via an external thermostat maintaining 27deg c. Lighting have thought of a mixture of different lamps 2x 6,500K 1x 8,000K and 1x 10,000K 3' standard fluro's. Bare in mind i am only wanting to have about 3-4 discus in this tank, or am i over stocking it? As for plants was just going to get what ever attracts me and is suitable with my lighting. Any help or recommendations would be great, thanks. regards Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 because you are planting it and wanting other fish i dont think you could get away with 4 discus in a 185L. after planting it etc you would be left with around 160L and normally we try to aim for at least 40L per discus (IMO more when its planted). the main problem i found when stocking with discus is they dont seem to do well in groups of less than 5 which means you need quite a large tank. when you only have a few (and i found this out the hard way lol) one will become alpha and will harass everyone else making them unhappy. i had three discus at one stage and it wasnt a happy tank. also if planting it and wanting to put your discus straight into it without growing them up (depending on the size you buy them) buy the biggest you can afford, i would reccomend over 8cm. planted tanks are harder to keep clean than barebottoms so unless your doing large daily water changes in the planted (which the plants wont like) they will slow in growth. its not a biggie, smaller discus can still be happy discus. i would also wait until the tank has settled and everything is running nicely before you add the discus, they can get pretty stroppy if the water is changing alot. i personally would attempt to find a pair that have just started showing signs of love, that way they will get on fairly well and just have that pair and your rams, tetras etc with them. dont go with common plecos, bristlenose are pretty good and dont often seem to have problems with snacking on the discus' sides. cories are another option along with a few of the fancy plecs. because discus prefer the higher temps (28-31) you will need to find fish that will be fine in those temps. neons are an example of what dies off in 30C your setup sounds like it will be great and it will be great to see how it progresses :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljtan55 Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 such as do i use peat for the plants or use CO2 injection or not, if CO2 injection do you need to run a air stone to maintain Oxygen levels at night? Co2 injection is great, makes a big difference in plants, especially if you're planning on growing swords. Not all plants do well at the high temps discus needs, but java ferns, java moss, swords, indian ferns etc do ok. How many watts will you have in total? I don't run an airstone, haven't noticed much of a difference in my 255L tank. I don't use peat, a big piece of driftwood tends to lower the pH of the water, and most discus nowadays are not wild caught, so they dun mind more neutral water pH anyways. Tankmates, tetras that like higher temps like cardinals, rummy noses are good. Make sure you get quite a few of them, they dun do too well in small numbers. Algae eaters like otos do good (sometimes will suck on discus if theres no food around), bristlenoses, siamese algae eaters, farlowella, whiptails, and some fancy plecos. Like sharn said, be wary of normal plecos, and chinese algae eaters. A lot of people have clown loaches with them, I've got dwarf chains and they do very well. Cories are great, but get the ones that like higher temps like sterbai, just do your research before you get them. Rams are great, like the same water parameters and high water quality discus do. Other dwarf cichlids may be ok as well. Discus like company, so the more you get the better, otherwise they can be really really shy and unhappy. And if they're going to be in a planted tank, don't expect them to grow as big as the ones breeders produce. They like to graze, so when you're choosing tank mates be careful they don't out compete the discus for food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 i would just get 4 or more discus and a school of tetras, with a planted tank you wont have much room and the more discus you have the happier they will be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Good luck with the tank. I am also in the process of setting up a planted discus tank. My original tank contained a large piece of bogwood, gravel internal & external filters. Be prepared for plenty of water changes. Three of my five discus grew very large in that set up. Like you I am looking at lighting, plants, and pressurised CO2 system. I have opted for Aquatic mix to be placed in between the layers of gravel. I will follow your thread with interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted November 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Thank you all so much for your replies, i like the look of the Rummy nose fish they're pretty cool. Looks like i'll have to get a bigger tank so i can get more discus , i'll get a couple ounce the system has settled, being a salty i've learnt to be patient so waiting for the tank to settle will be a breeze. Lighting will be a total of 120watts of standard fluro's, may opt for VHO's but have the standard ballasts and fittings. So peats an out cos of the bogwood, thanks Ijtan55 didn't want the brown water look. Sharn you mentioned to find a couple that are showing signs of some loving, well i went into Organism's today and they had a couple spawning . Karen, would like to hear more about your setup. Thanks again any more suggestions are welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 spawning discus are normally sold for quite a fair abit (and sometimes they cant even produce fry!) so its probably cheaper for you to pick out a pair that are looking like they want to become good friends if you can find them. they will hold their fins up real high, swim up and cross over paths (hard to explain) while trying to look their fanciest and shimmying at each other (looks like theyre shivering). planted tanks are normally alot harder on the discus for the simple fact of water quality. discus need alot of water changes anyway but on a planted tank they will need extra care if its not in 100% balance (which can take some time to acheive). i keep mine in a bare bottom tank with potted plants and driftwood and cleaning is a breeze. some people dont like the look of bare bottoms though so its a personal preference. as ljtan55 said dont expect the discus to grow as well as they would in a bare bottom but they should still get some good size on them if they are healthy stock. rummies are great fish, they really brighten up a tank and will handle the higher temps well. they also get large enough to not become discus dinner :lol: i find my discus just LOVE worms, if i wana grease up to them thats what they get. mine are normally fed worms after a water change to give them something to look foward to (and they do learn whats coming afterwards!) :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted November 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Hmmm i wounder how much they are, any ways i'm pretty much got my eyes out for red scribbles, Torquoise, blue diamond and maybe malboro. But that depends on availability, i may struggle on the red scibble. As for the CO2 how often do you run it, do you run it to the tanks PH or by time clock during the day or 24/7? If i do go the rought of CO2 i will be using bottled CO2. Will get some pics ounce i get the tank in side and fully plumbed up, not pretty at the mo as in the garage with the wood soaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 had a look at those discus today and gees those are so small to be spawning C02 is added when your light turns on, so when your lights goes off so does the C02, its injected straight into your tank with something like this http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 767487.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Yeah i was impressed, sat there and watched them spawn for a little while. Did you ask John or Toby they were both there when they spawned they pointed it out to me at the time. Thanks for that i thought that'd be the case on the CO2, i have a CO2 bottle i was going to use on a calcium reactor for the marine system but need a bigger tank before i set one up. Well got the rest of the running gear today 2500L/h pump with the head and plumbing fittings i'd be expecting about 1800-2000L/h through the tank. JBL MICROMEC for the sump, filter wool not much more to go now. Going to make the sump tonight and hopefully by the weekend the tank will be inside, up and going. Minus the fish. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 i asked toby which paired spawn and he showed me, i'm still abit shocked to see such a young and small pair spawn cant wait to see picture of your setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 perhaps they are not young but stunted? i know some cichlids are able to start breeding at less than a 1/4 of their adult size, not sure how young discus can be though before they start. its possible they are practising but not able to produce viable spawns because of their age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Wawhoo. finally it's all go, here's some pics. A full frontal . One of the fish additions, stuck to the wall. Cool fish active when the lights come on And some planted views. The tank and stand were made by yours truely, got to say it's satisfying to see some thing made by your own hands and actually working well. Only have two of the four lamps in the hood at the mo as can't find the other ballast and lamp holders, grrr. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Awesome stuff Mekhaela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 woah, your tank, stand and driftwood looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted November 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Thanks everyone, everythings still going well. Brought a couple of Blue rams from Organism's yesterday going to introduce them on Sat. The plecs have doubled there size in one week and seem very happy, water tested last night was PH = 7.0 Nitrite = 0.1ppm Temperature = 27.4deg c due to hot norwesterly but the temperature controller i have controls the temperature at 27.0-27.1deg c. Will test other things tonight as my test kits are at work for testing the marine system. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 looking and sounding good 8) keep in mind you will need to up the temp when you add the discus to at least 28, preferably 29-30C- they like it warm :lol: before you add the rams on saturday check if the nitrite reading has gone down to 0. rams are pretty picky about their water quality and the ones sold in your average LFS are super touchy due to a range of things (genetics etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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