120 Litres Planted Tank Help Please

[migdem]

Hi all,

I am revamping my 120 litre tank.

So to start with as fish I will going to get

Otocinclus
Discus
Ramirezi
pygmy corys

My water parameters are PH 8 (cannot lower this), GH 16 ( can lower this through resin ), KH 3. I know Discus should have lower PH but I will try with aquarium bred Discus which should survive in this kind of PH. Right now I am not interested in breeding them so that is not a problem.

Now for plants.... I will not use any CO2 in this tank. So i have 2 inches deep of Seachem Flourite gravel. I will fertilize weekly Seachem Flourish and will do weekly 20% WC.

Lightning i have 2x 24W T5's Warm and Day light. They will be on for 10 hours a day and also i have reflectors on them.

As regarding plants right now I have a couple of Sagittaria Subulata and Cryptocoryne Indonesia

I would like to add Nymphaea Lotus Red, Echinodorus Amazonicus, Cryptocoryne becketti, Cryptocoryne blassii, Cryptocoryne cordata, Cryptocoryne lucens, Cryptocoryne petchii, Cryptocoryne pygmae, Cryptocoryne wendtii 'MI OYA'.


As foreground something like Crypt Parva or Hairgrass? Or what do you suggest?

Do you think I will have problems with Algae? In this tank i had loads of algae previous like Spot Black Algaeon Subulata, Hair Algae on almost all leaves

 

[sampster5000]

The only thing I know about Discus is that they are incredibly sensitive. Not many fish do well in high pH and hardness water but you never know what will happen! You WILL get algae. It cant be stopped! I recommend atleast dosing Seachem Excel or eventually starting DIY CO2. Its cheap and easy. This will for sure reduce your algae numbers. Excel makes magic! Your plants will most likely survive but I recommend dosing some macro nutrients (NPK) which are also sold by Seachem. This along with CO2 or excel will aid in healthy growth. Having a 2 inch substrate depth should work but just remember that Cryptocorynes have crazy large root systems. It looks like you are going to be at about 1.5WPG with your lighting. I would definitely stick with those low light plants like the crypts. You could also look into Anubias and ferns. I think it would be easier for people to give suggestions if you posted a tank picture.