I sold off, and gave away the large fish from my old 240gal. tall tank. They had outgrown it, and it was time for a change. So I decided to redo it as a lower tech planted tank to house some of my ever expanding Discus collection. It's not quite ready for the discus yet, but it's getting there. This tank has dual 1/2" overflows with a 55 gal. sump, with about 4 gals. of Pond Matrix bio media, and a drip water change system. I removed the old external pump, and placed a new Eheim 1262 in the sump. This not only cut back on the massive turnover and noise, it also uses a lot less energy. Two 7''x 18" long,1 micron filter bags handle mech. filtration. I then stripped everything from the inside of the tank, and placed a mixture of Flourite, and pool filter sand on the floor. A piece of wood that has been soaking in a rubbermaid trash can for about 3 years was placed in the tank. The lighting was replaced by a 4x96 watt light kit from AH Supply in a simple homemade frame. Two 6500K, and two 5000K bulbs are used. I then placed a couple of large Amazon Swords, a few dwarf swords, some pennywort, watersprite, and water shamrock, added some root tabs, filled the tank with used Discus water, dosed with Excel, and called it a day. The tank has been running a couple of weeks now with no problems so far. I've trimmed back the large swords, and added a dozen Otos, and 4 Clown Loaches from another tank. I have 50 Cardinals to go in after quarantine. I'll add the Discus after a couple more weeks if there are no problems. The first picture shows day 1. The second is after some pruning. The last one is some of the "babies" I trimmed from the plants in a spare 75gal. I'm attempting to grow them out a little. The best looking ones will go into a 125gal. if all goes well. 
Reviewing this post, I just noticed I still haven't added the background. Geez!
Reviewing this post, I just noticed I still haven't added the background. Geez!
