Discus tank conversion, bare bottom to planted

[Yanbbrox]

When I first thought about getting Discus I really wanted to do it with a planted tank. At the time I had know idea how to go about this and after various failed attempts I bit the bullet and went bare bottom. All was well for 18 months or so with no problems until last November when i lost a fish for no seemingly no reason. Ever since the tank has not been right, the fish only grow slowly, don't really eat much and seem to be scared of their own shadow. A far cry away from the 'feed me' dance they used to do when ever you went any where near them, water changes would result in them all in the same place in fear of what was happening when before they used to attack the hose for fun whilst trying to get the none existent food from my hand.

I've recently made my own discus food to try an encourage them with some reasonable results but the time has come to convert the tank and hopefully help in a return to the good times.

Before I go on I would just like to point out 2 things:

1. Everyone does discus differently, I do not intend to change the way other people keep them, what ever works for you is good by me. I'm only writing this to show what I did and show the results(hopefully) to help others who may want to do it.
2. I have to thank member Tequila for all the planning, advise and his recommendation of products that are a absolute nightmare to get in the uk. Without this advise I wouldn't have made it this far, even though I'm doing it, I'm using his method so all credit should go to him.

Info and pictures of the conversion will follow later today once everything has settled.

 

[Yanbbrox]

I don't like to rush into things and take my time. A project like this seems so simple today but the planning was started about 6 weeks or so to get to where I am today. This started by reading, researching and asking questions, as mentioned before everyone has they're own way to do discus so I thought it was best to go with the advise of one person rather than ask the community who would help too much by giving me many different ways to achieve this leaving me with a lot of info that contradicted other ways of doing it.....plus he offered

Substrate was going to be flourite, after the suggestion I read up on it and the way it does not interfere with water parameters made the perfect choice. The only problem it can be a real pain to get any over here without either paying through the nose for the stuff or having to travel to find a uk dealer who has any in stock. This took a long time to source at a reasonable price, I worked out I would need 3 bags of the stuff to give a good enough layer after ringing around the dealers I was repeated told 'yes we stock it but don't have any in stock and it'll be a month or until we get some'. The average price seems to be £25 or $50 a bag so it's not cheap over here. Ebay was no better with most people selling it for the £20 or $40 a bag which was better but then add the postage and it's no cheaper. As I'm holiday this week I was determined to get some this week as I had the time to work on the tank. I had a dealer who was going to ring me when it came in and I called them today to be told 'it should be here tomorrow' they were selling at £20 or $40 but it was a bit of trek. I finally found some after another hour of ringing around but they only had 2 bags at £25 or $50 but I thought I get it anyway and make a start, with a view to another bag could be sourced later in the week if necessary.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Sorry, I'm having browser/connection problems and I've just had to type the above twice


I figured I could end up needing quite a bit of water to replace after I'd dropped the level so I left 2 containers on charge over night. This is RO remineralized with tropical marin pro discus mineral, the barrel on the right was full I just forgot to take the picture.

I deliberately got some plants about 3 weeks ago as I new they would start to die off as conditions were no where near right for plants. This would give me 2 pointers, I could track their recovery when everything was right and could compare this to the new plants to judge the difference.

The only plant I got at the time was the java moss which I intend to grow over both pieces of bogwood(pics coming later) I'm still looking or an arch piece to go between the two.

 

[Westie]

A couple of suggestions. I've seen a lot of keepers stay with BB but, put the plants in pots. Or get driftwood and tie Anubis to it till it roots onto the wood. You still have the BB for cleanliness but can move stuff arround as needed. As far as their behavior, temps at or above 80 yes?

 

[Yanbbrox]

A couple of suggestions. I've seen a lot of keepers stay with BB but, put the plants in pots. Or get driftwood and tie Anubis to it till it roots onto the wood. You still have the BB for cleanliness but can move stuff arround as needed. As far as their behavior, temps at or above 80 yes?

84, update in progress bare with me there is a lot to write up

 

[Yanbbrox]

The only concern going into this was.. I had sick blue diamond that had been struggling for a few weeks or so before I started the conversion process I've had been treating. I lost this fish during the conversion RIP. This was the pigeon blood's best mate that has never been the same since it lost it's mate.

Conversion part 1 tomorrow, I've got the pics all ready to go, just too tired for now it's 00.04 in the uk. I'll do a full write up when you guys are still in bed

Original tank vid here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPkjuRvBawk

 

[Yanbbrox]

I started by clearing out the bog wood and the other plants that was in there. The plants were kept in bags with a little tank water in them. I also had another few that I'd got with the flourite so they went in as there as well. My only concern was the java moss drying out too much as it was attached to the bog wood, this was the first thing to be replaced after the flourite went in.
Directions for use for the flourite (as with all gravel based substrates) is to rinse it first, oddly it states that it can be used directly but I've never seen so much dust come off some gravel before so I wouldn't recommend it . The plan was to rinse it through in used tank water through a cullinder but it was immediately obvious that this was not practical due to the amount of dust so instead it was rinsed in tap water and then first and then again in used tank water.
Heaters, power head and pump was switched off before the flourite went in.

As this was a major overhaul I rinsed the internal filters through in old tank water first but left the external one alone.

Here is the flourite going in with the tank drained down and the dust coming off it:

 

[Yanbbrox]

When I got about halve way across we decided to leave the tank to settle a bit because of the amount of dust coming off the flourite so the bog wood with the java moss was replaced to stop it drying out. The powerhead and pump was turned back on again to try and clear out the dust:


After a couple of hours the rest of the flourite went in and again was left to settle:

 

[Yanbbrox]

After the tank had settled for a few hours the other bog wood was put in and the plants added. As stated before this is not how the final tank will look it's more of a test to ensure everything will grow and live in harmony before the proper aquascaping.

Here is the tank 4 hours after planting up:


The tank after 24 hours, back to crystal clear:





I took the decision to leave getting a 3rd bag to see how things go. If deemed necessary it will be added but I don't want you stress the fish out any more any time soon especially as they seem so happy now playing with the plants.

For food I was again advised something that is nearly impossible to locate at a good price over here, seachem flourish and trace. I've tried to find these with no luck so I've gone with nutrafin plant grow for now, I'll find some seachem stuff in the end and use that. My biggest concern is supply, if I find some I need to keep the stuff coming in the long term so finding the odd bottle is no help.

I'm sure by now people are wondering about co2. It is something that I have no experience with but I have no qualms about using it in the future if deemed necessary. As long I achieve reasonable plant/fish growth without using it I be happy. If it turns out that nothing much is happening I'll add a unit to the tank, at this moment I rather not have to monitor some else in the tank and potentially put the fish at too much of a risk.

Thanks for reading any comments and suggestions are welcome


And thanks again to Tequila for the help with the setup

 

[Tequila]

And thanks again to Tequila for the help with the setup

, Looking Good So Far.