Newbie Questions for a new Discus Tank

[WyldFya]

you could go with a fluidized bed filter. A fluval fx5 might be overkill but with discus there is no such thing. Also, a uv is pretty important on planted tanks or you will get green water. For gravel, there is flourite and laterite gravels that give the plants nutrients, mostly iron. If you are keeping a heavily planted tank, you will need co2 injection. Also, plants need really intense lights, 4-5 watts per gallon. Compact floresant or metal haliades. You'll be spending a lot to do it right...and then buying 6-8 adult discus will set you back another 300-500. good luck with your tank!

Many pieces of info here that are not very good. 1) An FX5 is going to create too much flow for discus in such a small tank, and would create surface agitation gassing off co2. 2) A UV is the exact opposite of what you want on a planted tank. This will actually slow the growth of your fish as it is rendering nutrients less usable by the plants themselves. 3) Just because a tank is heavily plants, does not mean you need co2. A heavily planted low light tank will not need co2. 4) Plants as a whole do not need 4-5 WPG, and you can't even base this style of measurement on metal halides. In truth a planted tank can have as little or as much light as it needs, this is based not on how densely planted a tank is, but rather the actual plants in the tank. 5) 6-8 adult discus from a reputable breeder will run far more than US$500. From a really good breeder/importer, 6 adult discus should run around US$600-$1000, for 8 you will be upping that by 200 at least.

 

[WyldFya]

I would run an Eheim as the slow flow, high biological will do more for you. Definitely a good idea to have a plant substrate, I prefer Flourite and ADA aqua soil, just make sure you don't get black, or dark substrates. I highly recommend you get the planted tank setup, and running the way you want first, and add the discus several weeks later. I would definitely recommend using adult discus as babies often stunt in planted aquaria. For the heater, I prefer Jagers, but am not such a fan of the new eheim jagers, A titanium heater from ViaAqua would work well.

 

[knobhill]

Many pieces of info here that are not very good. 1) An FX5 is going to create too much flow for discus in such a small tank, and would create surface agitation gassing off co2. 2) A UV is the exact opposite of what you want on a planted tank. This will actually slow the growth of your fish as it is rendering nutrients less usable by the plants themselves. 3) Just because a tank is heavily plants, does not mean you need co2. A heavily planted low light tank will not need co2. 4) Plants as a whole do not need 4-5 WPG, and you can't even base this style of measurement on metal halides. In truth a planted tank can have as little or as much light as it needs, this is based not on how densely planted a tank is, but rather the actual plants in the tank. 5) 6-8 adult discus from a reputable breeder will run far more than US$500. From a really good breeder/importer, 6 adult discus should run around US$600-$1000, for 8 you will be upping that by 200 at least.

there's an exception to everything, isn't there

 

[DigThemLows]

there's an exception to everything, isn't there

There is, but in general WyldFya is right!

 

[knobhill]

There is, but in general WyldFya is right!

hey, i'm just sharing info that I know to be true from years of practice keeping plants and discus. I presented what has been successful for me--lots of light, uv, and strong filtration. if the guy wants to keep some low light plants in a tank with low turnover, that's his prerogative but it sounded to me as if he wanted a lush water garden. If you guys want to overspend on discus, that's cool too. guess I am just used to the over saturated discus market in Los Angeles and not having to pay for shipping in addition to breeder premiums.

 

[itzacraze]

i personaly would go with a slightly smaller tank if u dont mind ill share my ideal discus setup but its only my opinion...... i start with a 20 gallon i run a co2 injection along with a small power head wich is your first stage of filtration.... the power head supplies your uv ster. id go 18 watt..... eco complete substrate dual compact flourecent 65 watt lights and a good ro unit should get you going dont forget to add plant elemnts back into the water and get the plants going before the fish go into the tank.... make sure your ph buffer takes the water and holds and your co2 is consistant in the water... you may want a bigger tank but in a tank that big you need a lot of pure water and that is going to be money and work... i dont believe a canistor filter is the way to go with discus altho i could be totally wrong there are a lot of people who keep them sucessfuly differently thats what makes this whole thing fun

 

[itzacraze]

wyld why not dark soil and why not uv? ive seen huge uv on planted tanks in the past.... fix my brain here before i go and set up another mistake lol

 

[WyldFya]

hey, i'm just sharing info that I know to be true from years of practice keeping plants and discus. I presented what has been successful for me--lots of light, uv, and strong filtration. if the guy wants to keep some low light plants in a tank with low turnover, that's his prerogative but it sounded to me as if he wanted a lush water garden. If you guys want to overspend on discus, that's cool too. guess I am just used to the over saturated discus market in Los Angeles and not having to pay for shipping in addition to breeder premiums.

Watch the way you talk. You talk in absolutes, and are wrong on many ends. A lush planted tank does not have to be high light. You speak from years of experience, well I speak from decades of experience. Discus do NOT like high flow, an FX5 provides lots of flow but sub-par bio filtration, which is what discus really need. Your choice of filter was not the best. UV will slow the growth of plants dramatically, which in turn makes nutrient levels higher which will equal stunted discus. As far as overspending goes, if you think $100 for an adult discus is overspending, then you have yet to get a high quality discus. $100 is not overspending by any means, that is a fairly normal price for a good discus. You have to watch the way you work, as what may have worked well for you, may not in reality be the necessary best. Have you tried all methods I mentioned? Do you know that your method works with the best result? I have tried many different methods of growing discus, and have tried just about everything out there for styles as far as plants go. A 'lush water garden' does not need to be high light, you just have to know what plants to use, and keep up with maintenance.

 

[WyldFya]

wyld why not dark soil and why not uv? ive seen huge uv on planted tanks in the past.... fix my brain here before i go and set up another mistake lol

Dark substrate will bring out stress bars, and peppering in discus. In general most people do not like the look of the peppering or stress bars, and want the color of the discus to show through. This can be better achieved by using lighter substrates. You can by all means use a UV sterilizer, but you will slow the growth of the plants, and dramatically lower the uptake of nutrients by the plants, which in turn makes your TDS higher, and keeps your discus from being in ideal conditions. If you are properly quarantining your fish, you should not have much problem with parasites. Discus already are kept at a high temp, raising it to 86dF isn't a big stretch, at which temp many parasites will die off. Much easier method for controlling parasites than a UV.

 

[DigThemLows]

1 watt per gallon, a couple of root tabs under the amazon swords, and no CO2..............