Planted discus tanks Lighting

[Yanbbrox]

I was wondering what sort of lighting rigs people here use on their planted discus tanks as I'm going to convert our existing bare bottom discus tank to a planted tank in the new year?

The tank is a juwel rio 240 (64 usg). It has the standard fluro lighting rig but juwel have started selling T5 lighting rigs for these tanks. Would these rigs have a high enough lumens output for a planted tank without up setting the fish too much.

The tank needs to be closed at the top due to the high cat population in the house therefore most of the specialist floating rigs can't be used.

 

[reptileguy2727]

The amount of lighting needed depends on what types of plants you want and how deep the tank is. Fluorescents are enough for many plants. If you are wanting plants that need more light, have a deeper tank, or want a lot more growth then you can go with the T5s. My discus are in a 40breeder with a bright light. They seem fine with it, but they also have a driftwood hiding area in the back corner.

 

[Yanbbrox]

I'm going to have plenty of hiding spots for them, I think I'll invest in some t5's just to be sure

thanks

 

[reptileguy2727]

The best hiding area for them is driftwood. Preferably long pieces arranged vertically (simulates the roots they are used to hiding in). You probably only need one or two hiding spots.

 

[Yanbbrox]

The hardest part with driftwood over here is finding a remotely good looking piece and even then it's a serious cash investment. No word of a lie, I've seen one piece in about 5 years that I thought was any where near perfect and that was £250.
I do have some small pieces, I have one roof type piece that I could use on top of some rocks to simulate the effect

 

[reptileguy2727]

That sucks. Then the best thing is vertically arranged decorations. For example, pieces of slate could be arranged vertically, leaning on eachother and the two sides of the tank in a corner. They naturally slip through the roots between the open water and their hidden hiding area.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to have a look around the diy threads to see if anyone has made something realistic in the past, may be the way to go

 

[Tequila]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to have a look around the diy threads to see if anyone has made something realistic in the past, may be the way to go

Dude the best equipment in a DIY kit in Aquariums is Transparent Silicone and whatever your imagination can come up with. Go to your LFS with Shale & Slate and maybe some Petrified Wood on your Brain. Then just figure out how you would like it too look and then just gloo-it-together wait 24~48 hours can't remember the instruction off the top of my head. Then just dunk in the tank trying not to squash the Discus, sit it down in the gravel and you are good too go. You won't have to worry about knocking it over and scaring your fish senseless or anothing else, plus you can attach plants like Java Fern and Anubias to the rocks with ease.

Though I'm not truely sure why if you have a planted tank why you would need anymore hiding places but it's up to you. Remember get a few Tiger Lilies and Banana plants which will provide shade. Discus like Bass love to just sit up under these lilies.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Missed this one, for some reason about 10 subscribed threads with new posts haven't shown up in user cp for the past couple of days, unless I missed them

Not really relevant now as it was posted 4 months ago, but thanks for the comment/info anyway. Your right there is no real need now the plants are in