which one would u do???

[WyldFya]

Anything I tried with the exception of Java ferns, Swords, and Anubias species really. They all seemed to just melt in the heat. Mad.Lace, Red Lotus, and a host of bunch style plants, several other species of Apon. Eventually I removed one of my halides from the discus showtank and raised its distance form the tank so it would illuminate the entire thing, so lighting was rather low expecially with my level of peat filtration. I made the tank much more like their native habitat(concentrating more on driftwood and rock) and their colors just exploded. I did attach ferns to the driftwood, added some floating style plants(duckweed, and another species I cant remember at the time) and had a single amazon sword.

Many of the plants you mentioned are not going to tolerate extremely high lighting. The madagascar lace can melt even in optimum conditions. They aren't easy to keep at all. Were you dosing ferts at all? Co2?

 

[WyldFya]

I agree with him. I mean seriously, what do wild discus do? I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt though because I actually know someone on another forum who has a stunted discus despite excellent care and the rest of them are normal sized for their age. Do you have any sources for this info? Can you expand on it at all?

As for the OP's question. Whatever is easier for you to care for is what I would do. Discus typically demand a lot of dedication so you may want that to be your main focus rather then a planted tank.

I have seen many cases of this in the past, and have had issues with it myself when my tank wasn't so overgrown. Steve at Mac's discus also informed me of this as being a problem with discus.

Wild discus often do not grow to the sizes that their captive counterparts attain. This is likely due to the same issue.

 

[rjmtx]

When I kept discus, my adults went in my 75 gal, fully planted tank with all types of swords, anubias, java fern, and tiger lotus. All did fine at 85-87 degrees. I grew my juvies out in 29s w/daily water changes when possible. At about 4 or 5" they would go into the planted tank that got weekly wcs. Never had any problems. If you're in it for efficiency and easy breeding and that sterile lab tank some discus freaks are nuts about, don't do plants. If you want a beautiful, natural, chilled out tank, plant it to the hilt.

If you are new to discus and plants, choose one to master first. I'd do plants first, because it's a big intial investment, and definitely has a steep learning curve. Get over a few algae battles, and then get into discus. Here's a hint for planted discus tanks, get a female american flagfish to eliminate hair algae. I had problems with it until I learned this. Don't get males, even though they are pretty, they're mean as hell.

 

[sandtiger]

Ah, alright. Thanks. I'll pass that info along.

 

[rjmtx]

They all seemed to just melt in the heat. Mad.Lace, Red Lotus, and a host of bunch style plants, several other species of Apon. .

Aponogetons like cool water (not over 80 or so), and that's why they "melted." Most plants in the trade from the Amazon basin or the Congo basin will do fine with heat.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Silica sand will produce excessive amounts of brown alga.

It doesn't, as far as i am aware silica sand is just made out of glass dust, i've had it in my tanks for years and it never caused any brown algae problems for me.

 

[MCHRKiller]

Exactly...alot of plants dont like discus temps...and IMO its best to keep few plants or really none with discus as its easier to keep your tank pristine expecially if one is new to the world of discus. My lighting wasnt that bad...they had 2 175watt pendants on a 100G tank, and with halides you get natural dark and light spots. Plus my level of peat filtration that water was literally the color of tea. The mad lace was in a darker spot of the tank, my other basic planted tank actually got over run with them so i chucked a couple in there. I ran a couple of DIY CO2 injectors made out of 2 litre soda bottles, substrate was a bottom coat of laterite and covered with pool filter sand and I dosed a general fertilizer twice a week(Leaf Zone). The setup was nearly identicle to my at the time massively planted 55G which had a single 250watt halide except for temp of course.