My Planted 100 Gallon Discus Setup

Hey,

I have been keeping fish for years but have never made a journal so I thought I would give it a go. I am going to be moving most of the plant life from my 60 Gallon with the discus from that tank.

I will be moving the filters over from the 20 gallon and the 60 so if i do not increase the bioload i will not have to cycle it (YAY time saved). Just incase anyone worries about the filter sizes not adding upto 100 Gallons capacity both of the old tanks are overfiltered tremendously. I can actually filter over 25 gallons more before the juwel filter will come into the equation.

The look of the scape will be along the lines of the amazon region, due to the hardyness of the plants at higher temps for the discus of course. I will be using a mix of RO and tap water dropping the hardness to 7dGH.

The eventual stocking should be along the lines of;
6 x Discus
50-60 x Neons of Different Varieties (Blue, Green, Diamond and Standard)
8 x Julii or Trinellius Corydoras
3 x Clown Loaches
10 x Dwarf Ottos
1 x Kuhli Loach
1 x Pristella Tetra (Aptly named Twitchy) Who I have had over 3 years, does anyone know how old they are supposed to get too???
Sheep Lot of Cherry and Amano Shrimp (Planning on the Cherrys breeding)

The tank will be using the Juwel Internal Filter too along with the externals until I can get the sump sorted.

I will be using Pressurised CO2 Injection, lighting of 3 WPG, substrate of a mix of Playsand, Terrarium Peat and Seachem Flourite and for fertilisation I think I might look into EI. I am very keen on the idea but the water changes is the problem for me, I will be changing water everyday with the discus and all the fertilisers will end up being removed from the water column before the plants have even had a look in.

This is the tank and the stand is homemade, my father and grandfather have spent there working lives as a cabinet maker and a building contracter respectfully so I have no worries in the tank moving in any odd directions during the middle of the night.



Hope you guys enjoy reading this cos I am certianly going to setting it all up.


Chris

This is going to be awesome I fish I could do this.

Thanks Luketendo, I only have half the substrate in atm, i miscalculated the amount needed and will be going to HomeBase in a few minutes to get some more playsand. Thank God they are open till 8.

Chris.

FINALLY ITS HERE!!! Lol. I saw ur sig one day and the next day I was like its and its not here tomorrow. ####. But here it is. I love your discus.

Thanks Fish-aholic, i am really excited. The reason it took a little longer than expected was because of the stand, i had to paint it as part of the deal for getting it for free. Had little spare time last week.

Anyway, the rest of the sand is in, unwashed as the filter is stuffed with floss anyway to pull out all of the muck.

It will take a couple of hours to clear so I will be sourcing other bits for the rest of the evening.

Here is the dusty tank. It is not full because i am knackered and the water from the 60 is going to be replacing most of it anyway, I am moving over everything in one go when it has warmed up and cleared out enough.




Chris

That looks awesome, and you got it for free!?!? What kind of substrate is it?

Well the tank I paid for but the cabinet was free, I just had to pay for the boards, hinges and paint. It was not that expensive really, its always the labour that puts the price up.

I am amazed that the tank is starting to clear hugely already. I think most of the crap is settling though.

Chris

I am amazed that the tank is starting to clear hugely already. I think most of the crap is settling though.

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That's good. I just realized you said you are using playsand so it shouldn't take more than a day. Did you add root tabs to?


Edit: Damn, maybe I should read closer. Just saw that you are using flourite so you won't need tabs.

I was debating between the root tabs or flourite and decided that i wanted the flourite, the reason mainly was of its size and structure. I really like having the sand and small rocks. It looks so much more natural than just plain sand. Still i love plain sand but i always find it looks a bit to clinical and meant.

Chris

Edit Floruite is not in yet, has not arrived.

So is the flourite going on top?

I am going to pour the bags in and then mix it together, in theory most of it will stay on top and then i will let the MTS churn it around a bit. I like leaving it as uninterfered as much as possible.

Chris

Oh i get it. I have never seen a tank with sand, flourite and peat mixed. Why is the peat in there?

Peat is a very old method of softening water, not that i really care too much about it as i am using RO but it will be turning the water slightly acidic, it also allows the uptake of nutrients in the plants roots far easier and the main reason is........I had a few bags left from when i did the 60.

Basically i find it really helps the plants. I have some crypts, swords, vallis among others in the 60 and they are growing tremendously well so i am keeping it relatively close to the previous setup.

Chris

Hey the topic says loads of pics, i counted 2 in total corr, nm, was a great read I always like seeing how these come along! Keep us updates whenever possible and give us plenty of shots

SJ2K said:

Hey the topic says loads of pics, i counted 2 in total corr, nm, was a great read I always like seeing how these come along! Keep us updates whenever possible and give us plenty of shots

Click to expand...

I will do, i just didnt think anyone would want pictures of cloudy water .

The tank is going to look terribly empty, i have just posted in the emergency section about my lost 2 year old discus. He was beautiful

I will be updating later on, i need to do some water changes in the tank and sort out the flourite. Neighbour had it in the porch (Stupid Delivery Drivers)

Chris