Hi there davo86, thankyou for your reply and helpful comments! Unfortunately I am begining to realise that yes this set-up will not be good enough for keeping the discus I want. I realised the buenos aries tetras were becoming nippy so I got rid of them but have perhaps been led into false pretenses as I have seen pictures of discus being kept in the same tank as a red tailed shark, loaches and so forth. How is this so?
tank size may be a factor but with something as delicate as Discus I would rather not risk it myself, The shark especially could quite easily/quickly do some damage once it matures
When I bought the filter I actually thought it was more than powerful enough for the size of tank but as you say, it isnt so I will look at getting something bigger when I hopefully get a bigger tank, a 6x2x2 foot fingers crossed. This would be big enough for the discus correct? lol I would keep this tank in the outhouse and have the new tank in its place, time to convince the wife haha...
When looking to buy filters I always look at the 'true' turnover of the filter as opposed to the suggested tank size, this gives you a much better idea of how the filter will cope with your full stocking plans. Yes a 6x2x2 will be more than big enough for Discus and tankmates, anything bigger than around 55-60G would be fine for 5 Discus +
do you like the tank though 
Yes the setup looks great, you've created a very nice south american biotope
Instead of getting Discus how about adding another 3 Blue Rams and then adding a few more shoals of say Cardinals and black neons and then perhaps an albino bristlenose to finish?
