I am starting this journal with three purposes:
I have been keeping discus for about 4 years now, fish for about 20 years. I am just beginning my second attempt into a planted discus tank after a first failed attempt at aquascaping/ planting about a year ago. Unfortunately, on my first try I spent hours gluing moss to create a tree and planting a few stems and swords without heading the advice of how heavily I needed to plant or knowing enough about lighting and CO2 needs. My current tank has been running for a year, but I just enriched the soil and added plants and CO2 a week and a half ago. Hopefully, between what I have learned, what I am learning, and advise from you all I will be successful this try.
I will post pics once I am granted privilege to post the share links. The plants at this point are only organized by foreground, midground, and background. I purchased a variety pack from a local seller (free of snails!) and don't really know what the plants will grow in to look like. Thus, I plan on moving them and getting rid of them as needed. The idea is to have low carpet in the front and around the wood for the discus, with taller growth in the back. I love bright greens, reds, oranges and purples. I know most go for a plain background, but I like to change the background by season for my kids.
Current Tank Specs
- Document what I am doing so I can fix things when problems arise... and I know they will.
- I am hoping to receive constructive criticism and advise from you folks here at BarrReport to avoid some of the pitfalls newbs like myself run into. I have done research, but feel like there is so much to know and many things seem to be so much based on individual tank parameters that it is difficult to gauge.
- I am hoping to "pay it forward." I have received so much guidance from reading others' experiences that I would like to share mine in case it may be of help to another person wanting to convert their discus aquarium into a planted tank.
I have been keeping discus for about 4 years now, fish for about 20 years. I am just beginning my second attempt into a planted discus tank after a first failed attempt at aquascaping/ planting about a year ago. Unfortunately, on my first try I spent hours gluing moss to create a tree and planting a few stems and swords without heading the advice of how heavily I needed to plant or knowing enough about lighting and CO2 needs. My current tank has been running for a year, but I just enriched the soil and added plants and CO2 a week and a half ago. Hopefully, between what I have learned, what I am learning, and advise from you all I will be successful this try.
I will post pics once I am granted privilege to post the share links. The plants at this point are only organized by foreground, midground, and background. I purchased a variety pack from a local seller (free of snails!) and don't really know what the plants will grow in to look like. Thus, I plan on moving them and getting rid of them as needed. The idea is to have low carpet in the front and around the wood for the discus, with taller growth in the back. I love bright greens, reds, oranges and purples. I know most go for a plain background, but I like to change the background by season for my kids.
Current Tank Specs
- 150 gallon bowfront tank- 72" long x 24" deep x 18" wide
- Water kept at 83 degrees
- Ph 6.7, 0 ppm Ammonia, 7 ppm Nitrate, 0 ppm Nitrite after 75 % water change yesterday. Normally, I change 30% every 3 days, but I needed to remove a bunch of wood dust and debris and the yellow water from the tannins was bothering me.
- Currently dosing Seachem Flourish, Potassium, and Iron each water change.
- Will add ADA root tab ferts in about a month. I didn't want to overfertilize with Eco Complete already having fertilizer in it...
- 2 Aquaclear 150 HOB filters
- ADA CO2 Diffuser beetle hooked up to a 20lb CO2 tank (Merry Christmas from my awesome husband!)
- Just brought it up to "green" level on the CO2 indicator because I was trying to gradually adjust for the discus. My old Ph was 8.2 and the CO2 and inert sand have brought it down to 6.7. Change is very stressful for discus, as evidenced by the stress bars they are showing right now. The huge water change yesterday brought them out more because of the extreme difference in Ph from the tap, so I will have to be sure to just do the frequent small water changes from now on.
- 1 24" NCrew LED in center of tank
- 72" off-brand LED light bar in back of the tank
- 2 Current USA Satellite light bars at front of the tank angled on the bow (I turned the blue diodes down to the lowest level on the advise of a nice man at Aquatic Warehouse in San Diego.)
- Fluval Stratum + Ecotech Complete base of substrate (2" depth at back of tank, none in front and middle)
- CaribSea Super Naturals inert sand layer on top for discus coloration
- CO2 set to 3 bubbles per second (I think); indicator is bluish-green
- Current fish:
- 4- 5"+ discus
- Currently quite stressed with all of the changes in water parameters
- I know discus are usually kept in larger groups. My tank was just Thanos-snapped a month and a half ago. I woke up to find one sick and did a large water change before work. By the time I got home from work, all of my fish were on the sand except 1. I medicated with General Cure and was able to save 4. After having raised them from babies, I don't want to start over. Right now they get along, and I don't want to add any new ones who might be picked on or upset the peace.
- 1- Golden dwarf ram
- 1- Female betta
- 2- Singapore shrimp
- 3- Glass shrimp
- 4- 5"+ discus
- New fish that will be in quarantine & dewormed for a month once they finally arrive:
- 30 cardinal tetras (expecting to lose 5 because I have heard they have trouble with shipping)
- 12 blue cochu tetras
- 5 otocinclus
- 6 Amano shrimp
- 1 dwarf electric blue ram
- Dwarf Triple Red Cacatuoides Cichlid Pair
- Plants (that were supposed to come in the pack, but I think some were not there, or I already had):
- 2 Amazon sword
- 1 dwarf water lily
- BACKGROUND
- Acmella Repens (Rare) ....................................5 Stems
- Hygrophila Brown..............................................7 Stems
- Alternanthera Reineckii Cardinalis ...................7 Stems.
- Hygrophila Difformis........................................ .7 Stems
- Ludwigia Repens...............................................7 Stems
- Lindernia Sp India.............................................7 Stems
- Rotala Colorata ................................................7 Stems
- Rotala Coin Leaf (Rare) ...........---....................5 Stems
- Clinopodium cf Brownei ....................................7 Stems
- Hygrophila Corymbosa Compacta .........................5 Stems
- Persicaria sp, Porto Velho...... ...............................7 Stems
- Ludwigia Need Leaf................................................5 Stems
- Lindernia Rotundifolia.....................................................7 Stems
- Alternanthera Reineckii Variegated (Rare) ............5 Stems
- Rotala Najenshan, .................................................7 Stems
- Persicaria sp 'Kawagoeanum' ...............................7 Stems
- Alternanthera Reineckii Ocipus .............................7 Stems
- Cardamine Lyrata...................................................15 Nodes
- Pogostemon Helferi Downoi...........................2 Stems 2" to 3 " long not crown
- Hemianthus Callitrichoides HC......................1" diameter
- Lobelia Cardinalis, Small Form.......................5 Stems
- Hydrocotyle, Dwarf Pennywort.......................10 Nodes
- Alternanthera Reineckii Mini ..........................7 Stems
- Dwarf Hairgrass .............................................1.5" diameter
- Staurogyne Repens, Tropica 049 ...................5 Stems 1" to 2" in length
- I am not seeing my plants pearling or the bright colors I have seen in YouTube videos and picture posts. I think my par at the substrate level is too low, so I purchased 2 AI Prime HD Freshwater lights (one for each side where the plants are). I'll post a pic and update on the difference the extra lighting makes!
- While I have such low lighting I am currently running them from 6 am to about 9 pm and not having algae issues. I know I will need to lessen this to about 6-8 hours daily once the new lights arrive. Any other advice?
- I bought a Fluval FX6 (50% off on Black Friday ) because I was going to attach an inline UV sterilizer and CO2 reactor. The UV sterilizer doesn't fit and is getting returned. I was advised to not do the inline CO2 because it will not be as good for the beneficial bacteria in my filter vs just running an ADA CO2 diffuser. I don't know whether to hook up the FX6 to increase filtration (always good) or if that will create too much flow for discus, as I have never used a canister filter before. Right now, I am getting a lot of sediment junk on the sand and the water is cloudier than I like, but the wood is still 1 week new.... What would you do?
- I have no idea the gh and kh and other such levels in my water, other than I have somewhat soft water from the tap. Is that something I need to start tracking or do you all just go by how the plants and fish are looking?
- I have heard of the wonders of ADA products but don't want to pay the extra if it is snake oil. Do the Seachem products do just as good of a job? Do I even need to use ferts (aside from the ADA root tabs) once I have the heavy bio load I will have once all of the fish are out of quarantine?
- Would like to add Bloody Mary shrimp eventually, but they will need enough carpet plant growth to hide from the cichlids before I do. I may end up finding that the tank is busy enough, or even too busy to where I change my mind.
- Any thoughts or advice on scaping and plant placement is welcome! I plan on updating weekly to monitor growth and changes and discover/ share the best regiment that I find.