What do i need for a tank like this?

[Spawnstar]

Hi all,

I have started reading the stickys and beginners guide. There is a lot of good information although I can't help notice that some of the threads are over 10 years old (perhaps some things never change).

While looking at various sites I came down on the tank that I hope to have and would like your advice on what I would need for such a tank.

I have no idea how large it is but is looks like at least 90gallons or so.

My questions are:

1. To be able to have a hardscaped tank such as this, what is the smallest size fish I should buy?

2. A lot of the sticky's talk about the aquaclear filters, however, for this size of tank and assuming the fish aren't juveniles, would it be better to have a canister or a sump/refugium? What would be the optimal set up?

3. For larger fish (4"+) what would the preferred water change percentage and frequency be?

http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y403/Dolf_Van_Amersfoort/16_1aquarium_red_discus_fishtank_zps4132a896.jpg

Thanks for your help.

Spawn

[dagray]

I can tell you from looking at this that this tank appears to be sitting in the middle of a room or maybe with one end to the wall. It also appears to be a drilled tank with the output and input lines under the gravel or hidden somehow with the filter system under the tank. This to me looks like a square tank and I would venture a guess that it is 150 gallon or more.

As to the smallest fish size you can buy fry (dime sized) and raise them in a breeder box inside the tank until they get silver dollar sized and then turn them into the tank when they know you are a food source and won't hide from you and then try to feed in one place in the tank.

I figure the cory cats in this photo to be 2.5 to three inches.

Also in a tank like this I would add some anubias plants either attached to rock or driftwood or put in some potted swords hiding the pots with the nice big rocks (make a rock dam and put the pot in the middle and then fill with pool sand to cover pot or don't use the pot and make a rock dam to fill with eco-complete and plant a sword or two (just my artistic side).

Dave

[pauline]

Every time I see that tank I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard........

[discofan]

A lot $$$$$$

[Trevor W]

I may be wrong but I think that this tank is just filtered by an external filter such as a canister filter just like a common practice with planted tanks is to remove the lily pipes or inflow and out flow tubes from the canister filter at the time of photos being taken. There is nothing about this tank that says it is drilled for a sump because I see no weir or bulkhead or anything and if it was drilled in my opinion you would atleast see a weir or stand pipe because to have a tank drain from the bottom pane without a weir or stand pipe is insane and in the event of a return pump failure you are going to drain your entire tank, even check valves fail. This is an ADG tank designed and built by there team, I am willing to bet that it is simply filtered by a canister filter and the pipes are removed for the photo. Besides being well aquascaped and photographed and maintained I dont see any reason why someone with experience keeping discus could not have a tank like this. Its just a well photographed pristine tank that just has silca sand, a nice show piece of driftwood, and some round river stones thats it besides good husbandry and a really nice group of healthy high quality discus. The one thing that really adds to this tank is that all the discus are the same strain and strain specific tanks in my honest opinion have a much more appealing asthetic.

[dagray]

I may be wrong but I think that this tank is just filtered by an external filter such as a canister filter just like a common practice with planted tanks is to remove the lily pipes or inflow and out flow tubes from the canister filter at the time of photos being taken. There is nothing about this tank that says it is drilled for a sump because I see no weir or bulkhead or anything and if it was drilled in my opinion you would atleast see a weir or stand pipe because to have a tank drain from the bottom pane without a weir or stand pipe is insane and in the event of a return pump failure you are going to drain your entire tank, even check valves fail. This is an ADG tank designed and built by there team, I am willing to bet that it is simply filtered by a canister filter and the pipes are removed for the photo. Besides being well aquascaped and photographed and maintained I dont see any reason why someone with experience keeping discus could not have a tank like this. Its just a well photographed pristine tank that just has silca sand, a nice show piece of driftwood, and some round river stones thats it besides good husbandry and a really nice group of healthy high quality discus. The one thing that really adds to this tank is that all the discus are the same strain and strain specific tanks in my honest opinion have a much more appealing asthetic.

And I was thinking the lines for a sump could be hidden by the rock and driftwood. But yes I hadn't thought of the option to remove the lines for a photo.

Dave

[Trevor W]

Hi all,

I have started reading the stickys and beginners guide. There is a lot of good information although I can't help notice that some of the threads are over 10 years old (perhaps some things never change).

While looking at various sites I came down on the tank that I hope to have and would like your advice on what I would need for such a tank.

I have no idea how large it is but is looks like at least 90gallons or so.

My questions are:

1. To be able to have a hardscaped tank such as this, what is the smallest size fish I should buy?
-You would want to purchase adults in my opinion. You could also grow out a group of smaller fish in a basic barebottom tank but you would be waiting for them to reach adulthood before having something like that tank with those fish. In short just spend the extra dough and buy good quality adults if this is something that you want to have.-
2. A lot of the sticky's talk about the aquaclear filters, however, for this size of tank and assuming the fish aren't juveniles, would it be better to have a canister or a sump/refugium? What would be the optimal set up?
-The optimal set-up really just depends on you and your personal preferences. I dont honestly feel that one person could tell you that THIS is the optimal set-up and everything else is inferior. Yes there is certain things that are prefered as far as filtration but it for the most part comes down to you and what you are able to maintain properly. A bigger or better filter will never trump plenty of water changes. I personally feel that refugiums should stay with the saltwater community and they have no place in a discus set-up but I am not a fan as you can tell of refugiums in general unless they are used in saltwater for a place to grow things such as copepods or cheato to harvest for nitrate reduction but this is a whole nother topic.-

3. For larger fish (4"+) what would the preferred water change percentage and frequency be?
-Yes again there is no exact number or percentage or water changes and peoples answers will vary, you could see one person have success with daily 90% and you could have someone have success with 50% every second day. there are so many variables in determining your waterr change routine. such as amount of discus or other fish, amount of food, your work schedule, family life, size of tank, type of tank ect.. the list is endless and you just have to figure out what you want to achieve and what you need to do to achieve it without sacrificing proper water chemistry.-

-Trevor

[Trevor W]

Other than the nice tank and high quality discus the only thing that screams $$$$$ to me is having someone like ADG build, set-up, and constantly maintain this tank. Don't get me wrong I do love this tank and everything that ADG does. I have also loved this tank from the first photo I have seen of it. It was just such a unique perspective on a discus set-up and very well executed.
As far as the plumbing being hidden under the rocks or driftwood yea it could be done but I think that it would be highly unlikely for this tank. Once again I could be wrong. Just my opinion.

[Pancho]

A lot $$$$$$

You're right!!! LOL

[pastry]

Don't do that... do your own "thang". I know what you mean but don't forget that's a picture and if "stuff" isn't painted out then that's a lot of time to keep up with that (to keep it looking as good as it does). I loooove that picture and I'm a huge fan of reds but that's achievable yet probably not as clean for a long time. Keeping it simple will probably be the best bet.

[Trevor W]

I just dont get it, besides having a company build and maintain this tank how is it any different than any other tank with high quality discus. Poolfilter sand is cheap and driftwood is reasonable so just because it looks different or is presented different than a barebottom tank doesn't make the tank worth soooo much $$$$$. I have seen alot of tanks on here that have some amazing discus in them that could very well of cost alot more than the fish in this tank, yet because it is barebottom nobody would of said you would need "alot of $$$$$$" to have a tank like that even though we all know the price of high quality discus. If any member on here wanted to make a tank like this they could! You just have to have some sort of eye for asthetics! Anyone can go buy silica sand for less than the cost of a dozen (canadian) beer, than all you need is some nice driftwood and rocks, now the expensive part would be the group of discus which is not like there is 200 of them I see alot of members here that have 20x the amount of fish as this of equal or greater a caliber. Now set it all up and invest in a camera and photoshop and learn how to use them, and there you have it. If people started to look past undergravel filters, fake plants, t-8 single strip lights, and ugly detritus trapping gravel from the 1980's then they would realize HEY I CAN DO THAT. If you go and look at Matt (discus-noobs) 100 Gallon build for his wilds you can see what I am talking about. To me that tank is just as close to this tank. Its just not photographed in its prime the same way this one is (even though Matt is an amazing photographer with great skills) its just photographed with different lighting and techniques. Now please don't take offence to any of this I am just trying to show everyone that besides the great photography and discus this tank is just silca sand, driftwood, and rocks. I personally prefere the more subdued lighting with a lower Kelvin rating than this (more natural looking IMO) but for photography purposes I prefere the higher kelvin whites that this tank displays.

[Trevor W]

Don't do that... do your own "thang". I know what you mean but don't forget that's a picture and if "stuff" isn't painted out then that's a lot of time to keep up with that (to keep it looking as good as it does). I loooove that picture and I'm a huge fan of reds but that's achievable yet probably not as clean for a long time. Keeping it simple will probably be the best bet.

+1

[DiscusLoverJeff]

The sky is the limit when it comes to setting up a nice discus display tank. The OP picture is really spectacular and I am sure many try to replicate it. If you look through many posts here you can get some great ideas for your own scaped tank.

If you can dream it, you can build it.

[Spawnstar]

Thanks for the comments.

Perhaps others can comment on what filtration they would recommend for a tank this size?

Similarly what waterchange schedule and percentages would you recommend?

[Second Hand Pat]

My personal preference on a large tank is a sump with an dedicated overflow. My large tank is a 230 gallon with nine wild adult Cuipeua and it gets two 40% WCs a week. WC schedules depends on feeding and stocking levels and really needs to be customized per setup to keep the fish healthy and thriving.

[joanstone]

I follow a routine similar to Pat's. I have a 220 with a 55 gallon sump. The sump is loaded with Kaldnes medal and has two large Poret foam dividers. The water level is controlled by an auto top-off connected to my RO filter. I do two water changes per week, roughly 80 to 100 gallons. I have 16 discus in the tank.

[Spawnstar]

What is the benefit of using a sump over a canister?

Would it be a good idea to have a sump and a canister such that the overflow goes to through the sump and then the canister back to the tank?

[pastry]

For starters, most sumps are a hell of a lot larger than a canister... which in-turn add to your actual total gallons (significantly more than canisters). I have a canister but some day I'll get off my arse and switch to a sump.

[Second Hand Pat]

Two advantages to a sump is if you lose power the BB will not die off as quickly like in the closed area of a canister and easier to clean periodically. As Elliot mentioned the sump generally gives you more overall water volume and gives you a place to hide the heater. Personally I do not see how adding a canister would benefit a sump. :)