planted 300 with discus.

[skanderson]

I have started a 300 gallon planted tank with discus about 2 months ago. trying to raise a somewhat similar looking group of fish. the tanks dimensions are 48x48x30 and is lit by diy leds.i am amazed by how much food I put into the tank and how there is never any laying around after about 5 minutes. on to a few pictures.
https://i.imgur.com/6eU0Ve7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mBsm78Z.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5XaMNSE.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4zKN4M2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oXAi9cw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ZCsZnWB.jpg

[jmf3460]

WOWZA!!! Your scape is beautiful. Lets take a minute to admire the beauty of the plants, wood and lighting before we talk about the fish. Your scape looks so natural and unplanned, just like a scene from a pond or river. Kudos to you I love it. Discus look good, where did you get them? I would have went with a wild looking fish in that beautiful natural tank but your fish look perfect.

[Filip]

Very wild and natural looking Aqua scape Skanderson . Great job done here .
Its a bit tricky to raise small discus in a tank this big and a planted environment but certainly not unachievable. It would look great with full grown uniform looking batch of discus though.

[skanderson]

thanks for the kind replies. I did consider wild type discus in this tank but passed on that option for a couple of reasons. first is that while I have been keeping fish for almost 40 years now I have never kept discus, and did not want to buy pricier fish that are more difficult to care for. secondly I have found many tanks with wilds in them to be very good looking, but not all of them. in my shopping time for discus I would look at the different types of wilds and decide on which one I liked best. then I would see them in person or pictures for sale and not like the appearance of the ones I could purchase. I have always like the look of the red turquoise discus. I purchased 12 small fish from hans. 6 of the german wonders, 2 leopard snakeskins, and 2 red scribbelt. I then purchased 2 larger galaxy turquoise and 2 smaller blue moon x heckel cross fish from Exotic Discus in the Chicago area. I lost one of the fish from hans a few weeks ago when I had an ich out break after adding some wild caught tetras, but overall the tank responded well to increased temps and nox ich. trying to get the right balance of temps for the discus and for the plants. also seeing what hardness I am shooting for to keep everything happy and growing well. as strange as it might sound this is actually my test tank for a planned larger tank that I want to install in a year or two. I have been trying to keep the fish very well fed so I don't get any stunting. if anyone notices something looking amiss I welcome constructive criticism and advice. will try to get pics up every week or so but more likely it will be monthly updates.

[White Worm]

Planted tank looks great. Fish look to be a little under-developed to me. Its hard to find a balance with planted tanks and discus. They require a lot of food at a small size. This messy amount of food gets caught everywhere in a planted tank not to mention the waste build-up. It's hard to tell from some of the pictures. Some of the discus look good but some look stunted to me. When did you get them? How old are they? Size? You may want to move them to a bare bottom grow-out tank and pack on the food to help build them and then put them into a planted display. Most will put adults in to a display like this because they have already done most of their growing.

[skanderson]

I bought the fish from hans 6 weeks ago. I have be throwing all the food they can eat 3 times a day and auto feed flake and pellets 3 times as well. for the frozen I switch btwn beefheart, bloodworms, and a mix of other frozen stuff I have for my reef. with only 14 fish currently in a 500 gallon system I don't seem to be having any nutrient buildup. by po4 is 0.5 ppm and my no3 is 10.0 ppm. I will try to ramp up feeding but it is hard with my work schedule to feed more than 3 times a day. anywhere other than this tank and I would end up forgetting to feed them and they would really be in trouble. the fish from hans came in at 2.5 inches except for the snakeskin leopards which were 3 inches. thanks for the warning I will be keeping a close eye on them.

[Shaun's Discus]

Looks amazing but extremely challenging in a setup like this for youngins. I started a discus tank with juvies, sand, plants etc,,, my discus were 1.5 to 2" when I got them four months ago. On advice I found here, I basically stripped down the tank to b/b and potted my amazon swords. They have grown to almost 5 to 6" in four months. Good luck, and keep us updated with progress.

[skanderson]

just a few update pics. things still looking nice in the tank and I'm still cramming as much food as possible into it.
https://i.imgur.com/Fql4Pva.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Qdjoc9D.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/paRLlE0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fZ4vt2M.jpg

[sanjay21]

just a few update pics. things still looking nice in the tank and I'm still cramming as much food as possible into it.
https://i.imgur.com/Fql4Pva.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Qdjoc9D.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/paRLlE0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fZ4vt2M.jpg

I would just stare at your tank all day ! Damn Skanderson! this will be one of my fav tanks !! I'm sure its challenging to maintain but the results shows its worth it!
When I see beautiful tanks like this, I always wonder how do you siphon the dirt stuck deep in the plants ? care to share any tips to maintain tank this clean ?

[jmf3460]

is that a servum in the 3rd pic?

[skanderson]

yes I added 3 small severum to see what they are like and how they work with the discus. they are much smaller than the discus but are definitely not shy.

[Naturegirl]

This tank is amazing!! I could sit and watch fish T.V. all day long! That's what we call it at my house (fish T.V.)

[Phillydubs]

Wow!!! The scape on this tank is just killer! So nice!!

Care to share your tank maintence and routine. How you change water and how often etc...

As the others have said, you will have to battle to keep this all in line and get size from your fish.

[skanderson]

all I do for maintenance is a 100 gallon water change 2x per week. I test the gh, kh, no3,po4 as a way of keeping track of the water quality. my no3 was up a bit today before the water change so I may start 3x week water changes this week and see if it keeps the levels more in check. I have not siphoned water out of the tank since I set it up. I just turn on my pump that empties a 100 gallon ro container with a heater into my sump, and then the water overflows out to a drain. the fish do seem to have full bellies all day when I am home to feed them but only get 3 meals plus flake and pellets on a timer on my work days. finally got the last led to power up so the tank looks brighter over all this evening. I clean the glass about once a month or so. tomorrow I will be making around 20 pounds of beef heart mix to freeze so I should be good on food for a while. I am considering building a isolation/growout system in a nearby room. this would let me do proper isolation on new fish and really size up any new small discus that I get. need top work on the design this week. thanks for the kind words about the scape, it has a long way to go until I will be happy with it but it is slowly getting there.

[skanderson]

a few quick update pics.
https://i.imgur.com/3bmsB4a.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AiCRDu7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IvqgZY0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XHmKIzh.jpg

[nikolyator]

very like your tank. and good luck with it. looks awesome!!!!!

[warbird99]

I am amazed at how natural and perfect your tank looks. I'd never get anything done! I would be sitting and watching the fish for hours on end. I like your combination of fish too! It makes a great visual display and makes your discus stand out from the 'crowd'! Thank you for sharing!

[kalawai]

Beautiful scape... Just WOW!

[BABYJIZAY]

Well done!!! More pics!!!

[HappyFace]

I love the background and foreground lighting, it adds depth and beauty. Combined with your landscape it gives a feeling that your tank goes on forever. Beautiful.

[EJ_B]

Wow, beautiful tank. The blue in the cardinals really pops. Good luck, looking forward to updates.

[discus2k]

It must be hard to clean this tank weekly.

[Davidzil]

Do you use CO2, how is your PH, in respect to stability?

[NJH]

What has happened to this tank?

[aix1]

Would also like to know...

[js302]

Incredible.
I love the consistent single variety of discus you chose.
Great soft blue lighting as well.

[curtissea]

Looks awesome! :guitarist:

[Jack L]

very nice tank and scape

couple runts in there, but you never know how they will turn out. some of my worst looking juvis turned into nice adults

[NP57]

I'm planning a large planted discus tank as well and would appreciate knowing what your entire set up is.
Norb

[Killamanjaro]

@skanderson this is without a doubt the best discus tank I’ve seen. I like the natural wild look over the perfectly manicured aquascapes. What kind of lighting are you using for your system and do you run CO2?

[Killamanjaro]

I'm planning a large planted discus tank as well and would appreciate knowing what your entire set up is.
Norb


X2 on this!

[cooper666]

WOW!!! That is as pretty as any tank I've seen. Well done.

[fuz940510]

Fantastic, I love the depth and subdued lighting. Really does seem like a cross section of a river bank

[bluelagoon]

Yes, nice looking set up. How well have things progressed? Did the discus remain healthy and grow well in the set up?

[mleibowi]

Any updates on this tank or future tank?