Starting a new..

[greyhoundfan]

I love this board and am glad I found. I reside in So Cal and I used to do a lot of surf fishing. Now I am spending most of my time setting up my new tank.

I have a 100 Gallon tank and would like it to be a discus tank. It will be 75% bare bottom with just a few patches of gravel here and there to secure some plastic plants. I am also curing some driftwood now and it'll look pretty nice in the tank.

I'll be running 2 x 24" white coral lites and 2 x 24" blue lights.

Filtration: 2 Fluval 404s and an air pump.

Heating: undecided since I really haven't found one resounding endorsement for any heater but I want to get an external heater. I know I will need two of them.

Here's my quandry, I would like to stock the tank with at least 8 disucses.

I have another 55Gallon tank I can grow them out in if I choose to get smaller ones. I certainly can't afford 8 adults.

I have two out of town trips planned during the summer and fall. I will not have anyone to help with the feedings and water changes. I'll be gone for 10 days on each trip. How big do the discuses have to be able to handle long intervals between water changes? I will have about two mos. of time to grow them out before I am out of town on my first trip.

I fear my only option is to wait til I come back from my fall trip. I don't think I can wait that long..:(

[RyanH]

It sounds like you are planning to stock your tank pretty lightly. I wouldn't worry about 10 days too much.

You may want to set up an autofeeder to feed your fish very lightly while you're gone... maybe once a day.

Clean your tank really well and do a huge water change before you go and do the same when you get back.

They'll be fine. :)

-Ryan