New 90 Gallon- what to do?

[aquagirl900]

Ok, I am setting up a new 90 gallon Discus tank. I am thinking 5 discus...we have 260 watts of light, I want it moderately heavily planted...

I was thinking a school of cardinal and a school of green fire tetras with 4 rams, the 5 discus and some oto cats...would this work?

What I am really curious about is the best filtration for this size tank. I have experience with the Penguin 350...love it...but worry about surface agititation/current...

I thought about cannister filters- Magnum 350 pro...sponge filters...or just another Penguin/Emperor...but no idea what would be best.

Is there a type of substrate discus prefer? I am also going to be putting a lot of driftwood in the tank...

Also..what would be better- we have 2 lfs in town that sell discus...both reputable...but only one has a guarantee on their discus...and those fish are not too...pretty...

Should I go with the more expensive unguaranteed fish or order online...if online where is a good place to try?

[Rogerthedodger]

I suggest online....get the largest, highest quality, discus that you can afford if your a newbie. There are some good choices here as sponsers.

[Tropical Haven]

If you are starting out with juvies in the 90 gal. then I would get 7 or 8 of them and keep them by themselfs until they get around 41/2 to 5 inches before adding other fish with them.

[RyanH]

You may want to poke around in the sponsor section. You never know who might be within driving distance of you. :)

If you are just starting out with Discus, I would suggest keeping them by themselves and not in a show tank until you have learned how to care for them properly. You are adding so many variables when going planted that it can easily get away from you. It is also likely that your fish will not grow out the way you might have hoped.

Read through some of the stickied threads at the top of the beginner section. They cover the basics of Discus keeping. Post as questions arise.

[C_of_Discus]

I say if you can see the Discus and they are a LFS and they will help you with all your care questions then buy them.

I would buy 6 the more the better. If you want a planted tank then I would start setting one of those up Plants cycle the tank and you should have the planted tank growing for 1 months before I would add the tetras make sure they are big over an inch before you add Discus. I would look around maybe someone here on Simply are very close to you and you can go to their place and take a look at their Discus. I would take the next 2 months looking for and researching Discus and find out what you want and what they need care wise they are one of the most difficult and expensive fish to keep so take your time.

good luck!

[aquagirl900]

Well, I plan on doing the plants first...then adding the discus because the 90 gallon will be my discus qt...the other fish have qt tanks...

I definately only want 5 discus...seems like a good number in a 90 gallon community...I am fairly familar with aquarium maintenance...I have had a 55 gallon south american community for about a year, other tanks before then...

I am mainly concerned about what filtration would be best in a 90 gallon tank?

[ed8t]

For a new set-up, especially planted, I wouldn't introduce discus right away. Let the tank establish itself first as you deal with diatoms, algae issues, ferts, smaller fishes...then introduce your discus. I waited a year before adding my discus. They were growing out in another tank. If you don't want to grow out juveniles, adults would be best. The heavy feeding regime for juveniles and planted tanks doesn't work very well together. More frequent water changes for growing juveniles would add to your fertilizer bill.

You may have issues with your new fish requiring heat and salt or other treatments, hate to see your plants melt as a result. Doable if you have a separate tank for treatments, but what if you have to sterilize the planted tank due to some pathogen?

When the tank is nicely balanced, introduce your discus. Ideally they've been maintained in a separate tank with it's own filtration so you can transfer fish and filters to your 90 together.

Sounds like this 90 will be your show tank, so I would go canister. IMO there's better filters than Magnum 350's. Eheim Pro II 2028 can handle the load, Rena XP3's are popular, Marineland C360 are getting good reviews. If you plan on injecting CO2, most plant people avoid HOB filters.

No experience with green fire tetras, rummynoses would work, I'd prefer bn plecos over otos...too many stories of slime sucking attack otos for my liking. :p

[aquagirl900]

which cannister filters are affordable but adequate? Also, does anyone know any good discus retailers in the southwest michigan (kalamazoo, grandrapids, battle creek) area?

[Polar_Bear]

which cannister filters are affordable but adequate? Also, does anyone know any good discus retailers in the southwest michigan (kalamazoo, grandrapids, battle creek) area?

XP3 is under $100 at Big Al's, and is just big enough for your tank. The only other comment is, that is a lot of light if you aren't using CO2.

[aquagirl900]

I'm either using CO2 or flourish excel fertilizeer...nto sure which yet

[RyanH]

I'm from Grand Rapids. There really isn't any. You should try giving Cary Strong a call. He lives in Detroit.


Also, does anyone know any good discus retailers in the southwest michigan (kalamazoo, grandrapids, battle creek) area?

[judy]

I'm either using CO2 or flourish excel fertilizeer...nto sure which yet
Depending on whether you use CO2 injector systems with pressurized canisters, or the DIY pop bottle version, you will want to look at supplementing with Excel in either case to greater or lesser degree (less if you use the pressurized version).
Adding a little Excel on a regular basis really seems to keep the algae down to --well, none. My SAEs are getting pretty bored...

[ed8t]

Excel is expensive to use as a carbon substitute on a 90 gallon tank, pressurized CO2 injection would be cheaper in the long run.

I use Excel to keep to BBA in check, it works great for that.

[kitfoxdrvr]

I agree with the basics of all the posts above. My thoughts:

-Discus are not too difficult to keep

-Plant tanks are not too difficult to keep

-New discus in a new plant tank are just shy of impossible to keep without many compromises in quality (maybe multiple deaths)

-Young discus are very difficult to grow out in any true plant tank

-Young discus are just shy of impossible to grow out in a community plant tank

I have made all of the above mistakes, so I know. My latest failure (to date, knock wood) was adding three inch SL discus to a heavily planted 180 community (corys, cardinals, rummynose) and they loved it! I actually ended up with two pairs that continuously spawned. So why was this a failure? The discus were 3" for the next 6 years! I now have this same tank and approximately the same fauna (except for the discus) with 8 new discus that were added as adults and it has been great! It was an established plant tank (two stable years) before I added the discus. In this tank, the discus are easy; the plants are the tough part. My advice is to do discus and plants/community tank separate until the plant tank is established and you have adult discus to add. Then the two disciplines mix well. Until then, oil and water would be easier to mix in my experience!

Steve