Planted Tank Question

[JFlo]

I am loving my plants and discus together in the same tank. With the grasses and swords growing pretty well I started to think ... am I keeping the tank too clean? I am doing my daily water changes and all, but I wonder if I shoul leave a little of the poo and leftover food on the substrate to fert the plants. Anyone know if it is possible to keep the sunstrate too clean? Also, if I allow the grass to cover the whole bottom of the tank ... is it still necissary to vacume up the bed of the tank? Or is it bad for discus to have no sand to dig through?

[Chad Hughes]

I am loving my plants and discus together in the same tank. With the grasses and swords growing pretty well I started to think ... am I keeping the tank too clean? I am doing my daily water changes and all, but I wonder if I shoul leave a little of the poo and leftover food on the substrate to fert the plants. Anyone know if it is possible to keep the sunstrate too clean? Also, if I allow the grass to cover the whole bottom of the tank ... is it still necissary to vacume up the bed of the tank? Or is it bad for discus to have no sand to dig through?

JFlo,

I would not intentionally leave anything in the tank for plants. Every attempt at cleaning the tank should be 100%. What kind of substrate do you use? What size/age are your discus? Your plants are using the water column for nutrients unless you have provided substrate fertilization. The waste in your water will be used by plants, especially in the form of nitrate.

With planted tanks you will likely get water tests with all zeros on your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If the nitrate starts to read zero, you may have to add nitrate. What is your current fertilizer routine? You may have to test for Phosphate as well. Typically with discus food you'll not need to add phosphate with your ferts. The level will remain adequate for plants. If you are concerned about not having enough Nitrate or Phosphate for your plants, you could reduce the number of water changes.

My largest display tank only gets a 50% water change weekly. It's 150 gallons and the discus in this tank grew out in this tank. The youngest discus in this tank started out at 2.5" and are now about 5". It's been around 4-5 months for these guys.

With grass covering the bottom of the tank, it's even more important to get in the grass while you vac the bottom. Although your discus will forage the grass and typicall eat everything, I would not allow it to go maintenance free. With grasses, simply press the siphon lightly in to the grass and pull out any particulates. The discus can't get everything! LOL!

Anyway, it's great to hear that you are enjoying your planted tank! It's awesome to watch discus in a well planted tank! I wouldn;t have it any other way! Hope this helps!

Best wishes!

[JFlo]

It does help a lot. My Nitrate is at 5ppm and Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0. I just use a sand bottom. Nothing planted in the tank are that hard to grow. I use an organic carbon and planted tank supliment in liquid form. The carbon is added daily and the other is added every three days. I get 50 gallons of fresh water per day through a drip system. In addition to this i do a minimum of 25% change per day. The discus have been in my care for about a month and a half. When I go them they were all about 2.5" but now range from 3 - 4.5". They are still young :D

Up to this point I always clean the tank as well as can be done. It sounds like I should keep this up. I was wondering about grasses though. I plan on letting it cover all of the ground. The dwarf variety I got seems to grow to about 6 inches. I was thinking of pruning it back to about 3 inches throughout. When I do this is it important to remove the clipings? I have a 150gallon built in to the wall so I have to use a ladder to reach the bottom of the tank ... and its a stretch to get to the front. I just want to make sure I do it right ... when I do it.

[Chad Hughes]

I would remove anyplant material that is not attached to a rooted plant. Clippings should be removed. Trimming the entire bottom of the tank is going to be a pain in the butt. You may want to consider a true dwarf grass or just allow it to grow to 6". I can forsee a lot of maintenance trying to keep it short!

Best wishes!

[JFlo]

I dont mind it being 6" ... but I was thinking it might be cool to keep it short in the future. I was told when I bought the plants that they were a variety that would get to about 3". Clearly not correct at this point. Sorry but the name of the plant escapes me.