[NEWBIE] New discus tank set up - 120g

[raidendex]

Hello everyone! My name is Michael and I have decided to set up a discus tank :]

I have kept freshwater fish before, mainly oscars and red belly pacu for several years with great success. After that I have set up two tanks - a 125g and a 120g connected together through a 55g sump that were used to primarily grow SPS corals. But after spending thousands of dollars on coral hobby for over year and a half I was no longer able to continue funding it as I am just a student, so I've decided to tear it all down sell all the extras and just set up a freshwater tank again. At first I was planing for just goldfish, but after more thinking I've decided on something a bit more exciting - discus. Haven't said that I've never kept discus before so this will be a new venture for me, one in which I will hopefully be successful, after all I was able to keep a lot of delicate corals alive and nicely colored up for over a year :)

Anyways, about the set up.

Display tank will be a 120g AGA - 4x2x2 dimensions. Set up in a peninsula style (both long sides are viewable). Using dual overflow box (two 1" drains) display tank will drain into a 55g sump where I will keep most of the equipment. Aside from overflow box in the tank I only plan to have a couple of powerheads to help push water to the far end of the tank, probably either koralia evolution 1400 or k3 that I already own and that were used in my coral tank. I understand that discus do not need nor like a lot of flow but these things create a fairly gentle flow and if pointed correctly should create a nice environment.

Lights - I just have some shop light from walmart atm that is 4 feet long and houses 2 T8 bulbs. It is fairly dim though I do hope it will be enough with proper bulbs for couple of plants in the tank (something like anubias or java fern).

Decorations - I've purchased a few pieces of driftwood online (Malaysian driftwood from Dr. fosters) as well as bag of sand from Caribsea called Crystal river (not sure if I will like how it looks yet, as I have not yet received it :) ). Only got one bag of sand as I just want to lightly dust the bottom of the tank with it not create a thick sand bed. So a bit of whitish sand with couple of driftwoods here and there and I also have some river rocks that I got from lowes. They look fairly nice but will play around once I get the driftwood and the sand and decide if I want to keep them, they are about 1-3" wide.

Under the tank - 55g sump with about 400 bioballs, some ceramic filter media. As well as a return pump (mag3 atm, but will probably switch to mag7), heaters (not yet installed) - have 2 300w hydor heaters along with Ranco temperature controller (i don't trust those little dials on the heaters alone to do the job right :) ). Should be more than enough to do the job done as I've used these heater in my saltwater tank this past winter and had no issues and that was almost twice the water volume. I also do have 2 fluval 404 or something like that canister filters that I might connect to the sump but as of right now I'm skipping that step.

Other equipment - 4 stage RO/DI unit, tds meter, various test kits, NLS Thera A+ pellet food.

Not sure if I can post pictures yet, but I still need to take them first, so I will post those a bit later to show what I have so far.

Thank you for reading! Any input is more than welcome! :balloon:

[Skip]

where are you getting your discus from?

PS.. welcome!

[DonMD]

Sounds like you have a good plan, and you've certainly got the experience. As Warlock says, getting fish from a good source is extremely important. I highly recommend buying from a Simply sponsor, you want quality stock. Also, you'll need to plan on LOTS of water changes. I don't know how that works with salt water, but most if not all successful discus keepers here on this site will tell you that very frequent w/c's will vastly improve your chances at success.

Hydor is how I heat my 125g, they're great. I don't use a sump, I use 2 Eheim canister filters, but I understand that sump filters have great bio-filtration. I use pool filter sand, about 2-3 inches, with manzanita to simulate roots. I've got a drain connection under the tank directly to the laundry sink downstairs, and a 200g aging barrel with auto-fill and heat to prepare water. The easier you can make it to change water, the more often you'll do it, and the happier your fish will be.

Send pics when you get it set up. Good luck! -Don

[raidendex]

Discus I will be getting from Hans. Probably 10-11 of them. And a school of some sort of tetras from a LFS. Tetras I will be getting soon so they will be in the tank first.

[Skip]

Discus I will be getting from Hans. Probably 10-11 of them. And a school of some sort of tetras from a LFS. Tetras I will be getting soon so they will be in the tank first.

:gossip:

:thumbsdown:

[DonMD]

I would also not recommend mixing LFS fish with Hans' fish . . . Just asking to import pathogens. Just my 2 cents . . . -Don

[strawberryblonde]

Hi there! Pay no attention to Warlock, he's just jealous cuz he only JUST purchased from discus from Hans. LOL

Oh and Hans has tetras too! I saw rummynose on his online store today, and according to my inside sources he also has plenty of cardinals.

The tank setup sounds good. I bought some of the caribsea sand and also a very fine gravel and love it. Not much gravel in my tank, but that one corner with my swords looks purty.

So the only thing you're missing is the fish. Be sure to do lots of water changes. Lots and LOTS of water changes. With a larger tank it's a bit easier to keep up with water quality, but if your discus are young they'll still need that fresh water every day.

Ummm, what else. Oh yeah, the RO/DI unit. Most of the time you don't need to use one, unless you're breeding discus. So long as your pH is stable and your water quality from the tap doesn't have any huge issues you can skip the RO and go straight tap water. You'll just need to test the water for pH swings in order to know whether you need to age it before using it.

[raidendex]

Well first tetras from LFS will be in the tank alone for a while, so if there any issues it will show? or can they just be carriers and show no signs for a month and then infect discus?

As far as water, tap is pretty good. Think it shows about 130 TDS and not much pollution. In fact when I just started with corals I used tap water without even so much as a conditioner for chlorine with no ill effects for months and corals do usually require RO water. Will have to check how pH swings are with it though but other than that it's clean.

As far as water changes. I do read about huge amounts of water changed daily or bi daily to keep healthy tank. What are we battling here? Nitrates? if say after a week nitrates are still low do I really get much benefit from changing water every other day? {don't have actual numbers for nitrates in my head so will just use X Y etc) So lets say for discus highest safe nitrate count is X and I know that my system goes from 0 to X in Y amount of time, can I just change water say every Y/2 days or something like that if it makes sense? :)

[raidendex]

Oh and also... I do have some cichlids with pleco in the sump atm and 6 gold fish in the tank for now. I will be removing them all from the system before discus are in but for now they at least feeding the bio filters. Anyways since thought of mixing tetras from LFS is so terrible in a way I've already done this by having all this other fish in the system. What would you suggest I do? All fish are healthy and are showing no signs of illness but I could try to medicate the tank or something to kill off anything if it's possible it is there? perhaps do same disinfecting with the tetras from LFS?

[raidendex]

Few shots ... need to swap out lens can't back out far enough to get whole tank lol. BUt it's something like that right now. Still missing the driftwood and a bit of sand :)

http://s4.postimage.org/15aedag10/img_3270.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/15aedag10/)http://s4.postimage.org/15ag0tsis/img_3271.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/15ag0tsis/)http://s4.postimage.org/15a9eoejo/img_3269.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/15a9eoejo/)

[Skip]

Hi there! Pay no attention to Warlock, he's just jealous cuz he only JUST purchased from discus from Hans. LOL
.

:argue:

[ericatdallas]

I think your experience with plumbing will help. Make a plan for large and frequent water changes because as someone said already, it's pretty important for Discus. I lurk in the Reef forums and from what I can tell, the Reefers and Discus keepers both spend a lot of money on plumbing, but reefers spend it to recycle while Discus people spend it on renewal. I could be wrong, in which case, excuse my ignorance.

[strawberryblonde]

:argue:

:angel::angel::angel:

[Lulu]

Hello everyone! My name is Michael and I have decided to set up a discus tank :]

I have kept freshwater fish before, mainly oscars and red belly pacu for several years with great success. After that I have set up two tanks - a 125g and a 120g connected together through a 55g sump that were used to primarily grow SPS corals. But after spending thousands of dollars on coral hobby for over year and a half I was no longer able to continue funding it as I am just a student, so I've decided to tear it all down sell all the extras and just set up a freshwater tank again. At first I was planing for just goldfish, but after more thinking I've decided on something a bit more exciting - discus. Haven't said that I've never kept discus before so this will be a new venture for me, one in which I will hopefully be successful, after all I was able to keep a lot of delicate corals alive and nicely colored up for over a year :)




Well i think goldfish are awesome and highly underrated! I have a 180 gal goldfish tank and some of the goldfish in it cost me as much the discus did! Visitors are always fascinated by my goldies.... Just sayin' :p :D

Great choice with the Discus though.... They are just as awesome and I have fallen in love with them ;).... How exciting and good luck!

[Sean Buehrle]

Well first tetras from LFS will be in the tank alone for a while, so if there any issues it will show? or can they just be carriers and show no signs for a month and then infect discus
Exactly, think twice before you do this, its very risky.

You made a good choice buying from hans , look and see what he has for tankmates. He might even provide a couple sponge filters for you so you can get right to it. Ask him, he dont bite.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hsunami]

i know hans sells rummynose on his website or you can go to john SNOOKN21 for Cardinals/rummys too. John is a pleasure to work with, he'll get you healthy fish

[strawberryblonde]

Hans says he'll have Cardinals soon too. They're in QT right now, but if you give it a week or more before you order from him you should be able to get the cardinals in the same shipment as your discus.

I'm ordering 5 more discus from him and asked him to let me know when the cards are ready to go. I need me a herd of them! LOL

[mwdw]

i have a 150 gallon with only six discus in it right now. only planning to ad maybe two more. i like to keep the bio load low. i only do water changes about 60% a weak. they are staying healthy and are growing like weeds. i just bought a 210 gallon only planning to put 12 discus in it. so far its been working for me.

[raidendex]

I think your experience with plumbing will help. Make a plan for large and frequent water changes because as someone said already, it's pretty important for Discus. I lurk in the Reef forums and from what I can tell, the Reefers and Discus keepers both spend a lot of money on plumbing, but reefers spend it to recycle while Discus people spend it on renewal. I could be wrong, in which case, excuse my ignorance.

In the reef tank you mainly do water change to refresh trace elements that you can't add yourself really not so much to battle nitrates as nitrate or phosphates if you have them in water column at all will be used but a lot of different types of organisms very quickly. It's not always something you might want, like cyanobacteria, but even then it's not a bad thing just looks somewhat bad in your tank :) You also can use different types of macro algae, which are basically almost plants that will take up nitrates and phosphates out of the water. So in theory if you're adding all the trace and well as major elements as needed and you have good set up with macro algae etc you could get away with zero water changes in a reef tank. Imagine same could be done with discus if the display tank would be connected to a rather large tank with a lot of plants in it under fairly strong lights sucking all the nutrients out of the water. Of course that is only if the reason for water changes is just high concentration of nitrates. I've yet to find a post or an article somewhere explaining exactly what's the reason behind all this huge water changes is though. I could see that the other thing that you are battling with the water changes is perhaps any kind of micro organisms that could be reproducing in the water column and that can be harmful to the discus? but that is just a guess :P

[discuspaul]

Well, you have 2 good-sized tanks. If you are willing to isolate one of the tanks from the sump, in anticipation of getting your Han's discus - (& that one provided with a sponge filter supplied by Hans) - I would suggest placing your new discus in that isolated, newly set up tank - then after a short while of observation, place only one of the new discus in the other tank with the other LFS fish & see what develops after a couple of weeks. If the one discus in that main tank shows no signs of problems after 2-3 weeks, then you should be ok to safely introduce the rest of your discus into that main tank with the other fish.

[raidendex]

Got wood and sand recently, so this is final set up as far as decorations go. Also got the tank mates for the discus. 1 albino bristle or bushy nose pleco, 3 albino cory, and 10 cardinal tetras. Goldfish in the pictures are in the tank temporarily and will be moved out before I add the discus.

Ordered some more bioballs, hopefully will get them soon to add to the 400 I already have as well as made couple filter socks and installed one on the overflow drain. That should catch most of the debris that goes down to the sump.

http://s4.postimage.org/2b17ouilg/img_3280.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b17ouilg/)http://s4.postimage.org/2b19cdv38/img_3281.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b19cdv38/)http://s4.postimage.org/2b1azx7l0/img_3292.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b1azx7l0/)

http://s4.postimage.org/2b1cngk2s/img_3296.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b1cngk2s/)http://s4.postimage.org/2b1eazwkk/img_3298.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b1eazwkk/)http://s4.postimage.org/2b1fyj92c/img_3303.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b1fyj92c/)

http://s4.postimage.org/2b1hm2lk4/img_3313.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2b1hm2lk4/)

[raidendex]

Input on tankmates would be appreciated btw! no the part that they are from LFS just about the general compatibility with discus :)

LFS I shop at actually gets discus from Hans as well, saw few in their system that have been there for about 2 weeks and they seem fine.

[Skip]

Input on tankmates would be appreciated btw! no the part that they are from LFS just about the general compatibility with discus :)

LFS I shop at actually gets discus from Hans as well, saw few in their system that have been there for about 2 weeks and they seem fine.

its not the same as getting from hans direct.. those fish could be tainted.. from LFS water nasties..


i can buy a FORD car from a Used Car Lot.. do you think its still as good as getting from the Source all nice and NEW?

[raidendex]

I will by buying discus direct, wasn't the point :P

But are those tank mates ok in general to be with discus? 3 Albino cory, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 10 cardinal tetra

Thanks!

[Skip]

Should be ok....

[discuspaul]

Yes

[raidendex]

Cool. Thanks :)

[Darrell Ward]

Discus I will be getting from Hans. Probably 10-11 of them. And a school of some sort of tetras from a LFS. Tetras I will be getting soon so they will be in the tank first.

Yeah, like Toni said, Hans has some great looking Rummynose and cardinals if you more. I was checking them out yesterday when I ordered some wilds from him.

[raidendex]

Picked out discus I like today. Here are the ten I was thinking about getting

http://s2.postimage.org/1yjrza71g/Final_Discus_Selection.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/1yjrza71g/)

Will be placing the order for them in the beginning of July once everything is settled with the tank.

[Hsunami]

you should throw in a yellow in there. Substitute one of the blues.

one of the top 3 corner ones.

[mmorris]

But are those tank mates ok in general to be with discus? 3 Albino cory, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 10 cardinal tetra

Thanks!

I don't recommend albino corys; I don't think they can take the heat for long.

[raidendex]

I don't recommend albino corys; I don't think they can take the heat for long.

Well =\ Which corys would work better then? If i remember right my LFS has green and panda ones.

[raidendex]

Also the 10 cardinal tetras took quite a dive in population. Started dying off one at a time since I got them, maybe 2-3 a day. Now only one remains, all the other fish in the tank are fine. Maybe this last one remaining was a serial killer =\

[discuspaul]

IME, Pandas seem to be quite delicate, and don't do well at Discus temps. Have a look though, @ Sterbais, Peppered, Bronze, or Emerald cories, to name a few. Most cories seem to experience some discomfort/negative results with the higher than normal temps for their breed/species, at least initially, and I for one believe that it results in a shortened life span for most of them kept in discus tanks.
Having said that, I've kept Bronze & Emerald Cories with my discus for nearly 2 years, and they're thriving so far.

[Hsunami]

Well =\ Which corys would work better then? If i remember right my LFS has green and panda ones.

As discuspaul said, pandas are delicate that was one of the main reasons why i didn't keep them, but i do have the green ones which are the Emerald Cories. Working so far for a couple of months now in the 100 gallon running at 83.4 degrees, i have gone up as high as 85 and they were still fine.

[Herbicidal]

I have Sterbai's and an Emerald Green Cory in my 155g. I need to get the Emerald Green a few more friends of his size. Tank temp 85 degrees on average, they don't appear to be stressed. They eat well and sometimes I see them resting together.

[calihawker]

Also the 10 cardinal tetras took quite a dive in population. Started dying off one at a time since I got them, maybe 2-3 a day. Now only one remains, all the other fish in the tank are fine. Maybe this last one remaining was a serial killer =\

So typical with cardinals. Good luck with the rest!

Steve

[raidendex]

So typical with cardinals. Good luck with the rest!

Steve

I was a bit apprehensive about buying tetras in first place due to short life span but after seeing them die off so easily I'm definitely skipping them as tank mates for something longer lived :)

[raidendex]

Moved out all of the goldfish to their own 3g tank today. Now there are 3 corys, 1 pleco, and 1.... cardinal tetra left in the display tank. Still have managuense cichlid and black convict in the sump, don't have room for them though. Not sure how they will take the heat, if they can I suppose they can stay for a while in the sump.

[raidendex]

Oh and turned on the heaters now. Tank was already sitting at 82F, set the controller for 85 with 1 degree variance that way it will never drop below 84F

[strawberryblonde]

I have albino corys in my discus tank and so far they are thriving. I keep my temps between 82 and 84. It will probably shorten the lifespan of the corys a bit to live at the higher temps, but it's been 6 months now with no ill effects yet. I also have a small crew of sterbai's and they are adorable!

[raidendex]

Somewhat done with sump set up. Made little enclosures today to keep all the bioballs under water :) Put two big air stones under the larger basket to move some air through as well as help with circulation there. Stone on top of the baskets are just there to keep them from floating up lol. Total should be around 1150 bioballs.

Aside from that, there are 4 powerheads ranging from 860 to 1400 GPH to move water all over the place as well as 2 300w heaters on the side. Filter sock and the return pump. Should be plenty of room for bacteria to grow on and filter sock I think should provide enough of mechanical filtration, there are no other pre filters or sponges on anything else in the system. If I will see that one filter sock is not enough I might double up or something, but really do not want to run any canisters on this.

http://s2.postimage.org/nj53pjl0/IMAG0046.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/nj53pjl0/)

[farebox]

Just my two cents worth, I've drop 25 glow light tetras in my new 125 gallon tank, and only lost three so far(3 wks. set up). Good tankmates with 12 discus at water temp 84F...also have 6 sterbai cories.
farebox

[Gohans_Onna]

I don't understand why so many people have issues with cardinals. I've NEVER had an issue with them! Everyone says they are so delicate and you have to have perfect water parameters, etc, but when I went on deployment last year for 7 months my husband and brother in law totally neglected my 55 gallon and it was basically disgusting. They were living in complete filth and when I came home, I screamed and cried when I saw it. But anyhow, never had an issue, and I've had some of mine for two plus years :)

[raidendex]

Yeah, I'm not too sure what happened with them, but it's ok. I wasn't really sold on the idea of keeping them long term and having to buy more and more all the time to replenish the group as they age and die. Will just keep pleco and corys with discus, seems good enough :)

[discolicious]

raidendex: I've been following your thread here. It's always exciting when someone starts their first discus tank. You will find that some things are a little different from your other experiences, but at the same time, that experience will be very helpful to you.

My concern is that you set the tank up and apparently had goldfish (unless I misunderstood), added LFS cardinals that then "mysteriously" died off rapidly, and now plan soon to add 10 discus all at one time. I would be very concerned about the cardinals dying like that. My experience has not been that they are that delicate. Something killed them and it would be good to know what. The goldfish may have been very healthy, but they are cold water fish and may carry some things that probably wouldn't be common to a discus. It's your tank.. but before I would put 10 of Han's beautiful discus in there, I'd totally kill the whole system with a chlorine wash down and start over. Cycle the tank either without fish, or get cycled sponges with your order. Once you get the discus settled and the tank balanced, add your other fish only after quarantining them. Believe me, you'd be surprised the number of people on here who have lost hundreds of dollars of discus (including me) in the early years, just because they had learned from their previous aquarium experiences that it wasn't necessary to be so cautious. It's your call... but I sure wouldn't do it.

Tom

[2wheelsx2]

Yeah, I'm not too sure what happened with them, but it's ok. I wasn't really sold on the idea of keeping them long term and having to buy more and more all the time to replenish the group as they age and die. Will just keep pleco and corys with discus, seems good enough :)

The plecos are long lived, but you're going to have the same issue with cories. They have about a 3 year life span max on average, especially at those temps.

[raidendex]

It was suppose to be goldfish tank at first, but then I've changed my mind. The only fish in the tank for the past week or so were the 5 albino corys and 1 albino pleco. I did a QuickCure for three days just in case and a big water change after. All fish seem healthy and eat well. Won't be ordering discus for a bit, still waiting to get more driftwood that I want cycled in the system first for at least two weeks. Once everything is settled I will be adding the discus.
I'm open to any light medications of the tank to further try to clean up the tank if it even has anything atm, but I'd really wouldn't want to recycle the whole thing now, so will just take a chance I guess. Really not sure why everyone are so opposed to anything from LFS, sure there are bad ones, but the one I go to seems pretty clean. I have bought fish from them before, mainly saltwater and never had issues. Where other LFS in the area I would only had 50% survival rate on saltwater fish.

In the end I still have at least a month before placing the discus order so I will be closely monitoring the current livestock health. After all how do people add tank mates to the tanks with discus later? QT them for a while and see if they show any signs of problems, this is what I am basically doing right now.

[Newbie123]

Nice looking setup.

[raidendex]

Nice looking setup.

Thank you! :)

[raidendex]

So the past couple of days I've been noticing that at 86F evaporation is happening pretty rapidly so to fix it I've decided to use my top off kit that I've used on my reef tank before.

It's a simple float valve connected to about 25' of water tubing that in turn is connected to a small pump that turns on for 30 minutes every hour to pump some water back into the sump as the water level drops, if correct water level is reached before the 30 mins up (which is usually the case) float valve just cuts off the flow and pump just works a dead end lol.

All this said and done, I had no real good spot for top off water container near the tank so had to think of something else. Room above the tank worked for that. Took a little while to feed the tubing through the floor but in the end I was able to do that heh and now I have a top off system set up. Of course pump is not really that necessary with topoff container being so far above the sump, there is constant siphon basically, but with a float valve in place drop just starts and stops when needed.

At the end of the day, one less thing to worry about for me ! :) Also to clarify why I want to keep water level somewhat same is due to me having a bunch of power heads in the sump and few of them are fairly close to water level, so dropping water level would expose them to air in just a couple of days.

Another automation of sorts that I did is a 1" PVC contraption for water changes, that allows me to very quickly drain the tank to a set water level and then refill it back up exactly from that same water level so there is no splashing to spook the fish as the tank refills.

[rubinsteinnyc]

pictures maybe? :)

[raidendex]

Its dark now :) Tomorrow perhaps!

[raidendex]

Some more pictures :)

Tank itself. Did a bit more work on the stand and added the door :) (can see in the corner a tube running upstairs for the top off system)
http://s4.postimage.org/2w3pvr3s4/img_3315.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w3pvr3s4/)http://s4.postimage.org/2w3rjag9w/img_3316.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w3rjag9w/)

Sump and bioball crates/baskets
http://s4.postimage.org/2w3t6tsro/img_3317.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w3t6tsro/)http://s4.postimage.org/2w3whwhr8/img_3318.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w3whwhr8/)

Float valve for the top off system. Mounted onto a simple eggcrate structure that is glued down to the tank's rim.
http://s4.postimage.org/2w3y5fu90/img_3319.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w3y5fu90/)

Ranco controller showing current temperature. Two 300w hydor heaters connect to it.
http://s4.postimage.org/2w3zsz6qs/img_3320.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w3zsz6qs/)

Overflow box with few mangroves that were left over from the reef tank, not sure how much they like fresh water, but alive so far.
http://s4.postimage.org/2w41gij8k/img_3321.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w41gij8k/)

PVC contraption for water changes in the default configuration. Drains about 50g like this. Slits on the sides of horizontal tubes prevent both small fish (which i have none lol) from being sucked in and for later refill for less disturbing the fish in the tank in general. For draining other end just goes out of the window.
http://s4.postimage.org/2w4341vqc/img_3323.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w4341vqc/)http://s4.postimage.org/2w482nx7o/img_3326.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w482nx7o/)

Pump used to fill the tank back up (mag3 - pretty slow but works good enough). Attaches to the end that is initially used to drain the tank.
http://s4.postimage.org/2w44rl884/img_3324.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w44rl884/)http://s4.postimage.org/2w46f4kpw/img_3325.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w46f4kpw/)

Few more options for the in tank side of the WC contraption :) Tube can be adjusted up and down to change how much water is to be drained. Once set, just start siphon and walk away, no need to hold anything in place while it is draining water out.
http://s4.postimage.org/2w4bdqm78/img_3327.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w4bdqm78/)http://s4.postimage.org/2w4d19yp0/img_3328.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w4d19yp0/)http://s4.postimage.org/2w4gccnok/img_3329.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2w4gccnok/)

For local clean up of debris I just use a normal vacuum cleaning hose, but it is too small to drain rest of the water quickly so I did not include it as a part of the whole pvc piping. With a few connectors it would be easy though.

Also the valve on the pvc thing is to first stop the draining if you wish for whatever reason, as water flows through it really quick and breaking siphon other way would end up with lot of splashing, and second for when you fill the tank back up, if you just turn off the pump, water will just basically flow right back out. So before I turn off the pump I shut the valve off and then shut the pump.

Stuff like that for now. Still waiting to receive more driftwood to finish up the tank decoration.

[Gohans_Onna]

raidendex: I've been following your thread here. It's always exciting when someone starts their first discus tank. You will find that some things are a little different from your other experiences, but at the same time, that experience will be very helpful to you.

My concern is that you set the tank up and apparently had goldfish (unless I misunderstood), added LFS cardinals that then "mysteriously" died off rapidly, and now plan soon to add 10 discus all at one time. I would be very concerned about the cardinals dying like that. My experience has not been that they are that delicate. Something killed them and it would be good to know what. The goldfish may have been very healthy, but they are cold water fish and may carry some things that probably wouldn't be common to a discus. It's your tank.. but before I would put 10 of Han's beautiful discus in there, I'd totally kill the whole system with a chlorine wash down and start over. Cycle the tank either without fish, or get cycled sponges with your order. Once you get the discus settled and the tank balanced, add your other fish only after quarantining them. Believe me, you'd be surprised the number of people on here who have lost hundreds of dollars of discus (including me) in the early years, just because they had learned from their previous aquarium experiences that it wasn't necessary to be so cautious. It's your call... but I sure wouldn't do it.

Tom

I agree with this. I've never had issues with cardinals as I said in an earlier post. If you have cardinals dying, I would really be concerned about your discus. If you are reluctant to completely tear down your tank then you need to figure out what's wrong. No reason for them to die off like that.

[raidendex]

Well tank set up was fairly new at that time plus right after I dropped them in I used half dose of QuickCure for two days , both or one can be the cause I suppose. As of right now all the other fish that I have added 1 pleco and 5 corys are all alive and doing well. At this point I really don't even want tetras in the tank anymore so I can't really test to see if there is an issue still.

One of the signs of newer tank at the time was nitrite at 0.25, rest of the parameters were as good as they are going to get - ammonia 0, nitrate around 5, ph7.8 . Upon inquiring about the die off to the LFS owner he asked me how I acclimated, I said just floated and plopped them in and he suggested that sudden change in pH could've done it *shrug*.

[2wheelsx2]

Yep, QuickCure could have been the culprit. The product even warns tetras are sensitive. So transportation stress on top of Quick Cure could have done them in. I would not have used that unless you noticed any problems with the fish. Good clean water and observation for a couple of weeks would have been better.

[raidendex]

Placed an order for this today http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F2117I . Will see how it works with NSL Thera A pellets. Ones I have are 1mm, so I'm not sure if it's too tiny for the feeder and will send out a lot each time.

Btw wanted to also ask. What size pellet is generally acceptable for discus? ( will be starting with 2.5ish ones ) I have two cans of 300g NSL 1mm pellets atm, but Thera A also comes in 2 and 3mm, there is 6mm - I imagine that would be too big maybe even for adults.

[raidendex]

Hmm water test results came in today from my county's environmental services.

http://s3.postimage.org/2aud7xd1g/001.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2aud7xd1g/)

[raidendex]

Just received 4kgs of Seachem Safe :) Should be set for a while heh

Thanks IGO PRO (David Rose) for a good price on that :)

[raidendex]

Short video of the tank. Still missing a lot of driftwood, but that is what it looks like now :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZw7EVSBD4

[strawberryblonde]

The tank is beautiful!

I hear ya on the missing driftwood. I've had three pieces soaking in my jacuzzi for a month and they still won't sink, so my big tank looks way beyond bare. Fortunately, the discus don't seem to mind the empty look other than at night when the jockey for sleeping spots.

[raidendex]

Wow a month! that sucks :\ Hopefully won't take too long with manzanita. Just got it all today and it's currently in a 55g barrel full of hot water. One thing that will help is that I will probably mount most of the upside down so will not need them to be fully water logged.

[2wheelsx2]

Wow a month! that sucks :\ Hopefully won't take too long with manzanita. Just got it all today and it's currently in a 55g barrel full of hot water. One thing that will help is that I will probably mount most of the upside down so will not need them to be fully water logged.

I find manzanita to be quite variable. I bought 2 pieces 2 weeks ago and one piece sunk after 4 days, and the second piece is still floating.

[strawberryblonde]

I think it probably depends on how big/thick the manzanita is. I bought a gorgeous stump and it took so danged long to water log that I gave up, stuffed it in the tank and used a heavy gravel sock to hold it down. It FINALLY sank completely just 3 weeks ago! Hmmm, I think it took about 2 months total but the stump itself is about 10" in diameter and 8" high with branches arcing up out of it.

I wish I had a way to mount some of my driftwood from the top of my tank. It's just not feasible as far as I can figure....and I've spent lots of time figgering. LOL

[raidendex]

Well my patience lasted only a few hours lol ... mounted all the branches that will be root-like structure already. The big log is not waterlogged yet of course but I stuffed it into the tank as well and weighed it down with some ceramic bio media bags from my aquaclears hehe

[raidendex]

Here is how I attached it, if anyone is interested.


Frame that fits inside my canopy
http://s3.postimage.org/16wbsq2dg/img_3341.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/16wbsq2dg/)http://s3.postimage.org/16wdg9ev8/img_3342.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/16wdg9ev8/)

Pieces of driftwood are attached to the frame. Some directly, if the stump is wide enough, others to a piece of 2x2 and then 2x2 to the frame. Everything is fairly stiff in place but with some force all the pieces can be rotated to adjust position.
http://s3.postimage.org/16wf3srd0/img_3343.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/16wf3srd0/)

Final shot of the tank. BIT OF A MESS lol. Hanging pieces are in position for the most part, I might turn them a bit. The large piece on the bottom is not waterlogged as of yet so bio media is holding it down for now :) Plants also need to be attached, but will wait until the large piece has sunk.
http://s3.postimage.org/16wgrc3us/img_3344.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/16wgrc3us/)

Will have to play around a bit with positioning of the large piece later, but I do like how the bottom now is fairly clear of any obstructions that would collect debris (that's why I took out the Malaysian driftwood)

[Herbicidal]

Creative! :thumbsup:

[strawberryblonde]

I love the bags of bio media!!! LOL

Now I don't feel quite so all alone anymore. I kept having to splain to guests who saw my tank that no, the nylon pantyhose full of gravel was not there for decoration, it was JUST to hold the stump down temporarily.

I'm really jealous of your frame setup. I don't have anywhere to put a frame on my tank since it's topless so I'm stuck with waiting, and waiting, and waiting.... oh wait, gravel, pantyhose, instant water logged branches!!!

[richiethebing]

That Manzanita is cool looking. Can anyone tell me where I can get some for my tank. I currently have three nice pcs of bog wood but, that really looks great. THANKS

[raidendex]

That Manzanita is cool looking. Can anyone tell me where I can get some for my tank. I currently have three nice pcs of bog wood but, that really looks great. THANKS

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?85356-MANZANITA-BUY-2-Get-3rd-FREE!!!!-92882-Ship-PU

[richiethebing]

THANK YOU, Raidendex, I think I just found the perfect pc for my tank.

[treker5]

Very nice tank! Did you incorporate Co2 into your setup?

[raidendex]

Nah no CO2, don't really need it. Plants are just an accent not a main attraction :) Will probably just have one or two anubias or something easy like that in the tank

[strawberryblonde]

Toss a sword in there too, they not only look great, discus LOOOOOOVE them. =)

I have two swords, an amazon and a ruby and they grow like weeds on very little light and with lots of siphon abuse. Oh and I added some java ferns and an anubias to my driftwood pieces. Those seem to handle the lighting and poor nutrients well too.

I keep coming back to your thread just to stare at your tank. It really is gorgeous yanno.

[raidendex]

Thanks :) now if only that big piece would sink so i could finish arranging the driftwood!

[raidendex]

Rearranged the wood a bit, fits a bit better now I think. Still have the biomedia bags in there, but other than that it's done :)

http://s1.postimage.org/2hwtoditg/img_3345.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2hwtoditg/)http://s1.postimage.org/2hwwzg7t0/img_3349.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/2hwwzg7t0/)

[strawberryblonde]

Ok, it is ALL your fault buster!

I had to rearrange my driftwood in my tank this morning in an attempt to reduce some of the aggression and while I was busy flipping things upside down I decided that I just HAD to go get my favorite new hunk of wood out of the jacuzzi and stuff it into my tank.

Soooooo, my gravel filled pantyhose are back in the tank. I did manage to partially hide it behind the other piece of driftwood, but golly, I just couldn't go another day with a barren tank.

Yup yup, ALL your fault! LOL

[raidendex]

Hehe. Yeah I'm not much for waiting around for wood to drown in a barrel! It can do it in the tank :)

[raidendex]

Hmm came out bit dark lol


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cylCTK-lNY4

[raidendex]

So I think I have finally finished my system as far as hardware goes ... lol

So here is the rundown:
120g display tank - 2 Koralia Evolution 1400 powerheads that run during the day and turn off for the night (same timer as one of the lights). Two sets of double T8 lights running something like 6500k bulbs. One runs from 8am to 10pm, second from 10am to 7pm, powerheads run on same timer and the first light. Aside from that there is a overflow box with two 1" drains that leads to the sump.

55g sump - Both drains go to the far end of the sump and empty out there, possibly still into a filter sock but I may get rid of it when I will receive poret on Wednesday. Next there will be a divider made out of poret foam. Two 2" sheets (45PPI) followed by one 4" sheet (30PPI). The main open chamber is filled with 1000+ bio balls and couple extra sponges, that are freely floating around. Right under them I have a number of large air stones bubbling through all the bio balls. One the sides of the sump there are three Aquaclears 110 loaded with just sponges splashing water on top of bio balls. This area also houses three koralia powerheads for extra water movement as well as two 300w heaters by hydor (86F). Sump also has a simple top off solution, keeping the water level in the sump constant. Finally on the opposite end to the overflow drains there is a Mag 7 pump sending water back up to the tank.

Clearly too much of everything lol, but on the other hand if I will need to set up a QT or medicine tank, I will always be able to pull one or two aquaclears off or grab a sponge that is floating around without any affect to my main system :)

[aalbina]

Looks terrific! Just as a precaution, when I put manzanita in my tank - I took a dremel tool and gently rounded off any sharp points on the wood. It doesn't take anything away from it's appearance but might keep an expensive discus from getting injured when being chased or darting wildly around the tank after being spooked. It's going to happen. I know someone is going to say - but in their natural environment there's all kinds of pointy sticks in the water - and that's true. My tank of 55 gallons isn't even close to a natural environment so I do what I can to protect them inside this tiny glass box. Just a suggestion.

Adam

[raidendex]

Cool, thanks! That's a good idea. I will take a look at the branches today :)

[raidendex]

Well big log is somewhat waterlogged now. Seem to move fairly easy if pushed but at least it is staying at the bottom now :)
Also white fuzzy stuff started growing on the wood and pleco is making a mess from it in water column >< Flakes floating everywhere hehe.

Video available in 1080p. Did couple of different angles this time !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-nWxfk2vY&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

[raidendex]

Hmm... eggs... all over the tank... =.= I am guessing it's from corys?
http://s2.postimage.org/1abj041k4/img_3363.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/1abj041k4/)

[MightyEvil]

Hey Michael, were did you get your driftwood from?