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Hello My plan is a planted discus community tank. Im a long term fish keeper and after yrs of putting up with my addiction my wife has told me one tank and one tank only and it has to look pretty. That being said the tank is 8x5x3 and in my living room with a 5x3x2 sump. Tank previously housed stingrays but has been empty 15 months
Plan is first to get it resealed after the rays damaged some silicon. Once that’s done I will make up a base layer of compost and peat covered in sand
Wow 😮 that sounds like it could be amazing!!
If you have any sense go with larger discus fish after you have the scape put together. Maybe start with all the dither fish and other community fish before the discus to save a quarantine tank.
Big discus and good Maintanance regime beautifully planted and you have the dream!!!
It could be speactular !
I’m more than a little jealous at the thoughts of it. Post plenty of photos
Mick
Be careful with the peat and compost in your deep bottom as they can release organics in the water column and trap a lot of dirt too.
Having kept stingrays before I guess you already understand good water quallity, good filtration and regular waterchanges that needs to be done with discus .
Definitely start with grown 5-6 inch discus if you want to go with planted community tank straight ahead and dconsider buying decent light source for the plants - T5 HO tubes or some led fixture that will provide at least 2 Watts energy per gallon .
Good luck .
One issue I can see is that a 5' wide tank is going to make it difficult to plant and then trim the plants, particularly as probably the majority of planting will be towards the back. A tank of that size is "a totally different kettle of fish" compared to a "regular" planted tank of no more than 75gal.
I would definitely go for low tech plants that require little light and minimal or no ferts, so they grow slow and need little maintenance. I stick to java ferns and anubias (being epiphytes means you can grow them on wood or other supports that can be moved for maintenance), Cryptocoryne, Ludwigia, Althernantera, Rotala and Ceratopteris. Even these plants I grow in plain sand, no ferile substrate. Although in a far smaller tank here are some of my plants (growing algae on purpose on back pane)
Researching and Following. Any Update?