The Forum's Position on Discus in Planted Tanks....

[dirtyplants]

There are tricks to plant evolution and compatibility with fish, as a discus/plant tanks evolves it changes the landscape, and these changes are perhaps the beauty within planted tanks, there is an evolution not only for the tank itself but also for the keeper. Maybe someday that will be a topic in the planted section.

[White Worm]

Keeping a long-term and healthy fully planted tank takes a certain level of expertise. This is gained by lots of research, trial and error. Understanding Co2, ferts and water changes is a totally different animal when keeping a glass box with plants. On the other hand, understanding discus, ph, kh, gh, nitrite, nitrate, amm, etc can also be mind numbing. I have done both but never the expert at either. I have killed plants and I have killed discus due to mistakes and lack of experience so I would never recommend someone jump in to either hobby without doing a great deal of research and then do some more. The requirements for planted tanks and the requirements to grow young discus don't match up well so I wouldn't do it if your goal is to grow large discus. Now, if you have mastered the planted tank, there is nothing wrong with keeping adults as their care is not as critical compared to young discus.

[Skip]

I either enjoy a challenge or I'm crazy. Maybe a little of both! LOL! I'm sure Skip will have a comment.
.

[Chad Hughes]

Thanks Skip! I thought you forgot to comment. Lol!


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[israelillo81]

In most hobbies like discus keeping or aquascaping/planted tanks, there are golden rules that experience of manny have polished over the time. To extract the best ones in discus you will find here. To learn a bit more of what plants in an aquarium needs, people like Tom Barr "barrreport dot com" will tell you a lot of these polished golden rules . It is true that sometimes having both worlds in a single environment will have conflicts of interest, so there your own experience trial/error comes into place. This is the experience we should share with people wanting to try the beauty of the two different disciplines


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[nc0gnet0]

Well, as they say, A picture is worth a thousand words. Time for these planted tank people to step forward and show us not just there tanks, but there fish as well. So far in this thread I have only seen one such picture and kudos to him (would like to know at what size those fish were purchased at).


-Rick

[Chad Hughes]

You know where you can find mine.


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[nc0gnet0]

You know where you can find mine.

As for you, I would much rather see pictures and explanations on your ozone injected central filtration system.



Rick

[BODYDUB]

isn't this the PAUL coming to speak at NADA Austin?

Yes Skip

well, looks like we have somebody worth listening to.. so everybody should come to austin!!

isn't this the PAUL coming to speak at NADA Austin?

You're a NADA member and don't know who's speaking at the NADA show?!?!?


Or was it just a ignorant plug????

[israelillo81]

Yes, a brief explanation of your ozone setup would be very interesting . ozone for killing bacteria?. How about UV light?. Many people report not seeing anny difference on having the uv light working in their filter or having none at all


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[pastry]

I just dream of a day when a chicken can cross the road without their motives being questioned.....

-john

NEVER!!!!!! Ha haaa... kidding (kind of... I'm definitely the first one to get defensive... guilty :P)

Al, great thread. It's taken some time but have realized it's more of a gauntlet for newbies to go through (since most start with planted) to see who remains and soaks up the advice. Not so much a one-way or the highway. I'm not sure if I agree with it but it does serve a purpose to keep the most important info on raising healthy discus.

Early on I looked at John (and others) as enemies and pain in the @$$es on here but after getting po'ed at some of their responses I'd still secretly look at their info and soak it in. I'm still going to keep my planted, undermanaged tank, but I've certainly tried to merge in what I can into my routine. I'm sure some of us will still bicker but in the end it's for the good.

My only suggestion would be to let people fail. Don't feed them fluff and still try to advise them but unfortunately some damn good discus may have to be sacrificed to get potential untapped brilliant brains to join this forum in the long run and mature into solid discus keepers (which means watching them damage those damn good fish). It goes against our guts & feelings but in the end will benefit (1) the sponsors for selling them more fish to try again, (2) this forum for continuing to retain those sponsors which keeps this board alive, and (3) us for sharing info to improve our keeping.

Yes Skip, I'm on my meds but might've had a few cocktails tonight!!!

[Chad Hughes]

As for you, I would much rather see pictures and explanations on your ozone injected central filtration system.



Rick

And that my friend is well documented in the contest thread. If I were near a computer I'd post the link.


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[pastry]

And yes, I love John and those others I saw as pain in the... :P Many of you have helped me on more than one occasion. I'll also continue my "Growing in Planted" thread so people can use it to show newbies some things to do if going planted and MANY things to NOT do when going planted. My biggest sticking point with planted is if you do it then, at a MINIMUM, do just as many changes as you'd do in a BB (minimum of once a day 50%). I only do (on average) twice a week 65% (sometimes more... rare times less).

[yim11]

My only suggestion would be to let people fail. Don't feed them fluff and still try to advise them but unfortunately some damn good discus may have to be sacrificed to get potential untapped brilliant brains to join this forum in the long run and mature into solid discus keepers (which means watching them damage those damn good fish). It goes against our guts & feelings but in the end will benefit (1) the sponsors for selling them more fish to try again, (2) this forum for continuing to retain those sponsors which keeps this board alive, and (3) us for sharing info to improve our keeping.

Here is the dirty lil secret on the forum - that happens every single day. Most of the experienced folks you reference above rarely if ever assist with a post for problems in a planted tank. It's simply not worth the time or effort to try.

[Skip]

You're a NADA member and don't know who's speaking at the NADA show?!?!?


Or was it just a ignorant plug????

LOL... it wasn't ignorant, i knew what i was doing. Since someone thought his post was one of the best...its called a *shameless plug"