Rethinking my planted tank...

[strawberryblonde]

Ok, so I've been working on this project of growing out discus in a planted tank for nearly 3 months now. It's gone REALLY well till now and I have no complaints about the growth of the discus, but golly gee whiz is it a LOT more work!

I had to remove the plants in order to replace my old tired looking sand that contained too much clay to really be practical (kept sucking it up in the python every time I cleaned the substrate - ugh!). I did that 2 weeks ago and at the time decided to QT the plants because they'd brought a couple of pond snails in with them and the plants themselves had snail eggs on them the day I did the substrate.

My plan was to just QT till all the snails hatched, then clean the plants well and dip them to kill any babies hanging around. After that I was going to replant the tank and add my driftwood back in.

Aaaaand, then I spent 2 weeks doing my daily 90% WC's without the bother and fuss of plants and driftwood! The eggs on the plants have long since hatched and the plants have been dipped and cleaned and have no more snails in the QT tank. So every day I tell myself "Toni, today is the day to replant the tank" and every day I ignore the plants and tell myself I'll do it tomorrow. LOL

It is just SO much easier to do a WC!

Now I just have to decide for sure that the plants aren't going to go back into the tank and then dispose of them. I hate to toss out such a gorgeous little collection of plants, but have no use for them if they aren't in the main tank. <sigh>

Elliot, your sword plant has been thriving in my tanks for SO long and I hate to do it, but I think it's time for it to take a dirt nap. That's your plant in that pic down there - it's the big one on the right.

IMG_8052.jpg

And here's the link to my new babies that I'm growing out. They're catching up to the big guys (the big guys were a LOT smaller in the above pic - it was taken 2 months ago!) in a big hurry and I don't think they miss the plants and driftwood - at least, no one is complaining loud enough for me to actually hear it. LOL

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...-five-growouts

[Second Hand Pat]

Toni, there is a quiet calm peace to just wood, sand and fish.
Pat

[alcastro]

How about a hard scape no plants just stone and wood, that what I am considering

[strawberryblonde]

Toni, there is a quiet calm peace to just wood, sand and fish.
Pat

I totally agree Pat! I wanted to try the planted tank grow out just to see if it could be done successfully and just how much extra work it might take. Now that I've proven to myself that it actually can work (with the older batch of discus as well as the great growth of the new batch) I feel like I just want to go back to my simple tank.

Need to buy new driftwood though, the stuff I have is getting spongy and icky. I guess 5 years in a tank is too long???

[rickztahone]

Pretty cool Toni. I have had HI output planted tanks before and cleaning them is a pain, so I know what you are going through. One thing I would hate above all else was when clippings or bad leaves would float to the top and create this mass of surface level gunk. A lot more maintenance for sure, but it was worth it to me when I had all those rare plants in there in a vibrant green and red. I can only imagine how difficult it would be with discus. My goal one day is to set up a 240g Hi output tank. I can only imagine the maintenance!

[Rudustin]

Toni, there is a quiet calm peace to just wood, sand and fish.
Pat

There's even more calm and peace with a completely bare bottom! LOL! Rufus

[strawberryblonde]

Pretty cool Toni. I have had HI output planted tanks before and cleaning them is a pain, so I know what you are going through. One thing I would hate above all else was when clippings or bad leaves would float to the top and create this mass of surface level gunk. A lot more maintenance for sure, but it was worth it to me when I had all those rare plants in there in a vibrant green and red. I can only imagine how difficult it would be with discus. My goal one day is to set up a 240g Hi output tank. I can only imagine the maintenance!

It's awesome that you actually managed to keep exotics alive! I'm happy with just my low lighting group. The pic above is when the plants were fairly new, by the time I removed them they were taking up half the space in the tank and yep, a royal pain to keep trim and clean.

I think I proved what I needed to prove to myself - that I could actually grow out big discus in a planted tank and now that it's done, I don't need to face the challenge anymore. LOL

[pastry]

Elliot, your sword plant has been thriving in my tanks for SO long and I hate to do it, but I think it's time for it to take a dirt nap. That's your plant in that pic down there - it's the big one on the right.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...-five-growouts

It's okay Toni!!! I've actually gotten rid of a lot of mine. I'm slowly shifting towards only sand and driftwood with only java ferns on them. Still have one biiig sword left plus bronze crypts, lilies, a weird fern, etc. The plants in substrate just collect too much crap! Still shooting for a great aesthetic tank ("-to me") but need to cut down on plants in substrate & driftwood pieces that have too much surface area contacting substrate.