125g started!

[Adam_Parker]

Hey guys. Ended up selling all of my tanks except for my 20g rcs tank, and got this 125 gallon on black Friday at petsmart for only $330. I can't be more excited.

I currently have 6 smaller discus. My red marlboro and possibly my blue turquoise are stunted, but I didn't realize that upon buying them. These are pets and I'm not concerned about them getting to be as huge as they can or for breeding.

I plan to even out at 10 discus eventually. Other tank mates currently are:
10 julii cory cats
7 Rummy Nose tetras
5 Angelicus Loaches
2 amano shrimp
4 or 5 nerite snails

I plan to move to 25 Rummy Nose, 25 Cardinal tetras, and 2 GBR. I have a male bn pleco and a female albino. Should I add these 2 eventually?

For filtration I currently only have my penguin 350 and emporer 400 hobs. I'll be adding 2 304b Sunsun Canister Filters. The tank was cycled almost immediately. I didn't add fish until levels had been straightened out.

For heater I currently only have a 200w aquatop. It seems to be on constantly and only holding at 80 degrees, so I ordered a Jager thermostat 300 watt and it should be in this week.

I have pool filter sand as substrate. Will only be having java Fern and anubius tied to driftwood, which I need more of. This tank is massive!

I got extremely nervous filling the tank up as I think the stand was settling. It popped quite a few times. I think it was the round feet that were just settling in though.

Background is ordered.

Hoping to get a few nicer variety discus later on to finish out the group. The last white one I have pictured is what I hope to get first. Any ideas where to order that strain? Here's a few photos of mine as well.

[Debow]

You have to love Black Friday! Sometimes you can get the best sales. Glad your excited about your new tank. Large tanks can be lots of fun and vary rewarding. Good luck with your build and Ill stay tuned, it sounds like you have the right idea with the substrate and low maintenance plants. Now for a nice group of discus and you will be all set. I would suggest looking into the Fluval Fx6 for that thank I think it would make a nice main filter for that thank size and you can add a lot of media and foam also clears up the back of the tank. And I would get at minimum 2 good 300w heaters and a back up in case one goes down, makes heating large tanks easier and more stable. And get your self a good water change system (draining & filling) this can make or break large tank ownership 5g buckets don't cut it it kills your back. Also advised you store and heat your water when doing large water changes. Any questions just ask.

[Adam_Parker]

Thank you! I have a python water changer (do not know how I went without it for so long).

Man this hobby is expensive. Sadly, we're gonna have to probably order 1 or 2 fish at a time. Other bills put us at making the fish buying last priority.

I had a. 5 foot 125 and stand I had originally bought, but my wife wanted one to cover more of our back wall, so I'm trying to sell it now.

Definitely not going full on planted like I had my 55s. Too much work with discus and we like the more driftwood less plants look.

[Debow]

I here you ! I dove head first into discus with my tank and the only thing I can suggest is but the largest discus you can afford makes life a little bit easier. I would stash a little money away and get a nice order of six 4.5-5'' fish in a nice group from one of the sponsors one or 2 fish at a time will kill you on shipping cost, more fish the cost of shipping is off set. Take your time setting it up do it right the first time so you don't have to upgrade equipment right away. Its the initial start up cost that kills the wallet I know, It took me 6 months to do my build the way I wanted and another 2 months to get good discus and I am just starting to get the whole setup settled in still need better filter material for the sump (Port foam) and some filter socks for my sump. Go slow don't rush.

[rickztahone]

I here you ! I dove head first into discus with my tank and the only thing I can suggest is but the largest discus you can afford makes life a little bit easier. I would stash a little money away and get a nice order of six 4.5-5'' fish in a nice group from one of the sponsors one or 2 fish at a time will kill you on shipping cost, more fish the cost of shipping is off set. Take your time setting it up do it right the first time so you don't have to upgrade equipment right away. Its the initial start up cost that kills the wallet I know, It took me 6 months to do my build the way I wanted and another 2 months to get good discus and I am just starting to get the whole setup settled in still need better filter material for the sump (Port foam) and some filter socks for my sump. Go slow don't rush.

Not only is the shipping expense detrimental, but buying 2 at a time means you have to quarantine each set of discus you get in every time. That is 3 separate QT periods! That just isn't worth it. Do as Devon advised, and get a big group all at once. QT them before introduction and use one hero fish to see if it survives the group.

[Adam_Parker]

Update! Got a background, spider wood finally settled, and got a 300w heater. Will eventually be getting a large piece of driftwood and more java Fern and anubius.

Also replaced the stock bulbs with 6500k 24" t8s.

[ericNH]

I'd go with less sand, less than half of what you have in there. But beautiful tank! Gratz on the new purchase!

[Adam_Parker]

Think we are gonna ditch getting more rummynose and go with Harlequin raspboras instead. Well get 25 of those and have 25 Cardinals to go along with them. Wife likes the harlequin more as they have more color.

The sand seems to have washed out rummynose out

[jmf3460]

Adam,

Have you done a lot of research on schooling fish? I know when I was contemplating which schooling fish to add I wish I had of known of all the other options out there besides the cardinals and the rummy nosed. in general I do not like the harlequin rasboras. They have sort of a jerky motion to them, not a fluid school like the rummy's and cardinals. Now this is just me, I like the nano rasboras in my nano tanks but they too exhibit this jerky, non fluid motion, I think it may be specific to rasboras. What I did was go to wetspottropicalfish.com and go to their section of characins (dither fish) then copy and paste each type into a google search bar and decide which ones I wanted. Unfortunately I found out about wetspot long after I had purchased my school of boring black neons. There are much cooler options out there than the typical ones you see in your lfs, I just wanted to make sure you knew this.

Don't get me wrong if you like the harlequins then that's cool. I don't see many people putting them with discus, there may be something to that but IDK I have never had them with discus only in planted community tanks.

[gunnerschh2]

No buckets run the hose from the python out the back door. I have 15 harlequin in my 150 & yhey go good with the discus. Good luck. Harry

[Adam_Parker]

We had about 12 raspboras and sold them with my 55g they were in. Wife likes them and Cardinals most. We've looked at a lot of other schoolers and think that's what we like best. They definitely do have a jerking motion though

[Adam_Parker]

Found this 4 or 4.5 foot long piece of driftwood at our local lfs. They want $95 for it. I'm trying to convince my wife to get that only for me for Christmas. It would be so awesome with some Moss, Java Fern, and anubius tied to it. I'll have to cut a little piece of it to fit width wise. Not gonna find another piece this big and good for any cheaper! It's probably 8 or 10 inches tall.

[jmf3460]

blahh you can do better than that. go to manzanita.com and check out rich's aquarium stump pieces. he has 6 pages of cool stumps and pieces. I would get one much taller to fill the water column. http://manzanita.com/aqwood.htm click on the individual stump pages to see them. I have also purchased a mixed box (AP2) and it was awesome, im still using up all those pieces I originally got in the mixed box.

[ericNH]

That $100 piece of wood is an impulse buy waiting to happen. I know, I've been there, done that

[Jack L]

blahh you can do better than that. go to manzanita.com and check out rich's aquarium stump pieces. he has 6 pages of cool stumps and pieces. I would get one much taller to fill the water column. http://manzanita.com/aqwood.htm click on the individual stump pages to see them. I have also purchased a mixed box (AP2) and it was awesome, im still using up all those pieces I originally got in the mixed box.

agreed, but a LOT of the photo don't load, maybe that means they are sold