240 Planted Discus Community

[pastry]

I am going to offer you "interesting" advice on your driftwood. Cut it where it will still look natural when leaned or fitted back together in the tank but will allow you to move the pieces for easy vacuuming/cleaning/removing dead fish or other reasons in the tank. This means you will not screw it back together. There are simply times when you will need to get into the tank and need to move the wood. Trust me on this. Super nice piece of wood.
Pat

It's not often that Pat says, "nice wood"

You're already off to a good start with that one. I've been trying for 6 years now with her?

[nofearengineer]

It's not often that Pat says, "nice wood"

You're already off to a good start with that one. I've been trying for 6 years now with her?

A tough nut to crack, eh?

[nofearengineer]

Reading more and more of this forum has kind of got me thinking about the final goal: the discus.

Do I really want my first discus to be grown adults? Or do I want to experience raising some juvies first?

A few points:

1. I'm not going to hurry this build. I'm determined to get it right, or at least as close to perfect as any other aquarium project I have ever undertaken. So I can honestly say it would probably be early to mid-Summer at least before discus ever see the inside of the tank.

2. I could probably set up a 55-gallon in my kitchen as a grow-out tank, and get a lot of hands-on experience with them while I am building their future home. I am obviously going to need a good QT and hospital tank setup anyway, so maybe I'll just pick up a couple of 55's during the next Petco DPG sale. I have sponge filters coming out the wazoo already so there wouldn't be a lot more stuff to buy.

3. While raising juvies looks stressful(!), it also looks like FUN, and also very interesting. I'm a piscatorial junkie in general, so....I think I would probably take even more pride in my big 7-inch (ahem)....discus if I grew them out myself.

4. I work a lot from home (I do EE consulting), so I could be sitting at my CAD station (also in my kitchen) and have them always in view.

5. This would be a great opportunity to connect with the membership here in purchasing babies.

I'm sure I'll probably have a dream about this tonight...just another obsession.

[pastry]

Get 55 to raise some little guys... But buy a few adults for big tank... Problem solved

[rickztahone]

Intuition would say sloping the teeth would make it quieter...but Fluid Dynamics was my weakest subject in Engineering school (I'm an EE, not an ME). However, I think it really depends on flow rate. At a high rate, such as in a reef tank (what it was really designed for), the bottom of the teeth would be well below the surface of the water. In a discus tank, the flow is going to be lower, so they might be shallower....in which case it may well indeed make a little noise. Even if it does, I bet it's small. But we'll see, won't we! (can't wait!)

Yes, I am going to do a bean animal style. I have never had anything but one of those "over the back" type overflows, so this is really Cadillac for me. I'm truly enjoying this design process. I had kind of a "deer in the headlights" moment earlier today while driving around. I was thinking about all my choices so far (of course)...and it struck me that I might not be able to reach my ball union valve for the full siphon, since the tank is going to be against a wall, and I had the overflow holes drilled center back. Some quick number crunching and I could relax...thank God I am 6'5" and have long arms. The valve knob should be no more than 24 inches inboard of the end of the tank. It's those kind of snap decisions that can wreck you.

Add a gate valve instead of a ball valve on the full siphon. Also, you can add the valve right above the sump, it doesn't have to be behind the tank necessarily. Remember, the full siphon line has to be ~1" submerged

[nofearengineer]

Add a gate valve instead of a ball valve on the full siphon. Also, you can add the valve right above the sump, it doesn't have to be behind the tank necessarily. Remember, the full siphon line has to be ~1" submerged

You're right, of course. A gate valve has a lot more fine tuning control.

About the valve location, I think I read something Bean Animal himself wrote about it that said it was better below the overflow for some reason, but I can't remember why. Maybe I'm mistaken. I'll try to find it.

[nofearengineer]

Get 55 to raise some little guys... But buy a few adults for big tank... Problem solved

If I buy some little guys, by the time the tank is ready, they might be adults LOL.

[rickztahone]

You're right, of course. A gate valve has a lot more fine tuning control.

About the valve location, I think I read something Bean Animal himself wrote about it that said it was better below the overflow for some reason, but I can't remember why. Maybe I'm mistaken. I'll try to find it.

There is no other place to put the valve but under the overflow. In the bean thread many claim that having it lower allows for better tuning

[nofearengineer]

There is no other place to put the valve but under the overflow. In the bean thread many claim that having it lower allows for better tuning

I meant "right under the overflow" as opposed to "farther under the overflow".

[Jack L]

Reading more and more of this forum has kind of got me thinking about the final goal: the discus.

Do I really want my first discus to be grown adults? Or do I want to experience raising some juvies first?

A few points:

1. I'm not going to hurry this build. I'm determined to get it right, or at least as close to perfect as any other aquarium project I have ever undertaken. So I can honestly say it would probably be early to mid-Summer at least before discus ever see the inside of the tank.

2. I could probably set up a 55-gallon in my kitchen as a grow-out tank, and get a lot of hands-on experience with them while I am building their future home. I am obviously going to need a good QT and hospital tank setup anyway, so maybe I'll just pick up a couple of 55's during the next Petco DPG sale. I have sponge filters coming out the wazoo already so there wouldn't be a lot more stuff to buy.

3. While raising juvies looks stressful(!), it also looks like FUN, and also very interesting. I'm a piscatorial junkie in general, so....I think I would probably take even more pride in my big 7-inch (ahem)....discus if I grew them out myself.

4. I work a lot from home (I do EE consulting), so I could be sitting at my CAD station (also in my kitchen) and have them always in view.

5. This would be a great opportunity to connect with the membership here in purchasing babies.

I'm sure I'll probably have a dream about this tonight...just another obsession.

i like growing them from small, seeing them change is neat, especially for kids
but if you buy small you might get some culls, some things don't show until bigger

sponge - i've been happy with poret foam from swiss tropicals. it works better than anything else i've tried. IME experience expensive bioballs, matrix etc have shown NO difference.

i've raised juvies in main tank, but it would be easier in BB.

[Jack L]

Add a gate valve instead of a ball valve on the full siphon. Also, you can add the valve right above the sump, it doesn't have to be behind the tank necessarily. Remember, the full siphon line has to be ~1" submerged

i'd second the gate valve.
i used a ball valve, it works but it is not easy to fine tune.

[nofearengineer]

Glass Cages called this morning to let me know my tank is ready to pick up. They had quoted 3-1/2 to 4 weeks, but it only took them 2 weeks! That's great, but I had to scramble my plans for travel (I'm in Evansville, IN) and getting some more muscle over to my house. I'll be renting a trailer and picking it up Thursday.

So I took 30 minutes today and built a "stretcher" for carrying it into the house. At 450 lbs, it should be pretty doable for 4 strong guys. The stretcher should help a lot. I can't wait! I'm going to hit some fish stores in Nashville too while I'm at it. Anyone got any suggestions for any stores I should see?
12743485_1040767229317103_3847057749639870958_n.jpg

[nofearengineer]

Took off early this morning and drove to Dickson, TN to pick up my aquarium. Managed to get lost in the hills (my Magellan GPS is such a LIAR!!). But the people at Glass Cages were the best. While I was there, Joseph gave me a short tour of their fish breeding operations. Room after room of huge tanks full of angels and various other cichlids. Then he showed me their 900 gallon discus biotope. Sorry about no pictures, but it was enough to make my purchase see almost trivial!

Anyway, my good friends rallied and helped me get the 500lb tank into the house. WHEW!12790835_1041987379195088_6150559132579911947_n.jpg

Nofear is one happy Engineer! 1662002_1041987049195121_3698864404899379614_n.jpg

My driftwood will be home tomorrow morning. Anticipation...

[rickztahone]

Very nice tank. I like their approach to stand/canopy simplicity. Doesn't have to be overdone to look nice.

[nofearengineer]

I kinda like it too. The access panels are the pop out kind too...no hinges or anything. I'm going to paint it pure ultra white...eggshell finish. Clean.