My 6' Heavily Planted Discus Tank.

[Allwin]

Nice updates so far Ryan, what kind of Rams you have in one of your videos? Looks very nice, is that half golden/electric, can you shed some insight?

[Poppa Ryno]

Nice updates so far Ryan, what kind of Rams you have in one of your videos? Looks very nice, is that half golden/electric, can you shed some insight?

Thank you, Allwin!
Those are my German Blue Rams (mikrogeophagous ramirezi). Ive been breeding rams for quite some time now. I have electric blue, german blue, bolivians & gold rams. Im very proud of my rams. They have great genes & vibrant markings. Ive actually been looking at snookins wild rams. Id like to strengthen my gbr line.

[BmoreBraap]

Hey man...this tank is absolutely fantastic. I actually just picked up a 125 myself and was researching if black diamond was good for discus substrate(cant do the BB). Glad I found this post! By the way I had also picked up 1 Fx6 filter(horaay for Black friday) and notice you use 2. Is one sufficient considering the 900 gph rate? I thought it was even a little overkill using just one but guess I'm wrong. I was a little concerned about how much flow this filter will put out as to not bother the discus. Did you use anything like a spray bar to minimize the flow pressure? Thanks for any help, diving in head first here

[Poppa Ryno]

Many say black substrate causes peppering... I cant disagree. But i spend hours a day in my fish room & i do huuuuge daily water changes. up to 90% a day. I think this helps. At first i was only using it as a holding tank until i got their old tank broke down & the new 150g up for them. But they colored up, paired up, and began laying eggs. So i left them in. No peppering. No issues what so ever. I do agree that BB Or a light colored sand is better. But to each their own. Theyve spawned many times in this tank & raised them for a few weeks until the bad man (ME) takes their babies from them.

Even my pigeon bloods didnt pepper in there When they were in this tank. 1 FX6 may seem adequate but i optimally shoot for 12-15x water turnover per hour. I also wipe down the tank daily. I use no Co2, just homemade root tabs. I dont use a spray bar. Theres also a 3ft UV sterilizer that runs through 1 Fx6. Im just religous with my tank husbandry & believe thats part of my success with using black diamond substrate.

[BmoreBraap]

Many say black substrate causes peppering... I cant disagree. But i spend hours a day in my fish room & i do huuuuge daily water changes. up to 90% a day. I think this helps. At first i was only using it as a holding tank until i got their old tank broke down & the new 150g up for them. But they colored up, paired up, and began laying eggs. So i left them in. No peppering. No issues what so ever. I do agree that BB Or a light colored sand is better. But to each their own. Theyve spawned many times in this tank & raised them for a few weeks until the bad man (ME) takes their babies from them.

Even my pigeon bloods didnt pepper in there When they were in this tank. 1 FX6 may seem adequate but i optimally shoot for 12-15x water turnover per hour. I also wipe down the tank daily. I use no Co2, just homemade root tabs. I dont use a spray bar. Theres also a 3ft UV sterilizer that runs through 1 Fx6. Im just religous with my tank husbandry & believe thats part of my success with using black diamond substrate.

Oh damn, peppering meaning black spotting on their coloring? Because I made sure to avoid picking any fish with that color marking. I've also been washing the black diamond and it seems to take a while to clean.
So I don't think I can handle doing 90% daily changes on a 125. I do 50% daily on my 40g and was going to do 40% 2-3 times per week with the 125.
Have you heard of any other negatives with the black diamond? It was only $16 for 100lbs so I don't mind throwing it out and going with white pool filter sand if that's a better option, although I did prefer the look of the black sand.

[BmoreBraap]

Went ahead and got some white pool filter sand instead. Don't want to risk having to change out the black diamond if they do darken or pepper up. Least it was only a $16 lesson! Love this site for this reason.

[Poppa Ryno]

Rsorry i didnt respond sooner. Busy at work. Yes the PFS would be a great option. Hope it works well for you.

[Jack L]

This tank looks great!

What is your recipe for diy root tabs?

[Phillydubs]

Anyone ever use the black sand or substrate with wilds?? Is it different or same issues ?

[Pompadour Discus]

Yes I would also like to know your root tab recipe as well and what you are using to re-mineralized your water?

[Neptune]

Do the rams ever pair up in there?

[Poppa Ryno]

Yes. I have raised many spawns from eggs in there. I just yank the tray of eggs and artificially raise.

[Cindy O'Hara]

Amazing tank!!!! I just joined and also have 3 planted tanks with discus and I'm learning! How do you get such huge Amazon Swords?

[LoGeek]

This tank is amazing!

How can you grow plants like that without CO2 in discus temperatures? I can barely get any plants to even survive in these conditions...

[Poppa Ryno]

Thank you for the compliments everyone.
I really just use my own homemade root tabs. Equipment wise i just run a fluval Fx6, susun 304b, & a UV sterilizer the size of my leg. For lights i use 4 x 36" green element 3w LED. Im torn on posting my root tab recipe as i sell quite a bit of them on my website.