Hello from the sunny phillipines..

[Musicman666]

Well I have about ten years experience with Malawi...but eventually having kept just about every strain I got bored and watched the tank implode by not restocking until there was just one left ...it was brutal and I honestly couldn't wait until this last tough feller died of natural causes...probably sympathetic boredom..

So with a blank canvas I toyed with the idea of an all frontosa tank but the stocks here were not great ...

So then I did what every good ex Malawi fish keeper does ...explore South America!

So it was out with the all rocks and in with the driftwood...finally my well worn 150 gallon tank was going to become a true 150 gallon...

The one thing playing on my mind is that the South Americans don't like calcium laden water which is what comes out of my deep well...but in a way I was glad of this as dealing with thick calcium deposits over everything was becoming a nightmare...

So I decided I would run with a thirty perecent RO mix ...im not sure if it's ideal but it was something I could just about keep on top of since I have to pour the bottles in from the local water supplier.

Next I bought a ton of tweety wood from a lfs so that I could experiment...

So now I came up with a plan ....basically the whole floor of the tank is a small less than an inch thick of fine white pool filter sand ...I have bar jets blowing from either side to keep food and poop moving ... i have two canisters just doing their thing and dumping directly into the tank causing maxiumum aeriation...I have a power jet for surface agetation ...and another power jet for clarification through a wool filter that can easily be changed daily if need be plus an eheim uv doing its thing.

Two thirds of the dritwood hang from above suspended on glass plates looking like hanging roots....one more root form is embedded centre growing upwards like a tree ...I dont want to create many places where uneaten food can be lodged while keeping that biotope type vibe going...

So then I decided to get some fish....first off I decided I wanted rummynose with angels..so I started with three platinum angels ...I liked the look from an overall tank perspective.

Now the final phase ...I added six discus blue diamonds .... plus four angel Altums and some cardinals .....

This last addition happened this month so I'm totally engrossed in seeing how this all pans out ...lots of water changes.

On a final note ....the angels i can see are true cichlids ...they are establishing their pecking order etc ...but nowhere near the aggression of the Malawi...

But the discus family I have almost want to make me cry ..I feel like I am parenting six children ....about as far removed from that pack of dogs I was trying to deal with in the last ten years...

So these guys are my focus....whatever makes them happy will be my goal..

And I guess that's that's why I signed up for this for this forum...

So far it's all good ...I'm dropping pellets for the discus and they are picking it up because it's high contrast on the fine white sand....everyone else is totally into flakes on the surface and the power jets are keeping it all crystal clear....and all the while my tank looks like the haunted forest with tons of driftwood to interact with ....they all seem to love it.

I'm running a mosquito larvae factory and will be dumping a constant stream for everyone hopefully daily...

Just looking at the tank today ...the interaction is incredible with the dither fish whizzing to and fro while the angels hang mid tank and the discus move slowly and shyly around as a little group...

My interest in fish has truly been reborn...

[Jenene]

Welcome Musicman,

Your introduction was wonderful. How about some photos? We love them!

Your description of how you arrived where you are is something we all go through here. I feel your pain on the old fish. I have a 75 gallon community tank that I would love to just clean out and start over. Those fish don't get much attention with a discus and reef tank in the house and darn if those things are hardy...We had no power for 2 days a few months back and I didn't even try to save them and they are just perfectly fine....The discus had a direct line from a borrowed generator and basked in their heated filtered tank through it all... Anyway, I am glad the changes renewed your interest. There is nothing better than having a clear focus again.

I hope you enjoy the information and members here. This is the perfect place to hang out with people who understand the passion of this hobby.

I am subscribing to your thread in hopes that you will share some images with us.

Jenene

[two utes]

Welcome to Simply Discus, and good luck with your journey. You have painted a pretty picture of your tank set up, but like Jenene, l too would love to see some picture of it on here. If your main goal is to keep your discus happy,and healthy, have a very good read through the forum. There really is some great information.
I'm not going to suggest what you should be doing, as things work out different for different people and different areas, but l hope you work out quickly what's going to work for you.
Good luck, and please keep us posted.

[Musicman666]

Thanks for the replies guys ....here is a pic of my tank!

IMG_0765.jpg

[two utes]

Thanks for the picture. Your tank looks very good. In my opinion though you should remove lots of your sand leaving only a light layer. This will dramatically help with your water quality

[Jenene]

Oh... wow... That is just stunning! It is even better than your detailed description! I love the dramatic shadows and the layout of your branches. Wilds would look awesome in there but I think the pop is of blue is wonderful.

Will you be able to keep the substrate clean enough? The one thing I would think is you may decide to thin that sand layer down a bit to save yourself the worry of gas pockets and all that cleaning.

It is just gorgeous! Thank you so much for posting that picture!!!

[Jenene]

Thanks for the picture. Your tank looks very good. In my opinion though you should remove lots of your sand leaving only a light layer. This will dramatically help with your water quality

Wow Joe! You beat me to it! You hit the submit button first!

[Musicman666]

Acctually it's quite deceptive ...the sand is pushed up against the edges of the glass by the side jets ....it's almost impossible to keep the sand flat ....but when I started it was uniformly thin...

To keep the sand clean is very easy ...I just sift the sand by picking it up in a fish net ....the grains are just small enough to pass through so any persistent debris can easily be removed ....

[two utes]

Wow Joe! You beat me to it! You hit the submit button first!

Sorry about that Jenene Great minds think alike

As Jenene mentioned you should be concerned about the gasses that get trapped in your sand especially where it is banked up.

[Musicman666]

I'll see if I can remove some without exposing the bottom ...see how it goes ...thanks for the tip...

Here is another photo I just took...IMG_0768.jpg

[Jenene]

All I can say is I hope there is a really comfy chair right in front of that tank. If not there should be! It is so peaceful.

[Musicman666]

Lol...acctually I was sitting in my comfy phillipines planter chair when I took that last one ...thanks for all the compliments guys ..appreciated.

[Musicman666]

I think the lighting makes it ...I didn't use shop bought..I just got some warm white 3w leds and attached them to a bar along the length of the tank so that it had that stage lighting effect ....shop ones seem to light the tank evenly and aren't very warm so the atmosphere is very clinical....

I wanted that sunlight passing through the tree canopy above effect ...

[Jenene]

I think the lighting makes it ...I didn't use shop bought..I just got some warm white 3w leds and attached them to a bar along the length of the tank so that it had that stage lighting effect ....shop ones seem to light the tank evenly and aren't very warm so the atmosphere is very clinical....

I wanted that sunlight passing through the tree canopy above effect ...

I agree completely. In that type of natural scape the lighting really completes the look and feel of it. I have a simple layout with a bright variety of domestics and use Current Satellite Plus Pro which at least has options for spectrum and dimming but with a set up like yours you nailed it. Regular light would kill the effect you have achieved here. Now aren't you glad you appeased us and gave us a pic?

[Clawhammer]

That is a stunning tank. Great placement of the driftwood, and the lighting is just perfect. I have to make sure my discus don't see this picture or they may revolt and demand better looking accommodations!

If your discus are showing any stress, it may be from the current, it sounds like there is a lot of water movement. This can really benefit the tank as a whole, but discus aren't really fans of high flow.