I appreciate all the advice, it will be sand for me.
Again I didn't say it couldn't be done and I didn't say it had to be BB as I recommended a sand to the OP. The recommendations are to give a person the best chance at success. Obviously you have run into troubles during your process and that is what the recommendations are trying to avoid. Fortunately you were able to endure and end up with nice fish. You right water quality is of the utmost importance but substrate has a direct impact on that. Yes there are very successful discus keepers with planted tanks.
I had mine in a tank with black gravel also. Personally I was not happy with the appearance of my fish. I didn't like my fish being darker than they should be and the peppering of the PBs. Some may be but I was not. Changing to white sand made a night and day difference in the appearance of my fish. They all displayed full vibrant colors.
I am only speaking from personal experience and trying to give the best advice I can.
Im not illiterate...only my phone's auto correct is
I appreciate all the advice, it will be sand for me.
I can appreciate your position but thought I should speak up when you made the statement that "gravel cannot be kept clean enough". If the end goal is big beautiful healthy Discus and Aquarists are getting those results with substrate then doesn't that make your statement false? Hope you can see my point. We all want the same thing here, and if there is more than one way to skin a cat shouldn't we share that info? I do agree with the peppering with dark backgrounds and gravel it's also true that our darker, deeper colored fish will appear more washed out with lighter environments. That's simply a matter of personal preference. As a side note, all the trouble my Fish endured were due to less than optimal quarantine practices and had zero to do with my substrate, but that's for another thread.
i used quickcrete sand/gravel mix. it needed a ton of rinsing, but was VERY cheap and i prefer the look of it over PFS. you can look at my tank in the tank journal section.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...85#post1271385
This sand is expensive but awesome: Estes Marine Sand (also known as Stoney River, Ultra Reef, and National Geographic)
I wish I had splurged and got it for all of my substrate instead of a mixture.
Quartz silica white PFS sand , grain size 0.3-0.8 mm is most suitable for discus IMO , OP.
Thinner and more compact the bottom layer is , less problems with bacterial counts and water quality issues you will have .
Lighter the colour is , discus will camouflage with it and will appear brighter , regardless of the strain PBs or not.