I think light colours show them best, esp pigeon blood discus which tend to "pepper" on dark backgrounds.
My greatest challenge was multiple water changes per week. I had a hard time accepting the frequency and % of wc needed, when all my previous fishkeeping projects involved much fewer wc. Once I accepted this husbandry need and started doing the work, discus keeping became easy.
I am in Canada, so I don't have much choice in vendors.
Read all the stickies in the beginner section. Watch this video: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...TCH-THIS-VIDEO!
I would not recommend to glue sand on the inside bottom pane of glass... I expect that would be a nightmare to clean... is it possible to get some spider wood branches and build up around where the sticker is, to hide it visually?
Bare bottom tanks are so much cleaner, it's a great to start off BB.
Freeze dried black worms are an awesome food choice for discus. You can buy them from simply discus. I recommend u get even a small pack to try, and you'll see what I mean. The discus love them.
I don't know much about TDS, but discus can handle a wide range of water parameters. Ideally, u should age and aerate your tap water in a barrel before using it in water changes. And hopefully some others can chime in on whether u actually need to cut it with RO, or if it's fine at 250 TDS. Using your regular tap water would make wc that much easier. And for how many wc they need, easier is always better!!!