500 Gallon project, Dreaming of keeping Discus but afraid!

[magedsabri]

Thanks a lot for reply.

[Filip]

Thanks a lot for reply.

Its always my pleasure Maged .
Good luck with your planning and I would gladly
Follow the progress on our 500 G project here.

[magedsabri]

An idea crossed my mind and not sure if it will work, what if I make a gravel or sand covered with epoxy as the substrate, the idea is to still have a good and natural look but with the benefits of bare bottom tank, not sure still how this can be done, but I'm interested in the idea.

[Filip]

An idea crossed my mind and not sure if it will work, what if I make a gravel or sand covered with epoxy as the substrate, the idea is to still have a good and natural look but with the benefits of bare bottom tank, not sure still how this can be done, but I'm interested in the idea.

It has been done here and in other marine tanks in the past .
There are a couple of threads here on this subject , search for False or Faux sandbed here and on Google and you can find examples .
The only drawback I see and read is the problem with the false sandbed getting constantly covered with algae that are very difficult to scrub away because of it's Sandbrush structure .

[magedsabri]

Interesting to know will have a look, will update the thread with my progress.

[magedsabri]

I saw some videos about using ceramic or porcelain tiles for the bottom of the tank, I liked it so much and i think it is very simple and looks much better than bare bottom and of course way easier than going this epoxy faux sandbed route, will this affect the PH for Discus?

[Filip]

I saw some videos about using ceramic or porcelain tiles for the bottom of the tank, I liked it so much and i think it is very simple and looks much better than bare bottom and of course way easier than going this epoxy faux sandbed route, will this affect the PH for Discus?

Epoxy is neutral as far as i have read , and about tiles I doubt that they can affect PH but it wouldnt hurt to do the thorough research on that specific material , you chose to go with .Many different materials so choose your favorite and read all about it

[slicksta]

Coming from a person that likes to think outside the box and has had several unconventional aquariums... it doesn't seem to be a good idea. Especially for a large build that you're afraid of. :-p
I would maybe try it in a 20 g for a year as a test. Sand to me seems pointless... but gravel/stone could be interesting as you could leave the top layer of stone not fully submerged in the epoxy.
I think for it to look best you would have to make it part of the tank by setting up the substrate in the aquarium and carefully adding the epoxy to the right level. This to look desirable would require some trial-and-error. The building of an epoxy mat that you'd add to the aquarium seems like a bad idea to me

[magedsabri]

After some research I think I will avoid epoxy approach and go for porcelain tiles, I saw many threads and videos with people doing it and even breeding with it.

[magedsabri]

Coming from a person that likes to think outside the box and has had several unconventional aquariums... it doesn't seem to be a good idea. Especially for a large build that you're afraid of. :-p
I would maybe try it in a 20 g for a year as a test. Sand to me seems pointless... but gravel/stone could be interesting as you could leave the top layer of stone not fully submerged in the epoxy.
I think for it to look best you would have to make it part of the tank by setting up the substrate in the aquarium and carefully adding the epoxy to the right level. This to look desirable would require some trial-and-error. The building of an epoxy mat that you'd add to the aquarium seems like a bad idea to me

The main reason I'm afraid is that I never kept Discus before and I'm always hearing it is extremely difficult to keep it, but I always loved it and now I wanted to give it a try this is why I'm trying to research well to make a good setup as much as I possibly can

[danotaylor]

Maged discus are actually not difficult to keep if you give them what they need...of course occasionally stuff happens that is beyond ones control, but if you take the sound advice of the peeps who have been around SD for ages it will most likely go well...sometimes having kept other species of fish & cichlids for years is a hindrance because the maintenance requirements of those other fish is totally different...coming in fresh and doing how people who've done it for years do it will do you well! I kept african & south/central american cichlids for 35 years before turning to discus last year...my experience has been wonderful, but I did have to change my approach to cater to my discus's needs.

[Filip]

...sometimes having kept other species of fish & cichlids for years is a hindrance because the maintenance requirements of those other fish is totally different..

This is very true Daniel . IMO , The most counterproductive former experience and mindset in starting discus is the one of the former Marine keepers and right next to them stand the plant keepers . It almost always takes a long inner battle I think , untill they change their way of doing things and conform with waterchanges in particular and all the other discus maintenance routines .

[slicksta]

The main reason I'm afraid is that I never kept Discus before and I'm always hearing it is extremely difficult to keep it, but I always loved it and now I wanted to give it a try this is why I'm trying to research well to make a good setup as much as I possibly can

Have no worries as it looks as you are doing your research and that's what most that fail do not do.
And I hope you know that I was joking with you when I said that you were afraid ;-)

This is my take on keeping discus. . .
As someone who kept other tropicals but mostly African Cichlids for many years prior I feel that the experience was very helpful. Experience is always something to look back on for information and not take as the only way to do things. When it came time to try discus I made the transition fairly painlessly as I did a lot of reading prior. Not to say that things went perfectly as my biggest mistake was trying to hard.
Now coming from lower New York state, the water here is near perfect for keeping discus and I feel this gives me a great advantage as I now do nothing to my water other than removing chlorine.
That said, the important things are... Start with healthy fish, feed quality food and doing water changes.... and most importantly... Keep it SIMPLE.
Again NY water is excellent for keeping discus but in the beginning I dabbled with carbon filters, peat moss, adjusting pH, aging water, UV lights, nitrate filters, medications and probably a few other things that I don't remember. And in the end all of that just made me tired and was of no to very little benefit.
All I do know is continually change water via a constant drip with the chlorine removed, filter with floss(because I have fine sand as a substrate), sponges and bio_balls and my fish and I have never been happier. Once established I occasionally test my water more as a curiosity as I know it's best not to try and change its parameters.
Now if your areas water is not as conducive, you may have to do a little more.. But keep it as simple as possible and see if your fish can adapt to the water rather than constantly trying to adapt the water to them as that is the part that is very difficult and hard to maintain consistency.
That's my two cents... probably worth half that in today's market.
Best of luck and keep reading.

[magedsabri]

Many thanks, I know you were joking
I always kept it simple while keeping african cichlids and they were breeding regularly in my old tank.
I want to keep it simple as much as possible with my discus trial, I live in Egypt and I don't know if my water parameters are good for discus without the need for aging or not but I hope so, that would make it way easier for me, I then can do the water changes directly from tap water while adding seachem safe with each change.

[klr-dude]

Thanks , I didn't understand this part clearly.

i find it hard to say it differently .
lets try .
if you make an overflow pipe in your sump at the right level and hook it up to a waste line , you can just add water and what is to much , will just go into the sewer
that way you don't have to remove water yourself , it goes automatically .
hope this is clearer .