What do you guys think?

[Darrell Ward]

I have fish in a couple of tanks I was thinking of combining, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea. My 240 gal. is planted with a few rather large swords, has 9 breeding size discus, about 45 to 50 cards, 4 small clown loaches (about 3" to 4"), and probably a dozen or less ottos (I occasionally lose one to the overflows). This is a 6' tank that is 31" deep. There is still plenty of open water. It's filtered by a 55 gal. sump, with about a 5 gal. bucket full of Seachem Pond Matrix bio media that has been cycled for approximally 3 years. 2- 1 1/2" overflows, and 2- 1" returns for plumbing. It also has 1 gal. per hour drip water change. Mech. is handled by 2- 7" dia. x 16" long 1 micron filter bags. The second tank is a 125 gal. (This is the tank I wanted to empty) has 12 adult discus. I want to redo the 125 and put some new discus in it. Does anyone think I can add a group of 12 more discus to the 240 without overloading it? It would look really cool, but I don't want to screw up an already good thing.

[pcsb23]

In my opinion with it being planted etc it would be pretty maxed out at 21 adult discus. I would think that if you were to do it then you would have to significantly increase the amount of water that gets changed each day. You will have very little wriggle room!

[Greg Richardson]

I would do two wc's weekly and go for it. You could always sell a few also if you want to cut down the wc's.

[digthemlows]

I couldn't tell you the best route, but damn if that many discus in that big of a tank wouldn't look killer! I'd love a 300 gallon tank with 20 discus and 200 or more rummy noses............and 200 or so cardinals...............

[Harriett]

If I was doing it I would beef up the water changes and sell off 4 discus for a total of 17 discus max; always best to understock, because as Paul said, "you leave yourself no wiggle room"--I wouldn't feel very secure since it could backfire down the line....overfilter and understock is my motto, whenever possible! Good luck to you, what a great project!
Best regards
Harriett

[Darrell Ward]

Thanks everyone. This has confirmed my fears of doing this. I think I may put the smaller fish from both tanks in a spare 75 gal. I have, and bring the total number down to around 15 in the 240 for safety.

[Apistomaster]

Hi Darrel,
I guess I am less conservative because I think with your impressive wet/dry system and maybe increased water changes you could do as you proposed and not have any problems.

If you don't already have an air stone I would run one or another thing I do is use a Maxi Jet 600 power head with a large sponge filter, specifically the Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter 6 sold by DrsFosterSmith.com, for only $9.99. I use these throughout my aquariums. One in airlift mode and the other with the power head for all tanks 20 to 40 gallons. Equivalent to the HydroSponge IV. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...7341&catid=911
I use the UG extension tube that comes with the power head and it directly connects to the sponge filter. You don't need to use the supplied airlift tube. Then I run compressed air into the MaxiJet's venturi attachment's air intake. You have to provide compressed air due to the aquarium's depth. This produces a stream of mixed water and bubbles and aerates an aquarium very well.