Help starting and stocking a 90 gallon semi-planted

[wmajor13]

Hey all, kind of new to the discus world. I have had 6 juveniles in a 40 gallon BB for about 4 weeks now and was just given a 90 gallon tank (glass only.) I want to do a semi-planted tank and use the 40 as a growout/quarantine tank.


I have talked with a few people that have kept discus for a while and this is what I've come up with.
So here are my ideas as of now:

1. Use a ready made sump with Bio-Wheel for filtration, as well as some plants in the sump.
2. A 1200 Lumens LED light.
3. 2x 250W heaters (possible to put them in the sump as well?)

Now here is what I am thinking for substrate; white sand. I know roots do not do well but my LPS sells clay potted plants, like furns and anubius. In order to keep a cleaner tank and for easy W/C and moving I want to use 10 or so potted plants along with plants attached to driftwood. A friend of myne has a large patch of baby tears on a long flat piece of driftwood and it looks awsome. I also will add some other, more "stick like" driftwood and try to attach plants to that. Another thing I have seen at my LPS is a long troff formed to look like rocks, with holes in the bottom to pull your roots through. I realy like the idea of being able to move and clean the tank easily and I think the white sand with the LED lights will look amazing.

Now for stocking. With what has been said above, how many discus is suitable for a semi-planted tank of that size? (90 gallon, 48"x18"x24".) Aswell I have the intrest in German Rams. I would go half German Blue and half German Gold (depending on the number that is suitable). How about cleanup crew? How many Ottos/Corycats would i need? Was also thinking about adding a few fancy plecos later.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I'm way off in left field or if anything seems amiss.

Thank you,
Wes

[Stussi613]

You can put the heaters in the sump. Most ferns, like java fern, and anubias don't need to be planted in substrate. Most people tie the anubias to rocks until they attach and the ferns usually stick to driftwood (and never come off!!). Other plants, like swords, do well in sand provided you use root tabs with them. Based on your 90g tank, you could probably have 8 fish, without accounting for your sump. Some people would say you could have more with the extra volume of water, some would say that less is more and your fish would be healthier because the water quality would be better/you'd have to do less water changes.

[greengreen84]

With the leds what are they are they? are they over 1 watt per led and are the HO (high output) versions I wouldn't advise anything less than this to be honest, also with the heaters you can do one instead of 2 if go a 250watt jager heater that would fine, but you can make a fantastic display just with java species such as java fern, creasted, needle leaf, dwaff needle leaf and african fern and you got all your mosses as well.

It's always smarter to have a tank that you can clean easly when you first start plants as the food can hide every where, I had to change to freeze dried foods becauses of this, I use now FDBW, FDBS, a vege flake with sera discus pellets instead of the frozen stuff but can be a pain to convert them sometimes if their stubon lol

[TURQ64]

I'd stick with two heaters; hard to beat; no back-up, someday no fish.....Gary

[discuspaul]

You've received good advice above. If you use pool filter sand, you needn't stock potted plants - you can root plants provided you use some root tab ferts - and I think it will look better and more natural than leaving the plants in their pots. Anubias attached to dritwood go well together and look good in a planted discus tank.
If you keep say, 8 discus in that tank, you can also add several of the tankmates you're thinking about - the Rams and the Cories - 6 of each, or so, if you like. Otos are usually fine too, but at times some of them get lazy with their diet, and take a liking to the discus' slime coats. You have to keep an eye on them - same goes for SAE's. BN Plecos are good tankmates as well.

[wmajor13]

thanks everyone for the halp and reassuance. I thaught i had a pretty good handle on things, just wanted to make sure I wasnt way off in left field. I'll have to post some pics when I get it up and running!
Thanx again,
Wes