New 300 gallon high tech planted Discus tank - Build Journal

[Northwoods Discus]

Have you checked your water parameters from your well. Most well water is hard and alkaline. You may need to adjust it somehow usually with some R/O water added.

[rbarn]

I have always been told hard water is ok with Discus as long as it is consistent and you dont care about breeding. Something about the eggs wont develop right in hard water. And yes the water is pretty hard down here, regardless of source.

[Northwoods Discus]

I think they will do better in water that is somewhat soft, even if you are not breeding. My well water is 450ppm and the pH can go over 8.4 after aging. I have to add some r/o to keep them happy. Breeding almost pure r/o. I have very high carbonate hardness. The only way to reduce it is r/o. You should get some testing equipment and test your parameters out of the tap and after aging.

[rbarn]

Ph will be controlled with Co2 injection for water stability and plant health. I'm lucky to have a good Discus guy here in town and we have had long talks on to R/O or not to R/O. And I really cant argue with his reasoning when he points to tank after tank of beautiful healthy fish and says "forget the R/O - consistency is the name of the game"

[TallonD]

I will be following this. I like the idea for your sump with multiple drains. Can't wait to see how it pans out!

[CajunAg]

I can't wait to see how this turns out!

Seriously, let me know if you ever need an extra set of hands or anything, I'd love to help out.

[jlcoop277]

Should be a fun journal!

[rbarn]

Got plans back from tank builder. Was pretty expensive, but is custom with Starfire front glass.
Wont be ready until late October







Cabinet maker finished layout on surrounding bookcase. Should look really nice.

[Eclipes]

super cool!

[DelawareJim]

You might want to consider stronger lighting. My 110 high (48l x 18d x 30h) can't grow most foreground plants with a pair of 175 watt MH bulbs. A friend of mine uses a pair of 250's in his tank with much better results.

Cheers.
Jim

[rbarn]

Going with 4 X 150W MH's and 4 X 96W PC's = 984 watts

WE HAVE TANK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
800 lbs behemoth got delivered and installed last week. Took 6 guys to get it in place.

Plumbing it up now.

[fishcop444]

thats gonna be sweet!

[YSS]

Great tank! Congrats. Good luck with everything.

[mmd]

is that aragonite sand?, it will raise your ph.

[rbarn]

Thanks everyone. Got most of the under tank plumbing finished and starting on the sump this weekend. Will get some pics of the plumbing up later.

Also ordered the pumps and UV sterilizer this past week.

Went with (2) W.Lim Wave 1/15 hp 3,000 gph pumps and a pond sized W. Lim 40W UV sterilizer capable of flowing 4,000+gph. I will put about 1,000 gph through it. One pump will be for tank circulation and valved back to about 1,500-2,000 gph (5-7x per hour turn over) through the tank and the other pump will pull off of and return to the sump and circulate thru micron filters and bio-filters.

Lim Wave Series I pump its the 1/15hp version. This guy's pumps are ultra quiet and ultra energy efficient. Pulls less than 150 watts each.

Lim Wave UV - the 40W version

Changed my sump plan to a multi filter sock design too. Will get the sump fabricated this weekend. I have all the acrylic and welding solvent here and ready to go.

I think this is fail safe. The main siphon should never back up. If the filter bags clog the water level will rise until it overflows into filter pad section. If filter pads clog the water level will rise until it overflows into the main pick up chamber and bypass all filters.

It has 2 emergency drains that can each handle full pump load individually.
This is called a "BeanAnimal" standpipe system from the guys over at reefcentral.
http://www.beananimal.com/projects/s...ow-system.aspx

System should never have to be shut down for cleaning since the filter bags will pull out from the top while water is flowing down through them.

is that aragonite sand?, it will raise your ph.

Yeah, its Aragonite. It is not getting used. Told tank supplier I wanted some sand and that was what they dropped off with the tank.
Didnt pay attention to what it was until after they had left. Need to return it to them for refund.