My discus tank- New re-scape

[ktm4us6]

looks beautiful, and discus look great too.

[krislewis3]

Are your fish all adults??????? Live your Aquascape!!!!

[discuspaul]

Are your fish all adults??????? Live your Aquascape!!!!

No, the Golden Lollipops are just over 3". The rest are between 4" and 5.5" - sub-adults, mostly.

[CrazyAngels]

BTW, I do love your setup. It is very clean and natural, just the way I like them. You mentioned Root Ferts?? any particular brand that you are comfortable with for the discus?? I've had monster anubias for a long time with no ferts. But never been successful with swords and I'm trying again.. would like to try the root ferts. thank you

It's a 75 gal tank with quartz-based white silica PFS for substrate. Lighting is 2 X 39 w - T5 HO's running 7 hrs./day.
No CO2 - low tech - root tab ferts, and once weekly moderate dosing of liquid ferts. Filtration is 2 AC 110's.

[discuspaul]

BTW, I do love your setup. It is very clean and natural, just the way I like them. You mentioned Root Ferts?? any particular brand that you are comfortable with for the discus?? I've had monster anubias for a long time with no ferts. But never been successful with swords and I'm trying again.. would like to try the root ferts. thank you

I generally use the API tabs, but have also used the Seachem Flourish.
I'm quite sure any brand would work reasonably well.

[xschug3]

Discuspaul- Looks awesome! I love the new aquascape. How often do you perform a wc on this setup? With no glass lid, how often do you have to top up the water?

[discuspaul]

Discuspaul- Looks awesome! I love the new aquascape. How often do you perform a wc on this setup? With no glass lid, how often do you have to top up the water?

Thanks.
I usually do 3 wcs/week, about 60% each time.
There's normally some evaporation every day, so I top up every day generally, just to keep the water level up high enough to maintain quiet flow from the filter out-takes. Makes for good humidity in the house too, so we like it.

[CrazyAngels]

Thank you very much. I surely will try those, just not into added CO2 to make things green in my tanks.

I generally use the API tabs, but have also used the Seachem Flourish.
I'm quite sure any brand would work reasonably well.

[krislewis3]

I love those yellow guys,and I love your tank. ....are you having any problems with growth on the discus?? I've been warned about trying to have a planted tank, when trying to grow the discus.

[discuspaul]

There is no question that discus growth could tend to be more limited in a planted environment vs. a BB tank.
I've grown out several groups of juvies in planted tanks for a number of years, and have experienced slower, and lesser, growth in some specimens over that time, notwithstanding my best efforts to maintain the cleanest conditions possible.
I've even had a couple of stunted fish, but I suspect that heredity/genetic factors may have been partially a cause of that, along with the growing out in a planted environment.
Nonetheless, as a personal preference, I don't care for BB, and take my chances with a planted tank. Usually works out very well for the most part - but you do have to put the necessary work and attention into it, to maintain the best water conditions possible.

[krislewis3]

What is the average size adult that you've grown in the planted aquarium?

[discuspaul]

I've grown quite a few to 7 +", but I generally sell them at around 6" or less - only because I have this 'addiction' of changing out the tank from time to time, and getting new strains with different colors & patterns to grow out. LOL
And also because I'm not a fan of huge, dinner plate size discus anway, and no longer interested in breeding them.

[gliebig]

Is your background painted on? I just painted mine black and after reading all the negatives on black backgrounds, I now have to drain the tank and pick another color. Will a darker blue be much better for discus color than black?

[discuspaul]

I've used black several times, but much prefer a dark blue over black.
It's really a personal thing for anybody.
The background is plain old acrylic-type stuff bought at a LFS.

[DiscusPunk]

Great aqua-scape Paul. Beautiful discus as well. What are the gorgeous blue guys with the red fins? I want one that looks like that! How do you find the sand works with plants? I wanted to use some beautiful sand form CaribSea but since I'm doing a moderately heavy planted tank, I went with EcoComplete so I would have the substrate that would feed my plants. I was looking into sand to avoid peppering on my blood pigeon. Beautiful tank and fish!