I’m starting to chicken out on BB.

[JonC]

I’m half way through my tank transformation (going from planted to BB). As you may have seen from an earlier post I’m about to remove the black paint from the back and the bottom. As it sits right now, the tank is drained and I have a friend coming over after work to help me get the 110 off the stand. Once off the stand I’ll scrape off the paint and repaint the bottom. The plan is not to repaint the back because it’s next to a white wall. I have sponge filters on order and they will replace two canister filters.

My problem is I’m starting to chicken out. I’m rethinking the whole BB thing. Not sure the wife and I will be happy with it. I have other BB tanks for grow out and it seems no matter how many WCs you do you always have stuff on the bottom making it look unclean.

The reason I want to move away from the sand is for ease of WC and health of the fish. I couldn't vacuum the gravel like I wanted (pool filter sand). The sand is so small it would get sucked up.
Now I’m thinking about a very thin layer of some light colored gravel that’s large enough to not get sucked up. This way I could really get in there and do a good job at keeping it clean without the BB.
I could really use some opinions on this. Thanks..

[ROOK45]

I vac the sand all the time just don't go too deep in the sand bed. This way you'll suck up minimal sand. Then again I've never used pool filter sand. I alway just buy the bags of sand at petco.

[TURQ64]

If you are going with gravel, you might as well leave the sand. Fish health won't improve any with a substrate if that's your plan...BB has a beauty all it's own......

[troysdiiscus]

I am in the same boat as you are, I have had a heavy planted tank for years but not with discus with eco complete (which I never vaccumed) with co2. I absolutely fell in love with the Discus owning and still do african cichlids. I recently made the move to make the jump and remove my gravel and plants in my 55 gallon and I am upgrading to a 110. As a plant tank lover it was diffucult to do but all the research I have done and with the advise of this forum, I did it bout 4 days ago. What I did do is take the sub and plant my plants in clay pots and are growing in another tank for later use when the discus grow out to transfer to 110. I have sand in my lake cichlid tank and its fine, I just hoover the syphon about half inch above the sub no problem, I dont have to turn cause the lake cichlids do it for me. I have cory cats and BN pleco that will do the same in 110. There is someone on this forum that makes decorative pots to match the sand sub, very nice. I will have some planted in sand and some in deco pots. I know its low tech, root tabs and dosing and no co2 but will look nice and ease to manage. I have changed my mind to have a discus main tank from a planted main tank for the love of the discus. I hope this helps..Good luck...

[Skip]

what is more important the look of the tank.. or the fish inside


BB has a beauty all it's own......

Minimal has its own beauty!!

[farebox]

I once had a great 55GA high tech planted tank with all the bell and whistles(CO2 equipment, lights, etc.). One day my son said to me, dad you need some discus in that tank. Long story short after reading all the info here on the forum, made the move to empty the tank out and go BB....at first it was hard to look at, but having discus from Kenny's growing healthy and the ease for cleaning/wc's, never looked back..... Just my two cents.

[-gb-]

I went from planted gravel to planted sand and found a small improvement in my fish's health.
A few years later... I went to BB with potted plants and found a significant improvement in my fish's heath.
A few more year pass... then last week I pulled out the plants and pots all together and noticed another significant improvement.
IMO healthy/happy Discus fish take president over everything else. & I really do like the look of a clean open tank with nothing but Discus. Simplicity!

(not saying discus can't be healthy/happy in a planted tank. It's just easier and more likely that you will have sustainable success in BB)

[ROOK45]

Damn I just switched from black sand to white sand last week.....after reading this thread, now after reading this thread I want to go BB. I used to keep monsters like cichla,Arowana, stingrays, ect, ect and the tank was always BB so it's not much of a change. Just got used to decorations. Lol

[Trier20]

Damn I just switched from black sand to white sand last week.....after reading this thread, now after reading this thread I want to go BB. I used to keep monsters like cichla,Arowana, stingrays, ect, ect and the tank was always BB so it's not much of a change. Just got used to decorations. Lol

Yea I did that too. I set up a 90 with black sand and the bought discus they were all black k and PB was startin to pepper badly. So I switch the substrate to white and within two weeks I went to BB. Never went back.

[JonC]

So it didn't go as planned, after all the comments I decided to go BB. I got home last night with a pack of razor blades and went to scraping off the black paint on the back. This was very easy and it only took about 15 min. No scratches, looks real nice. I turn it over and start on the bottom and it’s a no go. No paint on the bottom outside or inside. After I look at it I see a maker's stamp on the bottom, on top of the black. I’m not sure if the glass is black or what but that’s how it is. Not sure what I’m going to do now. I ended up putting just enough sand in the tank to cover the black bottom and now that the black background is gone the tank is real bright.

[boscobear]

I keep 6 large discus, and one shunted orphaned blue diamond, in a heavily planted 125 gallon Aquarium, along with many other shoaling fish, rummy nose, glow lights, cardinal tetras. Never had a problem with water quality. I change 65 gallons of water in a 60/40 RO mix every 5-6 days. I do not vacuum the substrate, I do how ever remove any old dying plant life. There are also snails, nitrite, and ramshorn in the aquarium.
I recently acquired two beautiful red covers, which are only the size of a silver dollar right now. I have them in a 75 gallon BB tank. This is where they will grow out, and I can feed them as I like, and vacuum the bottom after feedings.
My wife and I are currently purchasing a large aquarium, 400 gallon, for our living room area, the 125 gallon is in our bedroom. This new system will have plants, substrate, and many discus, along with dither fish. A beautiful display aquarium in my opinion should include a natural looking environment. It should be artistic, and the common description of art is an imitation of life. Hence the biotrop of the Amazon area with the main attraction being the King of the Amazon, the Discus fish.
To repeat myself, if my objective was for breeding discus, or growing out young discus, I would be using a simple BB tank, not an Aquarium setting. I leave this for artistic display. This is just my opinion.

Ron

[John_Nicholson]

I don't remember the brand put there is a spray paint paint that you can use inside you tank. I have never used it but several people on the forum have.

-john

[John_Nicholson]

Here you are.

-john

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?93119-aquarium-safe-paint&highlight=paint

[DiscusBR]

Once I tried a BB setup for my 80g with 7 wild Cuipeua discos. Did not look bad:

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/DiscusBR/Nov2011/janB12013.jpg

Did not look bad, but I also did not like the dirt floating around. This is my current setup with pool filter sand:

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/DiscusBR/Nov2011/DSC01262.jpg

Love it! It is not difficult at all to vacuum the sand. I always do it during WCs. The next best thing after BB is sand. Avoid other types of substrate that will accumulate all the crap.

[Skip]

both types look great :)

[John_Nicholson]

They have a colr called satin almond and I bet if you sprayed it heavy and then spread some sand over it before it dried it might work well.

-john

[JonC]

Here you are.

-john

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?93119-aquarium-safe-paint&highlight=paint

thanks John..

[sandy]

Once I tried a BB setup for my 80g with 7 wild Cuipeua discos. Did not look bad:

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/DiscusBR/Nov2011/janB12013.jpg

Did not look bad, but I also did not like the dirt floating around. This is my current setup with pool filter sand:

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/DiscusBR/Nov2011/DSC01262.jpg

Love it! It is not difficult at all to vacuum the sand. I always do it during WCs. The next best thing after BB is sand. Avoid other types of substrate that will accumulate all the crap.

Both setup looks good

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