Discus Gravel/Sand Help

[nikkropf]

looking to start my first discus tank was wondering a nice fine gravel or sand that wont let fish poop or extra food to go to the bottom of the gravel for easy cleaning

[a volar]

If you want to use sand, use "pool filter sand" just a thin layer.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

I have less than a half inch of pool filter sand in my 2 display tanks just because I do not prefer bare-bottom tanks. It is easy to clean the waste out of and not the sand. The fish just look better with the sand bottom.

[nikkropf]

the pool filter sand wont mess with my eheim 2217 filter will it and does it settle pretty well i dont want a cloudy tank

[nikkropf]

and would the pool filter sand be the silica sand??? also would it be ok to have like 2 inches of sand so i can stick some plants in as well just dont wanna mess up know how fragile discus can be sometimes

[a volar]

the pool filter sand wont mess with my eheim 2217 filter will it and does it settle pretty well i dont want a cloudy tank

Nobody likes a cloudy tank..... I recommend pool filter sand to you for a reason......... search in the forum you'll find a lot helpful info...

[discuspaul]

If you want to have a planted discus tank, nothing beats quartz-based silica pool filter sand for substrate.
Get it only at a pool supply store - you don't want big box store inferior sand.
2" of sand would be fine to do a little planting - but keep things simple, low-tech, with minimal plantings, and use root tab ferts. The sand will be grit, dirt & dust-free, needing little or no rinsing, easy to keep clean, will not get siphoned out with vacuuming, and will not free-float when disturbed, so it won't clog up your filter assemblies.

To give you some idea of the look, have a peek at my planted discus tank - 3 different sets of pics, with 3 different planted set-ups & different discus:

http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/Sept2011
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/3RedSnakeSkins
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/lolliblues

Hope this helps you.

[nikkropf]

i heard the silica sand sometimes causes algae problems how do i keep that from happening? and if its over an inch thick i need to stir it so it does not cause some sort of gas problem that can be deadly to fish??

[ashtricks]

Most of the algae problems can be attributed to excess nutrients in the tank. As long as you achieve the balance, you should not have any algae problems.
Gas problems occur when organic waste decays in the sand and one of the byproducts is H2S. I have had a couple of inches of sand in my non-discus tanks without any problem. I had pond and nerite snails in the tank, as well as cory cats. All these helped keep the sand turned around. If you dont like snails, then you can poke the substrate with every water change with a stick just to be on the safer side. Couple of inches of PFS wont be a problem. Keep in mind that PFS does not have any nutrients for plants. You will have to add root tabs or flourish excel for your plants to thrive. Like @discuspaul says, try to keep it simple unless you are 500% sure about what you are doing.

[DiscusBR]

the pool filter sand wont mess with my eheim 2217 filter will it and does it settle pretty well i dont want a cloudy tank

I have pool filter sand and a 2217 with absolutely no problems. It will not cause algae issues.

[troysdiiscus]

If I may jump in, discus paul, I am going to do the same, mentioned in previous threads, use to have heavy planted with co2 (pressured) the whole set up. I am going back to low tech with spot light on discus but stilll have plants. I use pool sand in lake cichlid tank and the also keep sand moving all the time so no gas build up. I have cory cats and BN pleco so no issue when I set my new 110 from 55 gallon. What size are those discus you have? I currently have 6 from 3 to 3.5 inch. What type of filter system do you run? I noticed the wave maker, is the current ok for that? I will be using a fluval fx5, XP canister and sponge filter, worried alittle about current and cross current. Do you think that will be too much flow? How often do you do WC and what %. I will be using like you w/o co2, root tabs and excel. Here are the ones I took out of 55 have more in another tank to transfer to 110. I have always heard on the advise of this forum to grow out to 4.5 to 5.5 before moving out of grow out, thats why I asked about your size and what if any problems you have ran into. thanks for reading.. I have red tiger lotus, wendi, crypts, water sprite, swords amazon and melon, anubias nano, 77465

[discuspaul]

The discus in the pics of the 3 tank set-ups ranged in size from 3" youngsters, to 6" adults.
When I first got the juvies I was doing large daily wcs, but currently I'm only doing 60% wcs 2 or 3 X a week for the adults or near adults that I have.

My tank is just over 70 gals and I'm runnning 2 AquaClear 110 HOB's. That's not a wave-maker in my tank, but simply a smaller Hydor Koralia circulation pump that produces a mild flow throughout the bottom areas of the tank.
Discus don't mind reasonable flow, so long as it's not so strong that it impedes their ability to maintain stability in the tank.
I don't think you will have too much flow with the filtration you'll be using.

Keeping discus of less than 4" in size in a planted tank can be problematic if one does not put in the necessary time & efforts to keep the tank as squeaky clean as possible, and with as frequent wcs as possible. Some of the juvies grown out in a planted environment may be limited in their eventual development & growth, and some runts may even be produced.

Your proposed discus tankmates, and the types of plants you'll be using, are just fine.
Hope this answers all your questions.

[troysdiiscus]

Thanks, I am thinking just keep them in 55 gallon BB til they get atleast 5.5 inches then aquascape the 110. appreciate the info.

[nikkropf]

thanks everyone for the great info going to go get the pfs now