new guy, new tank, blank slate!

[littleyellow]

This questionnaire may be used to either help you to describe your new tank setup for discus or be a “food for thought” checklist while you consider what your goals are with your new discus tank setup.

1) Please Introduce yourself and tell us what your experience is with fishkeeping, give us as much information as possible as to how long in the hobby, what you have kept in the past and what you currently are working with.

Hello! My name is Carl and I have been keeping a community 26g bow front on and off for about 9 years that is currently heavily planted with Turquoise Rainbows and have recently scored a 120g, 2x2x4 rimless glass tank ($100 on craigslist!) that I will be making into a Discus tank. It has no stand, is not tempered and I am starting off with this post to get some help on where I am going to be going with this tank.

2) If you have no previous experience with keeping discus, have you done any research to properly prepare yourself, e.g. have you read any Stickies in this section of SimplyDiscus, or other material?

I have been reading info on this site and a few others almost non-stop for 2 weeks which I know still isn’t even close to enough but I also haven’t even begun anything with the tank)

3) Describe your tank, its size and dimensions, breeding or display. Include how long it has been setup or if it is still being cycled.

120g rimless, 4’ wide, 2’ deep/tall that will be for display and is currently sitting empty. Depending on filtration, I also might be looking to drill the tank for bulkheads but I am nowhere near sure about that.

4) Describe the décor for the tank; type of substrate or bare bottom (BB), whether the tank will be planted or a biotope.

Would love to get some ideas on how to set it up.

5) Describe your water changes planned or practiced, percentage and how often. Include if you age your water and use of tap/RO or mix.

I currently have an RO/DI system set up to fill a 34gal trash can with a float valve and a drain that I will be buying a pump to facilitate easier water changes. I would like to plumb the tank to be able to do daily water changes from either this or another, larger container in the future.

6) Describe the type of filtration planned/used for the tank; sponge, HOB and/or sump. Also include the other equipment you are, or will be, using in your tank, e.g. heater, lighting, etc.

I would like to run a sump but a canister is not far behind and would love to hear some opinions.

7) If the tank is already setup and running, include the water parameters;

N/A

8) Describe your current or planned stocking levels; number/size of discus and number/type of dither fish. Where did you get your discus from or do you have a proposed source for getting your discus?

Unknown, hopefully from DiscusHans since I have found out I live about 25 miles from his shop!

9) Describe your planned or existing feeding regimen. Include what and how often you are feeding on a daily basis.

Unknown

10) What are your goals in this hobby? For example are you looking to keep discus in a planted community tank, or do you hope to become a hobby breeder of Discus? Do you want to raise Discus with the hopes of competing in shows?

I want nothing more than to have a tank in which the discus could not just survive, but thrive. Maybe somewhere down the line I could see myself breeding but that would be a long term thought.


Thanks for this great website and for all the help in advance!

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Carl and welcome to Simply. Sounds like an awesome find of a tank you have there. Since you are new to discus I would suggest starting out bare-bottom until you get a handle on discus. Then you can decide if you wish to do something different. On the sump vs canister. I am a sump person and not a cansiter person but drilling a tank could be daunting. You could even start with some sponge filters if you wish to keep it simple. I guess your first order of business is to get a stand.
Pat

[Discusdude7]

First of all, welcome to simply!!
How big are the discus that you are planning to get? Bigger is better, trust me when I say that.

[troysdiiscus]

Hey and welcome....you will find no other informative forum like this one.
First congrats on the find, I also found a 120 for 100 bucks almost brand new!! So lets start here...
If you are looking to start with this size I would definately look at getting adults 4.5 inch and up from sponsors on this forum. You will find the quality and health is not matched...
I run a fluval fx5 and xp canister along with a sponge filter with NO issues, use a prefilter on both helps to not clean as often. I clean mine about one every month and rotate them out.
Also if you buy from sponsors on here many have seeded sponge filters as well to help when you get your tank cycled.
Alot of fun to be had setting it up so think about what you are trying to achieve as far as looks and go for it.
What size were you thinking?? Discus alone 1x per 10 gallons....
Good luck.....

[littleyellow]

Hi Carl and welcome to Simply. Sounds like an awesome find of a tank you have there. Since you are new to discus I would suggest starting out bare-bottom until you get a handle on discus. Then you can decide if you wish to do something different. On the sump vs canister. I am a sump person and not a cansiter person but drilling a tank could be daunting. You could even start with some sponge filters if you wish to keep it simple. I guess your first order of business is to get a stand.
Pat

Thanks, Pat! I have been playing around in Sketchup on a stand design that I will try to post up the sketch. So far it is designed to hold a sump and can easily be scaled back if only supporting a canister.


First of all, welcome to simply!!
How big are the discus that you are planning to get? Bigger is better, trust me when I say that.

Thank you! I would love to get some adults but have a feeling that, wallet wise, I might have to get a 40b/55 to grow out some juvies.

[Second Hand Pat]

Carl, I would design the stand for a sump for two reasons; one is in case you decide you want one and second, the extra room can be used for other things :D

[Trubble]

Carl, I would design the stand for a sump for two reasons; one is in case you decide you want one and second, the extra room can be used for other things :D

+1

I use the extra space under my 135 for storing all sorts of things: food for all the tanks, extra decor, meds, extra filters/prefilters, etc. You will find you can never have too much extra storage.

Welcome to Simply.

[littleyellow]

Hey and welcome....you will find no other informative forum like this one.
First congrats on the find, I also found a 120 for 100 bucks almost brand new!! So lets start here...
If you are looking to start with this size I would definately look at getting adults 4.5 inch and up from sponsors on this forum. You will find the quality and health is not matched...
I run a fluval fx5 and xp canister along with a sponge filter with NO issues, use a prefilter on both helps to not clean as often. I clean mine about one every month and rotate them out.
Also if you buy from sponsors on here many have seeded sponge filters as well to help when you get your tank cycled.
Alot of fun to be had setting it up so think about what you are trying to achieve as far as looks and go for it.
What size were you thinking?? Discus alone 1x per 10 gallons....
Good luck.....

Thanks! Do you run your tank BB? Can you run a sponge filter in a non BB tank?


Carl, I would design the stand for a sump for two reasons; one is in case you decide you want one and second, the extra room can be used for other things :D

Oh yeah, the room will be there, one way or another, the only difference was going to be an extra support on the bottom and thicker plywood.

Andddddd here is some sketching, the middle supports are currently 2-1X2's sandwiched but I doubt I will end up doing that when I build. Top is 2x6, bottom is 2x4 and the post will be 4x4's that are notched for the 2x boards.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/43ad81e7-06fe-4060-8c89-234007ff4050_zpse495d2cd.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/1424f31b-fef9-4ab0-8b41-61ec9b60d03a_zpsd797ce41.jpg

I am also seriously considering buying a Kreg Jig and pocket screwing some 1x oak together....

[littleyellow]

Thanks for the advice everyone, will have a more detailed response soon as it included pictures and needs approval. Smart system, btw, even if it is probably a lot of work for the miss!


There it is! ^^^^^

[littleyellow]

Ok, after reading up some more, you guys have convinced me to go bare bottom and run a sump. I am also thinking about running a sponge filter in the tank while I get used to keeping discus then toss it in the sump to keep it seeded. I am thinking about drilling the tank for bulkheads but have to assume that there is some sort of hang on overflow that can work well and would love to hear ideas. Also, I switched out the 4x4s in my stand design and made it 36" tall instead of 30".

Tank, sorry about the weird color, that flash caught it and I thought it looked cool.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/IMAG0091_zpsd7318807.jpg

New design
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/71bbc8c6-016c-4ae9-b17f-09dfbd5eda00_zpsb5c8e339.jpg

With my body double hanging out for height reference
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/00dcf15e-6cd1-4c1d-a307-a59fadb1d6e2_zps7c2709d3.jpg


Thanks again everyone!
Carl

[littleyellow]

Also, what is the conventional wisdom when it comes to getting fish on a budget? I.e. buying 2 or 3 4-6" fish at a time to get to the 8/10 adults I would like or to buy 10 smaller fish so they don't have to keep getting used to new discus.

Thanks all!

[littleyellow]

Thanks for all the info so far, just bumping for more answers/opinions :D

[Gene]

Ok, after reading up some more, you guys have convinced me to go bare bottom and run a sump. I am also thinking about running a sponge filter in the tank while I get used to keeping discus then toss it in the sump to keep it seeded. I am thinking about drilling the tank for bulkheads but have to assume that there is some sort of hang on overflow that can work well and would love to hear ideas. Also, I switched out the 4x4s in my stand design and made it 36" tall instead of 30".

Thanks again everyone!
Carl

As far as overflow boxes go, check out the lifereef overflow box/prefilters. VERY reliable and Jeff, the owner/inventor, is very helpful.

[littleyellow]

I will look into those, thanks!

[littleyellow]

Hrm, I actually think $200 would be a good investment over trying to drill the tank. Certainly gives me something else to ponder.

[Gene]

What's the gph on your return pump? You will probably be ok with the single option.

[littleyellow]

Haven't worked that out yet. I see from other peoples questions that, for my 120 tank, turnover would range from 480-1200 (4-10x) and it would be pumping 3-4' so I was erring on the side of having "too much" turnover and having to dial it down rather than trying to push a string. Am I thinking about this the right way?

[Gene]

Yes. Better to have more than not enough. You can always divert some water back to the sump without putting extra stress on the pump by restricting the flow. Personally, I feel that 5x/hour turnover is just fine. That's just my opinion. If you are thinking of 1000gph+ range, then the lifereef double overflow is what you want. Not the cheapest but it is the SAFEST option in my book.

[littleyellow]

I currently have a four stage RO/DI system set up to auto fill a 34gal Brute can, would it make sense for me to bypass the RO membraneso I avoid having to remineralize the water while removing sediment and chlorine with the other filters?

[Jbarnes]

Thats what I did. Simply take the RO input line and run it into the DI cannister skipping the RO membrane gave me 93 TDS. Jerry.

[littleyellow]

Thats what I did. Simply take the RO input line and run it into the DI cannister skipping the RO membrane gave me 93 TDS. Jerry.

Awesome, thanks!

Stand update, I love seeing a plan get fleshed out and this has been my first foray into pocket screws as well as using oak. The frame is all 1x6 and the panels are 1/4" oak ply. I still need to make the doors which will be 1x3 oak with frosted acrylic and I will be paintingthe rest of the interior after siliconing the cracks. Once everything is on I will get it all stained up.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/IMAG0144-1_zpsdc41dbcc.jpg

Thanks for looking!
Carl

[littleyellow]

Been busy around the house but did manage to set up most of the main parts of the stand for a picture. I will try to remember to fix my other links when I get home.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/Aquarium/IMG_20130902_202817_zps10e28469.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[Trubble]

Very nice.

[littleyellow]

Very nice.
Thanks! I can't wait to sand and stain it so I can get this tank set up!

[littleyellow]

Moving along!

Would love to hear thoughts about what to use between my rimless tank and the granite, I am probably only a few weeks away from setting it up and would like to have something in hand soon.

Thanks in advance!


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk257/doombringer_photo/68d270a0-fec1-4fec-bba4-fa1fc4884cfe_zps04f30b6e.jpg