Switched to black background, whatcha guys think?

[Fish from Philly]

Here is link to pics:

http://imgur.com/a/aIGlh#0


Tank is 6' long 150 gallon w/ two FX5 filters and LED from BuildMyLED. No CO2 but I've been dosing with excel past 2 weeks. Plants are four leaf clover in front right and crpyt parva for left. Midground are various crpyts (spiralis, wendtii,mostly), hair grass, and water sprite. Background is rotala indica and cabomba. There is some java fern and anubia attached to the driftwood. Fish are cory sterbai, rummynoses, cardinals, various rams, BN pleco, and 5 discus: brilliant turq, 2 red turq, snakeskin, fire red.

I purchased fish from Hans and plan to get some more soon. I noticed the fire red is peppering which I'm not a fan of. I plan to ask Hans which strains he recommended to avoid peppering. I understand the turqs are good and also leopards. Was looking at Tefe since I like the cool bars.

[troysdiiscus]

nice setup, the background will most likely cause the fire red to pepper. Pidgeon blood strains blend in with there enviroment and stress and dark colors will make this happen. Love the plants, coming from a heavy planted tank (no discus) with a co2 injection, I like it. If no co2 other than excel are you using dry ferts? I too got a fire red from Hans and has peppering on face but I still had my eco complete in tank before I took it out, which I am sure help caused it. Sometimes they just have it. Its still a beautiful fish..

[Boyd Luth]

I like the tank, and the Fish are very nice. From what I have read here on the Forum, the darker backgrounds can/will cause peppering ? I thought of it when I was setting up my 150 gallon, so I left the background out. I have a greyish/blue walls in our living room, and it worked out pretty good.

[JEden8]

I have always been a fan of the black backgrounds and think it looks good! But agree that I'm not a fan of peppering occuring.

[Allwin]

Nice setup, but definitely PB based discus will get enough peppering!!!

[caffers0]

Lovely set up.

[camuth8]

Nice setup, but definitely PB based discus will get enough peppering!!!

+1

[strawberryblonde]

Hate to disagree, but I have a tank full of pigeons and it has a black background. No peppering at all. I think the big difference is that I have a white sand substrate and only one huge sword plant in the middle of the tank.

I had always followed the advice about black backgrounds till last summer when I received a shipment of PB's and had no where else to put them to grow out except into a 55g with black background. I painted the bottom white and hoped for the best (figured I'd be scraping black paint off the back during the next week LOL). Sure enough, NO peppering!

So I just tried it on my big display tank when I got my latest Hans shipment 3 weeks ago. Again, NO peppering! Actually, my all grown up Marlboro Red used to have some very slight pepper on his nose and he'd been raised in a tank with a light green background. That pepper is gone now, so I suspect that it was the driftwood and other decor that was causing it, not the color of the background.

[troysdiiscus]

So let me ask this Toni, if you have a PB that is peppered will it go away if the enviroment is changed? Or do you think it has to do with genetics due to the quality of the fish? just curious...
Hate to disagree, but I have a tank full of pigeons and it has a black background. No peppering at all. I think the big difference is that I have a white sand substrate and only one huge sword plant in the middle of the tank.

I had always followed the advice about black backgrounds till last summer when I received a shipment of PB's and had no where else to put them to grow out except into a 55g with black background. I painted the bottom white and hoped for the best (figured I'd be scraping black paint off the back during the next week LOL). Sure enough, NO peppering!

So I just tried it on my big display tank when I got my latest Hans shipment 3 weeks ago. Again, NO peppering! Actually, my all grown up Marlboro Red used to have some very slight pepper on his nose and he'd been raised in a tank with a light green background. That pepper is gone now, so I suspect that it was the driftwood and other decor that was causing it, not the color of the background.

[8ftbed]

Is the black ground/peppering fact or urban legend because the real cause is not known?

Wouldn't it be cool if the color of background resulted in similar peppering ... Er, spotting?
Holy crap, blue peppering would be the new standard. :)

[Allwin]

I had a melon with peppering, once I changed the bluish planted bg,peppering 99% disappeared.. similarly bd's in dark bg gave solid blue coloration and still growing at 3.5 inches.

[strawberryblonde]

So let me ask this Toni, if you have a PB that is peppered will it go away if the enviroment is changed? Or do you think it has to do with genetics due to the quality of the fish? just curious...

I really don't have enough empirical evidence to say one way or the other. I can only guess, from my own experience, that discus who develop pepper AFTER you put them in your tank (arrived with no pepper, or less peppering) may be reacting to any of several environmental causes.

My first rule out would be water quality, second would be color of substrate, third would be type and amount of lighting, fourth would be dark decor that's good for hiding/blending and fifth would be color of background.

Any one, or a combination of a few may be what causes discus to display more peppering. Eliminating them one by one and watching for improvement is the way to go. If no improvement after exhausting every possibility, then you have to suspect that your particular discus are genetically disposed to more peppering.

Ohhh, I don't think I was clear enough at the beginning of this post. Yes, I do believe that in many cases peppering can be reduced by changing factors within the tank. My Marlboro Red is proof enough of that.

[troysdiiscus]

cool, if I need an answer with a profound answer that makes sense, you are the one I ask. you are the bomb....:thumbsup:
I really don't have enough empirical evidence to say one way or the other. I can only guess, from my own experience, that discus who develop pepper AFTER you put them in your tank (arrived with no pepper, or less peppering) may be reacting to any of several environmental causes.

My first rule out would be water quality, second would be color of substrate, third would be type and amount of lighting, fourth would be dark decor that's good for hiding/blending and fifth would be color of background.

Any one, or a combination of a few may be what causes discus to display more peppering. Eliminating them one by one and watching for improvement is the way to go. If no improvement after exhausting every possibility, then you have to suspect that your particular discus are genetically disposed to more peppering.

Ohhh, I don't think I was clear enough at the beginning of this post. Yes, I do believe that in many cases peppering can be reduced by changing factors within the tank. My Marlboro Red is proof enough of that.

[DonMD]

I very much like that you did not overcrowd your tank with discus, that will help keep them from getting stressed. Very attractive tank.

[Fish from Philly]

Thanks for compliments all! Really can't thank the site enough for all the advice, research, etc. Hans did say all PB strains will likely pepper so I avoided them. Hans is probably best to ask but has anyone else had experience with non-peppering discus? I want a leopard, 2-3 tefe (with the bar stripes), and flachen. I think they are all good with dark backgrounds?


Troy - I don't use any dry ferts and will likely stop the excel once the plants grow in to the size I want to keep. I probably won't plant much more; maybe some rotala clippings to thicken up the very back? Everything else seems to be growing well. I do have layer of eco-complete under the sand, especially in the back with the stem plants, and I think that's helping with the red coloring.

Strawberry, I've seen you post few times about bb tanks and water quality and has me thinking past week that I will need to change setup to be more maintenance friendly once I get more discus. The best way to do this I think is to remove most of the crypts in the front left. Since the pleco hangs out on the wood on the left, there is always good amount of waste in that section that is pretty tough to remove with vacuum. Since I've only had my tank up with discus for like 2 months, I'm wondering if the tank is still immature and "stabilized" conditions are going to change. I do w/c of 30-50% every 2-3 days which keeps the nitrate color test orange. I'd like to think it is 10 and not 20 but honestly, it looks different depending on the light and background so I'm not sure. The discus appear to be healthy, moving around, eating a lot, so I think they are good. I do wonder when I add more discus if I'll have to increase the water changes to keep nitrates low.

8ft - Would be awesome if only you had the "spotting" effect and then you could have entire market for blue spotted discus!


Don - I would love to have more discus in the tank! I'm planning to have 10 discus total and likely keep same amount of tankmates (10 cardinals, 20 rummys, 10 corys) I'm taking it slowly since I've only had tank up since April. I do want to get another pleco though - always loved golden nugget! I also used to have a spotted headstander and I read they are great with discus. If I see one of those again, I will likely purchase.

[troysdiiscus]

Yeah the red colored plants will need clay and iron to keep that redish color. Your right about scaping to make it easier to keep it clean. The only thing I have in mine now is some anubius on the drift wood, some val in the back corner, a 2 crypts in front. Makes it alot easier to clean and less maintenance on the plants but still gives it a natural look. Good luck and enjoy.......:thumbsup:

[8ftbed]

8ft - Would be awesome if only you had the "spotting" effect and then you could have entire market for blue spotted discus!




Oh man, and if they were giant slabs that SD addicts are able to grow out, wouldn't a tank of blue spotted discus with one or two of those blue spotted (or ringed?) rays be cool? You folks with the bonafide tanks could pull it off. I remember the first time I went to ChicagoDiscus and Josie still had those big rays in her 300g display.

BLAINE!!! Go to your corner and quit thinking of things you cannot swing.

:)

[discuspaul]

Like Toni, I too have had several discus set-ups, with either black background, or very dark blue, but with white PF sand substrate, and have not had any peppering on any of the fish.

[Fish from Philly]

Like Toni, I too have had several discus set-ups, with either black background, or very dark blue, but with white PF sand substrate, and have not had any peppering on any of the fish.

I have like a beige (natural?) pool filter sand also. In some sections the eco complete that is under it surfaced. I just bought a strainer for vegetables and plan to "fillter" out the small stones and black eco.

[strawberryblonde]

I did the same thing when I had eco complete in my tank! I had covered it with a layer of pale grey sand and that stuff kept creeping up to the surface, so I just used a strainer to scoop it up. LOL

Eventually I switched up the entire tank, so the eco complete went bye bye and was replaced by golden sand that was totally gorgeous. The strainer went through the dishwasher and back into my kitchen utensils...just don't tell my husband, ok? =)

[Fish from Philly]

I did the same thing when I had eco complete in my tank! I had covered it with a layer of pale grey sand and that stuff kept creeping up to the surface, so I just used a strainer to scoop it up. LOL

Eventually I switched up the entire tank, so the eco complete went bye bye and was replaced by golden sand that was totally gorgeous. The strainer went through the dishwasher and back into my kitchen utensils...just don't tell my husband, ok? =)

Lips are sealed! Problem now is I can't scoop much with all the plants so I have to uproot them or live with it and hope some of the carpet grows over. Thanks for advice everyone