Intro and 65g Thread

[s14swap240sx]

I have been actively keeping fish for some time now. As of recent it was saltwater but I didn't enjoy it as much as any of my freshwater tanks.

So here is my venture into discus. Most of everything I am using will be transferred into a larger tank but that's going to have to wait until next year after my wedding.

Tank is DSA 65 pro, it measures 36x21x21

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/F1B19B84-0304-45B6-81EC-83F3625104DF_zps4pa3ybum.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/F1B19B84-0304-45B6-81EC-83F3625104DF_zps4pa3ybum.jpg.html)

Sump shot, 1 gallon of k1, I have another gallon on its way, and then I will do two liters of seachem matrix with the heaters in the second chamber. Right now I have a seeded sponge and ehiem media.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/DAE9FE8A-B242-4B27-905F-60ADADD8D570_zpspskz3kr9.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/DAE9FE8A-B242-4B27-905F-60ADADD8D570_zpspskz3kr9.jpg.html)


Exited to play with the Neptune apex. It will run a stenner dual head pump for daily water change.
Which leads me to my water storage containers. They are heated and connected to my tank.

A 3 stage chloramine filter will supply these with fresh water.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/28A40858-40DB-4FB6-8EF0-8700B1D1CF3A_zpshsgsiq2e.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/28A40858-40DB-4FB6-8EF0-8700B1D1CF3A_zpshsgsiq2e.jpg.html)


I have lots of stuff on its way like rock wood the stenner pump and 3 stage filter.

Please feel free to shoot me any advice.

Plan to make a trip to discus Hans in 2-3 months.

Thanks for reading
Jon

[tonytheboss1]

Looks like a well thought out setup friend. Can speak from experience about Hans. Excellent choice!!! You will not be disappointed. Great fish but even greater customer service!! Good luck. "T"

[weilei12321]

Looks nice! Will the flow be too strong for discus?

[s14swap240sx]

which flow? From powerhead or the sump it self? The return pump is an eheim 1260.. the turnover is not much more then 500gph I run my 1inch drain at half throttle just to create a continuous siphon.

The power head can go if everyone feels its not needed, that would be another 200 back in my pocket! The powerhead is running on a 12v jumper, as the 24v jumper pretty much sends water over the edge of the tank.

I am beyond excited to get to Maryland for some discus, just going to wait 2 months to make sure the tetras and rams are healthy, and work out any bugs from the large amount of automation the tank will have

[Nick Klimkowski]

Very nice, I love to see how everyone's systems work and how they are put together. Keep up the good work.

[s14swap240sx]

Thank you!

I enjoy breaking everything down for people to say because there is always something to be learned and I take a lot from all these forums and feel it's appropriate to give back. Expecting my water filter, stenner dual head pump, rock and wood this week! So hopefully I will have some decent updates. I added another gallon of k1; it needs to establish it self now and 2 l of seachem matrix. That's prob it for bio media.

My ph is right around 8 from the tap. Doesn't change from tap to aged in the tank.

I plan on keeping the tank around 82 aslong as I'm parasite free. Being that it's rimless at 86 the evap rate is crazy. And at 82 now it's significantly more then it was as a reef at 77-78

[kwan8911]

Very nice setup... amazing...

[s14swap240sx]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/C16324BA-A583-4DDE-BCC0-2E2D9F2C80B5_zps5lwiv4fl.jpg (http://s.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/C16324BA-A583-4DDE-BCC0-2E2D9F2C80B5_zps5lwiv4fl.jpg.html)

Got some of this wire raceway in while I have a free amazon prime account. Love it! Great way to hide wires. Won't finalize until I figure out where the stenner dual head pump and ato will be going

[Nick Klimkowski]

Very nice, it does really keep it organized.

[s14swap240sx]

So my k1 ain't really doing what k1 is supposed. I switched it to a different sump chamber.. I'm guessing it's far from established being just a week old with minimal bioload. If anyone found a certain airstone that seems to work better then others let me know about it!

Let's see if it stays organized with two my plugs and ro lines, break out box float switches and feeder

[s14swap240sx]

Woodscape.. just throwing stuff together

1. sticks out about 6 inches, minimal footprint for easy clean up and easy to swim around for the fish. I would have to cut off the top most small branch so it just breaks the water line
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/83CD7435-E79B-4F9D-BD8D-3787E7477C50_zpsx1ksokjf.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/83CD7435-E79B-4F9D-BD8D-3787E7477C50_zpsx1ksokjf.jpg.html)

2. Only touches 3 points of the bottom of the tank.. about 21 inch tall so no need to cut, may cut into fish swimming room, but my tank is 21 inch deep, the entire structure can be pushed farther back and they can work in and out of the driftwoof in a figure 8 pattern with the decent sized middle opening
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/C20C4236-AE4D-4192-8AE3-8F5B0E06FDBD_zpsb79ggvvt.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/C20C4236-AE4D-4192-8AE3-8F5B0E06FDBD_zpsb79ggvvt.jpg.html)

3. lots of bottom contact.. feel its going to build up a lot of poop but just another option.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/57B24D6D-FD36-48A9-A3A9-5D14E408EB88_zps9bxs7zdv.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/57B24D6D-FD36-48A9-A3A9-5D14E408EB88_zps9bxs7zdv.jpg.html)

this will have black coast stone accent rocks placed around it. going to limit it to no more then 3 pieces of rock cause to much rock and it will defeat the barebottom approach.

any thoughts?

[dr.nick73]

So my k1 ain't really doing what k1 is supposed. I switched it to a different sump chamber.. I'm guessing it's far from established being just a week old with minimal bioload. If anyone found a certain airstone that seems to work better then others let me know about it!

Let's see if it stays organized with two my plugs and ro lines, break out box float switches and feeder
Just a thought I run k1 media in my sump at my office. I got a spray bar and connected it to a maxi jet 1200 that really got all the media rolling you may want to try that... Keep the air stone in just to give it o2 but I found it is not really needed
Nick

[s14swap240sx]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/B242D608-561E-445C-BB13-7561D8217297_zpsrmxnryfu.jpg (http://s.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/B242D608-561E-445C-BB13-7561D8217297_zpsrmxnryfu.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/7EDAC16B-720C-452E-A57D-F8BB8A193E51_zpsyjmzwklu.jpg (http://s.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/7EDAC16B-720C-452E-A57D-F8BB8A193E51_zpsyjmzwklu.jpg.html)

Think it's gonna stay like this. May have trim one or two branches to ample swimming space.

Lmk what you all think!

[s14swap240sx]

Stenner pump finally made it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/S14Swap240sx/44AA1185-888E-4D0D-A2A9-616B2AE50F51_zpsteqzmxeo.jpg (http://s.photobucket.com/user/S14Swap240sx/media/44AA1185-888E-4D0D-A2A9-616B2AE50F51_zpsteqzmxeo.jpg.html)

Can't wait to hook it up. Each head moves 85g a day.

[s14swap240sx]

nobody cares about my auto water exchange?! LOL damn im at the office right now and my water is changing on its own.. =(

[rickztahone]

It looks impressive but I think this may be going over many peoples head, as far as tech goes, me included. If you described the process maybe more people will understand and comment. I've been doing a lot of sump research lately so some of it kind of makes sense but again, a description would help here.

[kompakt]

You have a great looking setup! Love the drift wood piece.

The one thing I would recommend you ad to your setup is a cover/lid or some mesh for the top of the
tank.Yes I know it does take away from that clean rimless tank you have but
discus are jumpers. Many people on this forum will attest to loosing discus from them jumping out
of the tank when there is no lid.They can spook easy and just dart upwards.

Just something to keep in mind when your dealing with 100$ plus fish..

All the best with the project.

[s14swap240sx]

appreciate it. im in the middle of redoing a deck outside and ive never done one so its sucking up all my time. I do plan on putting a lid on the tank when I get discus, going to use some plastic U strips attached to the lid it self to secure it to the tank it self.

The concept behind a two head pump is commonly used with salt water guys, since their isn't a dire need to siphon the bottom of the tank as much, they usually stick with pumps that do a lot less gph a day to exchange water more to replenish calcium, but they deal with another headache of salt levels and stuff.

the pump simply draws water from the sump at the same rate it adds water. I will add a few safeguards like a float switch to turn off the dual head pump if sump levels rise to a certain point, but I have let the pump run continuously for 3-4 hours and it barely changes the level of the water in the sump. in case the pump decides to draw more water out then actually add it, I have a spectrapure ato for regular ato duty and that can also add water to the tank on its own to help a low water level. but then again is the draw line is above my actual pujmp slightly the dual head pump will never be able to draw enough water from the tank to let the tanks main return pump run dry.

Ive noticed no odd flucation in temp. since its changing 4 gallons a hour at most, the water line that fills the tank goes into the sump before the heaters.

Once I have some discus in the tank, I will be able to fine tune the hours the pump runs based on nitrate levels, some amount of hours will give me a desired 0-5ppm of nitrates, between filter socks, auto water change, bare bottom, and siphoning the tank a few times a week im hoping to have some success keeping discus.