Seiryu Stones

[storyofafish]

I am planning to use Seiryu stones and 1 driftwood in my 48 gallon tank. My discus (4 in total) are small.

Would anyone recommend?

Also, I don't have substrate, but am planning to add white sand or gravel on bottom but not sure.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[musicmarn1]

I have not used those but they are beautiful, i checked ADA site to make sure they were legitimate, it seems they are! so i would have no problems ordering

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4


Also there is a lot of substrate by ADA which is easy to use, though not the cheapest, but very effective and highly recommended. https://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76_12&zenid=08db15112fbcba6df9ec7987da6cae48


However i have had a lot of fun doing dirted tanks and for low tech each one has been easy to do, easy to maintain and able to grow absolutely everything ive asked of it, needing very little root tabs for the first year and then i do a few tabs each month after the first year. http://dustinsfishtanks.com/ has been the best dirted expert guide ive found on the internet and whilst i dont get my plants there anymore, i get them from Peabody's Paradise. I do love his dirted you tube videos! there are a lot of videos on how to do it properly, like adding clay for example is a great idea for red plants. It did help the plant health since i did both with and without.

lastly the one ive used with great success, though i put it on top of dirt is eco complete or activ flora. amazon sells them or local fish stores often do, they do a great job. i have many planted fish tanks and there are many great options.




Anyway in terms of other substrate if its not for a planted tank id stick to WHITE POOL FILTER SAND (its whitish) its cleaner and more neutral than normal sand. a white gravel is very good looking but want to be careful your really cleaning it, just not worth sick fish for a pretty gravel.

[jesseter]

You might try the planted tank forum. I have seen people selling them there. Good luck.

[Larry Bugg]

Hey Jack and welcome to Simply. Let me address a couple of things that you didn't specifically ask about. You say your discus are small, is this because they are young and still growing out? What size is small. I ask these questions because young discus require a lot of clean water. We normally recommend 50% or more water changes daily on discus with a lot of growing left. Adding decorations, substrate, plants, ect. to a grow out tank makes it harder to maintain the water quality demanded by young discus. Most people find it much easier to keep the tank bare bottom until they reach 4 1/2 to 5" and then they add the things they want to the tank.

I would also point out that discus are a social fish and like a lot of other cichlids they do best in groups of 5 to 6 or more. With less than this in a tank you are likely to end up seeing some aggression and often end up with discus that are bullied and suffer due to this aggression.

[storyofafish]

Larry thanks for the advice. Since my first post, I have setup a bare bottom 29 gallon tank for these fairly young fish. I won't add anything and will move them to the 48 gal when they are 4 inch (hopefully survive to then). I come from planted tank and shrimp hobby so I wanted to have a complete planted tank plus Discus experience. That would have to wait. I also just pick up 5 new discus at 3+ inches and also am keeping them in another 40 gallon bare bottom.

As with the 48 gal, I will stick with the Seiryu stone, aquasoil and cardinals until the Discus are ready. Delayed gratification might be tough - but having healthy discus in a planted tank will be rewarding in the end. Thanks for all of the advice.

[Tankster]

This guy gets it :)

Delayed gratification might be tough - but having healthy discus in a planted tank will be rewarding in the end.




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[musicmarn1]

LOl is that an official first? :p im just kidding, but its so great that you are going to

a/. keep them in a bare tank to start with young fish, not the only way to go but for sure the safest to start no doubt about it
b/. get a second batch
c/. QT the second batch ;)
d/. have experience with planted tank\s


im an Aries, type A impulsive woman but DISCUS taught me delayed gratification is best!