First discus setup

[Gunn]

Ok, so I've finally decided on a 75g 4' BB aquarium for my discus(which i do not have yet). Ill be running 2x hydro V sponge filters and an airstone.


Few questions:

1. Can anyone suggest what type of bulb to use for an 18" ballast? T8s come with it.
2. I'm planning on using 2 heaters, are 2x 100 watts going to be enough?
3. Do these discus look healthy? Any opinions?

[kris2341]

For t8 bulb, just use whatever looks pretty to you, I personally would get any cool white 6500k bulb from the local hardware store and go with that, discus dont like too much light.

for heating, I would typically go no less than 3w with 4w being recommended for all reasonable conditions per gallon but depending on your arrangement and how cold your home gets, 2 100w heaters may be sufficient but I personally would use 2x 150w heaters.

Finally, the pictures are too small for a nice lookthrough but the 3rd one looks kinda off. They look pretty for the most part but that doesnt even tell half the story about them.

You need to know how active they are, do they eat well? are they REALLY healthy?

Whatever you do, make sure to find out what they usually eat, because if for example they only eat live blackworms, that is a BIG problem right there.

You have to see the fish live usually to get the answers to the above if they are local fish.

[OC Discus]

Like Kris said, they don't like bright light. In my experience with t8's you can mix colors with interesting results- like one blue and one white. Maybe your local fish store can show you examples of how different colors look.

I would be afraid 2 100 watt heaters might not be strong enough, especially if the room gets cold. Some use two heaters rated for the tank in case one fails. Others use smaller heaters so a failing heater doesn't boil the fish. I have good results from a 300 watt in a 55 gallon. Smaller heaters couldn't hold the temp long term. One failed and the other didn't keep up causing the temp to drop.

Shape of the fish looks pretty good, but the pics are too small to tell much.


Ok, so I've finally decided on a 75g 4' BB aquarium for my discus(which i do not have yet). Ill be running 2x hydro V sponge filters and an airstone.


Few questions:

1. Can anyone suggest what type of bulb to use for an 18" ballast? T8s come with it.
2. I'm planning on using 2 heaters, are 2x 100 watts going to be enough?
3. Do these discus look healthy? Any opinions?

[ericNH]

Huuray! Congrats! 75g is a decent-sized tank, anbd I think all those discus look beautiful :) As for heating, Someone here once recommended going with 2, and using a temperature controller. I would recommend that, after recently having trouble with one of my heaters and having to replace it. And I think kris's advice on 150w each sounds about right. Good luck! Keep us posted.