New 55 gal setup

[CDUB]

I am new to Discus but not new to keeping tropical fish. I have had a 90 gal tank with Oscars and currently have a 75 gal with many different tropical fish. I received a 55 gal tank from a friend. I cleaned it with water and vinegar mix many times. I have an r/o system that I will change the water with. Now I need advice. I am thinking of putting an Aquatop CF400 as a filter. I live in a cold weather state and this will be in the basement living room where the temp is an average of 68 degrees yr round. I am guessing I will have to go with two heaters. I put one Fluval 300 in my 75 and it would not get above 73, so I was forced to put another. So in my 75 gal I have two 300 watt Fluval heaters. I am looking for a better option. I also only want drift wood in the tank with no plants and some sand. As I understand it there are some types of wood that you can not export from the amazon. Looking for the best option for drift wood in my tank. Also looking for options for sand. Thanks for the Help!

[DISCUS STU]

A 55 gal. shouldn't be that difficult to keep at 82-83 f. with a 300 watt heater in a cold room. I use Eheim-Jager heaters but you'll have to adjust them to get the right temp. as their dials don't really match what you set them for.

Try Google for driftwood as there many suppliers for this and it's very common. Someone on this Forum may have their favorite source.

Pool filter sand purchased from a pool supply house is a good, cheap, way to go for very fine granulated sand, the finer the better so that small amounts of sediment and waste stay on top of the sand and don't enter the body of the sand causing bacterial spikes. Personally I use Hudson River sand collected from the beach but I also have plants. A friend of mine once used a large found tree branch that he collected from the Passaic River in a nice 125 gal. with multiple wild Discus in a setup that he kept in his living room, but he was a very experienced Discus keeper and breeder so he knew the rules and what you could get away with.