coopers 6x2x2

[cooper666]

Hi everyone,

I've decided to document my tank. It's a 6x2x2 (more accurately 1.8mx0.6mx0.6m) ex-reef tank with a corner overflow and a 5 ft sump. It once looked like this. I closed it down a couple of years ago after a catastrophic event :(
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/images/attach/jpg.gif

I'm planning of filtering it with a sock and a MBBR filter full of K1 media (I think its generic chinese stuff). I have a JEBAO DC return pump which is good but the power supply is crap and failed yesterday:mad:. Hopefully my dear wife comes back with a replacement tonight. I'm having trouble finding a quality DC - 24v, 5A+ plug and play power supply, plenty of cheap stuff out there.

I've dosed my bio media with some "funk" and I've got about a 2 month wait before I get some livestock. I'm thinking about 12 discus, some rams, cardinals, sterbai cory's and some hatchets.

I've got plenty of time to play with the aquascape before I buy fish. I'm planning on rocks, wood and a bare bottom for now. I might include a spotlight area and a plant or two later. Here's the beginning, I'm waiting for a couple of large logs to sink There's a nice stump to sit in front of the overflow and a couple of other bits that still float. The challenge will be getting it to visually "pop" It's certainly not there yet.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/images/attach/jpg.gif
I'm thinking about sticking a black cutting board against the overflow to get it sucking from the bottom and it should hide the ugliness. Anyone have experience with that sort of thing?

Anyways, plenty of time to sort things out while the filter brews and the wood sinks.

Thanks for reading.

[cooper666]

I've done a little work on the unseen parts of the tank. I made some lids for the sump and tank out of poly carbonate sheeting that I found in the roofing section of the hardware store. I also butchered a container to house the mechanical filter and plumbed in the continual water exchange hoses.

The ugly black sticks are air diffusers that I made for the MBBR. They are 4mm irrigation sprayer risers, drilled every 5 cm or so. The blobs are aqua knead it (putty), to give it some weight and hold them in place.

The blue air pump fuels the MBBR. It's a great pump for the price and very quiet, considering that it pumps about 30L/min.

The little white air pump appears to be a great bit of kit, time will tell. This thing has an internal battery, in the event of a power failure, it will continue to run for approx 40hr. I'm going to try and hide the outlet of this somewhere inside the tank. I hate air bubbles in aquariums (Its a personal thing) But I hate fish losses due to power outs even more, so I'm very happy to have this on board. Its the cheapest, easiest back up system that I could find.

I still have no return pump :mad: It's coming on Monday, apparently. I got a jebao DC 12000 on its way. Massive overkill but variable speed and useful if you need to stir things up. The last one I had lasted for a good few years.

Still waiting, impatiently, for my wood to sink so I can do more decorating.

[slicksta]

Interesting... I'd like to see the finished filter running when you get to that point
And my Aqueon 150 has a double walled overflow and I would say that the intake from the bottom is definitely a plus.

[Cove Beach]

Something you might consider to keep the wood on the bottom which worked for me. Get some natural slate tiles, mine are 4”square left over from a home improvement project. Use a masonry drill to drill a hole through the tile to accept a marine grade stainless screw. You will need ones that you can counter sink so as not to rest on the glass. Then run the screw up into the driftwood and test to see if you need a second piece. This does 2 things, provides ballast, and stability for tall driftwood.

[slicksta]

Something you might consider to keep the wood on the bottom which worked for me. Get some natural slate tiles, mine are 4”square left over from a home improvement project. Use a masonry drill to drill a hole through the tile to accept a marine grade stainless screw. You will need ones that you can counter sink so as not to rest on the glass. Then run the screw up into the driftwood and test to see if you need a second piece. This does 2 things, provides ballast, and stability for tall driftwood.

I did the same which worked well... The only addition was a dab of silicone over the screw head.
It looks like his wood you can see is mopani, which sinks naturally.
I haven't seen it in big logs though

[Cove Beach]

Mine is Malaysian driftwood, one chunk is close to 30 lbs and still floated lol! It has 2 chunks of slate on it, plus way more stable.

[cooper666]

Thanks folks, I'll post the filter in action once it kicks in. It's a bit "floaty" at the moment.

I'm not sure exactly what types of wood I have as I scavenged them. All I know is that they are some type of hardwood. I actually soaked them to sinking last year, but things changed and they got pulled out of the water and dried out again. I've thought about anchors but I've decided against it. If they are still floating in another month, I'll reconsider.

[cooper666]

Allrighty, I've been feeding my empty aquarium filter about 5g of cat biscuits per day (I didn't have any fish food or ammonia LOL) for quite a while now. My wife commented that she wished the tank had some fish, so I broke out the test kits, its been about a week since last testing. No ammonia, no nitrites = **** yeah!!! time for some critters.

I went to the local LFS, which is tiny but completely awesome, and came home with 30 cardinals (actually 40 by my count) 6 common blue rams and 6 small bristle nose cats. Everything started pecking and searching for food within minutes of entering the tank :) I really wanted some sterbai cory's but the stock was low so I'll wait. Everything has completely disappeared in my tank except for the cardinals, LOL.

[cooper666]

The first lot of fish have been in for about 48 hours and they look excellent. The cardinals have gained heaps of colour and a couple that had mangy fins are recovering well. I've got 2 male rams and 4 females, the two males have paired off and both now have a batch of eggs. I really wasn't expecting them to spawn so quick and I'm very happy to see that they are so pleased with the tank. the bristle noses should enjoy a nice meal of ram eggs during lights out.

[cooper666]

My larges piece of wood sank and its now in the tank, still a few more bits still water logging. Another few weeks before they go in LOL.

I've got the "friends" part of my discus and friends well and truly sorted. The current stock list is as follows

Cardinals - 30-40?
Blue Rams - 6
Sterbai cory's - 15
Bristlenose cats - 6.

I actually wanted less "friends" but when I buy 10 fish from the LFS he puts 15 in the bag. A happy problem.

I'll be looking at getting some discus in a couple of weeks or so.

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[JamesW]

I like the look of your wood mate.

[cooper666]

Big day for the tank today. It's now a discus tank. The guy at the LFS called me because he had "my kind of fish"

He was right, Im in love with my new fish I got 7 I'm not sure what to call them - turqs x ?

They are about 7-8 cm at a guess, the largest is about 10cm. A little smaller than I was planning, but they really appealed to meand there's no reason why I cant put in a bit of extra effort to make them big. They seem healthy and are pigging out on pellets ATM. I dont have the expert eye, But I think the shape, eye size etc is right. Only reason for suspicion is that they are very colourful for their size IMO.

Anyways, Im in love! Hopefully I'll still have them in many years.

124499124500124501124502

[cooper666]

A short video of the fish and MBBR filter. Sorry for the poor pic quality, I've no idea how to make good vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ux0Q8bZh-s&feature=youtu.be

[danotaylor]

If you take the s out of https vids load like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ux0Q8bZh-s&feature=youtu.be

[slicksta]

Really nice set up coop'! I like the use of large stones and driftwood.
But not really digging the blue bottom. I think it distracts from the fish and other decor.
jmho, sorry.

[cooper666]

Thanks danotaylor, that looks much more appealing.

Thank's for the compliment slick. I couldn't agree more about the blue bottom, poor colour choice. It wasn't so bad in the reef tank as it went purple with coraline algae. Anyway, its there to stay for a while yet.

I still have a few more sizeable bits of wood, nearly sunk. I'm going to use them to add some height to the centre of the tank and hopefully get some appealing formations going. I'm also planning on shifting the rocks to the left, and rearrange them a bit too.

I am going to get some more discus, maybe 4 -6 once I'm confident that the filter is handling the new loading

Did some test today, all nitrogen parameters are reading 0, Currently dribbling about 400L of fresh water in the tank every day.

What do your expert eyes think of the fish, do they look about right?

[danotaylor]

No worries mate! I think your hard scape looks good too. Nice chunky cardinals. The discus are decent, and still have plenty of growing to do. With high protein diet and plenty of clean water which you're giving them they should grow out nicely! Just be sure to extract detritus that gets trapped under/around your hard scape so you don't get a high bacterial count down the road. Good work mate, look great!

[cooper666]

Thanks :) I thought the discus looked OK when I purchased them, but I don't have much experience with them so I appreciate your opinion. Now it's up to me to do them justice.

Would you believe that the tank doesn't trap detritus anywhere, I don't siphon it either. My return pump is rated at 14000 Litres per hour and its split into three outlets at the back of the tank, near the surface. They all point downward and into the back wall of the tank, then through the rock work. All of those cory's and bristlenose work the detritus furiously and it ends up being air lifted into the corner overflow (behind the big log) As a result, the water is always a tad chunky, but no worse than seen in the video. It might sound like a raging torrent of a fish tank, but the flow is tight against the glass and the bulk of the water has fairly gentle flow. I have to change the filter sock every day though. Probably a good thing so long as it gets done.

My cardinals aren't chunky enough. The discus slaughter them for about 15 min either side of lights on, I'm not enjoying watching it much, my 4 year old daughter looses her cool big time. I think I'm down to about 25 from maybe 35. There are a few with holes in them too. I'm not sure if they are going to last, I might need a larger schooling fish or more clues about what I'm doing. Anyway, it's a discus tank and if the cardinals end up being food, well so be it.

Thanks for reading and helping

[bluelagoon]

Nice looking set up. I like the one strain look and you can't go wrong with turqs IOM. Looks like a billiant blue turk there as well. I had a difficut time keeping cardinals with discus as well; they see to get ticked off one by one. The rummy nose tetra seems to survive better with discus.

[cooper666]

One of my discus, the greediest one is suffering from a mild swim bladder problem. It has to work to swim down (just a little).

I've chucked it in my sump, away from feed. I hope that a couple of days of the feed might be enough to unblock it. What do you think? Temp is 30C ATM

[bluelagoon]

I would add canned peas to their diet. Spirulina in their diet can also benefit some. I have used epsoms salt for constipation 1-3 teaspoons pre 5 gal. Maybe soak your pettets. Do not over feed.

[JamesW]

You can go as high as 3 tbsp/10 gallons epsom salts for severe constipation. At that concentration you are best off getting into a small tank, that'd be a lot of epsom salt in a 6x2x2. Keep an eye on him, I had a discus get so bloated his side and pectoral fin dried out from being out of water. Took three days with 3 tbsp/10 gallon of epsom salt before he passed the blockage.

[cooper666]

Thanks for the input guys. The fish is swimming nicely this morning. I think Ill give it another 24hr or so before feeding, just to really empty its guts. Then I will follow the suggestions above.

Wow James that fish sounds very gassy, well done treating and recovering it. My fish was nothing like that, just has a slightly head down look to it when it wasn't moving and displayed a bit of a wobble when swimming down. Greedy idiot would not stop eating.

I'm hopeful that this will sort it without meds, but if it continues I will scoot down and grab some epsom salts.

Bluelagoon, I wonder if those spirulina gut loaded BS would have a laxative effect.

[bluelagoon]

A varied diet with some kind of vegtable matter (fibre) will help with fish prone to constipation. You can buy flaked spirulina or if you make you own BH mix you can buy the powder form at a health food store; you can even eat some yourself. I have used the epsom salt before and it woprked like a charm. It purged the discus from both ends. Puking and pooping halibut roe shell casings (egg shells).They were too thick for them to digest. It took just a few hours in that case.

[cooper666]

I've been a discus keeper for about 3 weeks now and I've laughed and cried.

Most excitingly, I left the house for 15 min and returned to find the lounge room flooded, joy. One of the hose fittings in my sump had popped and pumped all of my excess sump water 200-300L at a guess into the aquarium cabinet and into the lounge room. Much to be said for the hose clamps that I didn't have. Luckily the cabinet drained very nicely and hasn't held much water (that I can see). Thank god there's no carpet in my house and I managed to sweep most of it out of the door. The most alarming part was seeing power boards sailing across the fishy water lounge room swamp. Amazingly nothing shorted, bud I did kill (and replace) my air pump. Thankfully, 4 days on the fish still live.

I've learned why big fish are recommended for beginners as I've encountered a few problems, mainly due to overfeeding Australian dried blood worms which gave the fish a few swim bladder problems. Firstly one fish would not deflate its swim bladder, then more recently 2 fish have had trouble inflating their swim bladders, large dimples were visible and the fish were wobbly. I've just purged them with peas, which they love, and the fish are improving control over there buoyancy.

On the bright side, the growth has been phenomenal IMO. Other than one runt, which took a week to get feeding, the others are all now 9 cm plus fish. I didn't realise how much they had grown, until today when I added 3 more 9cm discus and saw that my little fish are now the same size as the new ones, but healthier and meatier. I also picked up a particularly large and ugly male bristle nose catfish. Ill get some pics once everything settles in.

[Mando]

I've been a discus keeper for about 3 weeks now and I've laughed and cried.

Most excitingly, I left the house for 15 min and returned to find the lounge room flooded, joy. One of the hose fittings in my sump had popped and pumped all of my excess sump water 200-300L at a guess into the aquarium cabinet and into the lounge room. Much to be said for the hose clamps that I didn't have. Luckily the cabinet drained very nicely and hasn't held much water (that I can see). Thank god there's no carpet in my house and I managed to sweep most of it out of the door. The most alarming part was seeing power boards sailing across the fishy water lounge room swamp. Amazingly nothing shorted, bud I did kill (and replace) my air pump. Thankfully, 4 days on the fish still live.

I've learned why big fish are recommended for beginners as I've encountered a few problems, mainly due to overfeeding Australian dried blood worms which gave the fish a few swim bladder problems. Firstly one fish would not deflate its swim bladder, then more recently 2 fish have had trouble inflating their swim bladders, large dimples were visible and the fish were wobbly. I've just purged them with peas, which they love, and the fish are improving control over there buoyancy.

On the bright side, the growth has been phenomenal IMO. Other than one runt, which took a week to get feeding, the others are all now 9 cm plus fish. I didn't realise how much they had grown, until today when I added 3 more 9cm discus and saw that my little fish are now the same size as the new ones, but healthier and meatier. I also picked up a particularly large and ugly male bristle nose catfish. Ill get some pics once everything settles in.

If the fish are in fact a little bit wobbly, then you could use epsom salt to help them digest the food. if I remember correctly, I used one tbs for 10 gallons.

[cooper666]

I've redone the scape, and included the last few bits of wood. I've gone with a diagonals thing, with repetition of wood, rocks, wood, rocks etc. I'm a bit pleased with myself this time, its different to anything I've put together in the past :) I also threw in a few anubias, what a difference a touch of green makes IMO. I think the plants will probably perish slowly in this tank as the nutrients are very low. Time will tell.

I can't upload pics, not even small ones?? So I made another short video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2OanSz-3k&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2OanSz-3k&feature=youtu.be

[Mando]

I usually email myself the pics and it resizes it for me. I see you added more discus - BD. I know your tank is brand new but make sure to qt unless it’s from the same supplier. Once your fish are established, qt even if you buy from the same supplier. I like the scape like this a lot better.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2OanSz-3k&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2OanSz-3k&feature=youtu.be



I've redone the scape, and included the last few bits of wood. I've gone with a diagonals thing, with repetition of wood, rocks, wood, rocks etc. I'm a bit pleased with myself this time, its different to anything I've put together in the past :) I also threw in a few anubias, what a difference a touch of green makes IMO. I think the plants will probably perish slowly in this tank as the nutrients are very low. Time will tell.

I can't upload pics, not even small ones?? So I made another short video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2OanSz-3k&feature=youtu.be

[cooper666]

Thanks for the tip, I've stumbled a bit posting pics here but never struggled like this time.

I've been real naughty with QT, in that there is none. I'm playing with fire and I know it. Watch me cry later on.....

[Mando]

Thanks for the tip, I've stumbled a bit posting pics here but never struggled like this time.

I've been real naughty with QT, in that there is none. I'm playing with fire and I know it. Watch me cry later on.....

Technically you're somewhat ok with this scenario since you just purchased all your fish from the same supplier. The fish look happy, healthy, and active so that's a good sign. Hopefully the tetras and other tank mates didn't bring anything with them. I love the blue floor. The tank would also look beautiful with a thin, thin layer of pool sand. Love your scape!

[cooper666]

Thanks for the kind words Mando.

How good would black sand look? I've thought about it. Sensibility has got the better of me regarding substrate, mainly the thought of routinely cleaning it is enough for me to keep the bottom bare. ATM I don't clean the bottom, have not had to and that makes me very happy.

If I was to do it again, I would definitely paint the bottom black. The blue is a bit of a stuff up IMO, though it looks much better with some greenery in the tank and less of the bottom showing.

[Mando]

Thanks for the kind words Mando.

How good would black sand look? I've thought about it. Sensibility has got the better of me regarding substrate, mainly the thought of routinely cleaning it is enough for me to keep the bottom bare. ATM I don't clean the bottom, have not had to and that makes me very happy.

If I was to do it again, I would definitely paint the bottom black. The blue is a bit of a stuff up IMO, though it looks much better with some greenery in the tank and less of the bottom showing.

I would only consider a small layer of sand once they are adults. Black substrate would darken the fish a lot and I’m not sure you’ll like that. You have good flow if your bottom stays clean, just make sure to change the filter sock at least weekly.

I love blue so I love it the way you have it.

[Second Hand Pat]

I would only consider a small layer of sand once they are adults. Black substrate would darken the fish a lot and I’m not sure you’ll like that. You have good flow if your bottom stays clean, just make sure to change the filter sock at least weekly.

Agree with Armando here. Also the discus will want to blend in with dark sand and blue discus will almost look black as a result.
Pat

[cooper666]

Well, there ya go perhaps blue wasn't the worst choice.

Yeah, there's heaps of flow against the glass. I wish I could change the filter every week, it blocks and gets swapped out every day. Its annoying but good for the WQ.

[Mando]

Well, there ya go perhaps blue wasn't the worst choice.

Yeah, there's heaps of flow against the glass. I wish I could change the filter every week, it blocks and gets swapped out every day. Its annoying but good for the WQ.

Can we see a pic of your sump? any chance of fitting two socks?

[cooper666]

There's a very quick look at my sump in the first vid I posted. My sock is 200um mesh, not felt, and I fill it with glass wool. Without the wool It blocks twice a day. TBH I'm quite happy to change the sock frequently, best to remove crud before it feeds micro's and becomes aqueous pollutants. Part of the problem is that my sock is short, I've got another much longer one in the post which should be good for at least 2 days. Either way I'm not phased, the tank is free of rotting material and I don't siphon... happy days. I'm pretty handy and there's nothing stopping me from adding a larger mech filter unit ontop of my sump, but for now I'll see how the bigger sock goes.

Just a quickie, mech filters that get changed once a week must be an awesome breeding ground for all sorts of bad stuff right? not to mention the ammonia that much leach out of the things.

[cooper666]

On another note, a few of my discus are displaying pairing behaviour. They are not that big and I'm worried that it's a sign that the growth might be slowing down. Is it normal for 4 inch fish to start making sexy displays at each other and making gestures at potential spawning sites. Its nothing full on ATM but some fish seem very keen to pair.

[bluelagoon]

They are about 9 months old at 4.5" and some may or may not begin to show spawning stimulation at that age.

[Mando]

They can start breeding at that age. If you're worried about them and their growth, just remove the eggs from the tank if they do lay. They stop eating once they have to start caring for the eggs/fry.

[cooper666]

Cool guys, Sounds like normal behaviour and nothing to worry about.

[cooper666]

Here's a quick vid of the sump and mechanics. I've given up on pics LOL vids are so much easier. BTW the vids are on my wife's account.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJBCecNJ1B0&feature=youtu.be

[cooper666]

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[cooper666]

125109125110

Got photos of all of my fish, I think. I have 12 in there now and I'm done buying fish for this tank, It's stocked IMO.

These fish all came from the LFS, there's no breeders around me that I know of. I like them all and I think they are growing well, although I don't really have the experience to qualify such a statement.

In case you haven't noticed I like blue fish and stripey fish, not much love for solid reds and yellows here.

[Mando]

I love blues as it's my favorite color.

my favorites are the middle bar fish on post #42 pic 1 and 5 and then there's 3# :heart2:

Fish look nice an healthy! show pics of the whole tank :)

[cooper666]

125112

Fish #1 is my fave too.

[cooper666]

I just witnessed some extremely awkward looking discus sex between fish 1 and 5. They now have a clutch of a couple hundred eggs that they don't know what to do with. The commotion got the rams in the mood again, they are spawning as I type. The discus were funny to watch, they both had a go at eating the first few eggs and I'm pretty sure fish 5 was just doing the motions to avoid a beating.

I don't expect anything to come of it but its nice to see two nice fish making use of the driftwood.

[cooper666]

This is strange IMO. Fish 1 (definite female) has ditched fish 5 (male??) as a partner and a different fish has adopted a parental role over the eggs, it appears to be doing a pretty good job. I thought it was eating the clutch but on closer inspection it was just blowing them kisses. It appears that this fish is willing to foster / wet nurse other fishes eggs, at least this batch anyway.

[danotaylor]

Very cool. I had a female that "made the rounds" spawning with a different male every 2nd or 3rd batch...

[cooper666]

Now another female has spawned, fish 9 (female) has paired with fish 4 (sex ?). Fish 4 is the adoptive parent over the last batch of eggs, which disappeared last night. My tank is extremely randy, there's eggs and sperm all over the joint LOL

[Mando]

Now another female has spawned, fish 9 (female) has paired with fish 4 (sex ?). Fish 4 is the adoptive parent over the last batch of eggs, which disappeared last night. My tank is extremely randy, there's eggs and sperm all over the joint LOL

They are happy!

[cooper666]

They are happy but i'm concerned that it's not a great sign. The fish that have laid eggs aren't that big and I'm wondering if producing eggs will strip energy from growth. The fish that laid eggs, one was a problem fish that had lots of swim bladder problems early on. The other was a resent purchase that is a bit small for its age (I think). Perhaps this is another reason to grow out fish in a bare tank, limiting territories and potential spawning sites might drive them to grow rather than breed.

If I ever see wrigglers from the right pair I might consider breeding and growing out some fish in order to get the best examples for my display. I'm a long way off that though.

[Mando]

They are happy but i'm concerned that it's not a great sign. The fish that have laid eggs aren't that big and I'm wondering if producing eggs will strip energy from growth. The fish that laid eggs, one was a problem fish that had lots of swim bladder problems early on. The other was a resent purchase that is a bit small for its age (I think). Perhaps this is another reason to grow out fish in a bare tank, limiting territories and potential spawning sites might drive them to grow rather than breed.

If I ever see wrigglers from the right pair I might consider breeding and growing out some fish in order to get the best examples for my display. I'm a long way off that though.

As long as the eggs are gone by the next day you should be fine. I’m not sure that the energy they use to breed takes away from there growth. I believe what happens is that they stop eating to care for the fry and that’s what slows their growth.

[cooper666]

As long as the eggs are gone by the next day you should be fine. I’m not sure that the energy they use to breed takes away from there growth. I believe what happens is that they stop eating to care for the fry and that’s what slows their growth.

They are not smart enough to look after their eggs full time, they bail during feeds and pig out. My concern is that gamete production, particularly in females, takes lots of energy. Energy that I would rather they turn into meat. Anyway, there's not much use complaining. I love my fish, perfect or not. I'm sure that the spawners will still gain size, but I'm also confident that it will tax the growth some.

about 2 decades ago I owned a couple of discus. I was too smart to care fro them proplerly, knew better lol. They were some of the poorest examples of discus in history and they spawned often. These things looked like bug eyed aliens, shame on me. Learned from the experience, thankfully.

[Mando]

You’re right. Just found this online.

Female Discus tend to stop growing once they begin to ovulate, and egg-laying is quite common as early as eight or nine months of age. As sexual maturity is a function of age, it behooves us to get that fish as large as possible before that point. The larger the female, the large the spawn!

[cooper666]

Some eggs finally hatched and I've got wrigglers in my display. I don't have any particular love for either parent, so I'm going to ignore them. Nice to know that there's a working male in the tank, and my water is suitable for hatching discus with no alterations, except removing the chlorine.

Fun stuff.

[danotaylor]

Sweet mate, that's great. I'm pretty sure Elliot (Pastry) has had parent raise fry in his planted display. Not sure if they made it past fry stage, but it can happen. Fun times!