Raiden's 150g Discus tank (eventually planted :) )

[raidendex]

My 1st Discus tank from many years ago :) (not the latest since, but most documented hehe)
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?89473-Discus-tank-120g-Day-1

Took a long break from aquarium hobby after moving, but finally starting to get some things ready to set up a tank again. I've had several 120g/180g reef and discus/planted tanks before, so hopefully I remember a few things :D

This time I landed on a 150g tank, I would go bigger, but the only spot that would work is not really wide enough to accommodate much past 5 feet, so 150 will have to do.

I don't have much past plans for now, although most things have been purchased. Just waiting on the tank to arrive to I can start building the stand.

In the mean time I thought I'd share plans for any critique and possible adjustments in response before I put it all together.

[raidendex]

Quarantine / Water top off station:
https://i.postimg.cc/rFZq2ZNK/20220415-114407.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/yxQCBW9w/20220415-114424.jpg

55g drum is fed cold water from a near by water line going to the water heater. Inside is a float valve that stops barrel from overfilling, however I do not plan to keep water supply on all the time and just turn in one once a week or so to top off the top off :D That way I'm not testing that float valve all the time with fairly high water pressure.

From there 1/4" RO tubing will be ran through the attic to the sump, where it will connect to same type float valve. This system is simply gravity fed, that's why the 55g barrel is on a top shelf :) Water pressure here is not too high, so float valve can easily handle it 24/7.

Below the drum is a shelf for quarantine tanks. Two 20g long aquarium with HOB filters. Mainly running them right now to get a start of some bacteria culture on few sponges. For filters I used SeaChem Tidal 55. Not sure how these are rated for 55g, seem fairly weak even in 20g lol, but should be good there. I do have plenty of Poret foam to fit inside them or around intakes if become needed, say for a breeding tank, if I decide to do that down the line once or twice. Aside from that each tank has 150w heater, although being in garage they would not be needed most of the time in Florida. I would more likely need to throw ice cubes in there hehe. Fan on the side might help as well a bit. Light are nothing special, just two flood bulbs, type I used before to grow algae in refugium in reef tanks, so in case I want to keep some plants in there for a bit, they will have something to use. As for the controller there is a smart power strip from Kasa, that just has timers going for lights and the fan and Coralvue Hydros XS with its 4 outlet power strip to control filters, measure temps, and control heaters based on that. I set up 79 to 82 band in the controller for when to keep heaters on and both heaters are set to around 80 degrees for now. That way power strip is not clicking all the time as heaters just hover around 80, but when temp go above 82, they are cut off, be that from just garage temps or heater getting stuck on.

And under all that just some storage area for various aquarium related things.

[raidendex]

Sump:
https://i.postimg.cc/vHJSnWQ0/20220415-114321.jpg

For sump I will be using 75g tank.

First stage will be a large filter sock catching overflow from main tank (to be changed at rate to be discovered later :) ).

Second stage water goes through eight 2" 45ppi Poret foam blocks for further mechanical and biological filtration. Having multiple of 2" allows me to easily pull first one out for a rinse, while other 7 still keeping up filter wall. Rinsed one then goes into the back of the queue and all are pushed about 2" towards the filter sock area. Again, how often things will need to be rinsed will be determined once tank is up and running, but I imagine at least once a week I will swap filter sock and rinse first foam block.

Final stage has more Poret foam, but this time just cut up pieces floating around, I will probably have a power head in this chamber to move them around a bit. Along foam cubes, this chamber will also house two 300 watt heaters and eventually CO2 reactor - a simple chamber with two tubes out of it, intake will have a small pump along a line from CO2 tank, water along with CO2 will go inside of the chamber and CO2 will sit at the top with outtake being at the bottom, this way CO2 will not leave until all of it is dissolved into the water column. Again CO2 will be done at a later stage after discus grow out period and when the tank is planted and needs it.

Reason for only foam instead of other bio media. I feel that it provides plenty of surface area for bacteria, while being easy to rinse and run water through. Hard bio media in few cases may have more surface area, but I find it hard to believe that much water flow is forced through the center or those blocks, unlike Poret foam.

Most of the controller equipment will be housed in and around the sump. Again I will be using Coralvue Hydros X4 and X2, maybe more as I move along. For heater I have another level of control aside from their internal thermostat and Hydros, in between will be Ranco temperature sensor. Here heater will be set fairly high (85-86), Ranco will turn them on to keep water around 84, and Hydros will shut all of it down at 86 or something like that. Aside from that Hydros will control pumps, power headers, CO2, lights, feeder, button press temporary shut down of things for water change etc.

[raidendex]

Stand:
https://i.postimg.cc/L6xjKSWL/Screenshot-2022-04-15-114849.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/cCmwJGLq/Screenshot-2022-04-15-114954.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/3rCg1mCL/Screenshot-2022-04-15-115026.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/gkz3TjgG/Screenshot-2022-04-15-115126.jpg

Colors are mostly there to identify different types of wood or uses, not representative of actual color :)

Fairly basic 2x4 stand with 3/4" plywood. Top braces will be out of 2x8 for extra support over the 5' span instead of 2x4. Everything screwed and glued together, aside from small side access door and fully removable front door.

Both doors will be attached through power of magic, also known as magnets. Front door will also have safety latch on the side. Both doors will also have some catches attached on the inside to properly line them up with the openings, as magnet alone would allow for some sideways movement.

Side door has some slits to allow for air to escape from the stand. On the opposite side a 200mm fan will bring fresh air in (it's a PC fan, but can also be easily driven from any USB socket such as phone charger). Fan will keep positive pressure inside, so air will escape from any crash, primarily through the slits in the side door. This will hopefully be enough to keep moisture build up in an otherwise fairly sealed stand.

I have some pond epoxy, I will treat at least the bottom area of the stand with it, to create a water tight pan for any spills. Rest will likely be just coated with polyurethane, same as the outside. Outside will also be first stained, if I do not feel too lazy I will stain inside as well :)

Will try to match stand stain to the near by table, which is just naturally that color, so not sure how successful I will be lol. I believe I made that out of padauk hardwood.
https://i.postimg.cc/gjd3d2dq/20220415-114328.jpg


On top of the stand will go a yoga mat as a padding under the main tank since it will be all glass with no plastic rims to protect it from random grain of sand etc. putting pressure, this is not really to "fix" an uneven stand :)

[raidendex]

Tank:
https://i.postimg.cc/cJks09SD/Screenshot-2022-04-15-120818.jpg

150g glass tank with center overflow. In my case it would be better for a right corner one, but that was not a stock configuration, so will work with it :) Two of the three holes will be used for the overflow - one at full(ish) siphon with durso cap and second likely mostly dry as a backup. Third hole will be a return line from Sicce 3.5 pump - I'm not sure yet if this will be enough flow, but will test it once I get things together, if I do not like it I will scale up to 5.0 version of the same pump.

I also have two Tunze powerheads, these will either go into the tank (maybe just for the grow out period) or sump into the foam cube chamber. Will see how return flow etc. will work first to decide. I might also get a gyre type powerhead for this tank that works with Coralvue Hydros controllers. These create a very nice non turbulent flow and might be a good way to create gentle water movement for discus and plants in the future.

[raidendex]

Hood/Lights:

https://i.postimg.cc/7hHrpdst/20220415-121051.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/zD7rnDvs/20220415-121144.jpg

Mostly made out of plywood with some railings to attach and fully remove front door on it for easy access.

Light will be attached to its own railing out of 2z2 that will fit inside of the hood. Lights are fairly large Chilled Logic pucks from RapidLED, not sure what version they are, currently i see they sell V4, mine are from 2019, but they produce good balanced light and can be quite bright. I have total of 8 pucks with 2 power supplies, however I plan to just run 4 driven by single power supply, imagine this should way more light than anything in the tank might ever need. They can also be dimmed. Currently this is wired to a manual dial, but I should be able to connect that to Hydros for control as well, to simulate sunrise/sundown etc. not that it's needed :) but it's fun lol.

Same as in the stand, another 200mm fan will move some air across light's heat sinks and power supply.

Finally through a slit in from of the hood a screen will be inserted that will rest on the top of the tank. This is made out of aluminum window screen channels and some 1/4" transparent mesh. Definitely will be enough to keep any crazy discus at bay, but mostly for whatever other smaller tank mates I may choose down the road.

[raidendex]

Decorations:
https://i.postimg.cc/cC0tP1Nq/20220415-122428.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/jd8nkrg9/20220415-122446.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/fRJtGg1b/20220415-122502.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/VLsbRNRn/20220415-122522.jpg

So far I have ordered a 3D background to cover the back wall of the tank. Never used anything like that, but they look nice in photos and videos that I have seen. Aside from that I have 3 large manzanita branches (currently soaking them, so they do not float once I'm ready to put them in the tank) and several ohko stones (not sure if these will mesh well with background and manzanita, but that's the plan for now). For substrate I will probably just use black diamond blasting sand.

Now, manzanita branches will go in right away, probably background as well, unless I notice it causes debris build up. Rock I will likely not put in during grow out period and sand will definitely not go in during that time as well. Aside from rocks being fairly open with holes and would need some sort of substrate to place them in the tank, so this is why they will be held back for several months.

https://i.postimg.cc/2yGLYpz1/Screenshot-2022-04-15-122230.jpg

[raidendex]

Timeline:

Hopefully tank makes it here in one piece, I will then be able to build the stand and hood. At which point I will set up empty system. This will be empty at least until mid May. Once it looks mature enough to me, I will be ordering an amount.... of 2.5" discus from Hans. I have grown them from that size twice before. I'm not sure if I want 10 or 20 yet, but likely will get just 10 as 20 I think would look way too crowded in this tank. I might at same time get some bushy nose plecos, corys , but those will go for 6 weeks into the quarantine tanks.

After about 6 months, I will probably bring in black sand and rocks and start working on planting and CO2, ferts, etc. I've done this before, but for the life of me I do not recall how I put in sand into a tank with discus already... I'm guessing they will be in a brute can for a bit while I do that lol. But all that is after they grow to a decent amount, which I will give at least 6 months, perhaps more. I would probably want them to be around 5-6" in size before moving to planted tank.

Food wise I will auto feed sera discus staple and hikari vibra bites along with treats of DIY beef heart. I might adjust dry foods based on how they go, but for now those are the plan as I can get them in large amounts from amazon ... I was surprised at a size of 9lbs bucket of Sera food lol, it's comically big for fish food container :D

[raidendex]

Few updates on the setup process. Tank finally arrived last Wednesday, so I was able to start building the stand in my spare time :)

Tank just sitting waiting for the stand now.
https://i.postimg.cc/g2mPbkH4/20220508-102801.jpg

Few pictures on the stand. I put pond epoxy on the inside bottom to hopefully make something water proof that could hold any potential spills. Things are mostly assembled now. Stain is applied on what's been made and needs it and working through coats on polyurethane now.

https://i.postimg.cc/zvK449L9/20220508-102948.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/1zYxF0hY/20220508-103012.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/j5GGgsjH/20220508-103026.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/zG7YzZdN/20220508-103040.jpg

[raidendex]

Aside from tank and stand added another layer of coarser poret foam, now my sump is mostly foam lol. Also put together a filter sock holder out of PVC.

https://i.postimg.cc/50HhSHf9/20220508-102835.jpg

And made a hole int he wall to the outside :) This will be used as a drain during water changes.

https://i.postimg.cc/HLLDjZKy/20220508-102857.jpg

[mleibowi]

Amazing. Love to see it all set up and stages of building it

[raidendex]

At this point I have put most things together and tank is up and running. Only thing I yet to add is an air pump with stone in the display that would turn on during power outage while everything else is shut off. Things like CO2 and ferts dosing is partly there, but co2 is not actually connected and only dosing tiny amount of ferts for the time amount of plants I added lol.

Will be ordering discus in a week or two 😁


https://i.postimg.cc/J43YR5Cb/20220610-074014.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/dVqH3ZJg/20220610-074035.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/JzPTk7n0/20220610-074113.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/43yWbC75/20220610-074154.jpg

[mleibowi]

wow- I wish I were handy.

[raidendex]

Just got the discus order in :) I went with 2 10 packs at 2.5 inch. Looks like there are no doubles at all and one extra was sent. Thanks Hans!

Alenquer
Blue Diamond
Brilliant
Checkedboard
Cobalt
Dark Angel
German Wonder
Leopard
Marlboro
Pigeon Blood
Pigeon Red
Pigeon Silver
Pigeon Snake Skin
Red Leopard
Red Scribbled
Red Turquoise
Snake Skin Blue
Snake Skin Red
Snake Skin X Flachen
Stendker Tefe
White Leopard

Tank is dark for now, so can't really take a good picture, but here is something :D

https://i.postimg.cc/GhNYLJKf/20220621-114451.jpg

[farebox]

Okay okay now, good luck with the group. You didn't go wrong getting Hans fish at all my friend. Please keep us all updated on your tank!

[raidendex]

Thanks! Yeah this is my 3rd time buying from him, so no reason to change :D

[raidendex]

Quick group shot with light on. Was trying to grab a picture of each individually, will have to go through and see if I got them all, they love to move around, so I'm sure I got some 10 times, while some none lol. Will try to get a growth chart going for each :D


https://i.postimg.cc/QxLNj0KC/IMG-3214.png

[raidendex]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPG0IL_AyFg

[raidendex]

Not likely correctly matched to names, will deal with that later as they grow and become more obvious. But at least I got all the mugshots done lol. Some of them look so similar, was hard to sort pictures :D

133247

133248

133249

[Iminit]

Just to hard to guess with Hans discus at this age. What you think is a cobalt was my flachen ss. What you think is a dark angel I bought as a silver pigeon133260133261.

[raidendex]

I have recently noticed that some of the fish have not picked up on pellets being a food source and of course that perfectly correlates to their size. There seem to be about 50% split on which eat anything versus beef heart only which I only give once a day. Somehow until some of them started getting a lot bigger I never noticed that some do not eat them at all. Initially when I fed them pellets it looked like all went for them, granted to makes sure with 20 of them. But obviously a number has slipped through. So I am trying to get on them eating a bit more now, but imagine they will never catch up to their bigger mates.

Also had an issue with one a few weeks ago. Started sitting in one spot staring at a wall, became a bit pale. I tried doing general cure etc. on it, but it did not recover and never ate. As a precaution I treated whole tank afterwards with wormer plus, then general cure, and also few days of polyguard. I did not see anything come out in the tank, but hopefully if there was something there this clear it up.

Snapped a few random pictures of the progress.

https://i.postimg.cc/WzmDPDs2/IMG-3370.png

https://i.postimg.cc/KjbzQZBC/IMG-3371.png

https://i.postimg.cc/Kj5YHd5j/IMG-3372.png

https://i.postimg.cc/hPpjbRj3/IMG-3377.png

https://i.postimg.cc/RC1qhHzm/IMG-3380.png

https://i.postimg.cc/PrtJw5tw/IMG-3386.png

https://i.postimg.cc/HxXnQJcQ/IMG-3393.png

https://i.postimg.cc/25qVS9C9/IMG-3394.png

https://i.postimg.cc/s2ZgrBJt/IMG-3400.png

https://i.postimg.cc/GtbLGX1C/IMG-3403.png

https://i.postimg.cc/ZK7bvP7G/IMG-3405.png

https://i.postimg.cc/QdFXQBvH/IMG-3406.png

https://i.postimg.cc/rFFypZJG/IMG-3408.png

https://i.postimg.cc/gcKkmbvk/IMG-3409.png

https://i.postimg.cc/rsyTKzSy/IMG-3425.png

https://i.postimg.cc/HnSg5H2w/IMG-3426.png

[raidendex]

Also one of the bigger fish decided to pick a spot it likes to sit in and annoys anyone coming near the area, I'm guessing it will try to spawn there eventually if someone decided to becomes friends with it lol. It's a spot where a lot of pellets end up, so I guess it makes sense to hang around there :)

[jwcarlson]

Two of the ten I got from Hans didn't eat for a long time. One of them eventually died fairly recently after 4ish months. It would sometimes peck at some food. The other finally turned it around after 12 days of metro. They would approach food and bite it, but would just sift/spit most of it out. Didn't notice for about 1.5 months or so when, like you, I started to notice a very marked size difference. The one that turned it around eats really well and he's catching up with some of the smaller ones in the batch and might be approaching the size of the smaller couple.

Good luck with yours!

[GeauxDiscus]

WOW Michael, you really put an ENORMOUS amount of time, energy, and care into the setup of your main tank, quarantine, and staging systems. That's really super impressive, and it looks FANTASTIC! How often are you able to do water changes on that big 150-gallon?

[raidendex]

Depending on how much I feed. Normally I donit weekly, but for past few weeks twice a week. I have pretty simple system for it, so it's not too much work =) Drop pvc pipe in, start siphon, connect to the drain in the wall next to the tank that goes to front yard. This drains to a preset level, so no need to monitor much. Once done disconnect drain hose and attach tap water one from a sink 50 feet away and add some Safe. This part I do have to monitor as it will not stop lol, but sump can handle a bit of extra water, so I could miss it by a bit.