gravel

[dave1]

hi i would like to know what is the best gravel or sand to use as a substrate for a discus tank . i am not going to use live plants but i will be using plastic plants instead of live plants. thankyou.:santa:

[goheel]

what size of discus are you keeping? If juveniles, ditch the plastic plants, and go bare-bottomed.

[candyl70]

First off, Welcome to Simply!!

I don't know if you have read this sticky, but it might help you make up your mind about going bare bottom, or adding a substrate. It depends on what you want to do with your discus like breed them, or if you just want to have a nice looking pet.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=35043

hope that helps ya out some!!


Candyhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/8/8_2_99.gif

[dave1]

what size of discus are you keeping? If juveniles, ditch the plastic plants, and go bare-bottomed.
im just setting up at the moment i am not going to breed discus .i am having them as a focus point in the lounge with some cardenal tetras and silvertips.and rams. i dont like live plants as they can bring snails in the tank .and if i go away and get someone in to feed them. there will not be any dead plants left in the tank to rootaway .

[ValorG]

well to be frank, any gravel for freshwater will do with discus. it all depends on the look you are going for.

[Cosmo]

Gravel will complicate your cleaning regimen and make it more difficult to maintain the water quality. That being said, smaller grain gravel will in theory allow less detritus to filter through to the bottom and whould therefore be somewhat easier to vacuum.

Plastic plants tends to collect A LOT of detritus, and you won't see it until the plants are disturbed and all the gunk goes everywhere... yuck..

Better to use stones, driftwood, or ceramic decorations rather than plasitc plants IMO.

Jim

[gators111]

hi i would like to know what is the best gravel or sand to use as a substrate for a discus tank . i am not going to use live plants but i will be using plastic plants instead of live plants. thankyou.:santa:

If you want to go with sand. Go to Home Depot and get their pool filter sand. It is small enough to not let detritus sink down into, and too big to get vacummed up when cleaning.

As far as plants go. Get silk ones, they look better. Also, get ones where just a single stem sticks out of the sand. That way it trap food, and you can just shake the leaves with your vacuum to clean them.