Planted 125gal Discus Tank, Advice Req

[fishyfishy]

Hello Everyone,
I am about to setup a new planted aquarium and am planning on having a few discus. And was hoping you could give me some advice on my current plans.
The tank is a 125 gallon, "reef ready" (built in dual overflows)

The main filtration for now will be an Eheim 2028, plumbed into one of the overflows.
At a later time a sump may be added. I am coming from a Saltwater/Reef background, so simple sump with a micron sock would be my first choice. But from the feelings I get, might not be the best idea for a planted tank, so I plan to at least start with the Eheim. What do you think?

I am not really sure yet of the plants I want to keep, so I would like to leave my possibilities open. My current lighting plan is a 72" Aqua Medic T5 Ocean light with 8 39Watt HO T5s. Will that be good enough for most plants? Or should I go with more bulbs? Don't really want to deal with the heat from MHs.

I also plan on using RO/DI water, to eliminate any variables that come with our tap water. Are there any recommended additives to add to add to the water. (In comparison to the minerals and pH stabilizers that come in the salt mixes for Reef tanks)

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Tim

[lhforbes12]

Hi Tim,
I also have a 125 gallon RR planted tank. I use a sump without any problems. My lighting is about the same as yours (4 x 96 watt CF) and I can grow any plant that I care to in this tank. It is CO2 injected, but the dissolved CO2 level is fairly low (15-20 ppm). I don't use RO water in this tank and unless your water is VERY hard you don't need to either. If you decide that you must use RO then RO Right by Seachem is what most folks use to raise their salts back up.

[fishyfishy]

Thanks for the info. Your tank is beautiful!

So what exactly does your sump consist of? In the salt world I am used to the Berlin method, where I have a micron sock, followed by a skimmer, some carbon then the return pump. (In addition a refugium, but in this case the whole tank will basicly be a refugium)

In fresh though I know the skimmer isn't of much use. I have read here that carbon isn't the best thing for Discus. ... Not much of a filter left IMO.
Do you use any sort of bio media (bio balls)? A wet/dry type system? If so, any nitrate problems?

I belive our water is pretty hard here, I will have to test it. I was reading a little about RO Right, it's phosphate base is a little scary.
How offten do you do water changes on your tank?

Thanks,
Tim

[lhforbes12]

Hi Tim,
The sump is 25 gallons, there are only bio-balls (well really sintered glass noodles) filter floss, and sponges. Of course the heater is in the sump too, as is the CO2 diffussor (nothing more than an extremely fine airstone). You are correct, we don't normally use activated carbon on discus tanks.
It gets (3) 50% water changes a week, I used to do only one wc but I my fish didn't seem to like this. The tank is fertilized on the off wc days.
Thank you for the compliment.

Larry

[architect1]

beautiful tank. Its amazing. You have a nice ballance of plants and hard scaping.

[Graham]

Larry that is beautiful...what is the substrate or is it just plain black gravel

G

[yeomans]

Beautiful tank.