My first post here

[eddie25]

As this is my first post here I thought I would say HI to everyone here first.I have been lurking for a couple of day's now reading and learning alot. I have been in the the "fish" hobby for 25 years now both fresh and marine. The last time I had discus all there was in the hobby were wild discus(telling my age there):D:D. now I have the itch again to keep these beauty's again.

O.K now for the other reason I am posting, I am planning a 72x24x32 235gal discus tank.I would like a little feed back on my planned set up if you would be so kind.

1. 72x24x32 235 gal aquarium and stand made of a 2x6 (after running the numbers I will have well over 1 TON of weight) frame skinned with 3/4 pine.

2.pool filter sand as substrate.

3. This 3-d background. http://www.aquaterra-intl.com/index.html

4. No live plants,no money for lights and co2 for this monster yet maybe later.

5. Canister filter from as of yet undecided. Need you're input here,I was thinking about either Ehime or Rena XP4.

6.Titanium heater's

7. Already have RO/DI I use for the marine aquarium just have to add a couple more Rubbermaid Brute cans for water storage.

8. Several large pieces of driftwood.

9. Lighting will be a 72" flo dual bulb strip, no T5 or MH for now since there will be no plants, just standard wattage.

10. 12 3" discus

11. school of about 25 to 30 cardinals.

12. school of about 25 to 30 rummy nose.

13. school of about 12 bleeding heart tetra's, Always had a thing for these fish.

14. cory cats, as many as needed to keep sand clean of uneaten food.

15. I had no intention of adding algea eaters to this tank after learning the hard way about there love of discus slime years ago but after reading here about BN plecos I think I will give them a shot and add a couple for this tank? or more if feedback warrents.

16. 6 German blue ram's, love these guy's also.

17. 2 Clown loach.

18. A few silk plants for looks and added hide outs.

I have a few more tetra's in mind but not sure as of yet if I will add them.I want to keep this as close to a natural look as I can and at the same time give everybody plenty of room to grow fat and happy.

Well what do you think? Please give you thoughts of this set-up.

Thank's
Eddie

P.S. Forgive me for the long post, I will try to keep um shorter from now on..:D:D

[Valik]

Looks like a pretty good setup. The only thing in their I have had lots of problems with over the years are the clown loaches. It could just be I did not have enough experience back when I tried them, but I have tried a few times to do discus and clown loaches and the end result has pretty much always been ich on the clown loaches spreading to the discus. Also you could probably do a bigger batch of discus in that setup in a 235 if you wanted. I hope you post some pics when you have it done it sounds like it will be a awesome setup. Any idea what types of discus you are planning on getting?

[Ed13]

Welcome to the site.

I've used many Rena's I love them, although I haven't used them recently. I do recommend on doing 2 canisters though. Maybe even adding some more flow, otherwise you'll probably end up with dead spots.

Isn't handling 72" bulbs awkward? Maybe some 3' ones or some Halogen or MH spotlights to give it that natural feel

I like using less number of large fish so I would prob do 12 discus to maybe even less:o I would grow them out in a barebottom tank though. You could always get them large or go for Wilds. 12 Heckels sounds about right:D

More rummys and more cards for me:D Prob more rummys than cards. Just about right with bleeding hearts

25 Cory Sterbai for me

6-10 BN sounds cool.

Yes on the rams, but def no on the loaches

Having said all that I would prob do discus only:D:D:D

[GrillMaster]

Hey eddie..Welcome to "SD"! Looks like an exciting tank ya have in the works!! Ya might want to research your filtration a lil more...I dont think one XP4 will handle that size tank with the fish you wanna put in there. Now 2 XP4's on the other hand would work out great!

Maybe look into a sump? It would be cheaper for ya that way.

Either way it sounds like yer gonna have fun with it! GL, and please keep us updated...:)

[eddie25]

Thanks for the info guy's. I was planning on using 2 canister filters for sure, sorry for the confusion there. I did a little more digging on the light strip and it has 4 36" bulbs in it,still not sure if I want to go that way or use T5 or PC strip instead. 6 to 10 BN? wow was way off on my figuring there. Still not 100% on them, hard to trust any "pleco" after watching my adult pair of wild's be turned into vampire food:mad::mad::mad: Speaking of discus there are so many to chose from I am having a little trouble narrowing it down to 12. I am checking out some sponsor's sites to try and decide.

Anyway I will post some pics of the empty tank when the stand is done and I get out of the hospital after getting the 650lb empty tank up on the stand:( the glass is 5/8's thick with a double bottom,there will not be any bowing causing leaks in this bad boy!! So stay tuned for updates over the next couple weeks.

[eddie25]

O.K it has been a while between posts here put here we go...

I indeed had to go to the doctor with my back shortly after setting up the tank.LOL
long story lots of pain and meds but doing better now,this is the reason why it has been so long.

I have the tank up and running for 4 month's now.

I decided to use a fine dark aquarium gravel instead of sand since there will not be live plants.

No foam background.Found a nice paper background that looks like a wall of flat stone.

3 XP3's.1 full of ceramic rings, other 2 have foam and nitrate remover pouches

3 Rena smart heater's.wondered how this would work out but I got a really good deal on them and so far they work great..

Still soaking some driftwood,conatinors not big enough to fit all the wood at once but have 3 nice pieces in the thank so far.

For the fish so far I have..

50 Cardinal's
24 Rummynose, 24 more to come.
12 Lemmon Tetra's
24 Rasaboras
12 Small green cory's 12 sterb's will be added when discus are
12 Small albino BN
12 Small brown/black BN
4 Longfin German blue Rams
24 Glowlite Tetra's

Waiting for Kenny to get his march shipment in so I cant get some Discus.

Water params average since I started stocking and doing 50% wc with half tap and half RO/DI 2 times a week are

PH 7.38
TEMP 85.4 Both tested with Hanna ph pen
KH 5
GH 3 Both tested with AP test kits
AMMO 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
TDS 210


All fish are growing like weed's,no infections(knock on wood) and only a couple death's that happend during acclimation so I think I am ready now for Kenny to hurry the heck up and get some Discus in...LOL j/k..

Anyway as promised months ago pic's are on the way and please share your thoughts on which strains I should get.


Eddie

[rickztahone]

O.K it has been a while between posts here put here we go...

I indeed had to go to the doctor with my back shortly after setting up the tank.LOL
long story lots of pain and meds but doing better now,this is the reason why it has been so long.

I have the tank up and running for 4 month's now.

I decided to use a fine dark aquarium gravel instead of sand since there will not be live plants.

No foam background.Found a nice paper background that looks like a wall of flat stone.

3 XP3's.1 full of ceramic rings, other 2 have foam and nitrate remover pouches

3 Rena smart heater's.wondered how this would work out but I got a really good deal on them and so far they work great..

Still soaking some driftwood,conatinors not big enough to fit all the wood at once but have 3 nice pieces in the thank so far.

For the fish so far I have..

50 Cardinal's
24 Rummynose, 24 more to come.
12 Lemmon Tetra's
24 Rasaboras
12 Small green cory's 12 sterb's will be added when discus are
12 Small albino BN
12 Small brown/black BN
4 Longfin German blue Rams
24 Glowlite Tetra's

Waiting for Kenny to get his march shipment in so I cant get some Discus.

Water params average since I started stocking and doing 50% wc with half tap and half RO/DI 2 times a week are

PH 7.38
TEMP 85.4 Both tested with Hanna ph pen
KH 5
GH 3 Both tested with AP test kits
AMMO 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
TDS 210


All fish are growing like weed's,no infections(knock on wood) and only a couple death's that happend during acclimation so I think I am ready now for Kenny to hurry the heck up and get some Discus in...LOL j/k..

Anyway as promised months ago pic's are on the way and please share your thoughts on which strains I should get.


Eddie

cant wait to see the pics, sounds great so far. i think i would have got 2 fx5's for such a big tank though. still, cant beat the effectiveness of the xp3 and easy maintinance. i have an xp3 which i love. good luck and i wish i had that many rummy nose

[Patr1ck]

Using dark gravel will keep the discus as well as other fish from showing their best colors. I learned that one the hard way. It will make them want to stay dark as they try to blend in. I would recommend going light on the substrate. Everything else sounds good except I agree with either buying bigger discus or growing out the juvies in a barebottom till they are 5"+. They wont get as big or grow as fast in the big tank without making a huge mess with all of the food they require when juvies.

Pat

[FLGirl1977]

Hi Eddie and welcome!!! That sounds like an awesome tank that you will be setting up! :)

Okay, I just realized that this thread is several months old! lol!

Let's see some pictures! :)

[cmich]

Sounds like a great tank pictures please.

[Yassmeena]

Hi Eddie - your tank sound amazing!!!

Please DO post pictures!

Now I too am excited for Kenny to ship you some discus! lol