My First Planted Tank

[CraigG]

Hi all

This is my first time trying a planted tank. I used to have Discus and a Teacup stringray, about 5 years ago when I was in college living with my parents. Moved out and new place wouldn't let me have my 75 Gallon aquarium.

So I just moved into my new place and here I go again. This time I decided to try Discus again this time with a planted tank.

So any advise or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Aquarium Set up:
Tank: 75 Gallon with built in Overflow
Filter: Sea Life sump system with Rio 2100
Lighting: Coral Life 4-65 watt 6700k
Heater: Azoo Titanium filter
Substrate: Torpedo Beach Sand
pH: 6.5
Temp: 82.5F

Fish
1 Red Pigeon Blood
1 Red Peral
1 Cobalt Blue
1 Blue Turquoise
1 White Diamond
4 German Blue Rams
2 Gold Rams
6 Pristella Tetras
2 Yo Yo Loach

Plants
3 Rotala Macrandra
3 Barteri
1 Anubias Congensis
1 Bleheri Amazon Sword
2 Crypt Endtii
2 Rotala Indica
2 Rotala Nanjenshen
3 Giant Micro Swords

[kenhappen2u]

Thats a nice looking tank you have there .... i like the look of the sand bottom and lots of open space for the fish . you cant go wrong with the blue rams . Nice Job!

[alan j t]

i like your tank its very nice

my next project will be to plant my 75gl discus tank
how long have those plants been in the tank?
but if it was me
i would change the bulbs to be 2 67k bulbs and 2 10k bulbs
just to get brighter light
but thats just me;-)
and seperate the micro swords with some tweezers to get a cool lawn effect

[Crstfr]

looks nice man.. i agree on the lights.. bump them up!..

[CraigG]

Thanks,

It's only been up and running for 48 hours with plants. I will get those 10k bulbs.

[Crstfr]

Thanks,

It's only been up and running for 48 hours with plants. I will get those 10k bulbs.

it will look much brighter, and make a huge difference ...

[alan j t]

any chance you could add a co2 system
and more light+ferts

[CraigG]

any chance you could add a co2 system
and more light+ferts

I have a co2 system my friend gave me. He got rid of his Discus and Plants for salt water coral tank.

Its a Carbo Plus need to order the Carbon bar from Dr Fos. to get it running.

I am using Seachem Flourish Excel which says is a co2 supplement as well as API Leaf Zone and some root ferts.

This is just to get me by until that carbon block comes in.

[Crstfr]

get rid of the carbo plus... its crap.. save money for a real c02 setup.. you'll blow 20$ a pop to replace those bars. depending on the size of the tank and how high you'll need to crank the carbo plus, they could be running out in like 3mths... i had one on a 29gal~.. thats when i was just getting started in planted tanks.. .. if i would of known.... ..save your money dude!.... i've also had plants without c02.. trial and error.. see what works with your setup...then start upgrading~

[CraigG]

Here is my new setup.

Instead of reposting the pictures them I will post the link to the other thread in the forums.

I removed some plants and added some new ones. Got rid of the rocks and added another piece of driftwood. I also changed the bulbs I have 2 6700k's and 2 10000k's.

I have the 6700k's on from 8am-7:30pm
I have the 10000k's on from 11:30am-3:30pm

I dose making sure not to overdose anything with all the Flourish products and use root tabs under the root feeders.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=67171

[calihawker]

Your tank looks awesome man. Great looking discus too. Good job!


Steve