New 90 Gal Setup - Opinions

[grandrapids9]

Hi, I am setting up a new 90- gal and transferring my 5 Super Red Turks (Bill Deems), they are currently 3 inch, and need opinions to my proposed setup.

The tank is a 90 gal all glass, it came with a dark background, and I am going to use a white sand bottom. I would like to use white beach sand same as in salt tanks, regular sand has to many problems with it in Michigan, it will produce the greenest algae bloom you will ever see. The tank will be heavily planted towards the back and and small cover grass else where, A driftwood piece or two will be added (gave my best ones to my son). The tank will have an Eheim 2236 canister for biological and a Auqaclear 110 for mechanical.

For fish, the 5 discus, a couple of ground cleaners and I would like to add 5 more discuss, will 10 be two much or should I go to 120 gal. I use to have a 180 gal reef loaded with corals and virtually no fish.

My questions, is will the dark background be much of a problem and will using white Caribbean beach sand (not live sand), be good. Also, should I get a 120 tank and have a light colored background if I want 10 fish. This is not going to be a community tank, strictly a planted discuss tank.

[smsimcik]

To answer your specific questions. I don't think the dark background would be a big problem with your turks. It's more of a problem with pigeon-base fish peppering up. Most people using sand as a substrate in discus tanks use pool filter sand. It costs a fraction of what you would pay for the Carribean sand and looks just as good. You can buy it at any pool supply store. And yes you'll probably need a 120 gallon tank for 10 adult discus.

By the way, I've also ordered discus from Bill Deem in the past and have always been very happy with them.

[Autumn Wind]

I agree the background color won't effect the turks much, in fact I think they would look nice in the set up you describe. I use silica sand I found at Home Depot it was like $8 for a 100lb bag. Be careful that the sand you use doesn't alter the water pH.
I think you would be fine with 10 in a 90 gal as long as you keep up with water changes, a 120 gallon would be a little less mait.
I would recommend clowns or one of the other loaches for you planted tank, they are good at cleaning up excess food from between the grasses and controlling snails.

[Eyecandy]

Hi there.
If you really want 10 in a planted tank,then I would go bigger than 90 gallon. In a 90 I would stick with maybe 7 or 8. It all depends on the aquascaping and your maintenance schedule.
For background as the previous poster said it depends on the type discus. A dark background will accentuate the peppering. I used the blue insulation sheets you can find at Home depot etc as the background on my 120 gallon and the fish looked great and it helped keep the heat in and was cheap.
I also used the pool filter sand. I love it, the fish love it and it was cheap. You can get it at Ace or pool supply stores.
As a side note..IMO You might want to wait til the discus are a bit larger before putting them in a planted tank. It's just less hassel with all the feedings/ water changes/cleaning if you go more bare bottom. That said I have put 4 inch ones in planted tanks and they did fine just maybe didn't grow as large as they could have.. To each his own. Good luck with your tank. HTH Sue:D:D

[Autumn Wind]

As a side note..IMO You might want to wait til the discus are a bit larger before putting them in a planted tank. It's just less hassel with all the feedings/ water changes/cleaning if you go more bare bottom. That said I have put 4 inch ones in planted tanks and they did fine just maybe didn't grow as large as they could have.. To each his own. Good luck with your tank. HTH Sue:D:D

Funny I was just comming back to add the same thing! ;) I added my juvies to my planted tank when the smallest reached 4".