Bouncing some ideas...

[MOdiscus]

I'd like some feedback on the 75g setup I'm planning... so here goes...

Overall: A heavily planted 75g, with a driftwood stump+root wad that's been in my other tank for months, plus a solid stand of driftwood, heavily planted with echinodoras, java fern, barteri, and vallisnaria, and mosses. A couple rhizome plants tied to the wood, carpet of grasses and mosses, most other plants in the back, staggered for good effect. Tank will be low-tech.

Substrate: Fine black-colored gravel (designed for planted use), almost sand consistency

Filtration: I plan on a sump with a refugium... approximately 30g, with several layers of mechanical filtrates, then bio-balls. The refugium portion would contain a few mangroves growing up out of it in a bed of gravel, more moss, and cherry shrimp+maybe an amano to keep the moss from getting gunked up. I'm also considering the possibility of a protein skimmer to use as an ozone reaction chamber, which, in that case, would be followed by activated carbon to remove remaining O3 in the water.

WC's: I have an RO unit, most water changes would come directly from that, maybe a bit of fert added to replace nutrients for plants as needed.

Wildlife: 6-7 discus, 2-4 GBR's, 6 ottos (I know about the risks, I'll watch for slime-eaters), malaysian trumpet snails to aerate the aquarium gravel and consume leftover detritus, cherry shrimp, a few amano shrimp (with 'safe spots' in the densely planted background), 2-3 cory's, and 1-2 bn pleco's, and a school of tetras

Any obvious problems pop out at you?
Thanks for looking, guys(and gals!)

[TURQ64]

Yep, most everything, IMO!...I've been nursing Mangrove a lot; fuggetaboudit...just to prove I'm not very condescending, I recommend tossing it all and learn to raise healthy Discus BB first..As to the post, the Discus seem to be the least concern, and I'm all about Discus....six or seven Discus in that already crowded, heavily stacked against the odd's idea will suffer..JMO...you asked..Gary

[brewmaster15]

What kind of maintenance do you see yourself doing? percent water changes and frequency etc...also on the substrate, what kind of maintence ...do you plan on disturbing it? How deep will it be? Also what kinds of food do you plan on feeding?

Will you be going with Adult Discus in this tank or juvies?

6-7 adults in your tank as described may be overload....especially if you are looking for a more "natural" look..I use that word loosely though as its really not what they would be found in.It also poses a potential bioload issue.

Whats your experience level with Discus so far and how about planted tanks?


-al

[MOdiscus]

I'll be doing water changes a LOT, looking at about 30% every two days or so. Also, with a planted aquarium, I'll be starting with around 4-5" rather than treating this as a grow-out tank. I'm all about the experience of growing them out, but I'd rather not deal with their eating habits and sensitivity in a planted aquarium.
I've not kept discus before, but I've had planted aquariums for a long time, and some fairly sensitive fish. I am confident that I can keep my water parameters well within discus' tolerance, particularly with the RO water.
I also neglected to add that my sump is a planned 55g, so that'll add a LOT of stability and bioload capacity to my tank. I know that it still might 'feel' a bit more crowded, but the tank should be able to support the fish, I think... any thoughts regarding that? I am flexible on the number of discus, and the number of schooling fish if necessary.

Substrate-
I'll be minimally disturbing it. In particular, I'm planning on a densely, densely planted root system to aerate, combined with the trumpet snails(burrow and also aerate) and shrimp+cory to consume the detritus. Of course, if I get into the cycling stage (I plan on having the tank set up for at least 4 months, probably 6 before adding discus and the gbr's), and find that the nitrates and phosphates are too high without cleaning the substrate with every wc, I'll change that. I'm looking at around an 1 3/4" - 2" in the front, sloping up to 3" - 3 1/2" im the back.

Food-
I'm looking at the standard high-quality flake foods as my main staple, and frozen brine shrimp, larvae, etc, interspersed... with minimal beef heart, as I understand that's messy stuff.

Question-
Has anyone else used ozone in freshwater to reduce tds? I've done it in salt with serious success, but it seems like possible overkill in fw... I'd like to hear from anyone who has.

So, what's up with the mangroves that you don't like? I like the idea of using them and a few other flowering plants to eventually go in the display tank to "Bring the tank into the whole room" so to speak by flowing over the top, flowering, etc.