125 gal B-Day Present, Going Discus

[yikesjason]

I have been into aquariums for a few years now and really into planted tanks for the last almost 2 years. But I have always wanted discus but settled for angelfish instead. I have a wife and two little boys, so hobbies don't get top priority. But for my birthday last January, I got $500 from my mom to set up a big tank in our new home. That along with what I already had saved for a nice aquarium I have built up this.



I have even gotten good enough at planted tanks that I could start selling some plants and then used that money to make some more investments and my fish fund, along with my aquarium keeping confidence are finally to the point of venturing out into discus.

So, here we go!

[ChloroPhil]

Woot! Good choice Jason. We shall conquer the planted tank world with images of gorgeous plants and dinner-plate fish!

The tank's looking good too!

[yikesjason]

Tank Stats

Size: 125 gallons
Lighting: 4x54w T5HO
co2: aquariumplants.com best regulator and 5lbs tank
Filter: xp3, looking for another to add
Substrate: soil caped with turface, now adding pool filter sand to brighten it up
Ferts: dry EI dosing

Flora: (abbreviated list)
-blyxa japonica
-blyxa auburtii
-aromatica
-ludwigia brevipes
-oselot sword
-various crypts
-various anubius
-various ferns
-christmas moss
-HM
-hair grass
-downoi
-marsilea quadrifolia

Fauna:
10 juvie wild peruvian angelfish (some of these are leaving to make room for discus)
3 sub adult gold veil angels that I raised from another pair I have (also leaving)
2 blue gouramies (temporary occupants)
2 odessa barbs (very pretty but need to go)
6 congo tetras
5 rummy nose tetras
30+ cardinal tetras
3 SAE
2 albino long finned briselnose plecos
3 standard briselnose plecos
bunch of common oto
few black otos
bunch of chocolate otos
3 zebra loaches (they are on snail duty)
3 bronze cories
6 julii cories
2 german blue rams
and an apparently infinite number of trumpet snails

[dbfzurowski]

Wow!
need i say more?

[cmich]

Beautiful tank. Well done.

Blake

[Scribbles]

Absolutely gorgeous!

Chris

[MikeF]

Nice tank. I am hoping to get into the planted tanks sometime soon also.

[rickztahone]

very nice, i'm surprised you are only running one xp3 however. i am running 2 in my 125 and i still wish i had more filtration. beautiful tank btw, i plan on starting a good partial planted tank soon.

[yikesjason]

very nice, i'm surprised you are only running one xp3 however. i am running 2 in my 125 and i still wish i had more filtration. beautiful tank btw, i plan on starting a good partial planted tank soon.

I am in the process of finding another one.

[yikesjason]

I did end up getting a new canister, a C-360 NIB for $80 on craigslist. I like it a lot. But my tank split at one of the seams on Friday night. It was bad, but not as bad as it might have been. I was able to catch it right away and have my wife hold the seam mostly closed while I bailed out the water and put the fish and plants in big rubbermaid totes.

Saturday I was able to find an odd shaped 90 gal aquarium to replace the 125. I hate losing the 35 gallons, but it was the best I could find on cl in a day. It only cost me $150 and it is in really good shape. The stand needs some touch ups, but he glass it great. The dimensions are kind of weird, but they work. It is 60x14x24h. 4" of depth is a big loss too.

Trying to reuse mineralized soil is messy. The tank is still very cloudy. I have been planting by touch since I couldn't see much. This morning was the first time I could really start to see much. I will try to get some pictures up soon. But this gives me a chance to make the tank a little better for discus. I caped the substrate with sand and still need to paint the background. It will not be black this time. And the added hight and more open scape will give more swimming room.

I had to cash in early on some Christmas/discus money to buy the new tank. I hope I can still get some discus soon. I am disappointed about the whole fish king thing because I was hoping to drive up to their place next month, but that is not going to happen now. Kenny has one heck of a shipment for January though. I will just have to wait and see what santa brings this year.

[DiscusKev]

Amazing planted tank Jason! I really like how the Anubias is growing out of the water haha.

[DonMD]

Beautiful tank, Jason!

Can you explain the dry EI dosing? Since I attended the Aquafest here in Maryland a couple months ago, I got sort of hooked on trying out an aquascape. I've got a 30g tank with co2 ready to go, aquasoil, manzanita and rock, and the plants arrive tomorrow from aquariumplants.com.

They're sending me "beginner" plants (well, I told them no difficult ones) because that's what I am I figured I'd just use Flourish. But I'd like you to explain the dry dosing. Thanks!

[yikesjason]

There are much better comprehensive guides out there about this dosing method. But basically you use dry powder ferts that are very cheap to get, and you dose more than the plants can use so there are never any deficiencies. Then once a week you do a 50% wc to dilute any ferts that are getting too high concentrations. It is referred to as "resetting" your tank. If you want to know more details, just go to plantedtank.net. It is one of the "simplys" of the plant side.

[GrillMaster]

Sorry ta hear about the 125G blow out! I am sure you can silicone it back in shape!

Glad you have the 90G up an running! Wish you all the luck with it!

[Scribbles]

Sorry to hear about the leaky seam, but at least you should be able to repair it. Post pics of the 90 when you get a chance.

Chris