Just getting started with Discus

[Parrothead]

Hello all,

After spending the last few years in the reef hobby, I needed to take a break from it, and sold off most of my saltwater stuff, was planning africians till I made the mistake of taking the wife with me to a new lfs, newbie mistake, I know(blush) , she feel in love with the Discus, which just for the record has always been a favorite of mine, just always had the tanks going in a diff. direction, so here I am, willing to learn, read, study, accept criticism etc, here is a list of what I starting with. Help and recommendations are welcome

Standard 55
48" T-5 HO fixture, factory bulbs, 2 - 10K, 2 Actinics
2 Emperor 400 HOT

Currently have a sandbed approx. 2 - 2.5 inches in depth, which leads to my first question, which is better, flourite or sand, I am planning some plants, not a heavily planted tank, but not sparse either??? Which should I use?????

The sand is half bagged "live" aragonite, and Half gulf of mexico(once true live sand) I know I will have to rake all the shell matter and stuff out of it to keep the pH down. But if sand is best, would this combo work???

Look forward to the advice, crit. :), and direction from the more knowledgable

Thank You
Robert

[SpyderSpy6]

Good choice by your wife with the discus fish. I think they are the best freshwater fish you can have in my opinion.

A couple quick questions...

1. How big is the tank?

2. How many discus are you thinking about getting, and is it a species only or mix of fish?

To answer your question about the sand... I don't think you can use it. Even if you rake the shell pieces out the substrate, the aragonite is still going to buffer the water to a high pH. Which will be a constant battle for you having discus fish.

For a planted tank with discus I would recommend planting as much as you can and also consider lilly type plants because they enjoy the shade. Couple suggestions on the substrate...

I would use a combination of substrate if you are going to do a planted tank. This seems like a lot of work upfront but it is not much and it will pay off big time in terms of having to supplement the plants. I use a combination of flourite, Scott's unfertilized organic potting soil (Home Depot/Lowes), and sand that has no scilicates in it. I rinse all the substrate and pull the big chunks of crap out of the soil and then I layer it in the tank. I do 1/2 inch of flourite on the entire bottom, 3/4 inch of soil, 1/4 inch of sand, and then top it off with about an inch of flourite. I supplement my plants fairly religiously, but I have never seen better growth in my plants since I changed to this substrate.

I would also change out your actinic lights to 6,700K's... reason being is that the actinic light provides no benefit to plants.

You can look at my blog site that is posted in my signature. I put it together as a collection of info on discus for my friends getting in to the hobby. You can sort through the post headers on the side bar. It's nothing formal by any means but has a good amount of beginner info. It also has a picture of my aquarium. The most recent posts are pictures with the substrate I just explained.

I enjoy helping with the setup and feel free to contact via PM if you have any questions! Goodluck

[Cliff]

I would also change out your actinic lights to 6,700K's... reason being is that the actinic light provides no benefit to plants.


Just add some more to the above recommedation, I do beleave that using the actinic lights, which is really meant for salt water tanks, can lead to a lot more algae growth in a freash water tank. I have never tried it before, but I found a lot of info that suggested this will happen.

[WhiteDevil]

55 is a smaller tank for discus, as they can get over 6" in diameter and they are a schooling cichlid.

Maybe 2 in that 55 will work but then that detracts from the beauty of the natural behaviors and schooling of the discus.


that sand id rinse really really well and pretty much sift it of anything. Instead of flourite you should try eco-complete it makes the discus pop better then the multi colored red/brown/black of flourite.

they need soft acidic water, I keep mine at 6.4ph Gh and Kh must be kept under 6 drops per the test not ppm.
Lighting, id use nothing but 6700k or 6500k bulbs nothing more nothing less.
Sand is a natural substrate for the discus as most the amazon is a sandbed.
I dont use it because of the anarobic problem it can cause if its too deep.

Id go with eco-complete especially if you are using plants. I hear that watermelon pink is a great background color for discus as well.

I got a 210g(6x2x2.5 all in sae feet) that has 20 discus in it now.
Here is a new video I did saturday night.

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