# Quick and Dirty of my discus tank



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

First









After









Now









That's an E. Kleiner Bar floating at the top if anyone's interested I'm looking to get rid of it.

Best,
Phil

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## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

Sweet, as always!

The photo is a little yellow though!!

You really got the hang of discus very fast by the look of them! :wink: 

Good Job!


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

What ever happened to the concave design you were working on? :? 

Carlos


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Is this the same Discus tank layout you had before ???


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Carlos,

I decided to scrap that design. The plants and wood were really messing with the circulation in the tank and that wreaked havoc with algae problems. Not to mention, keeping it clean was a royal pain. The fish weren't too happy with it either, and with these guys I have to take that into serious consideration. It was nice while it lasted and I got to grow some plants I'd never tried before, but overall I wasn't happy with it and wanted to get back to my natural aquascape roots.


Mike,

I'd kept discus for a while at the various stores I worked at but had never had them at home until September. I've definately caught the bug. As for the picture, there's a pretty extensive layer of duckweed and Phylantus fluitans on the surface which casts a really yellow tint in pics. I didn't feel like fiddling with the camera last night, hence the yellow.  

Jay,

It's the same tank and fish, but a very different design. I've added a few pics to show the differences in the designs.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Phil Edwards said:


> The fish weren't too happy with it either, and with these guys I have to take that into serious consideration


How do you know fish didn't like it ? Where they showing any type of stress ?.

Sorry to say it Phil, but I really enjoyed your initial setup and I think it looked the best out of 3. It could be overexposure in last picture which makes it not as attractive as 1st one though.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Jay,

Yes, the fish were showing stress and were constantly banging against the roots. I like the 1st design the best too and will likely be going back to that some time in the future. Right now I'm trying different things and have never kept a tank with Echinodorus as the main element before. After seeing some friends' tanks with heavy coverage from some large swords I figured I'd give it a try. The design is only two months old now, while the first was a mature 6 months. We'll see how things look in another few months. 

I'm going to be speaking at a discus conference in April and want some decent pics of an aquascape with swords so I'm in no hurry to redo this one right now. We'll see how things look later in the summer when my outside plants have grown up some.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Phil Edwards said:


> I'm going to be speaking at a discus conference in April and want some decent pics of an aquascape with swords


You are going to Singapore w/ Jack Watley :lol:

What conference are you talking about ?


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Phil,

How big is that tank?


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Art, I think this will answer your question: http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/?&op=showcase&category=0&vol=2&id=66...basically it's a 90g. Phil, why not try E.barthii? :wink:


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Jay,

The con is the Southeast Discus Workshop: http://southerndiscusworkshop.freeservers.com/

I'd love to go to Singapore with Wattley, but that won't happen before he dies. 

Raul,

I'm doing this tank as much for the folks on simplydiscus.com as I am for me. Most of them don't care to go to the lengths to get plants like E. barthii. I had easy access to 3 E. bleheri and had a couple E. veronica so I used those instead.

Best,
Phil


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

I am going to be setting up my 75 gallon shortly and want to keep some blue rams in it. At my LFS they have an adult discus that someone returned and hes just sitting in a 30 gallon tank. I would like to maybe stick him in my 75. Can anyone give me some info on water conditions, ph and whatnot, for a discus?


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

As long as your water quality is consistant you can keep domestic discus in just about anything. I know some very successful people that keep their domestics in pH 7.5+ and hard water. Wilds will be a bit more finicky, but even then, once you get them used to it they'll be happy in any water as long as it's consistant. Water Changes 2x/week are usually sufficient for people not trying to grow super huge competition fish. 

If you like that discus go for it! They can be very rewarding. Something to keep in mind, if you ever want to add more, you'll need to add 4 at once. They don't do as well in groups of 4 or less, unless they're alone. The whole schooling and cichlid dominance behavior thing can take its toll on the least of the group. 

Best,
Phil


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

Great! Thanks! I probably wont have to do anything to my water then  He is in a holding tank at the store now all by himself. He looks pretty lonely. They have some young discus in the tank next to him but they are much smaller. I think I will just try the one if I can get my tank set up before he is sold. :lol:


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