# Filter/lights for 150 gal discus tank?



## CatG

Hello,
I am thinking about setting up my 150 gal tall tank for discus, and was wondering what type of filter to get.

I want something that is going to do a great job filtering the water (oversized for that tank might be a good thing), is easy to get the lid off for cleaning (unlike my Fluval 304 which is very hard to break the suction), and is very easy to prime. I may also need to have an adjustable outflow, since it appears that discus don't like currents.

I came across the Eheim 2075 Ultra G160 that looked decent, but I really don't know much about filters, or what other options might be available. Would this one be ok? Is there a cheaper one that might work just as well and meet the above criteria?

Also, I am not sure what type of lights to get. My tank is 48" side to side, 31" top to bottom, and 24" front to back. I want to make sure I can get at least 2.5 wpg of light down to the bottom, but being able to get 4wpg would be really nice (if I can afford it).

Thanks! I appreciate any advice you can give.
Cat


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## CatG

One more thing I forgot about the filter - My Fluval has the "aqua stop" feature, which I like ALOT. I would like the filter for my 150 to have a similar feature so I don't have to prime it every time I do a water change.

Cat


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## niko

Cat,

You should use the Search function on this site. You will find answers already there.

In a nutshell:

*Filtration:*
Any filter that does not provide biological media in the amount of 10% of your tank volume is inferior. For your tank that means 15 gallon volume of the filter. You will not find such a canister on the market. If you use a sump that's a different deal.

If you can afford 2 or 3 big canisters then by any means do it. Once again - the idea is to provide enough biomedia. Especially with discus you really need to make sure Nature is helping you clean your tank. That does not mean sponge pads, activated carbon, or resins.

The flow in your tank has to do with filtration. Your flow rate need to be 8-10X the volume of your tank. Meaning you need a pump that moves 1500 gal. of water per hour. And that's actual flow rate. It drops severely if the pump is under the tank (like in a canister filter). An Eheim that says on the box that moves 300 gal/hr actually delivers barely 150 four feet above itself. Keep that in mind.

Discus like open spaces + a place to hide. That way they do not get territorial, crazy, and shy. Basically you want an open foreground and plants in the back. Best example of this - here:









And maybe this one too:









Both images are of tanks setup by the best American aquarium design company - Aquarium Design Group from Houston, Texas. If you ignore what you see on these pictures you will be doing something that has proven imperfect a long time ago. Copy those guys' general ideas. Such an open space setup is also ideal for a good flow throughout the tank. Place your outtake by the front glass shooting along the length of the tank. Simple.

*Lights:*
With discus your tank will constantly be on the verge of getting dirty enough to develop algae. Especially if you decide that the above information about filtration is stupid. Strong light does NOT cause algae by itself. My point is - be careful with the light because in a large discus tank things can get ugly quickly and on a large scale too.

Best light bulbs: The bulbs need to be Giesemann Midday 6000 Kelving T5HO. These bulbs make the greens of the plants really pop up. At the same time all reds become very intense too. You will not find bulbs that are better for plant growth + overall crisp look of the tank.

Best light period: 1-3 hours of very strong light in the middle of the day. Say 3 watts per gallon (450 watts for your tank). And before that and after that 3-4 hours of low light - 1 watt per gallon (150 watts for your tank).

*Good idea for your particular tank:* 
Frequent small water changes. As frequent as you can. Even if it is only 2 gallons every day. Your discus will love you. The plants will display colors and growth you will not normally see.

Good luck.

--Nikolay


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## CatG

Thanks for the response.

Will the T5HOs be strong enough to get to the bottom of the tank? I was kinda of hoping I could do some high light plants in this tank, but since it's kind of deep, I was worried about enough light getting down there.

Thanks again,
Cat


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## niko

If each bulb has its own reflector then the rules change. Light penetration stops being a problem.

With the Giesemann bulbs there is someting that we all saw actually work about 2 years ago. A local guy setup a 2' tall tank with 1 bulb with a reflector and 1 without. He had no issues growing carpet plants. His used only 2x24 watts of these Giesemann bulbs.

Very ugly DIY light fixture but the results were outstaning. Note the bulb with no reflector:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...tic-plant-club/55198-starting-up-today-2.html

And now look at the pictures of the plants in his tank on the pages before and after page 13 in this post:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ic-plant-club/55198-starting-up-today-13.html

My point is - besides the individual reflectors that REALLY make a difference there maybe something in the spectrum of these bulbs that allows plants to effectively photosynthesise even at the depth of 2'. This depth is considered a threshhold and problematic by Germans and Dutch aquarists.

Also if you indeed mount 450 watts of Giesemann bulbs over your 150 gallon tank you will quickly see that you cannot run all these bulbs all the time. The full blast can only be used for 1-3 hours a day. The purpose of having it is to make sure you are completely free to grow any plant you can find. Do you really want that freedom? Most of the time you wil not need more than 300 watts of this light. But once again - these are numbers for the Giesemann bulbs because they are most efficient.

--Nikolay


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## CatG

Wow, I would need 8/9 bulbs to get 450 watts. I would need 5.5 bulbs to get 300 watts. That's alot of lights.

Is there any other option? Like metal halide perhaps? I could probably get 5/6 bulbs over that tank, but I don't know if I could fit 8 in there. It's 24" front to back - do you think 8 would fit? If I used reflectors, will the light get down to 31"?

Thanks,
Cat


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## Z400

Im a big Rena fan, so 2 XP4's, one at either end with a Koralia in the middle.


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## TAB

some sponges and lots of water changes. I do a 50% every 3 days in my 240 with 11 adult discus.


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## magicmagni

I'm running a 120 gallon which is about the same dimensions as yours, but maybe not as deep (24"). Wow 31 inches deep. Gonna need some long arms to scape that tank LOL. I just upgraded to a 4 bulb T5HO Sunlight supply Tec light and it puts out plenty of light and that's with it suspended about a foot over the tank. I would suggest for your tank running something like that about 8 inches from the surface and you should be fine. Actually not having so much light is probably not a bad idea since the Discus don't seem to tolerate (at least IME) high amounts of Co2 that would be needed at higher light intensities so you may find you want to raise it a bit. if you get a hanging fixture you have lots of flexibility.

For filtration a sump is the way to go IMO. Discus put a huge bioload on the tank. They are large fish and naturally they make large... ;-) There are ways to make a sump that doesn't loose CO2 even though a lot of folks will say you loose a lot of CO2 with a sump and it generally isn't good for at planted tank. It can work and If I had to do it again on my tank I would have gone that route.


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## joshvito

I have been dreaming of two Ocean Clear Canisters (~8gallons volume) run inline with a high GPH pump (1600gph!) to the pull water. And my tank is 75Gallons.


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