# Planted Discus Tank



## coralife205

150 gallon
3 sunpod DE metal halides 150 watt each, 6700K...for the discus i may put some T5 lighting to bring out theire color better, a differnt K temp.
5lb presurised co2 ( i may or may not upgrade to a 10 lb )
factory bottom drilled overflow
Berlin sump
Fluvl E-heater
Ph Controller
Flourite Black
2 fluval U1 filters

I will probably be adding some powerheads depending on how the flow in the tank is. I decided not to go with substrate heating cables. ( you all convinced me).

I have not decided if i want to make this a discus only tank or not. i probably wont cause that will get boreing fast. i will probably add some cardinals and corrys and some sort of algea eater(suggestions please?)

im puting a number down on how many discus i will get. i will have no more then 6 discus. i dont want to overcrowed the tank, or overstock the tank. so i will be asking for stocking suggestions from all of you experts ...if you dont mind.

my plan for this tank is this: get all of the equitment necisary to run the tank. star the tank up, plant it, scape it do all of that.. let it sit for 2 months. yes, two months. it will be hard to wait, but i promise to my self i will wait because i want everything to start to fill in and i want the tank to cycle completely. (should i do this with seachem stability, or will the plants on theire own just make the tank cycle?) i Want to use RO-Water. I still got to convince my parents to let me get an RO system. i doubt they will stop me because theyve let me come this far... I want to do everything the right way this time around. where i made my biggest mistakes in my old 29 gallon was cycleing the tank, and i dident know what i want or how to do it.

with my personal experience, shared knowledge between us, hopefuly this tank will turn out very well and be enjoyable by everyone who sees it, wether by miapg, anywhere else on the web, or who ever wants to come over.

in a month, more or less, i will be ready to start the tank the sooner Preuss gets my order in, the sooner we can start!

i need help narrowing down the plants cause the following are the ones im picking from. if anyone has any better suggestions for plants, or know any plants that i picked that would not go good with the tank or eachother please let me know. one thing i do need help understanding is comeing up with a fertiliseing routine.

Anubias
Anubias Nana
Anubias Gracilis

Aponogeton
Aponogetons Ulvaceus
Aponogetons Boivinianus

Lillys
Red Tiger Lotus
Barclaya Longifolia

Ferns/Moss
Java Moss
Bolbitis Heudelotil

Cabomba
Cabomba Caroliniana

Crypts
Cryptocoryne Beckettii
Cryptocoryne Walkeri
Cryptocoryne Wendentit 'Brown'

Swords
Echinodorus Major (Ruffled Amazon Swordplant)
Melon Swordplant
Echinodorus "Rubin" Red Rubin Sword

Miscellaneous
Hygrophillia Corymbosa
Crinum Thaianum
Ludwigia Glandulosa
Monosolenium Tenerum
Drawf hairgrass
Limnophilia Aromatica
Rotala Macrandra
Cardinal Plant Lobelia cardinalis
Polygonum 'Sao Paulo'


























































































im going to have the tank by the tv, not the computer. it seems to look better by the tv instead of the comp. it looks like it will fit in the room better. its going to be touching the ceiling. i added vents to the side of the canopy cause of the metal halides. though, these lights do not get as hot as traditional metal halides. im useing 6700K bulbs. im wondering if i should put a 10,000K bulb in the middle to help balance out the light better in so that the discus will "pop". im haveing trouble finding some good melysian driftwood. im alsoe going to be useing some sort of ignous rock. not sure what its called but i can tell you just from takeing geology that the rock is filled with augite and hornblende. if anyone here is a geologst can you tell me what it is? i would call them cobble and pebble breccia. anyways, thats what my tank is going to be like. i bought 16 bags of flourirte black, just inscase if i dident have enough. and if i have way too much ill just sell the rest of the bags. im haveing trouble picking a great algea eater...any suggestions?

this next picture is just for fun. i was fishing in holland, michigan. that is Lake Michigan behind me. too bad i cant put that sheaphed in my tank hehe


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## davemonkey

Beautiful stand and canopy, can't wait to see the tank.

For algae eaters, consider about 15 Otocinclus and 5 Siamese Algae Eaters (SAE's). If you have driftwood in the tank, you can also get 3 or so Bristlenose Pleco's (Ancistrus sp. ).

-Dave


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## dewalltheway

WOW! Can't wait to see how this tank unfolds. Looks like your off to a great start.


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## peteski312

I would recommend keeping the tank at least 5-6 inches from the wall, just because you have 3 halides and no power fan hooked up to the vents, might help cool things. As far as your plant list, Everything looks good and i have grown most of those in my 90 gallon discus tank. My temp has been around 85 degs. and have had no problem growing those species. you might wanna go with ambulia rather then cabomba and the red rubin has done great in my tank. Try plugging about 30 seachem root tabs in the substrate before you plant just to give the plants a boost. If your looking for wood and have access to a lake then hunt for your own and just clean it well. For ferts you can start out with seachem flourish and switch later. If you have any questions feel free to ask


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## Veloth

I like the start, please keep us updated as the tank progresses.


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## coralife205

sweeet guys thank you! i copied the name of the plant that peteski312 posted. im going to go look at it when im done writeing this. (you know, yahhoo search. i want to keep everyone updated. i wont get the tank until later this week (hopefully). the store is takeing for ever to get the shimpment in. im getting irritated. lol. heres a qustion that does not relate to the content of the tank, but it is the most vitla part of it..well two qustions actualy.

how do i level the tank and stand????????????????? kinda important. my basement floor sloaps...so slightly you wouldent notice it with out useing a level. it sloaps, so the front of the tank will be leaning.... any ideas?????

also, this is an oak stand as you can see. very well built. however, the part the tank just sits on is just a thin piece of wood...im wondering how much weight it can hold. i know the stand is designd for 125, 135 and 150 size tank, but you never know. i mean, the weight of the water, substrate(16 bags of flourite, doubt ill use it all, but ill use whats left for a small tank ill set up later), the driftwood, and the rocks. i probably have about 75-100 lbs of rocks....obvously the fish and plants will weight like so little. you cant count the fish. but the plant weight will probably be what...5 pounds, if even that. i dont know...just some things to consider. i might have to use less rocks????? and the metal halides atached to the canopy, that alone weighs about 25-50 lbs...any thoughts to ease my mind or suggestions i do? it was orignely 3,000$ stand, then the last few years it was a 1,000 stand. but i got it for 600$ (good deal) because it was a floor model.....


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## coralife205

do you guys think i will have a problem growing some of thoughs low-light plants with the lights that i have? like, my qusiton is, do i have TOO much light? or do i need to plant them in a very shady area of the the tank?


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## Veloth

To level the tank I would use wood shim from Lowes or Home Depot. As for the stand, was it built as an aquarium stand? If not open the doors and take a few pictures so we can see the inside. I've got a 75g and a 55g sitting on a top thats only 1/2" thick but it's whats underneath that counts.


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## Vadimshevchuk

really nice tank i would go with discus or angels as the yare big fish and they look nice. Also you can sell their babys


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## coralife205

yea, the stand was made for aquariums. its what it was designd for.


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## coralife205

im not sure if im going to atempt to breed discus, vadimshevchuk


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## m3177o

when are you expected to be adding the pic of the tank?


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## peteski312

my stand also came with a very basic support system. I added 2 boards to the back for extra support. They are also used to hold my powerstrip and co2 reactor.










and this is Abulia


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## coralife205

oh isee. yea my stand has that basic suport system. the tank is a custom made because aparently its unusual to have two over flows for the sump in a 150 gallon. the manufacture said that they wont have the tank ready until the end of july , early augest. makes me so mad....


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## marrow

You might want to consider wiring for a fan now even it it doesnt get used, fans are pretty cheap and it will save you working around a full tank of water etc. With three MHs I expect you are going to want some sort of fan in there. (it may extend bulb life as well and bulbs can be pretty expensive. I have two 6700k 175 mhs with simple open reflectors and the heat output is pretty noticeable. You could rig them to a thermostat to only go on when the temp exceeds a 110 degrees or so in the canopy. You will be surprised how often they are on. Any idea what sort of discus you intend to use?


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## coralife205

each fixture comes with its own fan. aparenty the store i bought them said that they do not get as hot as normal MH. im going to still install two fans though in the canoy, just in case. we dont want mold you know.. but you gave me an idea. im goign to go to the store and get a cheap thermometer to put in the canopy to monitor temp. thanks!  im not sure on the discus. ive been reading on how to care for discus and all that kidn of reserch, but ive been focused on geting the tank set up. i plan on geting the discus 2 or 3 months AFTER the tanks been set up. i wont add any fish what so ever, untill after the first month, for the plants to all fill in. during that time ill be useing seachem stability. i want to get the plants established first. can you take a pic of your tank so ican see what 6700k looks like. although it might look a tad differnt cause i have 150 watt.. do you thikn i should make the middle fixture have a 10,000K bulb to help make the color look better, or get a t5ho retofit kit? with 10,000k bulbs??????? or do you think ill be fine with the color light to make the redplants and discus stand out?


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## JACK SOBRAL

Hi Peteski 312

I just have a question ... 
What you do with this plasma TV when the aquarium is ready? 
The tv is great, however, disappeared in front of the huge aquarium ...!!! 
Good luck. 

Hugs 
JACK


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## coralife205

hahah you not the first person to mention that. its actualy an LCD. 52 inch. i love it so much. its the 2nd best thing ive ever bought for that room (first is the tank).


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## coralife205

i got the driftwood today. and i get the tank tomrrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! allmost there. im looking at 3 more weeks! 3 weeks cause im getting the auto shut off valve, i gotta order plants, and get the RO system hooked up.


































you cant really see it, but the melysian is in the green tub. and the african stuff is what you relaly see. the one big one is relaly really sweet! its exactly what i was looking for. i wanted it to be close to the water surface so i can put some plants there. ive been soaking the melysian DW for 3 days. gosh i tell you the tannis was incredible. coudlent even see the bottom of the tub. not sure i can do anything about the african driftwood. ill just rinse it off and put it in the tank. too big to try to cure. besides, itel be about 1 month and a half before i add my first fish.


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## northtexasfossilguy

I would get Otocinclus as far as algae eaters, they are never aggressive, they do a pretty good job keeping things clean, and in that size you could have a ton of them, like 30. Just be sure to order them and don't pay more than $2 each. They also tolerate the same conditions as Discus and are from the same general location.

Your setup is awesome by the way. I have one of those sunpod lights and I absolutely love it. It grows just about anything, and I wouldn't worry about too much light for the lower light plants.

As a side note, you ought to take the time and set up a timer for each of the lights individually and each set of moonlights so that you get a progressive brightening and dimming effect since you have that ability. These lights do get pretty hot, especially the UV glass, but I think that might help keep it at optimum temp for the Discus.

If you want compatible tank mates, I highly suggest Brazilian Rams in addition to the Discus, they are more hearty than German Blue Rams from what I've seen and experienced, and they will leave the discus alone, plus they are pretty gorgeous.


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## northtexasfossilguy

Also if you get me a good clear picture of the rock I might be able to help, I'm a Geologist, but not a hard rock guy.


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## northtexasfossilguy

coralife205 said:


> do you thikn i should make the middle fixture have a 10,000K bulb to help make the color look better, or get a t5ho retofit kit? with 10,000k bulbs??????? or do you think ill be fine with the color light to make the redplants and discus stand out?


Okay, last post I swear...

Probably not necessary for red plants, as mine get red with a single 150watt light, and I can grow glosso too, which is "high light." The sunpods look somewhat blue, but I love the colors. The greens look more green to me, if thats possible? lol


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## coralife205

the rocks defently are ignious. they are kind of grey. some are ignoius and some are metamorphic. some of it is slate. but he bigger ones im not sure of. none of them are arkosic. the perdominet minerals i see in them are hornblende and biotite. some of them have striations some do not. the ligtest rock is dfently differnt then the others. its mostly Na-spar , QTZ, and some augite. 

im no geologst, but ive taken a few Geology classes at my college. im sure from what i told you, you know its just basic stuff in the grand scheme of things. btw, the rocks i have are most defently NOT granite. some of them look like basalt. but with calcite and dolomite, who knows. i dont have hydro chloric acid haha. kidn of ileagal to get, and impossible for a 19 year old. lol


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## rbarn

Malaysian wood puts out TONS of tannins.
Expect tea water for 6 months to a year if the wood has never been soaked.

Soaking in mild bleach water seems to help bleach some of the tannins
and Purigen in the filter helps pull tannins out too.


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## coralife205

Ocasionaly I have read some places online and have talked to some people and they said that I could bleech my plants for a few miniuts to kill all the algea and any snails / snail eggs that may be on them to prevent them from getting in to your tank...

is this safe for the plants?

How long do you bleach them for?

Are there some plants that are more sensitive to this or not?



Its just something that I have thought about from time to time and have had some qustions about, but has never gotton around to asking about it...


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## coralife205

ok so i wastee 100 bucks on goign to fantastic fins and buying a bunch of melysian...im not going to use it  ithink josh said he'll take it. these are the pieces im planning on useing. i need HELP. ive spent an hour comeing up with this design. i like it, but at the same time i dont. because it really limits me on the amoutnt of plants i an have in the tank to make it look nice. im trying to achive a goal where the discus can have a lot of room to swim but at the same time i can have a pretty densly planted aquarium. as a reminder, these are the plants i REALY want to use...

Anubias
Anubias Nana
Anubias Gracilis
Anubias barteri 'Coffeefolia'

Aponogeton
Aponogetons Ulvaceus
Aponogetons Boivinianus

Lillys
Red Tiger Lotus
Barclaya Longifolia orchard Lilly

Ferns/Moss
Java Moss
Bolbitis Heudelotil
Taxiphyllum ferriei

Crypts
Cryptocoryne Beckettii
Cryptocoryne Wendentit 'Brown'
Cryptocoryne petchii

Swords
Ruby Melon Swordplant
Echinodorus "Rubin" Red Rubin Sword

Miscellaneous
Hygrophillia Corymbosa
Crinum Thaianum onion plant
Ludwigia Glandulosa
Drawf hairgrass
Limnophilia Aromatica
Rotala Macrandra
Cardinal Plant Lobelia cardinalis
Polygonum 'Sao Paulo'
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Pantanal'
Ludwigia Inclinata
Hornwort
Phyllanthus fluitans
Crystalwort
Bacopa sp. 'Colorata'


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## Veloth

coralife205 said:


> Ocasionaly I have read some places online and have talked to some people and they said that I could bleech my plants for a few miniuts to kill all the algea and any snails / snail eggs that may be on them to prevent them from getting in to your tank...
> 
> Mix your bleach solution 20 parts water to 1 part bleach
> 
> is this safe for the plants?
> If done correctly most plants do OK but if not done correctly they will die.
> 
> How long do you bleach them for?
> 
> I have dipped plants for 30 seconds to 1 min depending on the plant
> 
> Are there some plants that are more sensitive to this or not?
> 
> Yes
> 
> Its just something that I have thought about from time to time and have had some qustions about, but has never gotton around to asking about it...


Answers in red. I like the wood.


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## coralife205

do i have tooo much light to grow the anubius and crypts and the other plants i have?


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## coralife205

well, this is the experiment i just did about 5 miniuts ago...'if you bought two pieces of driftwood thats way too big, clap your hands' haha i think i need to get my dads electric , portable, saw... i dident realise the pieces were SOO big. and i have to take in to acount, im going to have glass on all 4 sides, and its going to take about a half inch of of the perimeter of the tank being there, so its going to be even more enclosed then this.....damn.

still narrowing the list. Anubias Nana
Anubias Gracilis
Anubias barteri 'Coffeefolia'

Aponogetons Ulvaceus
Aponogetons Boivinianus

Red Tiger Lotus
Barclaya Longifolia orchard Lilly

Java Moss
Bolbitis Heudelotil
Taxiphyllum ferriei

Cryptocoryne Beckettii
Cryptocoryne Wendentit 'Brown'
Cryptocoryne petchii

Crinum Thaianum onion plant
Ludwigia Glandulosa
Limnophilia Aromatica
Rotala Macrandra
Cardinal Plant Lobelia cardinalis
Polygonum 'Sao Paulo'
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Pantanal'

im starting to wonder, if i should even bother to use the rocks. i think it will look cool, except that they take up so much space. i mean lets think about it, i want to have a lot of plants, 6 huge fish,like 30-40 cardinals, and so on...i dont know. i defently have to cut the driftwood.i guess my tank isent as wide as i thought it would be.


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## Veloth

I think thats a great place to start but I've found out that when you add a tank of water to any equation your original may sink.


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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## coralife205

should i prevent the flourite from drying? it will be a week before i can fill it up with water....RO , water. should i just use tap water and fill it up to just above the flourite to prevent it from drying?























































http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo313/coralife205/?albumview=slideshow


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## bratyboy2

i would fill it up to be safe. is that mopai wood? if so u should be safe that it will sink but iwould advise soaking that because u will get alot of tannins out of it. unless thats what ur going for


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## BryceM

If the tank will be set up for two or three months before you add fish, the tannins won't really hurt anything. Just do big waterchanges a couple of times per week and you'll see it slow down over that period. With very large wood pieces and large aquariums this is often easier. Besides, discus and many other Amazonian species actually prefer the tannins since it replicates their natural environment.

I commend you for your patience in setting this up. Move slowly and have fun. The setup is by far the most enjoyable part.

From my experience with my 180g with three 150W metal halides I'd recommend a couple of things. First, you really will need some ventilation with those halides, especially if you run them for a regular photoperiod. My tank drops at least a half-inch in a 48 hour period from evaporation which helps cool it considerably. With a closed canopy, you'll need some way to ventilate it, even at the higher temps that discus prefer.

Also, is this a 150g high? From this side it looks rather tall. What are the actual tank dimensions? Do you have enough room between the tank and the ceiling to position the canopy?

Make sure you get all your plumbing and wiring figured out before filling it up. Moving a beast like that is virtually impossible once it's up and running.

What is your plan for waterchanges? Do you have a convenient floor drain? Is the RO source going to be a continuous overflow top-off type system or is set up with a reservoir?


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## coralife205

the metal halides have built in fans. they are suposed to NOT get as hot as traditional metal halides. the top of the canopy is a quarter inch from touching the ceiling. the dimensions are 72x18x29 . i have a 64 gallon trash can for the RO water to be stored. a spectra pure 90 gal per day RO/DI. 

will the flourite be fine if it drys up or should i put water in the tank to just keep it moist?


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## coralife205

http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo313/coralife205/?albumview=slideshow


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## coralife205

is this better look?


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## BryceM

Flourite can get dry without any problem. It can be unbelievably dusty if you haven't pre-rinsed it, but if you fill the tank veeeeerrrrrry carefully you will be OK.

Just to make sure I understand you about the metal halides, I know they have fans, but do they vent to outside of the canopy or only circulate air around and around inside the canopy? 150W of metal halide generates the same overall quantity of heat regardless of the particular fixture type - right around 150W worth.....  The glass over a good quality fixture gets hot enough to burn skin almost instantly, let alone the actual temperature at the surface of the bulb which approximates the temperature at the core of the sun .

As far as the layout goes, it's almost impossible to get two of anything to look right when used as hardscape. It's distracting to the viewer since the eye jumps back and forth without finding a suitable place to rest. I'd suggest using at least three or preferably five centers of driftwood in a tank this size. You might consider breaking the larger piece in two. I know that sounds painful, but the overall visual effect would be far superior. The rock you are using is OK, but I'd recommend using pieces about 5-10 times larger. The pieces you are using would look better in a 20-30 gallon tank. Unless you are limiting yourself to the smallest and shortest plant species, those little things will be overgrown and invisible in about 10 minutes. Do be careful with large boulders though - dropping them through the tank bottom really ruins your day quickly.

Spend a few minutes looking around the AGA annual contest galleries. You'll get some great hardscape ideas for large tanks very quickly.


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## coralife205

yes, the canopy is well ventelated. im not sure where to get the rocks from. they were given to me as a gift for the tank. ive thought about geting another piece of wood and conecting the two pieces like a log, and resting it on both of them sort of in the center....


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## coralife205

okay. heres somethings i cant find that i really want.

Polygonum 'Sao Paulo' ---im sure youve all seen Dons square 200 gallon tank. that plant looks awsome! but, i cant find it. help.


Pogostemon stellatus
Bacopa sp. 'Colorata'

Ludwigia Glandulosa

Bolbitis Heudelotil
Vesicularia ferriei
Microsorum pteropus
Microsorum pteropus "Phillipine"

Cryptocoryne Beckettii 
Cryptocoryne Wendentit ‘Brown’
Cryptocoryne petchii


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## bratyboy2

its been in the sales list on the site


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## coralife205

okay, ive got the sump and the RO unit hooked up. i have a couple qustions.

what kind of filer media do i put in the sump, like the size of it, brands, etc. like, do i just use filter media that you would put in a regular canister filter..is what im asking. or is there any kind of special filter media designd for sumps. ? another dumb qustion but i dont know, where do i put the filter media, in the sump. is there a specific spot for it to go to be most effective, or does it not matter as long as water passes through it? how much filter media is TOO much?

heres qustions about the RO/Di unit...is the 4th stage, DI chamber/canister, suposed to completly fill up with water, just like the micron and carbon block ones do, or is it just suposed to fill up about half way? cause i have the RO runing right now, (tanks goign to be filled up this weekend. im not waiting for ALL the plants. i want the dust to settle and get filterd out first) and the DI chamber is not filled up with water completely. im new to RO unites, and sumps, so i dont know how either completly work yet. 

i aprecite your help


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## Bunbuku

coralife205 said:


> heres qustions about the RO/Di unit...is the 4th stage, DI chamber/canister, suposed to completly fill up with water, just like the micron and carbon block ones do, or is it just suposed to fill up about half way? cause i have the RO runing right now, (tanks goign to be filled up this weekend. im not waiting for ALL the plants. i want the dust to settle and get filterd out first) and the DI chamber is not filled up with water completely. im new to RO unites, and sumps, so i dont know how either completly work yet.
> 
> i aprecite your help


Regarding the RO/DI unit, if its a new one it will be take a bit for the third canister (where the ion exchange resin lives) to fill up. For my case by the time 5-7 gallons of purified water was produced, it was already full.

And Bryce is spot on with the Flourite getting the water cloudy. I recently rescaped the kid's 6 gallon betta tank and decided to use Flourite mainly because I did not have time to wait for the ammonia spike to pass with AS. I rinsed my Flourite original extensively in a collander till the water ran clear, and even with filling up the tank slowly I got cloudy, cloudy water. I ended up using Clarity with fine filter floss, followed by a large water change with more Clarity overnight. It was a lot better but still cloudy. It took 50%+ water changes for every 3 days for 2 weeks to eventually get things clear up. I can only imagine what a pain that would be with a tank as large as yours! The fine dust might also cause premature clogging of your biomedia, so might want to run the canisters with mainly fine floss for the first week or two till the water clears up.


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## wkndracer

peteski312 said:


> my stand also came with a very basic support system. I added 2 boards to the back for extra support. They are also used to hold my powerstrip and co2 reactor.
> 
> 
> 
> If I'm not seeing this clearly I'm sorry. I scan read the string and didn't see a comment regarding the reactor and its flow path. Its mispositioned if on the discharge side of the filter. It looks like the reactor is upside down in the installation as the inlet is bottomed and the discharge is to the top (unless its on the inlet flow side of the canister filter) These Rex style reactors are down flow in they're configuration to work properly.
Click to expand...


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## peteski312

Thats an old pic that I used purely to show just the support system. I changed the flow to my reactor long ago.

I would recommend using full tap water for the next couple weeks. This way you can do water changes every 3 days and not have the hassle of RO. I too using RO with my discus but because you have a few months and the only concern right now is the dust, then deffinately go with tap and filter floss. Good place to find the floss is walmart, its basically pillow stuffing.


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## wkndracer

Cool! as posted excuse plz if in error. :typing:


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## coralife205

ok. heres where i am!!!!!! almost there!!!!!!


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## coralife205

almost there. just need topush tank back, get plants, fill her up with water and ready to go.


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## yungreefer2410

are those mh?


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## coralife205

yes. but they are 6700k bulbs. it came with 14,000k. i dont understand why they look just as blue as the 14K. i just hope its not going to be werid when i fill it up with water and look at the plants. one nice thing though, with that kind of light i doubt ill have trouble growing anything. one thing im concernd about is that i already orderd java ferns and anubius and some crypts. and they want low light....will they be okay in that light??????????????? ill put them under the big pice of driftwood on the right, if its a problem. cause then they will be in shade. at least my discus and cardinals will show up pretty well.


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## Bunbuku

Can't tell you about crypts but the ferns, Anubias nana and petites do just fine under MH. 

You also might want to level the substrate so that its looks even from the front before you start planting.


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## coralife205




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## coralife205

does anybody have any idea as to what this fuzzy stuff is on the wood...is it normal? i get my plants on friday, and saturday. im geting things shiped to me from aqua botanic (thanks for that link john) and the other plants are comeing in the weekend following from minisota. , i am planing on a huge water change before i plant.


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## BryceM

coralife,

Did you remove the linked photos from photobucket? If so can you replace them? It really ruins the value of the thread if the older photos can't been seen.


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## coralife205

oh shooot i dident realise that they would be deleted off of here too. yea your right.ill replace them. but im tnot sure if they will all apear above or not. but im going to post them in my next post on here. im not sure how to do a lot of this stuff. i dont know if you would be able to do anything or not, cause your the admin. ill get them back up. give me a few min


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## coralife205

i deleted most of them off my computer  dang im so stupid! im sorry!!!!!!!

































g[/IMG]


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## coralife205




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## BryceM

I love the quantity and character of wood in this tank. Once the plants have grown in it will provide for some very nice visual focal points. You might try arranging it in various ways. The end result will be fun to see.

I suspect you'll be fighting the cloudiness for a while. Try to keep the substrate disturbances down to a minimum and that will pass within a week or two.


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## bratyboy2

cardinal plants dont attech to wood they are a foreground plant


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## coralife205

im trying to let the plants grow out, help with the algea, then ill re arange things and take some plants out that will make it a more discus-friendly tank.

yes i know cardinal plants are foreground. however, my friend from miapg, whome is also on this site, has a cardinal plant in his native tank, 125, and its growing up and out of the water. heres the link. its amazeing. im going to try the same thing 

http://www.miapg.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=723&st=0


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## coralife205

i still have not fert. the tank. i need helllllllllp. this is the one part of the whole hobby i dont understand. ...well i take that back. i understand it, just not on how to fertlise the tank or on HOW and WHEN i should add my ferts.

my co2 has been running all day, the PH was 7.8 , now its 7.2......been on for 15 hours. i think i need another difuser...infact, i can put two more difusers in the tank...i have room for 3


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## coralife205

i think im going to use the EI method, cause thats what im used to. at lest for the first month.... please help me on this. how much of each fert do i add? this thing on here only shows me for up to 125 gallons. not 150..... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142895


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## coralife205




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## hydrophyte

Hey that looks really nice. I like the light shimmers shining through the water. This looks like a real habitat out in nature.


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## *Michael*

really nice aquarium


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## Bunbuku

coralife205 said:


> i think im going to use the EI method, cause thats what im used to. at lest for the first month.... please help me on this. how much of each fert do i add? this thing on here only shows me for up to 125 gallons. not 150..... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142895


Here is a link on the EI method at the GreenLeaf Aquariums website.

http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizer.html#


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## Wire Fox Terror

This is going to look really nice, I can't wait to see the discus. I've been wanting to do a discus tank for years but am always persuaded not to do it by everyone swearing you can't have them in planted tanks, which can't be true. I'm looking forward to seeing this work and maybe one day I'll take the plunge!


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## rich815

I'm curious as to how your discus will take to this lighting. My new 6 discus are not all that keen on 108W of T5HO over my planted 72 gal tank.....

Another challenge will be using EI but keeping your nitrates low for the discus, they are not very happy with nitrates over 10-20ppm and the lower the better from the talk at simplydiscus.com.

On the other hand their poop may just give you all of the nitrates and phosphates you need. I was a full blown EI dosing regime up until I got my discus recently (about 2 months ago now). But as such my nitrates were 20-30ppm and my phosphates 10ppm+. Plants did great but that's high for discus. I started only dosing Potassium and micros(TMG). I braced for a possible plant growth crash but much to my happy surprise my plants have continued to thrive. Using a few different test kits (Seachem, Nutrafin, Tetra) my nitrates now measure about 10ppm and the phosphates about 2-3ppm. More than enough for good plant growth supposedly, even without dosing N and P! 

I guess by virtue of this I'm not really doing EI anymore am I?


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## coralife205

Tank still has quite a bit of maturing to do. The plants health needs to improve. I believe im starting to see some diatoms on some plant leaves&#8230;all perfectly normal. Im really going to try to wait before I add any fish to let things stabilize. Im very eager to add fish, but my better judgment says I need to wait&#8230;well, enjoy the pictures. I took them about an hour ago. Warning, a lot of pictures. This will be the last time, I promise, that I will ever post this many at once&#8230;sorry.


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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## coralife205




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## Nerbaneth

Wow, that looks great! Seems like you could do just about anything with that setup.
-Danny


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## BryceM

As far as ferts go, you have many options. Realistically, there is no one right method as many different philosophies will work. What is paramount in my experience is to be consistent with whatever you choose. In my own setups I see problems when I get lazy and neglect to keep conditions stable.

Your plant mass is very much on the low side and it looks like most of your species are slow-growers. For that situation you can often get by with a minimalist approach and be just fine. I'd recommend caution with the photoperiod of the halides. If you start seeing algae issues it will likely be because of too much light, more than an issue with not enough ferts or CO2. Until things grow in you simply don't have enough plant mass to "use" the light you're pumping in.

EI is a perfectly good method. Dry ferts are dirt cheap. You need to decide what to do with traces. I'd suggest Seachem Flourish or a dry CSM+B mix. Good luck. Keep records. Strive to maintain stable conditions. Plants are remarkably adaptable. What you're really trying to prevent with any fertilization plan is a sudden shortage of something that causes a growth arrest. With slow-growers you have lots of wiggle room.


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## coralife205

Long story short, i gave in and bought panda corrys from fantastic fins almost a week ago. one is dead. they apear stressed and look like they are suffering from malnutrition. i have 5 left. they all look the same. i put some stress guard in , and did a water change. i have 0 amonia, and very little nitrites, and some few nitrates...so my tank is cycleing...but the big qustion is......why wont they eat? i put some shrimp pellets in the tank...they dont eat it;snails do though. i put some algea wafers in, they ignore it...i put some fish flakes in...they ignore it....wtf....i dont know what to do.


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## Tex Gal

You might try some frozen worms or brine shrimp. Can't imagine why they aren't eating. 

Remember to take out any uneaten food as it will boost ammonia. Maybe you could put a cycling plant in your tank to help with your cycling. My favorite is Najas sp 'Roraima' It's easy to remove and does a great job taking up any ammonia.


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## coralife205




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## BryceM

The problem with your cories is most likely the condition they were in when you got them. I'm becoming more and more convinced that the initial health of the fish you buy has more to do with how they end up than anything else. Start with sickly fish and nothing you can do will help. Start with robust, healthy fish and you've got lots of wiggle-room.


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## Wire Fox Terror

Out of curiosity, what temperature are you keeping the tank? I've had issues with panda corys in temps above 80. I've heard that there are really only 1 or 2 types that handle the higher, discus temperatures. I tried panda corys at least 2x in my tank, which at the time was kept around 82 degrees and they never lasted more than a week or two. Hopefully they've rebounded since your last post?


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## coralife205

i keep my temp at 81.


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## coralife205

Time for an update&#8230;

24 cardinals 
4 rams
5 amano shrimp
5 corrys
3 BN plecos; 1 Long Fin, 1 Albino, 1 Regular
1 clam
26348246875624 snails; trumpet, rams horn, and the common little black ones that I don't know the name of.


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## coralife205

I think this guy was posing for me  , does anybody know if my glosso is growing correctly? Jw&#8230;


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## mountaindew

glosso looks like it is ok!
Sometimes glosso acclimates slowly and thus it grows slow. For me it takes about 2 weeks then it fills the tank in about 4 weeks!
md


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## coralife205

i went to fantastic fins today to buy a fish net, i got some sissors and cut the net off from the handle part, got some plant weights, and "tied" them to the net around the over flow as you see , to hold it down. i did this because i got sick of finding shrimp in the sump....so far its working pretty good...

the clam has not moved in a few days, i was curious as to how it was doing...well i dig him up,he burried him self, and this is what he looks like. im suprised he wont close his shell or move at all...i dont know crap about clams, so my qusiton is, is he even alive??? thats what he looks like, wont even close his shell or move what so ever...jw


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## coralife205




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## coralife205

looks like my R.macrandra is starting to do better. its hard to tell in the pic, but its starting to turn red, slightly.


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## coralife205

http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo313/coralife205/

so here is my weekly update... I notice that some of my algae is starting to go away, but then its forming on other places. Every 5 days I'm using hydrogen peroxide on it. It seems to be working, in combination with the amino shrimp and olive nerite snails. Today I added 7 otos. Over the week, I added a few more swoards (hard to see in the pics) and ive added a few more fast growing stem plants , to help combat the algae. In the next month I plan on removeing some of the stem plants (depending on how the tank is doing) and replaceing with swoards and / or crypts. The Rotala Macrandra seems to be doing pretty well (thtas a relative term). Its doing better then last week. It is starting to turn red a little bit near the top, and starting to grow new leaves near the bottom of the stems. I chopped the pennywort in half today because it was all the way up at the surface, and it will grow back pretty fast anyway. The only things that have died since I first put fish in the tank are 1 panda corry, 1 clam, and one Ram. That's pretty damn good considering how young the tank still is&#8230;if all goes well through the month of September, I will add the discus in the first week , or sometime mid October. , if I lose any more fish, or something happens, who knows, then I will wait until November. But I doubt anything is else is going to go wrong (knock on wood.)


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## armedbiggiet

try more water change... Farlowella is a good algae eater that I also use on my very troubled tank.


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## coralife205




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## bratyboy2

looking good bud


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## coralife205

its only cloudy cause thats the seachem equilibrium...i just did a water change


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## Tex Gal

I don't think I've ever seen anyone use Lobelia like that. It's filling in nicely. Still no discus?...


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## bratyboy2

yah when are the discus coming? i got some if you wanna buy them off me they need a better home


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## coralife205

Okay, I cheated. I have 8 Discus. I've had them less then a week. Wednesday I got one. The next day I got another. And then the day after that I got 6. I'm doing two water changes a week, and feeding them a verity of foods. Frozen bloodworms, flakes, beef heart (right before a water change) live brine shrimp, algae wafers (they like the stuff I feed my plecos..sinking pellets, and two other kinds of foods that are from fantastic fins. One is called decap brine, and the other is called APR. They recommended both of them. Every couple days I'm going to be using seachem nourish, and vitality.



























































































http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo313/coralife205/?albumview=slideshow


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## coralife205




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## Dielectric

nice looking fish


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## Chef

beautiful looking tank and fish


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## coralife205

Ill take more and better pictures tonight when the tank clears up. But I just wanted to show everyone that im starting to get FLOWERS! Last night I saw it , but it was only half way up to the surface, and I looked in the tank now, and now its opening up! And I have another one. Im not sure what plants there coming from however. And incase your wondering, I took out the piece of wood on the left because I wanted to provide more swimming room for the discus, im not sure I like it as much, but I got to do whats good for the fish&#8230; anways, now that they have flowerd, what ever plants they are, how the heck do I like&#8230;well, make the plants reproduce&#8230;like pollinate, like how is this done&#8230;I don't know&#8230; *feels stupid* also, the cardinal plant is starting to grow out of the water!


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## coralife205

Okay, right now my tank looks very cloudy, and it's because I rescaped it. I can live with the way it looks because hopefully over time the java fern will fill in and the Lotus will draw your attention more than the wood&#8230; we'll see what happens&#8230; the glosso is starting to grow properly, which im happy about. Im sad I got rid of the Rotala but, it was necisary&#8230;.oh, and notice the flower!!! sooo what do you think????


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## coralife205

werid organism in my tank. i would take a picture of it, i tried tried again, it just wont come out. so i drew a picture of it on paint. ive counted about 100 of thease little guys on the glass, plants, wood, substrate, filter, etc...they seem to have a little "mouth" that helps them stay on to surfaces, kind of like a suction cup. and they seem to move around and crawl up the glass...sometimes. since my mom is a micobiolgist, ive tryed to get some of them to put in a vial and let her take it to work to look at it under a micoscope, BUT, they seem to close up there legs and there whole body seems to turn into this shape --> * belive it or not that is actual size too. the whole organism is literly about the size of ! <--that ........why am i inspecting my tank this closely anway what is it? they harmless? are they a parasite?


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## rich815

Sounds like Hydra to me:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/search.php?searchid=1210882


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## theblondskeleton

Here is a link to some microscopic stills and video of hydra. Based on your description, I'd agree that's what they are.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag...icroscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct03/dfhydra.html


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## hamsterman

if you have shrimp babies you'd better watch out! They have those sticky tentacles to snag them.


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## coralife205

my 90 gallon per day RO unit has turned in to a 60 gallon per every 5 days...... i changed out the sediment and carbon filters.... it dident help. in fact, overnight i the sediment filter was very yellow and looked cloged, again. looks the same as the old one did. the only thing i didn not change was the membrane or the DI....im not sure whats wrong. my pressure is just a little bit under 80 psi.... but it takes 5 days to fill up a 60 gallon trash can... this is not good for my water changes.... i want to do 2 water changes a week!!! like i was before...


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## coralife205

I was getting ready to do a water change and then, I looked at the tank. I was like, I should probably take pictures BEFORE a water change because the water will be cloudy for a little while afterword. So anyways, here are some really neat pictures!!! I know I took a lot, but that's what happens when you're finally proud of your tank! I moved the Sunset Hygro to the left-center. I know it looks kind of wild right now, but over time hopefully it will look neater as it re-establishes. In place I put another sword plant back behind the wood. I'm starting to get new flowers. I've been asked by quite a few people to add some moss to the wood, sooo I did. I'm not sure how long it will last but hopefully it will grow properly. I've never had much luck with moss in the past&#8230;.


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## rich815

Looks good, but, man. Good luck getting those SAEs out later when they get big and aggresive, and no more like algae!


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## coralife205

Its safe to assume that this is NOT normal...what should I do? Is this related to the Hydra?


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## Dielectric

you are in for a world of hurt, sorry to say... that is hexamita. remove all fish with symptoms (white poop) and treat with metronidazole quickly. vaccuum gravel deeply, healthy fish will eat contaminated poop and become infected.

i lost quite a few discus to this in the beginning. you should be quarantining anything you put into a discus tank including plants.

first you have the white poop. then the discus lose their appetite. they look like someone pinched them behind the head... then they will die.


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## bratyboy2

damn rams!


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## coralife205

catching them in a tank as big as mine would mean up rooting every plant , every piece of wood...and makeing my water so cloudy again as if it was DAY 1... :-(. that ram died by the way...about a day after i took thease pictures. so far i have not sceene any symtoms on any other fish.


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## Dielectric

watch your other fish closely. make sure they all continue to eat, if they lose their appetite bump up the temp. i know all about removing everything from large tanks. it sucks.


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## coralife205

So your probably wondering what happened. The truth is, I do not entirely know what happened either, but from talking to a couple of people they all seem to agree on the same thing.

I was doing a routine water change a week ago. Once I was almost done filling the tank up, all my fish started dieing. I lost 20 cardinals, all my corys , plecos, otos, SAE. To my surprise the only survivers were ALL the discus , 9 cardinals, and 2 rams. Everyone ive talked to agrees there was a problem with the Ph of my RO water.. The Ph of the RO water was 8.4. All of my fish started dieing one after another , all in about 15 miniuts. They started dieing in less than 5 miniuts of new water. A few days later once things seemd to have 'stabilized', I lost about 90% of ALL MY PLANTS. So. Since there was so much debrea everywhere, I decided to basicly tare down the tank, vacume up most of the debrea. I changed about 80% of the water. I took out all the wood&#8230;I was thinking about putting it back in, but now that im looking at the tank and fish, im thinking ill leave it out. Make things worse, im all out of fertilizer for the plants.

I just got doing a water change over an hour ago, that's why the tank is cloudy. However, everything seems to be doing okay. So here are the pictures&#8230;.hopefuly ill get the thing back up and running in about a month. Im sad.


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## bratyboy2

wow what a bummer man. doesnt it just kill you how strong discus can be when everyone says they are delicate!!!! i love mine too. i like the new layout alot. this should be simple and easy to keep there bud. way to stay calm


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## Dielectric

sorry to hear that


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## coralife205

i just keep telling my self that it coudl of been worse.


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## coralife205

So I know I haven't updated in a while. Its because I wanted my tank to stabilize and get back on track. I promise that the water is not as cloudy as it looks in the picture. It always looks cloudy when I take pictures, but the water is actually really more clear. Yes I took out the wood. The only problems I seem to really be having right now is that little bit of algae and the one discus&#8230;.it looks so skinny. It eats normally like all the other ones, but it just looks so much different than the rest. Its been like this for 3 weeks now. Im not going to put it in the quartine tank because in order to catch it, I would have to tare down my tank again. I've tried and tried and tried. It sounds easier than it is to catch fish in that size tank. that's why , at least one reason, why fish stores have like 10 gallon tanks for all there fish&#8230;.for a damn good reason lol. Anyways, enjoy what it is so far. Its not a master piece, but its getting there. Has a long way to go&#8230;probably by the end of January it will be good.


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## rich815

I'd go out tomorrow and get a big net, whatever it takes, to get that skinny one out of there and into a quarantine tank. If he has some parasite or bacterial infection and it spreads it could cost some serious money and grief.


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## Dielectric

what color is its poop? what are you feeding them? those store bought frozen bloodworm cubes and beef heart cubes are really not good for them.


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## Dielectric

rich815 said:


> I'd go out tomorrow and get a big net, whatever it takes, to get that skinny one out of there and into a quarantine tank. If he has some parasite or bacterial infection and it spreads it could cost some serious money and grief.


i agree


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## coralife205




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## coralife205

if you know anything about corn snakes, please PM me, i have a qustion about shedding.


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## Viwwo

AWWW your snake is so cute! Wanted one but they get big.
What worms do you have?


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## bratyboy2

coralife205 can i make a word of advice for you on your journal?

cut doen on pictures so everyone can c your tank. pic a few out that r of interest. i know your excited and want everyone to see things. maybe take a video rather then giving us 10 shots of different fish in the full tank shot. one will do. we know your fish.
just takes to long for the previous pictures to load and all 20 of the new

other then that

the tank is making a great come back and the plants look good.


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## rich815

bratyboy2 said:


> coralife205 can i make a word of advice for you on your journal?
> 
> cut doen on pictures so everyone can c your tank. pic a few out that r of interest. i know your excited and want everyone to see things. maybe take a video rather then giving us 10 shots of different fish in the full tank shot. one will do. we know your fish.
> just takes to long for the previous pictures to load and all 20 of the new
> 
> other then that
> 
> the tank is making a great come back and the plants look good.


I agree. That's a bit much and some editing would do good. A lot of similar shots and out of focus ones that could be eliminated. Tank looks good over all, the dark discus I'd be a bit concerned with though....


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## Dielectric

I noticed that dark one too. Quarantine!! 

Also, I hope you are quarantining new fish you are adding, if not you are asking for trouble. You might get away with it for awhile, but eventually it will catch up with you and bite you in the rear.


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## bratyboy2

rich815 said:


> I agree. That's a bit much and some editing would do good. A lot of similar shots and out of focus ones that could be eliminated. Tank looks good over all, the dark discus I'd be a bit concerned with though....


thank you


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## kingb4c0

Coralife,
I'm new in this forum but i'm keeping discus for years, you are running before walk, now let me tell you some recomedations. 
1. For a planted discus tank you need go with adults not with juvies, because discus love new water and you can do to much water change.
2. What do you want? I nice planted tank with discus or a nice discus tank with plants? If your priority is discus try first keep them health as much you can.
3. Discus are schooling fish, in your tank 10 would be nice. Becareful with the tankmates, serpae tetras sometimes could be aggresive eaters and your discus can not compite for the food.
4. If you stills with algae is because you are overfeeding or your photoperiod is to long. To be honest you just need those mH for 4 hours daily, the rest of the time you can use t5's, pc's, t8 or whatever.

I love discus and they are one of my favorites, and as beautiful, they requiere good care. At least 50% WC every 2 days is what I recommend. I grew my 4" discus to 7"-9" in one year with 50% daily Water changes. 

Just my 5cents.


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## jestep

About the tiger lotus's...

Not sure if you're growing these directly in the substrate or not, but I would strongly recommend planting them in pots. I just removed about 30 - 40 lbs of lotus roots from my 75 gallon Discus tank. They spread very strongly through the substrate, and can literally take over every inch of the tank. I couldn't push a python into the substrate anywhere in the tank because the roots were 2 - 3" thick throughout the entire tank.

I went on vacation for a week, and when I came back there was about 200 new lotus plants. All started from a single parent plant, which started flowering about a year ago.

Anyway great tank, just keep a close eye on the lotus'.


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## prBrianpr

I has that freaking algae, when I take out the Ecocomplete no more problem with that algae


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## coralife205

next time, i promise not to post so many pics. im sorry guys ifeel awful right now. i feel like...the most horrible person in the world..

"Where did all the fish go?" is probably what your asking. I'm sorry to report, they are all dead. Breaks my heart. Everyday for an entire week I would be pulling out around 5 fish at a time. I feel horrible. I don't know what killed them, but I have ruled out poor water quality. I can only speculate that since my temperature was fluctuating about 5* at night, that maybe they got ich&#8230; I'm not entirely sure. But yea, anyway, as you can see I've given the tank a good cleaning.. I took out all the plants and cleaned up the gravel so much that I took out all the debris. Did 2 water changes in one night, and I spent from 9pm - 6am working on the tank, strait, with out taking more than an hour break, just working on this tank. I added the spray bar and replaced the output house, it was clogged. The spray bar seems to make the water circulate more efficiently , and provides a more gentle movement in the tank. Have 2 nano power heads. And 3 heaters.. I added some new plants. Anyways, I don't think ill be adding fish soon. I'm too scared. I'm scared of spending money on fish that are only going to die. I want to wait a few weeks until I can be sure that what ever parasite, protozoan, what ever it was, is dead and wont hurt the next fish I put in there. I'm going to make sure my water temp is more stable&#8230; I'm not sure if I'm going to add discus again. IF I do, ill add 2-4 discus, and they will be fully grown adults. I don't want to mess with parasites or disease or sickness or PH or anything of that sort again. But I'm not sure&#8230;I'm tired of having accidents and problems, I just want to have a healthy and enjoyable tank to look at. I was thinking about restocking the tank to look like this&#8230;

20 cardinals
6 plecos 
10 black neons
12 rams

If I get the discus ill knock off 2 plecos and 6 rams.


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## bratyboy2

sorry to hear bout the fish incident. btw pictures were just enough to keep interest not make us just scroll down to the best looking one lol


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## Dielectric

sorry to hear that. i dont know but to me, such a massive die off sounds more like water issues.
my tank fluctuates in temp. from night to day and have never attributed a mass die off to that. the only mass die off ive ever had was from forgetting to dechlorinate tap water.

Did you notice any warning signs? if you think it was ich, you should have saw the spots. judging from you Ram pic awhile back Spironucleus was obviously in your tank.
if it was an infestation of some sort, you could have saved yourself the heartache if you would have quarantined!


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## coralife205

problem is, if its in your maintank, then theres no sence in quartine because youll be wasting time, its better to just medicate the whole tank that way you wont keep haveing to take fish out to quartine.. on the other hand....yes, i should start quartine fish BEFORE i put them in my tank.


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## rich815

coralife205 said:


> problem is, if its in your maintank, then theres no sence in quartine because youll be wasting time, its better to just medicate the whole tank that way you wont keep haveing to take fish out to quartine.. on the other hand....yes, i should start quartine fish BEFORE i put them in my tank.


??? If you had quarantined some of those fish earlier when they were obviously ill and when some of us so highly recommended you do so you likely would have saved the vast majority of your fish. My office has 1000 people. If one gets sick that person goes home and gets rest or treatment, all 1000 of us do not all go home. It seems like your fish likely got ill in your tank, even if you had quarantined them first I do not think it would have mattered. Ignoring advice to get the sick ones out of there and fast is likely what did the whole tank of fish in, I'm sorry to say.


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## coralife205

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh i never thought of it like that!!!


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## Tex Gal

So sorry to read about your fish. We all make mistakes. The good news is that we learn from them. Your tank is looking good. It's a monster tank. Big tanks are always hard. They are tons of work. Fish are hard to catch. It's a lot of water to maintain. Keep trying. We go through peaks and valleys. When you're in a valley when you start walking there's no place to go but up!


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## Dielectric

coralife205 said:


> problem is, if its in your maintank, then theres no sence in quartine because youll be wasting time, its better to just medicate the whole tank that way you wont keep haveing to take fish out to quartine.. on the other hand....yes, i should start quartine fish BEFORE i put them in my tank.


I agree about medicating the whole tank once something is in there if you dont catch it right away. But that gets pricey VERY FAST on large tanks.... if you catch it soon enough and remove the infected fish, you wont have to medicate the whole tank. 
But the objective of quarantine is to not let it in there to begin with. EVERYTHING new needs QT for atleast a month. This will happen to you again and again, whether its discus or goldfish unless you QT.


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## Dielectric

rich815 said:


> ??? If you had quarantined some of those fish earlier when they were obviously ill and when some of us so highly recommended you do so you likely would have saved the vast majority of your fish. My office has 1000 people. If one gets sick that person goes home and gets rest or treatment, all 1000 of us do not all go home. It seems like your fish likely got ill in your tank, even if you had quarantined them first I do not think it would have mattered. Ignoring advice to get the sick ones out of there and fast is likely what did the whole tank of fish in, I'm sorry to say.


Agree.
But the reason his tank was "sick" is because he was just dumping fish/plants in there from day 1. Who knows what they were carrying.

I would keep it fishless for awhile to let everything that needs a host die off. or tear it down and bleach everything.


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## coralife205




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