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6ft Sumped Discus Tank

Looks great even without plants. Will be keeping an eye on this one for sure. I've got some pot scrubbies in my sump, my pH goes down to 6.1 during injection and had zero issues with deterioration. I do however replace a couple at a time after a few months just to be safe
 
I wouldnt worry about the plants as such, just do a daily water change in a way to boost some oxygen into the tank. Or drop some ferts if you wish. Going extreme can you can get a clear plastic box and plant them and leave them outside so it gets some sun. It is very annoying, but scapes evolve and you might find some other angel that might work in the next few days :)
 
Haha, might be a little delay as I had a minor disaster. With the delay in getting the plants the wood must have dried out too much.
Got it all planted up only for the wood to start moving around during the fill. Ruined the Scape and 80% of my planting.
I'm hoping the plants will be ok floating for a couple days while I get this wood sunk. It had been soaking for months prior to being out the water for a week so I'm hoping it won't take long to re sink. Not sure if anyone has experience with this scenario?
Such a pity that has happened. So frustrating. Sounds like a few "Schoolboy" errors you've made there, but we have all been there and done that somewhere along the way. Hopefully it will all turn out as you hoped for.

I've had a lot of experience with planted Discus scapes, some great, and a few disasters as well.

The hardest thing I found was getting the balance right between the welfare of the plants and the welfare of the discus. Get the balance right and its a great experience, favour one over the other and problems occur. Discus don't like too much CO2 and some of the fertilisers used for the plants.

Good luck 👍
 
Incidentally I highly recommend this food for your Discus. It is the best form of protein you can give them. Don't bother with frozen bloodworm it is useless, and feed them beef heart at your peril, not recommended at all, especially in a planted tank.

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I used food from them before and also beefheart.bloodworms etc. Only worth it if you are bare bottom tank and growing them up. Else can be very messy and turn off the filters when feeding too :)
I really miss my discus fish.


Notice the film you get from frozen bloodworm/beefheart. But I was doing daily water changes each time after they were fed and then hoovered up the rest to feed to my other fishes if there was any left over (usually not) :)
 
I used food from them before and also beefheart.bloodworms etc. Only worth it if you are bare bottom tank and growing them up. Else can be very messy and turn off the filters when feeding too :)
I really miss my discus fish.


Notice the film you get from frozen bloodworm/beefheart. But I was doing daily water changes each time after they were fed and then hoovered up the rest to feed to my other fishes if there was any left over (usually not) :)

Lovely fish. I'm going single type this time, will be either Red Turqs, Red Alenquers or Red Cuipera. I think those look the most natural in a planted tank.
 
I was a bit spoilt with a few discus breeders nearby. I now have angel fish in my tank as those discus was back in 2011 :D
 
Starting to get there now.
Managed to get the scape back how it was so I could at least get the plants back to where I want them. Got a few strategically placed cobbles in there holding it all down, they aren't in the way of anything despite being a eyesore so I'll leave them in there for a good few weeks until I'm sure everything is relogged.
The planting looks a drop in the ocean, think I could have probably put 3 times the amount in but I'm pleased with how it's taking shape. It always was going to be a slow burner tank.
Equipment wise everything is running great. I find the co2 reactor can get a little noisy when the co2 is in full swing but nothing too bad. Pumps are super quiet and I love the flexibility of the sump. I'm managing to get a nice green on the drop checker although Im still working out the timings to make sure it's green for lights coming on.

Took a few pictures, apologies for the reflections, patio doors/kitchen window are south facing and getting the sun blasting through till late😂.
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Excuse the random bit of wood in the middle. Just there until it sinks and it can take its place back in the scape 😂.
 
Starting to get there now.
Managed to get the scape back how it was so I could at least get the plants back to where I want them. Got a few strategically placed cobbles in there holding it all down, they aren't in the way of anything despite being a eyesore so I'll leave them in there for a good few weeks until I'm sure everything is relogged.
The planting looks a drop in the ocean, think I could have probably put 3 times the amount in but I'm pleased with how it's taking shape. It always was going to be a slow burner tank.
Equipment wise everything is running great. I find the co2 reactor can get a little noisy when the co2 is in full swing but nothing too bad. Pumps are super quiet and I love the flexibility of the sump. I'm managing to get a nice green on the drop checker although Im still working out the timings to make sure it's green for lights coming on.

Took a few pictures, apologies for the reflections, patio doors/kitchen window are south facing and getting the sun blasting through till late😂.
View attachment 189996View attachment 189997

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Excuse the random bit of wood in the middle. Just there until it sinks and it can take its place back in the scape 😂.
That looks brilliant, a shoal of discus will top it off!
 
Holy diatoms Batman!

Went away for a last minute cheapy holiday last week. Was very nervous about leaving the tank as I'm still in the process of fine tuning the way the sump is running. Was only going away for 5 days so took the risk. As it happens tank ran fine while I was away so no concerns there. I did however come back to an absolute explosion of diatoms (I think).
This picture was taken a week later so imagine that X10 and that's what I walked into.
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All the plants are growing fine, most are slow growers so not much of a difference from a couple weeks ago but the Rotala/blyxa and limnophilia are growing happily.
After a few comments about the water chemistry with the rock I decided to give it a check as it's been a long time since I tested anything water related.
No Ammonia as expected with a decent amount of cycled media and old substrate.
P.H sitting at a perfect 6.5-7.
Nitrate sitting at 5. I kinda expected this to be higher.
I tested my tap water for nitrates which was 0.
I did do a huge water change on returning from holiday before I added the fish. So that could be partly the reason for the low nitrates I guess.
 
Can’t tell clearly. But I’ve never seen diatoms like that before, you sure it’s diatoms?
Not sure mate as I'm never seen them like that either. It's very easily manually removed and it's died back alot so just assumed it was diatoms.
 
Not sure mate as I'm never seen them like that either. It's very easily manually removed and it's died back alot so just assumed it was diatoms.
That stuff in your tank looked nasty, it looks like zoozanthellae what corals excrete when they’ve been annoyed by fish or they’re over fed.
 
Yeah looks like diatoms - some shrimp and snails would helps reduce it, but the shrimp might not last long one you add the discus.

Just out of interest @NorthernDan - are you using random flow generators on outlet nozzles? If so, do they work well, and what sort of flow rate are you using?
 
Diatoms are pretty chill algae, its the easiest algae problem to have in my opinion, just gotta wait them out. I suppose you can make sure the plants dont get entirely choked out, but other than that no need for fire 😊
I don’t mind your run if the mill Diatom, but that stuff looks Amber Heard has been pulling her old trick again. 💩
 
Yeah looks like diatoms - some shrimp and snails would helps reduce it, but the shrimp might not last long one you add the discus.

Just out of interest @NorthernDan - are you using random flow generators on outlet nozzles? If so, do they work well, and what sort of flow rate are you using?
The Discus won't be going in for a while yet. I'm hoping it'll be planted up enough and the colony will be big enough to cope with the inevitable predation.
Yea they are random flow generators. I'm quite liking them at the moment. They definitely kill flow with a more scattered pattern. But that's perfect for me in this system as it allows me to put some reasonable flow through the tank (I have 3500 and 2500lph pumps) while still keeping a relatively still tank for the Discus. No factual research behind it but I also like the way it disperses the co2 from the reactor. They were only a couple quid from AliExpress so worth a go.
 
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