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New journey island

Keetchy

Member
Joined
8 Nov 2019
Messages
439
Location
Milton Keynes
Yo yo yo. So this is going to be my 1st attempt of properly aquascaping a tank. And that's all thanks to a mate of mine who is a fellow UKAPSer (he loves reading through Journals so will definitely come across this one) Alright Harris :wave: Up until now my idea of a planted tank was just slapping any old plants in any old space in the tank and thats it, not taking time to work out a nice layout. After looking through some of your tanks, I hope I can achieve a similar natural looking tank.

300 litre tank built by ND Aquatics

Fluval FX5 external filter

2 x 200w heaters controlled by an Elitech controller and kept at 29°C

Some LED light unit bought from Ebay (doesnt have the make of it or the lumen output printed on it anywhere)

Injected C02 via an extinguisher (am planning on plumbing in an inline diffuser)

Eheim 350 surface skimmer

So because I keep discus in the tank, I'm limited to what plants I can successfully keep. I know there's a fair variety of plants that can be in discus temps so will be a case of reading into it. At the moment the tank is bare bottom as I am trying to nurse all discus back to being healthy again. As soon as they are all 100% again, I will be starting to get my aquascaping goodies.

I have 4 pieces of wood already that I will use so I just need to buy a few decent sized rocks and some Tropica Aqua substrate and I'll be ready for hardscaping.

This is 2 pieces of wood resting on each other.......

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Another small piece of wood

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Another piece that is really light and has a rock holding it down in the tank at the moment

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Wood just sitting in the tank waiting to be properly arranged

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Rocks that I have to hand but will not be using as they are far from large enough to use

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Il.be watching with intrest to as my other half wants discuss in the 140 im not sure its big enough so might be a good time to talk her into a bigger tank but that would make 4 lol

Cheers
Jay
 
Il.be watching with intrest to as my other half wants discuss in the 140 im not sure its big enough so might be a good time to talk her into a bigger tank but that would make 4 lol

Cheers
Jay

Haha. Well if you got the space, you can never have too many tanks bud :D
There's many different opinions out there on discus. I first got told no tank smaller than 200 litres cause they need to be in groups of at least 5 or 6 to be happy. But then I've seen guys with smaller tanks and less discus in them and have no problems. So good luck to you if you decide to go down the discus road mate. Very sensitive picky fish but when they're happy, they're an awesome fish to keep :thumbup:
 
Discuss is the dream but at £300 just for fish... wife is not happy on that idea while we still need to complete the house haha

Watching this as my virtual tank haha
 
Discuss is the dream but at £300 just for fish... wife is not happy on that idea while we still need to complete the house haha

Watching this as my virtual tank haha

Wow.....£300 a fish, or £300 for the amount you want? If they were £300 a fish, I'd sell up. Lol. I've never paid more than £60 for one discus bud. I did buy them only at 3" and let them grow though. Most of mine only cost between the region of £15 - £40. But are now probably worth about £70 - £90
 
I first got told no tank smaller than 200 litres cause they need to be in groups of at least 5 or 6 to be happy. But then I've seen guys with smaller tanks and less discus in them and have no problems.
I think the thing is that a big group will be happy whereas a small group might or might not, perhaps depending on the individuals. So a small group may be OK, but you take a risk of them not getting along. A risk whch is much smaller with a larger group.
 
I think the thing is that a big group will be happy whereas a small group might or might not, perhaps depending on the individuals. So a small group may be OK, but you take a risk of them not getting along. A risk whch is much smaller with a larger group.

Yep totally agree bud. I have 11 now in my tank which I think is a good number for the size of the tank.
 
Wow.....£300 a fish, or £300 for the amount you want? If they were £300 a fish, I'd sell up. Lol. I've never paid more than £60 for one discus bud. I did buy them only at 3" and let them grow though. Most of mine only cost between the region of £15 - £40. But are now probably worth about £70 - £90
It would be the amount i want as a minimum. They are £50 in my area, so 6 minimum.

If i could pre order i might be able to get them cheaper... but like i said its still a lot of money lol.

Id personally love like as many as possible all different not one the same ... expensive taste haha
 
300 litre and 11 discus plus the angels and what ever you have on the bottom... how are you not over stocked *covers eyes*
 
300 litre and 11 discus plus the angels and what ever you have on the bottom... how are you not over stocked *covers eyes*
Yeah an expensive taste indeed :p I should have just kept to £2.50 guppies, mollies and platys :lol:

The discus and 2 angels will be ok as in the bioload. I got an FX5 which is a lot bigger than needed for the size tank I have. But I also have a few SAE, rams and torpedo barbs. Which I am currently trying to sell. If they dont sell then they will be going down to the LFS. I'm getting rid of them not cause I think I'm overstocked but cause I dont think the discus are happy with them in the tank.as well :(
 
Although I take into account the filter - which is a beasty! - I agree this tank is too small for that many Discus.
 
Although I take into account the filter - which is a beasty! - I agree this tank is too small for that many Discus.

Yeah I kind of agree with ya mate. As in going by the rule of thumb, I have too many. Although I have been told by a couple of people in the discus community that I'm not overstocked with what I got. Either way I cant bring myself round to getting rid of any of the discus but I dont mind getting rid of some of the other fish. So Barbs, SAEs and rams are up for sale and once they're gone I will just stick to the discus, rummeynoses, corys, shrimp, ottos and plecs.
 
Hi Mark,

I am thinking of setting up a Discus tank myself, slightly smaller tank, 5-7 Discus. What is your water change frequency?

Cheers.
Hey man. Once you get a healthy tank, you'll love keeping discus. They fill the tank really well.

My routine is 50% WC twice a week. Sometimes 3 times every 14 days if I got a busy week. Clean filter and all media in tank water with every WC and glass and heaters wiped down too.
 
I have seen all of the incarnations of keetch's tank and can honestly say his fish are happy and healthy. Hard work, picky and rather fragile though discus are they are a sight to see! Got any updates keetch? :)
 
I have seen all of the incarnations of keetch's tank and can honestly say his fish are happy and healthy. Hard work, picky and rather fragile though discus are they are a sight to see! Got any updates keetch? :)
Thanks dude. No updates just as yet. Chatting to Aquarium Gardens about what kind of rock will go nicely with the wood I got. Once we've decided on that, then it's time to take the pieces of wood down to their shop to try and come up with a decent layout. Cant wait for that bit. I'll give you a shout when I plan on going to see them
 
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