My 4ft x 1.5ft x 2ft tank

[hk75]

Point noted, will concentrate on the tank setup first. Still got a long way to go.

Agree with what Illumnae says about discus. Juv discus needs to eat a lot more than adult discus to get the nice shape. Not really recommended for planted tank. Furthermore, if you have no experience on discus, adult discus is easier to care for - stronger, higher resistance, etc. And lastly, you do not need to keep such a big school of adult discus in your tank. 6 - 8 adult discus should fit nicely in your 4 ft tank.

In fact, if you are not familiar with discus and planted tank, best not to mix those 2 up. Better get the basics right before doing so.

[hk75]

hi,

Went to NA today, got a set of magnum 4ft T5 55w x 3 (8000k) plus existing Hopar 4ft T5 55w x 4 light (6500k), i believe it should be sufficient now.

I believe you are referring to T5HO 54Wx4
get a new set. the price is retailing at ony around $180. Plus for a depth of 2 feet, you will need 6 tubes. but then again ,it all depends on what plants are you intending to have.

Also, just go for gex.

The GEX followers here is recruiting members, right Yi Xiang?

[David Moses Heng]

hi,

Went to NA today, got a set of magnum 4ft T5 55w x 3 (8000k) plus existing Hopar 4ft T5 55w x 4 light (6500k), i believe it should be sufficient now.

but please do control the amount of lights. Do not allow all 7 tubes to be on at one go. if you can, stagger the timming. if not mr algae will be paying you visit very often. For my 422, i am only using the hopar set but the plant growth is super duper slow. advantage is that no green algae problem.

I will be diy one set of light for my 422 using 12 tubes of 24w HO with individual switches.

[hk75]

if i am able to diy light myself, will also like to do so, but too bad am lousy in electrical connection.

To Gex followers, i m sorry, yesterday got some used ada and today top up another 3 packet of ada amaz ii. I do not intend to include power sand onto the base, it should be ok right???

but please do control the amount of lights. Do not allow all 7 tubes to be on at one go. if you can, stagger the timming. if not mr algae will be paying you visit very often. For my 422, i am only using the hopar set but the plant growth is super duper slow. advantage is that no green algae problem.

I will be diy one set of light for my 422 using 12 tubes of 24w HO with individual switches.

[hk75]

Pour in the ada today and spend quiet some time to do arrangement with the drift wood. Require comments pls...... Or should i place both on the left and right where the wood will point toward each other?

1) Was thinking to tie some willow and flame moss on the drift wood. What other moss you recommend?

2) open area on the right to plant hair grass

3) What is suitable to plant surrounding and behind the driftwood?

[tcy81]

i think you can place your driftwood further back abit, as the branch is too near to the glass surface.

a simple setup would be planted Rotala rotundifolia "green" & some Rotala rotundifolia around the driftwood.
then use Glossostigma elatinoides for foreground.

can also add some rocks too.

[hk75]

The drift wood too long, think need to saw it to samll pcs.

i think you can place your driftwood further back abit, as the branch is too near to the glass surface.

a simple setup would be planted Rotala rotundifolia "green" & some Rotala rotundifolia around the driftwood.
then use Glossostigma elatinoides for foreground.

can also add some rocks too.

[grey_fox]

You're intending to saw your ADA wood?

What you should do is to play around with the arrangement of the wood instead of sawing.

[tcy81]

Think you only need to shift back abit and tilt your driftwood upwards slightly.

[hk75]

will be trying to play ard with the drift wood again before i start to cut.

Think you only need to shift back abit and tilt your driftwood upwards slightly.

[wildfish]

Hi HK75,
Last time I got mine from Rainbow fish farm at Choa Chu Kang.
About $5 ~ $10 each.

Just added 3 dwarf red eye tetra into the tank 2 days ago.
Bought from C328.
Very cute fish....

[hk75]

Urgent. help needed. Anyone can advise which lfs could i can nice big rock from.

[Ansell]

Bro, you can try Rainbow at Serangoon, they got at least 2 cabinets of them for you to choose. Price wise I'm not too sure.

Ansell

[hk75]

hi all,

Spend my sat and sun searching for plants, rocks and setting up. Tank now is 30 hours old, water still cloudy. Feel the rocks too little, still cant get enough rocks, damn difficult to hunt.

Comment for improvement pls.

thanks

[illumnae]

some rocks could be placed abit more to the left, like towards the back under the big sloping down branch. at the moment it feels like there's a divide in the middle between wood and rocks, wood left rocks right...rather unnatural.

more plants would also be good you can search for the plants you like online, take their names down and order with c328 or other LFS that do plant orders. don't need to be constrained by what the LFS have in stock at the moment, and saves you loads of hunting time too!

[StanChung]

Nice setup, I suggest getting more plants to cover the soil. Some weedy plants like water wisteria-Hygrophila difformis This will help the tank stabilize as the good bacteria start to colonize the tank.

----------
If you're planning to get discus, be aware of the water temp discus prefer. 25-28C is a good compromise. The seriously dislike bright lights so design some shade for them.
They're picky eaters-you need to train them to eat XXXXX bits because....
feeding Beef heart in planted tanks is not advisable. ECO-disaster because the mess will mean a seriously big WC. treat them to some frozen mysis and or brineshrimp.[again needs a little training!]
They love blood worms but feed sparingly or they'll not eat the bits.

Plants that have fine leaves[trap dirt easily] or need cooler temperatures are harder to keep with discus.

Size to get?
Sub-adults at 3-3.5".
Juvies at 1.5" need a lot of food to prevent them from stunting. [think about the waste and WC you need to do to keep up!]


Lastly, let your plants be rooted before getting the discus or they will keep accidentally uprooting it with their mad dashes or when looking for food.

[illumnae]

my discus actually love bright lights haha...i "trained" them to stop staying at the back and move to the front to "display" themselves purely by just moving the lights forward abit.

discus size wise, i still recommend getting adults at ~5 inches. i've tried juvs as small as 1.5 inches and sub-adults at 3-3.5 inches, and all end up stunted to some extent or other. if you get anything that isn't full grown, it's highly likely you'll end up with your discus 4-4.5 inches in size max.

i agree with stan's assessment of discus being fussy eaters. if possible, purchase from a reputable source that can assure you that their discus have been trained to eat dried food. i personally am the victim of "beefheart sewage"...my tank developed thousands of little white worms, stank like a sewer and i almost fainted when i opened my canister to clean it after 1 month. the white cotton pad almost disintigrated as it was chock full of rotting beefheart debris. inexperience made me pay dearly don't make the same mistake as me!

everything else stan said i agree fully with...definitely let your plants root well as discus tend to thrash around when agitated. when i introduced the discus into my tank, 1/4 of my hairgrass was uprooted as i had 2 discus lying flat on their sides thrashing around at 1 corner. the soil got whacked up until i could see the base of my tank....very bad experience replanting the grass!

[StanChung]

Why I'm pleasantly surprised you agree partially. lol.

From experience 3-3.5 inches size are great size as you get to grow them to 5"+. A sense of achievement there. They're also very active at this size and open to training. 5"+ fishes are very set in their ways and wants.

[illumnae]

lol i'm not contrary for the sake of being contrary just doing my best to share my humble and limited knowledge

i guess size wise it depends on the individual discus. my personal experience speaks differently, but yours is probably way more considerable than mine