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Thread: Starting a 4ft planted discus tank

  1. #1
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    Starting a 4ft planted discus tank

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    Hi
    I am new to this forum and I look forward to learning from all out here Since young, I have dabbled with aquariums; the last wast about 4 years ago when I had a 2.5ft planted tank but gave that up when I was posted overseas for work. Anyway, I am excited about starting a planted discus tank soon. I have the following in mind:

    Tank 4ft x 24"H x 15"W custom tank (about 55-60G) to be ready 3 weeks from now
    DELighting DIY T5HO light set (54W x 2)
    Eheim 2028 filter
    CO2 injection
    GEX substrate

    Thinking of keeping 4 discus, a school of cardinals, a school of cories and some ottos.

    For plants, I will be sticking to slower-growing low to medium light plants so that I don't have to trim the plants too often ( I tend to get lazy trimming plants -- learnt this when I had my old tank )

    I have some questions for you guys out there
    -is my lighting sufficient for the low/med light plants I want to keep?
    -will the 2028 provide sufficient filtration?
    -where is the best one-stop for me to purchase all my plants at one go?
    -where can I find GEX substrate at a good price (err not sure if this question is within the forum rules.... can't find this info on the forum even after much searching and trawling)

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    Do keep us updated, and when your plans materialise please post photo's to share if possible.

    Even with lower maintenance plants you'll find with Discuss and water conditions you'll always be tampering with various aspects, so it might aswell be with your plants haha
    Verminator

    Aquatic fanatic and keen learner of aquascaping

    The canvas is what you make it...

  3. #3
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    Don't foresee any problems with the lights. You should be able to keep the usual Anubias, Crypt species and mosses without much issues.

    Do remember to plant heavily from the start though.

    What hardscape (wood/rocks) are you going for in this new setup?
    Mizu World - Understanding your Aquatic Needs
    Web: http://www.mizuworld.com Email: [email protected] Contact: +6597857957 (Ben)

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  4. #4
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    THanks guys, I will post updates as I go along but it will be a while yet as the tank's delivery is 3 weeks away Ben, I am intending to use a large piece of driftwood to act as a centrepiece and to create some dark shadows (hopefully to create an illusion of depth). Will be doing a bit of aquarium hopping this weekend to see what kind of plants are suitable. Will try to plant heavily from the start; looks like the bill will come up to quite a bit

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    I think a little more light is better because of tank height unless of course the focus is the fish. In which case, the plants will be fine. The usual problem with discus is temperature, high organic discharge/filtration/WC. You'll be fine if you can keep those under control. I also recommend you to keep white sand fg-foreground. In this case your scape would be focussed on barricading the white sand with smaller stones/wood to prevent the soil from messing up the front.

    Some floating plants are good nitrate suckers if you have good filtration.

    Keeping wild Discus?
    You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung

  6. #6
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    Just go to my website to browse for suitable plants you need. Most LFS here can't tell you much about plants anyway.

    Planting heavily right from the start will save you more money. When problems occur, you usually incur a much heavier penalty!
    Mizu World - Understanding your Aquatic Needs
    Web: http://www.mizuworld.com Email: [email protected] Contact: +6597857957 (Ben)

    Distributor of

  7. #7
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    Thanks guys for the advice, much appreciated. For the substrate, are there any real advantage of going for Gex over a base ferterilizer layer+river sand combo? I am concerned that using Gex may cost much more than the latter option.
    Stan, I will likely stick to 2x 4ft T5 tubes for now cos' I don't want to use up too much electricity and also make me trim the plants more often... Will try lower-light plants and do frequent water changes, but using floating plants as nitrate suckers seem something I will want to try out. NO duckweed, I know I will be keeping hybrids discus.

    Mizu, your website is a great resource for researching on aquarium plants. Will take a look and see what I can get. Thanks.

  8. #8
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    Depends on your setup. Normally better to use the designer soil at the back fro planting and a very thin 1-2cm layer of white sand in front. Separate with rocks or + wood.

    Good luck!
    You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung

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