6Ft Planted Discus Tank

[bolwin1]

I've finally got my 6ft tank sorted out. It was bought off eBay, but was originally from ND aquatics. Measures 6ft * 2ft * 2ft.

It's not fully stocked yet, as I want to let things settle for a few weeks before adding the final few discus. Plants have been in around 5 weeks & most seem to be doing well.

Current stocking level
6 Sterbai Corys
6 Agassizzi Corys
23 Black Neon tetras (bought 24 & one died within a few hours of putitng in the tank)
30 Cardinal tetras
6 Bristlenoses - (fairly young)
4 adult discus
2 Juvi discus - these were transferred from my previous community tank where they weren't thriving, as there were several greedy boisterous fish in there (they were unexpected birthday present from my wife).
Malaysian Trumpet snails
About 30 Cherry shrimp

I have a sneaking suspicion that the discus are slowly picking off the cardinals, but they don't stay still long enough for me to count.

Planned stocking as follows ;

Pics as follows (better ones to come when I get my camera sorted)

Kept at 29C. Filtration - Fulval FX5 & Tetratec 1200 filters.
No CO2, but dosed daily with Flourish Excel & ferts. Silver sand substrate.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JenCliBee]

Looks absolutely stunning mate, stocking looks absolutely fine apart from the agassizzi Corys, the temp is a little on the high side for them. The sterbai on the other hand are ideal and me personally would replace the agassizzi's with more sterbai. Other than that the tank looks superb

 

[Verminator89]

Cracking tank there. Plant growth looks great, and i'm loving the hairgrass at the front. Can't wait for the FTS's!

 

[ian]

wow nice tank!

thats gonna cost you some money on the Excel, have you thought about pressurised yet?


BTW, don't take much notice of that site, you're using to calculate stock, its rubbish.

 

[jaylam]

Really nice tank & gorgeous fish. Good job

 

[walkers101]

looking real good matey

 

[Ferg1985]

Oh my God that is absolutely stunning! What a world of difference that extra foot makes to the ND (should have gone for the 6footer myself! ) The fish look beautiful, the aquascaping is flawless.. seriously cannot fault it

 

[the biffster]

lovely looking tank
i think you are right about the discus
i used to have a breeding pair that
used to love neon's especially just before
they used to spawn once had 7or8 go missing
over night they got snaffled by the discus

 

[stevereade]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome.

 

[simonas]

wow!!!

Fantastic tank giving me doubts now about shelving my ideas for a discus tank

 

[bolwin1]

wow nice tank!

thats gonna cost you some money on the Excel, have you thought about pressurised yet?


BTW, don't take much notice of that site, you're using to calculate stock, its rubbish.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I'm considering the CO2 route, however I'm uncomfortable with the idea of a pressurised gas cylinder in the home (especially as my other half is a childminder & there's little kids around all of the time). I worked out that if I go for the 4 litre bottles of Excel, dosing at 15ml per day costs me around 21p per day. Assuming a cost of £250 initial set up for CO2 & £30 per year refills (I appreciate this varies a lot), the costs work out at around 22p per day over a 5 year period. I do recognise CO2 is 'better' than excel for plant growth, although there's no chance of gassing fish with excel either. Having said all that, the thought of more toys to play with may push me over the edge down the CO2 route

Does the stocking seem OK to you ?

 

[bolwin1]

Looks absolutely stunning mate, stocking looks absolutely fine apart from the agassizzi Corys, the temp is a little on the high side for them. The sterbai on the other hand are ideal and me personally would replace the agassizzi's with more sterbai. Other than that the tank looks superb

Thanks for the comments re the Corys. I spent weeks looking (at least 10 different local & not so local fish shops) & couldn't find any Sterbais locally. I saw a couple of other Discus tanks had agassizzis in, so thought it would be OK. They seem happy enough. About a week after I put the agassizzis in, I spotted an ad in the classified section on here with a few Sterbais & picked them up from about 5 miles away !

To be honest, it's a nightmare trying to catch anything in this tank. I couldn't even catch the poorly black neon until it pegged it. The glass sliders make it tricky & due to the way in which the light is fitted, I'd have to take the lid off completely to take the sliders out, which means disconnecting the heaters & filters etc. first.

I can prune the plants & clean uneaten food up, but anything that moves is too much of a challenge.

Bottom line is anything that goes in, stays in, unless it dies, poses a threat to the Discus, or gets really poorly.

 

[SJ2K]

Get a simple straight on shot and post it for tank of the month, good job.

 

[the biffster]

wow nice tank!

thats gonna cost you some money on the Excel, have you thought about pressurised yet?


BTW, don't take much notice of that site, you're using to calculate stock, its rubbish.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I'm considering the CO2 route, however I'm uncomfortable with the idea of a pressurised gas cylinder in the home (especially as my other half is a childminder & there's little kids around all of the time). I worked out that if I go for the 4 litre bottles of Excel, dosing at 15ml per day costs me around 21p per day. Assuming a cost of £250 initial set up for CO2 & £30 per year refills (I appreciate this varies a lot), the costs work out at around 22p per day over a 5 year period. I do recognise CO2 is 'better' than excel for plant growth, although there's no chance of gassing fish with excel either. Having said all that, the thought of more toys to play with may push me over the edge down the CO2 route

Does the stocking seem OK to you ?

i used to get a pub size co2 bottle what they use
on the coke and lemonade and stuff like that i only used
to refill it once every 6 or 7 months i don't know where
you would get one now like

you might be able to get one from a main gas suppliers
some one like B.O.C might be able to help

 

[donal]

Stunning setup. Look forward to seeing more pics.