Changing To Heavily Planted Tank

[PrettyDiscus]

I want to change my 40g tank to a Discus set up, heavily planted. I want to use pressurised co2. I am going to buy a eheim external canister filter. I also have a fluval 4 plus filter although i dont know if this will be suitable to Discus because of the flow. I wanted to know how long should i wait after i heavily plant my tank to add Discus? someone told me to wait a few months but how long exactly should i wait because i dont want to lose any fish. I also want to add new sand as the sand i have is looking old and i rather change it to play sand. seeing as i already have a filter with beneifical bacteria will this start the cycle all over again?

 

[Themuleous]

If you're new to plants I would wait a couple of months to let the tank stabiliser again before adding the discus which as we all know can be very sensitive to water quality issues. That should also give you a change to get used to growing plants before you invest in expensive discus and have two things to look after!

Sounds like a nice setup, what plants you looking to get?

Changing the sand shouldn't cause a full cycle (so long as you keep the filter wet during the sand swap and it doesn't take you hours) but you might get a mini one for a day or two, as the existing sand will contain some beneficial bacteria, but chances are the filter you have a present contains more than enough to keep on top of things. I've changed two of my tanks over to plants i.e changed the substrate, and didn't notice any water quality issues when I tested a few days later.

Sam