Planted Tank With Discus

[amy1994]

I am thinking of rescaping my discus tank, making it a planted tank, but i don't want to use CO2 containers, what sort of substitutes can be used? Is flourish excel good?
What substrate is best?
I was also wondering if anyone had any tips/ideas for me

My tank is 120cm x 47cm x 75cm
I am really considering this, but i am new to setting it up etc, so wondering if anyone can help.

 

[amy1994]

Anyone?

 

[simonas]

Dosing flourish excel and trace has not been enough for me in my discus tank lots of the plants have struggled apart from a hygrophilia and giant vallis and the amazon swrds are limping along

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I'm doing similar with a large tank too and to be honest it wont work well without CO2, they may struggle along as Simonas said but also the temp needs to be just below 30c as most plants do best in temps around 26 - 27. Anubias, Hygrophilia, Swords and Crypts will do ok at 30c but most others need slightly lower and given the size of your tank you will need CO2 for anything other than those types, some good substrate and ferts.

 

[amy1994]

Thanks, what sort are good ferts and substrate, as i'm not sure if i should go with sand or just stick with gravel.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

A lot of people on here seem to use TPN+, I use it and its awesome but like I say will require good CO2 and in a tank your size defo pressurized. With substrate something like Colombo Florabase but depending on how much money you have to spend you may want to mix it with gravel or sand (depending on your personal preference)for coverage if your on a budget as filling your aquarium with that will cost a few quid. This all depends on which plants you want tho, what are you thinking of? If they're not demanding you could just use a little fertilizer on water changes but if your thinking of carpeting the foreground and adding some more demanding mid and background plants then CO2, good substrate and ferts is a must really.