Planted Discus Tank First Time

First off I would like to say this forum is amazing. Tons of great information that has already helped me decide on a few things I will do while setting up my Discus tank.

Though I am not new to Aquariums, started when I was about 10yrs old and I am 24 now, I have never really had a Planted tank and have never owned any Discus. I have had very successful tanks over the past 4 or 5yrs. I had 3 plecos that I raised from 2inch Juvys to foot long adults. Sadly I have parted with them due to my tank being 75 Gallons and the 3 Plecos being a foot or so large. I did find out though that two of the plecos found a new home in a 150 Gallon tank that the person bought specifically for those 2. Made me very happy to know they have moved into a larger home. I have also succefully breeded Guppies a few times, not that breeding guppies is rocket science since they did everything on their own and I just watched and feed them.

Anyways off to my question. Not having to much knowledge on planted tanks and discus do you all think it would be a good idea to take the plunge and start off a new tank with Plants and Discus or should I just try a NON Planted Discus tank to get some experience with Discus? I plan to purchase 5-7 Juvy Discus, approx 2-3inchs round and I have been told that Discus love plants, I'm guessing this is so that they can hide from direct light sources.


I will try to provide info of what equipment I have but I am at work so dimensions and such cannot be provided atm.

-75 Gallon Oceanic Tank
-Large Double Sump Emperor Bio-Wheel Filter
-Fluval 404 Canister Filter (I have 2 of these but probably don't need both?)
-UV Light (Was told this is not needed for Discus, but for plants maybe?)
-Don't know my light wattage but it is one tube that spans the whole top of the tank and is pure white color.

I appreciate your input and look forward to sharing experiences with all of you.

Welcome to the forum Phathead.

We do recommend UV units for discus tanks, not for the plants, but because it removes a lot of the floating pathogens that have the potential to make your discus ill.

As you've had experience with tanks before, I think it would be quite okay for you go ahead and put your new discus in a planted tank.

I'd suggest you keep the planting fairly simple to begin with. A nice sand or fine gravel base, in whatever colour pleases you. Your current lighting will only allow you to grow some low light plants, but that's fine. You could have Amazon Swords, perhaps tall ones for the back and some pygmy chain swords for the foreground. I'd also add some nice looking driftwood with anubias growing on it.

Both sword plants and anubias have low light demands, and will thrive in the higher temperatures we keep our discus tanks. Keep your planting fairly sparse to begin, so the young fish have lots of swimming room.

Good luck with your new venture :P

Thanks Merrilyn

I was wondering why other sites said it was useless to use a UV light with Discus as I was aware it killed off bad bacteria/pathogens, so I will definetly use it.

As for substrant I am probably going to us Silica Based Pool Filter sand as I have read here that it is the best thing to use sandwise, but with the plants you mentioned should I add a nutrient substrant under my sand or can they survive without that extra substrant.?


Thanks again for the help.

wtf... I didn't hit the button twice... O well edit to take up less space.

Maybe I can add that I have two heater that I will posistion on each side of the tank.

Amazon swords are root feeders, and there's nothing in the way of nutrients in sand, so the answer is 'yes' you will need to add fertilizer of some kind.

There are a number of tablets and pellets on the market made specifically for that reason.

G'day, heres a link you might find usefull, its for setting up a planted discus tank with swords using a sand substrate http://article.discusnews.com/cat-04/plantsetup.shtml

Thanks a lot I will check that link. And thanks for the info on the Swords.