My 650 planted discus tank

[shakti]

Hi all,

This is my first post on this forum. I had registration issues that Jason solved, many thamks

I have been keeping discus and angelfish for nearly a year in a four foot planted tank. The fish grew well, and there was a lot of agression. No pecking order in paricular, just general violance. So I broke this tank down

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and moved them to a 6 x 2 x 2 CADE.

The tank is heavily planted , with more than 10 species of plants. The front half is a swimming area with white river sand as a substrate.





Filtration:

Sump.
Water is drained from the tank via
1. A PVC overflow
2. PVC suction

Most of the water is drained via the suction, and a small amount trickle down the overflow. I want to minimise CO2 degassing, while getting some form of surface skim.




More pics to follow.

[ILLUSN]

Love the tank, any chance of some details on your PVC drain setup?

[shakti]

Thanks ILLUSN

The PVC drains are cheap affairs. They are not pretty but they work. Google DIY PVC ooverflow and you will see what I did.

This is the overflow drain. Just a small amount of water trickles down the drain. But enough to skim the surface of the tank


This is the suction drain. Most of the water goes down here. The plan is for it to suck in solids and debri deeper down in the tank. I use a 5W Hydor Koriala pump to circlate water from the other end of the tank.


Both these drain empty into a capped 100 mm PVC stormwater pipe I salvaged from a building site. Its sort of a wet dry, as the water empties above the water level in the sump. I capped it to minimise CO2 loss. I use Hydroton clay balls as a bio media. Cheap, and buoyant. The inflow from the tank makes them behave like Kaldess media reefers are so fond of.

[shakti]

The return pump is a Blagdon 5000LPH 65 watt. There are more economical (energy consumtiom wise)

Some of the return flow is recirculated into the sump. A two outlet garden hose attachment diverts the flow
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One arm goes into a DIY purigen/ carbon reactor
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Another arm goes into a modified micron filter i pit together. Its not bad for polishing water

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CO2 is injected directedly into the return pump. I get a lot CO2 mist.
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[shakti]

The plants are doing well. Discus tanks are not great for plants but I am happy so far.
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Lighting is about 8 hours of LED's, using Maxspect Razor and a pair of 160WE Kessils. I dose something like 10ppm nitrates and 1 PPM PO4 twice a week. Traces are every other day.

The fish are fed profusely, 4X/ day with a timer and a blended much of turkey, garlic, and spirulina once a day.

Water change is 50% once every 10 days or so. I use the water to flush toilets and water the garden.

There are about 10 plant species in there.

Fauna, other than discus are blue angels, a veiled angel, some L number plecos, a small school or cardinals, rummy nose tetras and golden pencilfish.

Thanks for looking. Coments welcome.

[ILLUSN]

love it mate well done!

[Nathan]

very nice! where abouts you from?

[shakti]

very nice! where abouts you from?

Thanks. Keilor East. Do you live nearby?

[shakti]

Did a big trim today, a bucketful of cuttings harvested. I donated some and composted the rest.




The fish behaviour is interesting. My discus are fairly agressive. They peck on my hands whenever they can. They seem to like blowing up the soft, so I sunk in some pellets here and there to give them something meaningful to do. The angelfish spawn often, but sadly the eggs are just another protein source for the rest of the tank, despite the parents best afforts.

[ILLUSN]

discus love to graze off the soft sand, I used to love watching mine blow into it to float up the colour bits and then eat the food. Magnificent looking tank!