Plants & Discus

[TW]

Hi there

I'm new to discus, but have had a planted tank now for a little over a year. I'm planning a high light & Pressurised C02 tank and dream of being able to grow the red plants that my current low lights just can't manage (although I already run pressurised C02). I spend time on another planted forum & the gang there loved my discus pics, but have been warning me that I may have trouble with plants now, as some think many plants don't like the higher temps that a discus tank demands. Some say I may experience more trouble with algae & have a more restricted plant choice now.

I have looked at pics here of planted tanks and there are some really beautiful ones.

Is there truth to what I'm being told. Do I need to be a little more careful of plant choices, with the higher temps now that I have discus?

Thanks in advance.

[fish_r]

i only run about 2.5wpg of T5 lighting and Pres Co2, but cant say iv'e had too many problems growing most plants iv'e tried so far. red and green rotala mac goes absolutely crazy. got some ludwigia going really stupid at the moment. also just put some needle leaf ludwigia in a few days ago and it's growing really well too. havnt tried too many other red ones that i can remember other than them, but i dont have really high light either.
i dont really think 3-4c is going to make too much off a difference to what ever u grow if all ur params are right.
but this is only my opinion though. i did have algae problems a while ago but it was more due to not getting the balance of ferts right and using a crappy Co2 diffuser. "like i pointed out to u on AL, since i have got a better hand on them two things the tank has picked up two fold FC :)

[DIY]

I'm no expert, so I'm basing my answers on my personal experience as well as plenty of reading about planted, and planted discus tanks. so you can take it for what it's worth :D

Just like fish_r, I don't have too much problem growing red plants at around 2.7wpg. Rotala macranda grows like weeds in my tank. I get red tints on ambulia near the surface, have no trouble with sunset hygro etc. I'd be careful about going for too much light. I've reduced the lighting period to 8.5 hours to cut back on algae problems, and this seems a common theme amongst the planted tank forums. I can only imagine the problems something like 4wpg would create. I think high lighting will give you far more algae problems than higher temps.

Having said that, my experience is reducing the temp even 1-2c does help reduce BGA growth. I run my tank around 27-28c and it seems a good compromise between plants and discus. At 29-30c my java fern, and java moss stalled, as soon as I dropped the small amount they started to grow again.

I don't think you need to be that careful in your plant choices, in my experience some of them just don't grow as well at say 28-29c as they do at around 24-25c. they still grow ok though :wink:

[ILLUSN]

Discus and plants can do fine together, just pic your plants well. any Rotala will do fine as will any lotus, the newer red swords will also be fine, i'm growing red devil, red october and deep purple at 29C. just watch out for horemanni (red or green), doesnt grow too well above 26-27. all my lants do great at 2.5w with co2.

[TW]

Thanks guys

I think I should be alright then, as by hight light, I only mean around why you are running. When I have both tubes on, it will be 2.6wpg & 1 tube only 1.3. I only intend running the 2 tubes for a couple of hours daily, simulating the "midday burst". I will try to keep the water around 28-29C.

Thanks to all for your replies, it's been reassuring to hear you all have good success. :D

[TW]

Thanks guys

I think I should be alright then, as by hight light, I only mean around why you are running. When I have both tubes on, it will be 2.6wpg & 1 tube only 1.3. I only intend running the 2 tubes for a couple of hours daily, simulating the "midday burst". I will try to keep the water around 28-29C.

Thanks to all for your replies, it's been reassuring to hear you all have good success. :D