can anyone see a problem when building this background

[jagz]

http://www.catfishheaven.net/day1.html

Can anyone see a problem when building this background for discus?
Does anyone think that using any of that stuff could cause a problem for discus?
Would i be able to lower the ph enough?
thanks guys

[ILLUSN]

should be ok just make sure its wel sealed as water can enter styrofoam nad realease toxins. as for lowering the ph, eventually the peat will be exausted so you'll have to keep an eye on it every water change, one the ph starts to climb you'll have to start filtering your water through peat to maintain yourt ph.

[Professor_J]

It could work as a background. Personally I'd be more concerned with leaching minerals from the concrete than anything that might come out of the styrofoam if you didn't happen to seal it super well.

Contact area with styrofoam + rates of leaching from the styrofoam and ease of that water mixing with main tank = not much organic getting into the tank. Plus you have bugs in the filter and maybe carbon in the filter or bugs in the root systems of plants (if yours will be live) that could take care of whatever comes out of the styrofoam.

I'd make sure to do lots of leaching of the concrete. You should be able to leach all the excess hardness and caustic out of the concrete, but it will probably take a while.

[fishgeek]

friends over here have done similar and they did find that the background raised the pH for quite some time

obviously not ideal with discus

maybe a latex sealant could be used rather than a concrete one?!

[scuba123cliff]

You could try and use a two pack epoxey resin to cover the job as a last coat over the entire thing .I have played with this idea a few times and it seems to work with no water changing effects.
Cliff

[jagz]

thanks guy i might try it on a smaller tank first to see what affects it has if any and i will post my results and let you know if i will go ahead in my main tank