New to discus

[chriso55]

Hi Everyone new to discus new to discus forum, any help will be much appreciated,
Have purchased 540L tank 1200x750x600 and are looking at running the following,
2000L/H Canister Filter with Black Bio Sponge, 1000g quartz noodles, 1500g ammonia remover,1500g active carbon and white pad, it has been suggested I also run a 1800L/H internal filter with adjustable water flow and air venturi for extra water areation and 2x 300w heaters.
Any advice on this setup would be great
Last a couple questions
What lighting should i use?
Do i still need an air pump with this setup?
Kind Regards
Chris

[scott bowler]

hi chris it all sounds good i would still run a air pump ,as for the lighting that realy depends on if you are going to have a planted tank or not. with the filter that you have active carbon realy only has a life of a few weeks i wouldnt run it all the time. if you do you will have to change it every few weeks. well hope this has helped a little all the best with it scott

[samir]

I'd get rid of these and fill her up with just the pads and Seachem Matrix.
Black Bio Sponge, 1000g quartz noodles, 1500g ammonia remover,1500g active carbon

[chriso55]

thanks Scott & Samir for the info it will be a planted tank looking at c02 systems now
take care
Chris

[apistodiscus]

Hi Chris,
nice size of a tank but you don't need all that much filtration. Discus are not particularly fond of too much water flow. Personally, I would opt for the cannister filter, stocled with siporax and various coarseness grades of sponges and fine filter wool on top of it.
An even better option would be a sump. If the tank is still empty get it drilled accosdingly or if that is not an option , built or buy an overflow box. You will increase your water volume dramatically. Sump filters can be left for years without any maintenance apart from changing the filterwool that stops all the coarse stuff on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. You can also hide your heaters and CO2 sytems in their out of sight of the main tank.

Should you decide on an internal filter don't go fo anything fancy. A lot of European breeders go with a system called 'Hamburger Mattenfilter' Google it, there are plenty of Geramn websites on it and Altavista does a pretty good job in translating it into English. The system is dirt cheap to set up and is very low maintenance. All you need is a powerhead and a filtermatt.

If you are pumping in CO2 on the one side it makes very little sense to add additional aeration. All this will do is get rid of theh CO2 again.

Hope this makes sense