Discus tank longer vs deeper

[SusieQ]

Hi. I've been following the site for awhile and really like the "realistic" discussions. I am upgrading from a 72 gallon bow front to around 125/130 gallon. The tank has 6 adult/semi adult discus, 3 bosemani bows and bn. It's sand substrate, driftwood and plants like anubas mostly attached to driftwood.
The discus are happy but I think I want more room for them.
So my choices are either 6 foot long x 18 inches deep or 4 foot long by 2 feet deep... both would be the same height and about the same amount of gallons just different shapes to the footprint. I know the 6 ft is the more common but the 4 foot x 2 foot would work better in the space.
Do you think the 4 x 2 would work or would they prefer the 6x 18 in???
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks Sue.

[Merrilyn]

Hi SusieQ and welcome to the forum.

What's the height of each tank?

Either size would work for your 6 discus. Even as adults, discus don't spend much time swimming backwards and forwards, like a lot of more streamline fish do, they prefer to hang in the water, almost motionless, or glide along the bottom, blowing into the substrate looking for bits of food.

If the 4 x 2 is better for you, then go with that size. Your fish won't care much either way, so long as they have good water, and plenty of nutritious food.

[ILLUSN]

if you went with the 4 foot lighting is cheaper, and it will be easier for you to clean your filter hoses cause they will be shorter.

I like tanks with a bigger foot print, cause it gives me more felxibility with aquascaping (bigger pices of drift wood bigger plants etc).

As Merrilyn said the fish will be happy either way.

[scuba123cliff]

Remember its not the volume of water but the surface area that is of most importance.Also what can fit and were it fits by doing this you can fit more in makeing your tank look the part .If it is a bad fit in the room you will never be happy with it.

Cliff

[SusieQ]

Hi... Thanks for the quick replies.. I think I am leaning towards the 4x2x2 tank.. but since I have never had such a deep (front to back) tank before, that of course leads to a few more questions.. If this post needs to be moved please feel free to do so..
I am basically transferring everything from the 4ft bow front to this tank and adding where necessary.

As to filter placement... I have available 2 xp3s, powerheads, sponge fileter and airstone.. currently using the airstone and xp3 and discus are fine with the current. Should i use one filter at each end like I would with a 6 ft tank or place them along the sides ..front to back>> would the 2 xp3s be too much or should I use a combo?? I could switcth the outputs to spraybars as well...

Same question as to heater placement... they are submersible so can go anywhere... again along the back or along the sides front to back??

Since its a semiplanted low light tank do I need more light tubes than I now use because of the added deepth fron to back??

Sorry for the long post but I am anxious to get going and do it right for my not so little flat friends.. One of them even laid eggs on the filter inlet tube two days ago... the eggs got eaten but they are the newer ones so I am excited that they are happy enough to lay eggs so soon.. I'm not looking to breed or set up for it, but it wouls be fun to watch...
Thanks again for your help... Sue :D :D :D :D

[ILLUSN]

I'd use both your Xps if you have them, one at each end would be best, you can never have too much filtration. output vs spraybars is personal choice, i prefer spraybars. have your airsones or sponge filter going as well to provide surface aggitation for O2 exchange.

with discus muont your heater horizontal, i lost a beutiful red turk female full of eggs when she tried to lay on a vertical heater.

if you dont have CO2 then dont go too crazy with your light, too much will give you algae, 2 4 foot tubes will be ok for a low light tank, 3 max. any more and you'll NEED CO2.

[SusieQ]

Hi Illusn... Thanks for the info
I always have my heaters horizonal because I feel it heats the water better but now you have given me one more geat reason to do so... I was wondering whether to run them along the back or the sides??? I will be using 2/ 200watts ones...
Same question about the filters.. I will go with the 2 xp3s as you suggest and an additional airstone or sponge filter.. What I was thinking was mounting them on the back (one on each end) but wondering whether to run the spraybars near the bottom of the tank pointing up but should I run them along the back or the sides for better filtering... or does it matter.. usually I just run them along the back but tried an output along the side in my 55 and it does a good job that way also and is less noticeable in the tank..
No CO2 so I think the lights will be ok.
I really appreciate all your help.. and any other hints about a 2 foot deep tank would be helpful.. I'm gonna love putting my driftwood etc in there.. Now just have to find the tank...LOL... Thanks again Sue :thumb :thumb

[gypsy3]

hi all...illusn, i'm confused, help me out here :) now, i've read on these forums that you're supposed to have a lot of lighting for plants. i have always thought i don't have enough.my 6x2 has no co2, planted fairly heavily with swords, anubias and java fern, and i'm having a lot of probs with algae, mainly the long, hairy stuff, and yellowing and dying leaves.the lighting on my tank consists of 2x3ft aqua glow and 2x3ft grolux, a total of about 160w, on for 10- 12 hours a day.what is your opinion - is this too much, not enough? the plants get flourish after a water change (50% twice a week ) and have the fert. balls in the gravel.i'm in the process of getting some flourish excel to try and fix the problem

[ILLUSN]

I was wondering whether to run them along the back or the sides???

that again is up to you, i run mine 1 across the back 1 along the side as thats where the power point is (both cords come out the one hole in the lid)


but wondering whether to run the spraybars near the bottom of the tank pointing up but should I run them along the back or the sides for better filtering... or does it matter..

i run mine near the top, basicly just so i use less hose, in my tanks I try to keep filter hoses as short as possible as i've noticed the filters loose flow with hose lenght. also they provide more surface movement which helps with oxygen exchange. side or back is again up to you. in my rainbow tank i use the sides and the fish think they're swimming up river. in the discus tank i use back aimed to the front and slightly down so as all the waste is pushed to the front for easy cleaning.

[ILLUSN]

gypsy3 high light will only help if your fertz and co2 are in balance. swords, crypts and java fern are all slow growing plants, in such a situations you want to keep your ferts to a minimum.

hair algae in my tanks is ALWAYS caused by excess iron, I used to have massive problems with it in my rare swords tank till i stopped adding the daily ferts and cut back the weekly ferts to 20% of the recomemded dose.

if your tank is a 6x2x2 then its about 650L (160 gal US). so your just on 1w/gal, 2 would be better. if your plants are loosing leaves then something is out of balance. if your swords are loosing OLD leaves first, your proably looking at a potasium defficiency, if the new growth is slightly yellow your looking at a nitrogen defficency. if you get yellow leave with bright green veins you have a magnesium deficiency

swords and crypts are HEAVY root feeders, to be honest I've NEVER grown them sucessfully in gravel. try them in a pot (100mm round will be plenty) with a proper substrate (or use vermiculte and clay 10:1).

the Florish excell will help with your algae, once its gone you've gotta get your plants growing as fast as possible, that means more light and more CO2 (or bigenic carbon like excel), or add some fast grow like wysteria to soak up excess nutrient and just out grow the algae.

[SusieQ]

Hi all... Thanks for all the great imput.

Well I am going with the 4x2x2 and just have a few questions ...
My 6 semi adult/adult discus are in the 72 gal bow now with a sand substrate and driftwood and plants like anubas with an xp3 filter. I also have a 55 gallon running that I am planning on selling. It also has a sand substrate and an xp3 filter but houses cichlids... I have not altered any of the water whose ph in the tanks remains about 6.5.
What I was thinking was to make the 55 a temporary bare bottom, remove the cichlids of course, and move the discus to the 55 along with the xp3 from both tanks. I would keep them there til the new 12o was set up and running.

Question.... should I use the old sand from both tanks in the new one or get new pool filter sand? Along with good bacteria I would probably be bringing some grunge... or could I rinse it all out with tap water & prime and save the bacteria. Would the filter on the cichlid tank have anything bad for the discus in it?
Basically would this plan work and would I see a spike to worry about??? I thought it would be better than cramming them in a small qt tank.
I would only have them in the 55 for about a week and then move them over to the 120 along with the 2 xp3filters.

Sorry for the long post and feel free to move it to another forum if needed. Thanks again for all the help. I really appreciate it. Sue :D :D