Starting a new tank!

[rogue]

I have been running a 1000 litre salt water reef tank for about 18 months now and am truly bitten by the fish keeping bug!
I have just purchased a 3ft X 14inch x 20inch tank which I would like to set up for discus.
My equipment is as follows:
2 x 30watt aquaglo fleuro's in an aqua one housing
Fluval 402 cannister filter
Hagen Tronic 150watt heater
The questions I have are:
1) is this equipment list ok?
2) is the fillter media that comes with the fluval ok?
3) what substrate should I be using for discuss?
4) how many discus can I keep in this size tank? (keeping in mind that I will be purchasing 3-5" size fish)
Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated

[weird]

you will be pushing past 4 adult discus in a 3 foot tank ... discus get big ... in a round sort of sense ... I am growing 6 juvs in a similar size tank but having serious thoughts about them when they reach maturity in such a tank. Will need to do plenty of water changes !

I think your equipment is fine , except the fluvals usually come with heaps of carbon which you might want to replace with something like biomax biological filter media , as you may have to medicate a few times.

No substrate when starting out, go bare bottom ... but driftwood with plants very very nice as a mid way for a planted tank.

[rogue]

Thanx for the reply weird!
Have just been doing some reading and it is not recommended to keep a group of less then six, for aggression reasons. Was thinking of maybe just going for a pair and aiming for a community type tank. How easy are mated pairs to buy? Do some breeders sell them?
Thanx :)

[kevkoi]

Where are u located for starters?

[ctvu]

Hi

If you are in Syd, you are lucky then, talk to kevkoi, you can't go wrong with his fish

Good Luck

[Trebs]

In a tank that size it may be better to get a pair and keep them with assorted tetras and dawarf cichlids. You really need at least a 4ft tank to keep a group of 6.

Getting a pair as a discus biginner can be tough though. I have 4 pairs and still have trouble with sexing discus.

[rogue]

I am located in central South Australia (near Woomera).
I have purchsed a lot of marine livestock from WA and Sydney and had it flown here, usually via AAE.

[kevkoi]

6 is a good number for discus... but u'll be looking to upgrade your tank or rehome some fish within the next year or so. OR, u could just do what Jim does.... a heluva lot of water change!!! :lol:

[jim]

How many ltr in that tank?? For heater, you need 1W per ltr...I was thinking...maybe 150w heater is not enough (discus need high temp as well).
Maybe SA is much warmer than Syd...then pls just ignore me.. :-)

[rogue]

Thanks for all your replies guys.
I have had a rethink and beleive that this tank is really too small for Discus. I think I'll set it up as a marine FOWLR (fish only with live rock) to house a dwarf lion fish and a snowflake eel.
Will look at building a bigger tank for Discus. Space is quite limted and the largest I could do would be 72"Long x 14"Wide x 18" High. Would this be fine for 6 fully grown Discus? Also would one large Cannister filter and an Aquaclear 500 be sufficient filtration for this size tank?
Thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated.