Tank with a trickle filter. Suitable Discus Tank???

[pink66]

Hi everyone. I have been out hunting my new tank today and to my surprise when I arrived found that the 5 x 2 x 2 is actually an ex marine tank. It has the usual sealed section in the corner with a hole going through the bottom of the tank to a filtration system in the cabinet. Is this actually suitable filtration for discus?

p.s it is a really nice tank, nice cabinet 10mm glass with bay front.. would make a great planted tank and just needs a really good clean up. I await your advise on the suitability of a trickle system for my discus family. Your answers will make the difference if I say SOLD to this tank or if I need to keep looking.

regards,
Sharon

[DIY]

Opinions differ, but in my opinion sump / trickle filters provide excellent filtration, in general marine requirements are higher than freshwater even discus so if it's good enough for marine, its good enough for me :wink:

I have been running my display planted discus tank with a sump/trickle filter for just under 3 years continous (not torn down and redone like most seem to do) and I can say from my experience it is excellent. It's also handy to hide things like heaters etc in the sump.

One thing to look out for though, poorly setup standpipes and trickle filters can be noisy, I spent a bit of time on mine and now it's as quiet as a quality canister.

[pink66]

Thanks, do you find that you need to clean out the filter as often as a normal cannister or does it have the ability to go longer?? Also, do you use the same media as a cannister or leave it as per a marine set up?

cheers :?

[DIY]

I'm not sure how the 5x2x2 you have looked at has been setup but mine has bio-balls as media with a filter pad / filter wool material section on top. It's easy to change the filter wool/pad, much easier than cleaning a canister and I change it weekly to keep the water clean.

Whatever media is in the filter should work ok, typically in a trickle filter it is bio-balls or something similar. If there is any crushed coral or other water hardening material like that in the sump then it should be removed for discus.

Are you considering setting it as a planted tank with CO2? if the answer is no to CO2, then I'd go for it.

If you are considering CO2 then you may need to fiddle with the trickle filter to ensure it doesn't waste CO2 as trickle filters "can" increase the rate of CO2 loss. Nothing that cant be overcome but It will come down to how much you like to fiddle (or not :wink: )