Journal for my planted discus aquarium

[riverlanddiscus]

I have loved reading other people's journey with their aquariums, so thought I'd give it a go. I currently have a 4 foot tank with very minimal plants that I have just been given. The aquarium is rather tacky with a 70's inspired cabinet. I will take a pic of the old one.

With some good advice (thanks illusion) I will continue to use my Eheim 2227 (which is run as wet only) instead of the AquaOne. The A1's filtration sits in seperate box along the back of the aquarium. Hoping to pick up a second Eheim to work in tandem. My current T5 light will fit across back of aquarium where the filter would normally go. With these 2x56 watts and the Aquaone's 3x30 watts, I am hoping I will be able to grow an number of plants. The Aqua One is a ElGrande 120 which holds 75 gallons or 285L.

Priced a couple of co2 systems frome ebay, sponsors and around me and will probably grab from ASA in a month or two.

I have been given 6 bags of JBL AquaBasis Plus as substrate. I really wanted Eco-Complete so thinking of putting the JBL in first as I want a 4 inch level towards the back corners and covering that with Eco-complete.

I have chosen a great (well I think so) piece of driftwood which I have no idea where to put so feel free to give advice. Very open to it. I will add pics later tonight and my current plant list.

[riverlanddiscus]

Here is three pics.

[riverlanddiscus]

Another view of the old one and the new AquaOne.

[AHC]

Hoy Hoy,

Nice start. in a weird kind of way i like the old 70's style cabinet. but the new one definately looks sleeker. Im thinking you should have the drift wood slightly off centre to wither the right or left (golden ratio). the other little dark peice which is currently off to the right, have about 2 inches off the side of the big peice. Then scape the plants around this. Just my thoughts though. Keep the pics coming. :)

[riverlanddiscus]

Ran out of time to post the pics. I tried to put my large driftwood in the aquarium but it didn't fit, so I guess that it isn't just large, but enormous. Thinking of splitting it into two and try to scape with that.

Thanks ahc for reply. Didnt really make it clear - not sure what I am doing with my current smaller driftwood. I will have a look when I throw in the larger piece (s).

[riverlanddiscus]

The driftwood which doesn't fit!!!

[riverlanddiscus]

In half and placed to see if it looks ok?? I know it's early days but thinking this is the best placement for it. Not in the centre, but ......

Any other ideas??

[riverlanddiscus]

another view

[Matt15]

Shame about the driftwood being too big but good news that you finally got it to fit in there. It does look enormously big for that size tank but its all about the tank setting and what plants/subtrate u use to make it work in there. I'll be watching in anticipation....=)

[AHC]

Oh ahahaha. i thought you were talking about the other peice. yeah thats a much better peice. I like it!

[riverlanddiscus]

The OH brought me 5 bags of JBL AquaBasic which seems to be good but I haven't found much reviews on the internet?? I will be covering this with 2-3 bags of eco-complete - please give suggestions on this.

Plant list presently looking at is:

amazon swords
dwarf hairgrass
glosso ?
HC
Blyxia
Val
Some sort of crypt ?

[lpiasente]

That was 10 days ago. Any updates :)

[riverlanddiscus]

We put in the JBL and thin cover of coarse sand and 10 days later, it was still so cloudy. So back to square 1 - going to Adelaide this weekend so will be buying some eco to cover jbl. Had a huge plant order delivered today so they have been put into smaller tank until monday afternoon. Also picked up sera co2 system with digital control from ebay. Great price too!

Anyway main update will be monday/tuesday.

[riverlanddiscus]

Today was busy!! Planting glosso - never again. We have a new piece of wood which looks fantastic. We have put about 3-4 cm of aquarium sand over JBL so hoping that will work. Trying to keep a clearer swimming area on the left but now the aquarium looks right heavy.

Take a look at the pics and let any suggestions are great.

[riverlanddiscus]

A really bad pic of really great driftwood.

[riverlanddiscus]

Tank shot - again really bad photography. Sorry about my hand, camera, tv, lounge, etc

[riverlanddiscus]

All of the plants have been planted but very open to any suggestions and layout is pretty average!

I had read up so much on co2 systems that I thought I knew enough to get through. Wrong! Ph level started at 6.4 (what comes out of the mains) so hooked up co2 with controller and within 1 hour, controller alarms as ph dropped to below 5. Checked kH and showed to be less than 2. (I think that is the number or is it 200?)

Anway, couple of pics to follow of different angles of aquarium and very sparse glosso.

[riverlanddiscus]

Middle Section

[riverlanddiscus]

The occassional bit of glosso!

[riverlanddiscus]

Another pic!

[riverlanddiscus]

An update just a few weeks after! We have co2 going in at about 1bps but is controlled by a Sera co2 system with a hired co2 cylinder. Aquanone lights are put on at 9.00am (100 watts) and the t5 (2x54w) are timed to come on between 12.00 and 9.00. Ph is set to 6.4. Fertz are dino dung, spit and pee.

Plants: (at a guess) java fern, vals, lotus, blyxa, hair grass, java moss, amazon sword.
Fish: discus, red nose rummy, neons, corys, bristlenoses, picto catfish, glass shrimp

Pics to follow.

[riverlanddiscus]

Pic 1. Tank shot.

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Pic 2.

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Pic 3 - Discus.

[riverlanddiscus]

Towards the right hand side.

[pink66]

You should be very happy with the way it is coming along.. The fish look very comfortable swimming around in there..and if I am not mistaken.. in the latest set of pics (pic 2) wanting to know where is the food :lol:

Well Done.. :wink: :wink: