Father's Day - Please help

[benanddebbie]

Hi

Hope this is the right place to post this.

We have recently moved house from outback NSW to Adelaide. My hubby has got his 6 x 2 x 2 tank set up and has gone through a fishless cycle and has worked on getting a bioload.

At present he has a few plants and a few small fish in there but it is now ready to put discus in (which is part of his Father's day present).

For Father's day we were wanting to help him fill his tank out and spruce it up a bit.

So here are my questions:

For a backing what colour is best for a planted discus tank. Should we get one of those plastic backings with the pictures of plants from the lfs? Or should we put a plain colour on the back like some fish shops do? If so what colour works best?

Next, where is the best place to get driftwood from?

And finally is there a good place to buy plants from?

Thanks for your help the children and I look forward to your responses.

Deb

[riverlanddiscus]

Hi Deb

We have painted the back of our aquarium with a charcoal black paint. We used a product (can't recall name) that primed the surface and then used good quality roller for even coverage. Check out the "journal for my planted aquarium" in this index for a picture.

Not a lot of choice in Adelaide - I bought my plants online. I will pm you with one good store that had great rock and wood last weekend when we came down to Adelaide.

[waitaki]

colour backing depends on the colour of your discus, I prefer the light blue, my red melons and golden albino look really good in contrast but not my snakeskins - which are pale bluemind you those biotype backings look really - I mean the tree stump ones!
take a look through the photo albums for ideas, compare what you have with how other people display theirs.

[TW]

It's largely a matter of choice. I have never liked the plastic backings with the pictures of plants from the LFS. I have always liked plain black. I used the plastic black backings for several years & once I decided that "black" really was the colour I liked best, I changed to painting the back of the glass black. Like riverlanddiscus says, there is priming substance you paint on the glass first - it makes the paint stick to glass. Forget the name, but hardwares stores will know.

But, I would stay away from paint unless you are sure. You can scrape paint off, but that's a bit hard to do, on a full tank that is fairly close to a wall behind it. The plastic linings can be changed without pulling the tank down, if you decide you don't like it.

If you have a lot of pigeon bloods, their peppering is likely to increase with a dark background. For that reason, a lighter black ground is often recommended (eg blue). I only have 1 pigeon blood (red melon) & the effect has been minimal, but perhaps I have been lucky.

Extreme sell plants on line. Also, try http://www.aquaticdreams.com.au/home.asp

Have fun with the tank.

[pink66]

WHAT A GREAT FATHERS DAY GIFT....

The backing is a personal choice, I would like a painted one but currently have a plant picture (plastic) (it came with the tank) which seems to merge well with the live plants.

As for the plants, I no longer use my LFS as I have found that one of our sponsors - ASA have plants that are of excellent quality and also have a great range. I highly recommend them. (that reminds me, it must be time to order some more :wink: )

http://www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au/store/

hope this helps :D Sharon

[TW]

Yes Sharon, yours does blend in so well. So much so, that I didn't really even notice it is there.

ASA is Xtreme's on line shop, so I was meaning the same place as Sharon (I spelt in wrong - it's not Extreme)

[benanddebbie]

I checked out the store Riverlanddiscus (thank you very much) mentioned and found some great drift wood but the sign says I have to soak it at least one month before using it.

Is that the case. what will happen if i put in the tank? Is there anyway to speed up the process?