Planted tank 6x2.5 getting ready for discus!

[nornicle]

http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/plantedtank1103-1.jpg

http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/platedtank1103-2.jpg

Still considering types of discus, going in to talk to George at Slippery Little Suckers, he knows his Discus, and he can get some pretty cool fish, i'm really considering some WILD discus (heckel, alenquers, tefe greens)

I really like brown discus, but it's at odds with my parents (WE WANT COLOURFUL FISH!)

I don't mind the alenquers as they have a bit of everything, the super red alenquers are really nice, and tefe greens are perenially beautiful...

I prefer more subtle fish, and may start with some red turquiose to make sure I *can* take care of discus!

I will be continually updating pics of this tank, so stay tuned guys!!

n.b this plant was planted only 2 days ago, so i will post updates as it grows in and as i add fish, currently there are 7 congos and a peppermint bristlenose in there

oh and if anyone wants i can post pictures of the 'in the making' pics :P lol

(edit)

Details

Plants (from front right to back left, crypts first)

Cryptocoryne walkeri
Cryptocoryne becketii
Cryptocoryne balansae
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'mi oya'
Cryptocoryne lucens (sold as this but is actually C. willisii X 'lucens' a naturally occuring 'hybrid' plant according to Tropica, although I doubt that the plant I have is the true C. willisi X 'lucens'...)
Echinodorus sp. 'chain sword'
Vallisneria americana 'gigantae'
Vallisneria americana 'natans'
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Hygrophila polysperma
Bolbitis heudelotii
Jungle fern (not sure if its Microsorium or not)
Microsorium pteroptus 'windelov'
Echinodorus'rose' (E. horemanii ''rot'' X E. horizontalis according to Tropica)
Echinodorus 'red rubin' (E. horemanii ''rot'' X Echinodorus barthii according to Tropica)
Microsorium pteroptus
Vesicularia dubyana (although who knows what it REALLY is..)

Fish:

6 x Apistogramma agassizi 'red' tail although god knows where they are now.. I can only ever spot 2 or 3 at a time.
1 X Ancistrus hoplogenys Peppermint bristlenose (I was going to remove him for fear of chomping on my plants.. but for now he can stay - truly a fantastic looking fish)
7 X Congo tetras (I killed 5.... don't ask... :unsure: )
1 X guppy (again.. don't ask :rolleyes: )

Technical

Filter : Eheim 2217 (will be packed full of filter wool + carbon to draw tannins out of water) + 2215 (packed with filter wool and coral sand, will act as a reactor for co2)
Tank Size : 6x2.5x2.5
Lighting : 4 x Arcadia Marine White, 4 X Arcadia Tropical (2 of each in 4ft and 2ft)
Fertilisation : Tetra Hilena Initial Tabs, 'Crypto' Tabs, JBL 'The 7 Balls,' Aquamedic Terralit base, Seachem Flourish and Iron.

The Future:

Plants:

I want Crinum natans growing up and in the left side ( hiding the equipment and providing some shade). I want C. willisi mixed into the fore ground... and possibly grow some more wendtii.. but I will have to watch the evolution of the tank, esp the swords... (note that even in a tank this big, i've only planted TWO swords!!!)

If I had all the plants in the world, I would replace the jungle fern (in my opinion it is of only so so aesthetic value) and replace it with narrow leaf java fern. I would replace all java moss with 'micro' moss and grow christmas moss on the same log as the jungle fern.

Fish:

DISCUS

Technical:

Never fear, DIY pressurised Co2 is on the way. :p I want to add fans to cool the lights, and maybe use power compacts, overdriven normal output lights or metal halides. Another future upgrade is adding another eheim 2217... or selling them all and upgrading to a Eheim 2260 (the cost is the prohibitive part! at least $700 just for the filter ALONE i.e no media)

Stay tuned for more developments!

If you would like more details on how I got everything together from empty tank to planted, I have a journal of the tank on plantedtank.net, you will however have to be a member to view this journal link (it costs the webmaster bandwidth and is image intensive so broadband only) - My Tank Journal (http://www.plantedtank.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4122)

[Essayons89]

Great looking tank.

Bryan

[Proteus]

Awesum layout...

Can you provide some specs as to filtration, heating, lighting etc...

(I love the piece of wood... looks similar to my chunk of swamp wood which I have just placed in my 6ft community tank to allow some plant growth on it before it goes in my 6 x 2.5)

:wink:

[kevkoi]

Well, taking a quick ride into the near future... Nornicle's tank is going to look like... THIS. :lol:
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=110

[nornicle]

yes *cough* that is EXACTLY what it will *ahem* look like!

:shock: @ amano

[Proteus]

Kev!!!

Could ya stop sneaking the camera lens through my windows...

*sighs*

"I wish"

:wink:

[DiscusMan]

Nornicle,

I was at SLS yesterday and seen your fish. Some very nice leopard spotted snakeskins that i can just see swimming around in there. Oh what a thought.

Mind you I wish i could justify to myself but more to my wife that spending that sort of money on fish is worthwhile.

SLS does indeed stock some very attractive fish that i would recommend to anyone looking for fish.

[kevkoi]

Now now, don't go confusing our dear friend Richard.... He's convinced that "Natural" is the way to go... so 6 Red Alenquer browns, 50 rummy nose tetras and 20 sterbai corydoras is the main theme now. :lol:

Confuse him further and he's going to think about getting those 2 leopard spotted snakeskin... then next thing is he's going to get what I call "Noah's syndrome" and buy 2 of every type of fish (pairs).... :lol:

Hmm, wonder if anyone has noticed that b4? "Noah Syndrome" tanks..... 2 of each species. :?

:wink:
kev

[nornicle]

http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/tank5-4.jpg

5-4-2004 update

Going to go pick up some discus tomorrow, the excitement is building..

[Proteus]

Looking good...

[jluna]

looks great nornicle -

i'll be interested to read how yr discus go with congo tetras - i have always found them to be pretty full-on in terms of action and aggression... please write to tell us how they co-habit.

justin

[nornicle]

i was lying in bed the other night considering taking them out :P

but where to put them then?

[Proteus]

Another tank...

(you can never have too many tanks you know)

:wink:

[nornicle]

ta da.. my photos are still over exposed and grainy, but here goes!

Slippery Little Sucker's Discus Red Alenquers!

http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/discus1-1.jpg

http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/discus2-1.jpg

[nornicle]

woops. anyway fish are healthy and eating about 4 meals a day of frozen foods, they dont seem that fussed over color bits!!! ?

[Proteus]

Richard, those Red Alenquers look fantastic...

oh, thats right, of course they would...

:wink:

[Hawque]

Just wondering how the plants will go with the level of light described in the top post?

A post on this site was talking about watts/gallon of lighting required for planted tanks and recommeded around 2 - 2.5 wpg for medium light plants.

For a tank the size of nornicle's that would require around 450 watts of lighting. The lights used provide around 215 watts (about half).

I am thinking of putting plants in my tank (5' x 22"w x 26"h) but only have around 110 watts and was concerned that this would not be enough to provide the plants with sufficient light. I am using 1 x 2' and 1 x 3' dual light battons housing one each of NEC biolux-HG light and Aqua Glo light for each length. Will that be sufficient?

Cheers,

Craig

[flukes]

Depends on the plants. Some plants like swords and java fern gorw nicely in my tank with only 1.65wpg but some plants are classified as medium or light but need exactly between these recommnedations. Give me a list of plants you want too use and ill let you know if anything might need more light.

A great site with great plants is aquaria.com.au
They also list the plants light requirements.
I ordered from these guys and those prices and for top quality plants, i got a few swords for $7.50 and they stuck out the top of my 18inch tank.

But yeah they say medium light plants but some need closer to the high end of medium were as some could live off sunlight, it all depends on the plant.

Cheers
Scott

[nornicle]

once your tank goes beyond sort of a 4ft tank the 'rules' of wattage per gallon drop rapidly Amano in fact uses very 'little' light in his bigger tanks.

in fact, mine is not very high light, but good enough for the plants im growing...

High light (i.e 2 watts/gallon + ) with massive ferts, lots of co2 and lots of stem plants are the staple for very nice extremely fast growing setups, but I am too old now to go pruning my tank every week, I want something I can prune once a year...

I'm 20.

[Hawque]

I was hoping to get some amazon swords, some java fern and java moss. I also like the small plants I see around the front of nornicle's tank... What are they called?

I looked at aquaria.com.au Very nice plants, but can't find amazon swords??? What are they listed as?

Cheers,

Craig

[flukes]

The plants you listed are all in my tank at 1.65wpg and doing well, these are not hard plants to look after. About the foreground plant, any foreground plant will need high lighting due to the fact its on the ground and the light has to reach it, I think glosso would need the least but even that needs a good 2.3+wpg and maybe some Co2. If its for discus and you really want to do a planted tank, (I suggest bare bottom now i ve seen how hard it is in a planted) i would stick to these plants as its minimal matainance and also with ground plants crap gets stuck in them and its hard to get out.
I cant remember what amazon swords are called mirco...something i think? not sure

Scott

[nornicle]

Echinodorus is the amazon aword genus..

in the front is chain sword, the way I chose plants for tank was very much on the level of a) can handle heat and b) slow growing or fast growing in a manageable way for nitrate reduction.

it will never look as good as a well pruned or high light/high maintainence job, but it will save hours of time fiddling with the tank :P

[kevkoi]

Scott, glosso is an extreeeeamely high light requirement plant. One of the hardest plants to get well established without metal halides.

Foreground plants requiring less lighting would have to be various cryptocorne species followed by the echinodorus sp "Chain swords". The broad leaf chainswords are much easer to grow than the narrow leaf ones.

[nornicle]

i wouldn't say that Kev,

glosso will survive pretty much with about 2 watts per gallon.. but wil start growing UP rather than out...

for example I used to grow it under 3 tubes in a 12 inch high 29 gallon tank... and it provided a nice carpet there..

it does require good substrates ferts and co2 dosing to thrive as well.

[Hawque]

Thanks for all the info on the plants...

Maybe it would just be easier to stick mainly with my plastic plants and just get a few live ones... :?

I do like the swords though so I will have to get a few of those.

Don't think that I have sufficient light to get low level plants, particularly since the tank is 26 inches deep... that is a long way down for the light to go.

Would like to get some of those metal halide lights eventually. Has anyone any experience with them??? Do they create a lot of heat??? Can they be mounted inside of a hood???

Cheers,

Craig

[luvfishies]

nornicle, I just have to say, WOW, what a tank!

Well done, those discus are gonna love it in there!

[flukes]

MH are a pain!! They are good though but hanging them from the ceiling or suspending them over the tank, just hassels.
Kev, I grew Glosso at 2.4wpg, The hardest foreground plant i found was riccia (actually a floating), i tried making a carpet with this and got now where it ended up floating on the top of my tank which there it thrived because it was so close to the light.

[nornicle]

Heres a 5/5/04 update of the tank! co2 kinda stuffed up for a while but I've got it all going good guns now.. also had a spate of saddle back *DOH*

whole tank
http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/tank5-5-04.jpg

right side
http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/tank25-5-04.jpg

Red Alenquer Discus - Slippery Little Sucker's stock!!

1.
http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/alenquer1.jpg

2.
http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/alenquer4.jpg

3. http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/alenquer2.jpg

4.
http://img16.photobucket.com/albums/v47/nornicle/plants/alenquer5.jpg

[nornicle]

The colours are actually a little more intense and the pictures a little blurry, the originals are great, but when I convert to JPG they just turn to ratsh.... the pictures becoming less intense and more distorted :(

[Proteus]

As far as I can see, those pics are awesum...

The plants look fantastic, and the Discus...


DROOOOOOL


:wink:

[kevkoi]

Ah, never mind distortion...

Tank and fish still look AWESOME Richard. The Red Alenquers coming around and looking nice now. Now just waiting for the black circle to start showing on the fins (usually happens at 3"-3.5") and tank will look awesome!

see u around... and bring some ground cover for me? :lol:

kev

[AdelaideAnt]

un beleavable fishies, i gotta get me some

Anthony 8)

[nornicle]

oh yah! i'll bring you some crypts as well!

I hear you're getting super red alenquers kev :twisted: ...

[kevkoi]

yeah Richard.. I'm :twisted:

[jluna]

nornicle, yr tank is HOT! very nice work! i think dense planting is the way to go - i went from dense to really open with only 10 large anubius on the driftwood, but u guessed it, thinking of going back to dense...
i think i'm more fickle than my fish!

justin

[luvfishies]

Stunning, absolutely wonderful! Makes me want to up the lighting on the discus tank here......and do some heavier planting!

[ml29]

nornicle

Your tank is inspiring. Sorry for so many questions.

I'm in the process of setting up a planted tank. Have you upgraded your lighting or are you still using fluros? I was considering MH but would prefer fluros.

Do you use a ph controller in conjunction with your CO2?

Any pics of the initial set-up and CO2 unit?

Are all your discus the same variety? some appear to be blue or red turquoise.

Regards

Marvin

[flukes]

You could still use floro's just might need a few reflectors making it hard to access the tank.

[kevkoi]

Gee, don't know if Richard (nornicle) hangs out here much these days... Busy in Uni. :lol:

Anyway, I've seen this tank and I'll tell you what I know 'bout it. I believe richard is still using fluros. The plants are doing well. He did put up an update of it on another forum.

No ph controller on this system.. just a very primitive DIY gas bottle and at one point it was an airstone into canister, but that had problems with the canister getting air bubbles trapped in it. Then he tried using pollen diffusers but they clogged.... I've still got his new CO2 reactor I got for him while I was OS.

All the discus are the same variety bar 2. All are Red alenquers except one red turq and one cobalt, I believe.

kev



nornicle

Your tank is inspiring. Sorry for so many questions.

I'm in the process of setting up a planted tank. Have you upgraded your lighting or are you still using fluros? I was considering MH but would prefer fluros.

Do you use a ph controller in conjunction with your CO2?

Any pics of the initial set-up and CO2 unit?

Are all your discus the same variety? some appear to be blue or red turquoise.

Regards

Marvin

[ml29]

Thanks Kev

Did Michelle pass on my message to your regarding price of red snakeskins?

Regards

Marvin