tank setup

[ahsan]

hello :)
back again with a new topic ,, i just removed gravel ,, it really was causing all sort of troubles ,, even with daily water changes i was not able to control fin rot ,, apart from that it always gave me a feeling that gravel means more bacteria , coz after all those efforts i got was not able to get a clear water.
The problem is that , i have just setup the tank without gravel and i have lots of opposition that its not decorative ,, coz no gravel means , no plants , and similarly you have to take out some decorations that just look to dumb for a gravel-less tank.
anyway all i need is few pictures , in order to alter my tank in a bit presentable manner , any ideas or pictures would ,, nothing is better if i could get pictures of a bare tank from different people ,, just to have an idea bout what actually rest of the people have done.
cheers
ahsan

[ahsan]

ok , one more thing ,, is that safe to keep honey gaurami with discus ???????????

[flukes]

Put plants in ceramic pots, looks good and still gives the discus a place too hide, although they shouldnt be.

Another great thing about plants is the extra nitrate reduction, just find it a bit hard to clean particles off the leaves.

So now about 5-10mins before a water change i put my hand in the tank and give all the leaves a bit of a shake. After 5-10, the debris settles on the bottom of the tank ready to syphon.

You could also put on a picture background which is always pleasing on the eye, and you can still use driftwood. Although be carefull of sharp points.

I have had some bad damage to one of my favrite fish after dartig into a piece of driftwood.

Other than that, good fish will always make a tank look good.

You will realise when you start too do water changes how easier it makes it, and also how much waste that actually produce that was not noticed as mich om the planted tank.

Not sure about the gourami, but iam sure someone else could help you out.

Cheers
Scott

[ahsan]

hey scott !
can you send some pictures if you have any of your bare tank.??

[kalebjarrod]

is that safe to keep honey gaurami with discus

bit to aggresive at the food, you might get away with it but should one of your fishes get sick thats when thier aggresion for food might hamper thier efforts at feeding.

i agree with flukes, plants in tanks help buffer any pH fluctuation and control nirates

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=210

if you could find a great peice of drift wood and tie heap of plants to it you wouldn't need anything else

[flukes]

Yeah my tank basically looks the same as Ro's tank, linked in Ryan article.

Although i dont have thoughs funky ceramic pots 8) , just plain old round ones in mine. :cry:

[maddyfish]

I don't know about Discus, but I have a honey gourami that is a little fin nippy towards my Angels.

[ahsan]

i do have a plant ,, dont know the name , its roots just cling on to the drift wood , and i grows unplanted ,, also i am lookin for some funky pots , yeah that's a great idea , would certainly be looking forward to it :)
ahsan

[flukes]

Java fern grips too driftwood, along with a few spieces of anubus.

[D.J]

just find it a bit hard to clean particles off the leaves.

Hi Scott, what do you mean by particles on the leaves?
I have a 2 ceramic pots with anubias on them, just like Proteus' one,which I bought almost 2 mnts ago.
Now I have all this red colouration on top of most of the leaves, which I can not get off. Is this the results of the nitrate or the colorbits?
Any idea of how to get rid of them? as they don't look nice at all.

Donald.

[flukes]

Dont know if thats the same trouble i have, but i had 2 huge amazon swords in pots and i never cleaned the gunk of them. They then had ugly black thin coat on the leaves.

So now i give the plants a quick shake through with my hands just to make sure there is no trapped food.