South American Discus Community Photo Update (April 27, 2014)

[Tautog]

Hello friends,

It has been a while since I posted images of my South American Discus Community environment. I have learned many more lessons along the way about community species... Discus are all doing fine... however, I learned a little something about dwarf cichlids... (1) German Blue Rams do best in my Discus community (2) I experimented with 4 species of Apsitos (Macmasteri, Cockatoo, Agassizi and Borelli)... and discovered all my males dead due to aggression against each other and now I only have females... (3) I love Hatchetfish and have 3 species living together on the surface... (4) 87-88F is too hot to keep plants alive and so I have balanced at 83.5F... small fish thrive, Discus are still spawning regularly and Amazon Swords are not melting.

OK, I am going to the NADA show this summer and very much looking forward to learning more. I am setting up a Discus breeding tank this summer so my daughter and I can have a project together raising fry. I have been reading up on the subject and look forward to hearing from the pros in June...

Question: Have anyone read Blehers Discus?

Photo Update:

















































Thank you if you are this far into my photo gallery... Picture are not perfect as they are from an iPhone but they tell somewhat of a story about a Discus community tank now 9 months established...

[cm12setx]

that is to cool. man love the pics. that looks so good.

[AHP]

They look great! I am thinking of going Discus as well, your tank is only motivation. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

[Tautog]

Thank you all for the feedback... I work hard everyone weekend to maintain the tank... takes some effort but enjoy the return on investment...

[moganman]

Very beautiful. I want to do something similar. Share some of your equipment and plant selection if you don't mind.

[Outofexile86]

Great tank! Making me want to make a discus tank

[beto]

Awesome setup and very clean. Thanks for sharing

[fishmania21]

Man, I just wanted to get back to Discus after seeing your pics......Nice tank bro.

[Tautog]

Your welcome. I'm considering a second tank this summer.

[Tautog]

Sure... I have x2 Fluval Fx6 canisters and x2 Eheim 2217 canister filters with one pulling water through a Coralife UV Sterlizer. I have a 300W and a 250W Eheim Jaeger heater but I only run the 250W and turn on the 300W to speed up a return to optimum temp of 83.5F during extensive WC activities once a week. I have two lighting systems that run on two separate timers. One turns on first which is dimmer light then the other on an hour later which is brighter light for growing plants... the brighter light turns off an hour before the dimer light and the same general cycle repeats in the morning but for a shorter duration. I have x2 Hydor powerheads... one is 250 GPH and the other is 400 GPH. The are placed at opposite lower ends of tank toward the bottom. The faster is toward the back and push debris to the large Fx6 canister intakes. The other ensure no dead zones in front of tank. I am 90% bio media and 10% chemical media in my canister filters. I use both ChemiPure Elie and Purigen... I do a 70% WC once a week with 60G of RO and the rest tap using Discus buffer and Prime on the tap. I dose the Amazon Swords with Iron, Comprehensive blend, Potassium, Nitrogen and Excel (Carbon) and I use root tabs...