# My 125g planted discus tank.



## Saverio (Dec 4, 2010)

Hiya folks! Thought I'd post a few pics of my setup. 

Tank is 6ft 125g planted
Pressurized CO2
daily dosing with dry Ferts
11 discus
3 GBR's
5 clown loaches
10 julii cories
about 100 cardinal tetras

Thanks for looking! 


































Edit:
Ack, pics came out bigger than I anticipated. doh! Sorry about that! I should have put "56K warning" in my title.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

if anyone is using 56K they shouldnt be on the net.....


Great pics mate. now question time, It appears you have 3 of the same strain, first pic, 2nd from right and far left, what strain is that? I got one that came free with an order from discusmadness.com and Im not sure if its an albino rose or if its ????

Very nice, I am enjoying these pics very much, 56K go away.


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## Saverio (Dec 4, 2010)

There are actually 5 of those in there. They are called "Mercury". I know they are pigeon blood based, as you can see by the peppering in mine. They were already adults and peppered when I ordered them, but the breeder gave me a great deal on them, so I couldn't pass them up. *r2

Cleaner versions of Mercury are more white, with a tinge of light blue on their bodies. Mine are all 6"+. 
I also have 1 Penang Eruption, 1 classic leopard, 1 Alenquer, 2 red melons, and 1 white butterfly throwback. Unfortunately, they don't all show up on my pics that I posted.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

Here is the solo one i got, you cant miss em lol










these are the mother of pearls I want really bad, I also need to get a wild green and a wild yellow in this tank.


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## Skybox (Nov 13, 2010)

I love your Setup! Very Nice!


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

lovely tank! Is it not overstocked? Just counting the numbers there seems to be quite a lot in there. I've heard different things about stocking on a tank like this so I'm interested. What your doing looks like it works.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

1 discus per 10g is the rule of thumb but arent recommended for tanks under 40g. 
The filtration a discus tank has is more then enough to filter any dither fish overstocking.


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## Saverio (Dec 4, 2010)

snail said:


> lovely tank! Is it not overstocked? Just counting the numbers there seems to be quite a lot in there. I've heard different things about stocking on a tank like this so I'm interested. What your doing looks like it works.


Yes, I'm definitely overstocked. I do 60% water changes twice a week. And am using 2 Fluval FX5's for filtration.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Yes, I see, I'm not planning a tank with 60% water changes twice a week so I think I'll keep the stock down!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Wow, nice tank.

Yeah, 60% on a 125 twice a week is a tad too much. 50% once a week on 2-125s is plenty for me.


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## BlueSaphire (Nov 3, 2009)

Wow, I absolutely LOVE your tank! Those discus are stunning!


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## agrainger76 (Dec 20, 2010)

first let me say i love your tank. i had a 90 gal fresh with angles and 125 gal salt before but had to get rid of them when i moved. 
i am about to start a new 120 tank and after it has cycled i am considering discus, i don't however want to do water changes twice a week. im thinking biweekly. i might consider weekly. both of my prev tanks were once month approx 30-40%. how many discus would you recomend. and any other suggestions?

my plans are:
120 gal aga tank
fluval 405
magnum 350
im guessing 2-300w heaters(due to higher temp requirements of discus)
not sure on live plants(like them, don't want to get involeved with lights and co2)
how do you do water change, just refill with tap, or are you premaking water(adjusting ph etc) and pumping it in. like i used to do for salt.

also, i believe you said you ordered online. if you were happy with them, where from.

sorry for all the questions, just not 100% sure i want to get involed with discus(love them, lots of work)

thanks


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## Saverio (Dec 4, 2010)

agrainger76 said:


> first let me say i love your tank. i had a 90 gal fresh with angles and 125 gal salt before but had to get rid of them when i moved.
> i am about to start a new 120 tank and after it has cycled i am considering discus, i don't however want to do water changes twice a week. im thinking biweekly. i might consider weekly. both of my prev tanks were once month approx 30-40%. how many discus would you recomend. and any other suggestions?
> 
> my plans are:
> ...


Thanks for the comments! 

As far as starting your first discus tank goes, I'd highly recommend checking out www.simplydiscus.com/forum LOTS of good info there. It's also where I ordered my discus from. Their sponsors have great stock. The two I've used there are Central Ohio Discus (Mike Beals), and Kenny's Discus out of California. Between the two of them I'd recommend Kenny more though, as his customer service is AMAZING and he does an AWESOME job packing his fish. Only problem is that he sells out FAST! 

Regarding your concern about water changes, I do twice weekly mainly because I am heavily stocked. Lots of discus keepers do fine with once weekly. But some do daily water changes! But that's mostly for maximizing growth in juveniles (I bought mine as adult or sub-adult). Daily water changes allow for aggressive feeding (as in up to 5x daily, again, mainly for juveniles). Adults do fine with 1x or 2x daily feedings. 

Another thing you see some discus keepers doing is keeping their discus in species only barebottom tanks. Again, this is for ease of maintenance and allows them to feed heavily and also allows for uneaten food to be more easily siphoned out. Personally, the BB tank look is not for me. Others use pool filter sand as a substrate and use root tabs for plant fertilization. Pool filter sand is easy to vacuum also.

Rule of thumb for stocking a discus tank is typically 1 discus (adult size) per 10 gallons. So as you can clearly see in my situation, I am overstocked as I have quite a few other types of fish in my tank.

Planted or no? The general consensus that I've seen is that if you are going to get juveniles, then do not go planted as it's tougher to get them to grow to their full potential (daily water changes, 5x daily feedings). A great planted tank source of info is The Planted Tank Forum
You'll see there that it's possible to go "low tech" which means lower light, no CO2. There are lots of plants that can grow in low light conditions without 
CO2 supplementation or macro/micronutrient fertilization. A few examples of low light plants are java moss, anubias nana, Amazon swords, Cryptocoryne species, just to name a few. Higher light is where CO2 supplementation becomes necessary, as light drives CO2 uptake, which then usually results in the need to supplement with liquid or dry fertilizers.

Your filtration and heating plans seem fine. I use two Fluval FX5's personally. Others use wet/dry which allows you to hide your heaters and keep the equipment out of the main show tank.

As far as water changes go, the whole "discus need really soft water or RO" really only applies anymore with wild caught discus or if you intend to breed them. The domestic strains are much more adaptable. I do my water changes will full tap water and I add SeaChem Prime for dechlor. 

Hope this helps and good luck if you decide to take the plunge!


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## mwsr (Jan 2, 2011)

nice tank


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## JoCool (Dec 22, 2010)

WoW, You really have a nice setup. I love the plants and the way you've placed rocks.

Go go mate!!!


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## danilykins (Dec 22, 2010)

Very nice, they look great in that long tank!


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## Glorified Panfish (Feb 15, 2011)

What is your substrate that you are planting into? Very nice tank and layout.


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## Saverio (Dec 4, 2010)

It's the stuff they sell over at Aquariumplants.com

I've since rehomed my clown loaches as they were getting too boisterous for my discus as they continued to get larger. 

My algae problems has subsided as well so overall I'm much happier with my setup now.


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## heliosshaun (Mar 5, 2012)

looks amazing .. just wondering what substrate are you using ?


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## allenwang3 (Dec 19, 2011)

so beautiful aquarium ,so beautiful fish.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

Hows the tank coming along? Ill get more pics of the 210g discus I have, I just moved the tank in january and changed alot out on it, I put a solo pic of the day I finished it up in another thread but thats about it.

I just ordered 13 discus and only got 8 left......and thats after two replacement shipments....


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## victor629 (Oct 23, 2012)

Nice tank


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