29 gal Discus Tank

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newby2tropicalfish

Small Fish
#1
Oct 22, 2002
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#1
My birthday is in November and I've asked for a 29 Gal tank. I want to set it up for the most beautiful fish I've seen...the dicus...what do I need to set this tank up so that I can care for these very beautiful but also very expensive fish? What water conditions do I need? I currently have a 55 gal community tank and a 5 gal grow out tank for my girlfriends baby mollies...
thanks in advance for any help!
 

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Lynn

Medium Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
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#2
Well 3 discus and maybe a few otos is about the max for a 29G. Well discus need high temps 84-88*F, pH around 6.2-6.6, moderatly and moderatly soft water. They like live plants and look great swimming threw them. The need a diet mainly of frozen foods. I use beefheart(homemade kind, not the kind from the LPS), frozen bloodworms, frozen krill, discus pellets, FreezeDried bloodworms & spirulina flakes. You will need excellent filtration, preferably a canister since it doesn't create so much water movement. If ya wanna keep discus you must like to do waterchanges, IMO twice weekly of 20% is oK more is better. Thats about it, discus arn't hard if you give them what they want. GoodLuck! :D
 

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newby2tropicalfish

Small Fish
#3
Oct 22, 2002
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#3
A canister on a 29 gallon tank? I've always thought they were used on 55 gal and larger...What's a good canister and where might i find one? how much do they run? Does anyone have a picture of otto's? I have heard alot about them but I don't have any idea what they look like!
Thanks again!
~Phillip
 

L

Lynn

Medium Fish
#5
Oct 22, 2002
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#5
There is a canister filter for just about any size tank. Most of the time it just isn't practical to use a canister on a small tank. But for discus the benefits out weigh the #1 drawback and thats price. I would def. buy online, www.petsolutions.com is good. I think the Fluval 204 would be a great choice for your tank online it shouldn't cost more than $75.
 

L

Lynn

Medium Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
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#7
Well for 1 it houses a lot more media than a powerfilter, and it doesn't create as much current. Discus don't like that much current but they need some extreme filtration therefor a canister is the best choice. I'm not saying other forms of filtration wont work, but a canister IMO is the best option.

I would use:
Fluval Foam
Ceramic Rings-never needs replacing just rinsed
Fluval Prefilter
and Fluval Peat fiber-helps stabilize pH.
 

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ryanp15

Superstar Fish
#8
Oct 22, 2002
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#8
Okay here's something else I should say. 3 is definitely the max! 2 would be best in my opinion but I like to understock myself. Makes for a more stable environment sometimes and won't allow so much disease spread and so on and so on. I agree a canister is the filter for a discus tank. Eheims are good as are fluvals. What kind are you looking at? And one more thing, how much experience do you have? Not a cut down but I notice your "newby2tropicalfish" so if you don't have a whole lot of experience I wouldn't take the risk and get them just yet. I have never kept them myself (personally they are to expensive right now on my budget!) but I do know plenty and I know they are sensitive. And you are not going to be able to get them right away. Your tank must cycle and become stable first. And I know some people suggest letting a tank run for at least 6 months before you ever add a discus. Well I have said enough and I wish you well with your discus just don't get into anything your not ready for. I'm sure you could do it as could everyone but you have to be careful with expensive and sensitive fish like that though. ;D
 

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newby2tropicalfish

Small Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
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#9
ryan..I have had a 55 gallon community tank set up now for 6 months...but I have had other aquariums in the past.  

I stopped by my LFS and they told me that the Eclipse Hood and filter combination would be a good idea for my new tank...matter of factly they have a 29 gal tank set up w/ that hood and 3 or 4 discus in it. The fish look great and the tank looks awesome w/ the all-in-one hood on top...anyone agree or disagree?

I am thinking of cycling the tank w/ some cardinal tetras and otto's..good idea ??? ???

Thanks once again
~Phillip :)
 

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ronrca

Guest
#10
#10

Personnally I would never ever cycle with fish and especially not cardinal tetras and ottos for a number of reasons. #1- especially not with cardinals and ottos is because they are a little more sensitive than ....lets say white cloud minnows. You will find that the cardinals will die and probably your ottos too. Cardinals also tend to be a little more expensive than white cloud minnows.
#2 - when using a fishless cycle, you can build a larger bacteria culture than the traditional cycling. This is the one reason I love fishless cycling. When the tank is done cycling, you can add the full fish load without having to worry about the tank cycling over again because of the increase fish load.
#3 - fishless cycling does not kill any fish
#4 - fishless cycling is much quicker

Read some of these articles:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/faustus/nicoldaquaria/cyclingmadness.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/faustus/nicoldaquaria/fishless.htm

I used fishless cycling in my 90G. I now have 6 Discus and 1 German Blue Ram in it. The tank was set up in April. Cycling took me 5 weeks (most of which I didnt know what I was doing until I read the above mentioned articles). When I did start the fishless cycle, it took about 4 weeks. The first week I tried with 20 whitecloud minnows (which lived through the whole thing). I hope it helps.
 

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newby2tropicalfish

Small Fish
#11
Oct 22, 2002
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#11
all I have to say is WOW! thanks so much for that information...I never realized the problems I was casuing my fish!!!!!!

now that I have that down what about the eclipse light and filter hoods?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE INFORMATION!!!
 

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ryanp15

Superstar Fish
#14
Oct 22, 2002
1,130
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#14
Okay sorry newby. I seemed like a jerk there didn't I? I just didn't want you to be mislead and I wasn't sure how much experience you've had.

Yes fishless is the way to go. I did it with my 10 and I liked it much better than the other way of cycing, and you don't have to waste money on fish. ;D

Now onto the eclipse hood.... I would not suggest it as I like the canister the best. It will be much better in the long run and you will definitely like it more. And if you ever decide to get more lighting, for plants, then the eclipse won't work. To many disadvantages. It look nice but you won't really like it when you get it. :D

Onto substrate, what are planning to do with this tank? I suggest live plants. They are beautiful and not really to difficult if you get the right info first. And you can cycle with them, they actually like the ammonia and such. If you go live plants a layer of flourtie and then a layer of gravel will look great and give you awsome results with your plants. Unfortunately I couldn't get any flourite for my tank so I have to use fert sticks. You will definitely like live plants and I say go for it!!! ;D
 

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newby2tropicalfish

Small Fish
#15
Oct 22, 2002
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#15
I'll have to look into flourite...i'm not sure if i can get it or not...i'm sure my LFS can order it for me...what are the exact advantages for using the flourite? I LOVE live plants...i'm a little scared of using CO2 injection...in talking with a few people around here they said they knew people that hooked up CO2 and it killed everything in their tank!...

so can you guys help me set this up? like from the gravel up? I have found a 29gal tank...used...with hoods light...heater and undergravel filter...use that in combination w/ canister or is that pointless?
I've found the fluval 204 for $100...any other places for a better price??

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!
 

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ryanp15

Superstar Fish
#16
Oct 22, 2002
1,130
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#16
Well the tank sounds good except that the UGF (undergravelfilter) will not work in a planted tank. So you can scrap that and just get the canister. I would suggest going to www. aquabid.com and looking for a canister. They are much cheaper online. :D

Like I said I've never had flourite so i'm not sure of the exact benefits but I know that it helps the plants get more nutrients and grow better. Well I think. I know for a fact that you will want some if you can get it though. I will look into the flourite some more for you.

Now for CO2 I don't use this either, not enough lighting in my tank. But if you have high lighting (which I suggest!) then you need to use it. It's not hard and shouldn't kill everything if you do it right. It can also lower your Ph for you. There is a good article at www.aquahobby.com on DIY CO2 which is cheap and effective. Good luck. ;D
 

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Lynn

Medium Fish
#17
Oct 22, 2002
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#17
www.petsolutions.com sells the Fluval 204 for less than $75. I have used Flourite, its good stuff. But the best planted tank I have now has catlitter for the substrate. Hartz pH 5 catlitter, it lowered my pH from 6.8 to 6.4(great for discus). It is just clay based substrate, like flourite any small grade clay based substrate will make plants want to take off. The catlitter doesnt pack down so the roots really take off. You will need to rinse and rinse and rinse, you will NEVER get the dust completely off. Rinse it until you are sick of rinsing the put it in your tank, and do waterchanges until it clears. But just let it filter/settle out within 24 hours it should clear up. You will need lighting, good lighting if you wish to grow plants. IMO a min of 55 watt. A high output strip would be good. I have never used co2 and never intend to, my plants grow extremely well without it. IMO good lighting, good substrate and weekly fertilizing is all it takes. A few amazon swords and a piece of driftwood would look nice in your tank. Because of the high temps discus need alot of plants just wont take the heat. IME the sword plants fair the best with the temps. Oh yes I agree ditch the UGF it is pointless. I would also invest in a new heater, one that is fully submergible a Visi-Therm 200 would be adequate.
 

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ronrca

Guest
#18
#18

Many good suggestions here and I will not try to repeat them. However, some more suggestions that have not been discussed yet.

Flourite is very benifical because it provides nutrients that the roots and hence the plants require. Regular gravel is not adequate because of the lack of nutrients. If you want real plants, flourite is a very good choice. Seachem recommends 50/50 mixture. The choice of gravel I used was from a landscaping place. I got the smallest river or rainbow gravel that I could which is 2-3mm. It is very cheap ($2.5/5 gallon pail), looks nice and easy to clean. Make sure the gravel is at least 3" thick.

CO2 injection will not kill your fish. pH will. CO2 lowers the pH by forms carbonic acid. If CO2 is added to quickly, the pH will drop and sudden pH changes will kill fish. If you are using the fishless cycle and start right away with CO2, you will not have any problems. The thing to remember always is sudden changes will kill fish.

Like mentioned, stay away from undergravel filters. Go with canisters.

About the light, what wattage is it? Real plants need about 2-3 watts per gallon. If the light is not enough, you can go to Home Depot and buy some fixtures cheap. Another thing to remember is that dont buy everything in a fish store. They tend to be expensive and most of the time you can do it yourself. There are many resources avaible on the net like this message board. Just ask and we can give you directions.

Hope this helps. I know what it was like about a year ago when I first started.
 

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newby2tropicalfish

Small Fish
#20
Oct 22, 2002
25
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#20
My LFS told me they would match any prices..I wonder if they will match online stores...hmm...WOW...thank you guys so much for your help...I'm seriously thinking of making my own hood...should I go ahead and get the full spectrum lights?

alright...let's start printing this stuff all out...

oh yeah...what about using brick chips from the local brick plant? I know you can get that stuff cheap....anyone here have any ideas on using that stuff?

Thanks again...
 

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