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460g Acrylic discus tank

5K views 25 replies 14 participants last post by  Eric Mraz 
#1 ·
Hi everyone, I set this tank up about 11 months ago. The plants were not doing very good due to the high volume of water changes so i just planted them in pots using miracle grow organic potting soil, so far there doing allot better. I have been growing out my discus in the tank since they were 1 1/2" in size, and now they range from 3" to 5". My setup is the following.

460g acrylic tank
2x2x4 foot sump
2000 gph pump
Gravel bottom
4 5000k led lights/ 2700 lumens each
17 Discus
100g water storage tank with auto refill constantly drip fed into tank.
No Co2 or fertilizers
 

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#4 ·
My tap water is soft and didn't use any fertilizers. With potting them they should get most of the nutrients they need with the soil. Any suggestions would be appreciated, I,m a newbie with plants somewhat. I have high nitrates in my well water and am using my water softener with special resins to remove the nitrates for my discus. Nitrates are 80ppm straight out of the well, with water softener 5-10ppm.
 
#6 ·
Thank you, I have a floor drain that the overflow water drains into and runs out to my yard. I plan on adding vals in the future, I wanted to wait to make sure the discus were doing good first. Most people don't recommend a planted tank and discus. I'm also not sure about my lighting, they are led shop lights in the 5000-6000k range. This was my dream tank after i had a mishap with a 250g glass tank that cracked and flooded my living room. Live and learn lol
 
#10 ·
it might be just me but that seems like very little light over that tank. assuming around 90 lumens/watt. you have around 120 watts over 460 gallons. that's about a quarter of the light I'm planning on placing over my upcoming big planted tank. if the plants seem pale or stretched out I would add another 4 lights. maybe try adding some warm white to get more red in the mix. just my 2 cents. would love to see more of the progress of the tank.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for all the comments. I bought the tank from Tenecor, and took me a year before i was ready to install it. I had to build a fish room inside my garage so i could build it into the wall. I'm not sure about the correct wattage I need for the tank with using leds, wish i had a lux meter to test it. so if i was to add a warmer light to it, should it be around 3000k? The picture below is my son, hes 6'2" and 230 pounds.
 

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#17 ·
Wow. I was excited about the 225g I just got. But that is impressive.

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#22 ·
That tank is amazing. Its going to look great filled out with plants. I have always wanted to go big but I live on the second floor in a 200+ year old house. Maybe my neighbor would be willing to have a few support posts in the middle of his living room ;)
 
#23 ·
If your plants aren't doing too well, I always use co2 they grow and thrive a lot better. Not sure about miracle grow as I'm not sure what effect the chemicals will have on the fish. Hagen sell a yeast canister with stabiliser for the co2 that lasts about a month. I've always had great results without harming the fish
 
#24 ·
This was a 450 that I did: looks to be very close as far as sizing.

Your tap is softened water? eg, is that through a salt (NaCL or KCL?) exchange or an RO unit?
You should get a reservoir(200-300 gallon vertical tank) and RO(500-1000gpd + a booster pump), plants will never do well with all the salt.
At 80 ppm of NO3, this has to be well water.



1200 gallon Discus(has 700 gallon RO tank and a 1000gpd RO unit).



I would do the RO, CO2 and then add a simple automated water changer. Something where you turn one valve and drain the tank to say 40%, turn another and it refills with the RO tank water, eg, via sump pump/powerhead. You should make that as simple as possible.

I'd also get some serious wood in there.
 
#26 ·
Yes it is well water and i would use an ro filter, but i have a constant pressure pump in my well and if i use it my pump kicks on and off all the time to keep pressure in the system. My electric bill went up $40 a month when using my ro filter. I really want a nice planted tank, but not sure i will be able to have lush plants with my water and setup. I do have a co2 tank which i haven't used because I figured I would go through allot of co2 with that big of tank. I did have some nice peices of wood in there, took them out due to a BGA outbrake when i first setup the tank.
im afraid to put them back in (not sure if the wood was the cause of the BGA) At one time i had a 120g heavily planted with Co2 and the plants were doing great with the same water. i did use eco-complete for substrate.
 
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