55 Gallon Discus Project

[BradC]

Hello everyone!

I started this tank back on 11/1/2010 and finally have time to start a journal.

There has been a lot of changes since I first setup the tank and will post all pics and info from the beginning and then from this point on.

I have had great success in the first month/month half then started getting a large algae outbreak on all my plants. Not knowing exactly what the problem was I tried several things to narrow what the main cause might have been.

The tank it self is as follows:

-55 gallon tank (48" x 13" x 21")
-Stand from walmart for 55 gal tank (had this for years and used it for my previous tank about 5+ years ago)
-Primo CO2 System from GLA (5 and 10 lb tank for when one runs out)
-Eheim Pro 2 Series 2026
-Jager 200 watt heater
-Hydor Koralia nano water pump
-Aqua Soil Amazonia II (3X 9 liter bags) bottom layer, Aqua Soil Amazonia II Powder Type (2X 3 liters) top layer.
-ADA drop checker
-ADA glass diffuser
-Sundial T5HO 48" (running only 2 of the 4 T5HO bulbs)

Plants:

-Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis)
-Rotala 'nanjenshan'
-Ludwigia Peruensis
-Heteranthera Stargrass (Heteranthera zosterfolia)
-Green Temple Narrow (Hygro Corombosa)
-Glossostigma (Glossostigma elatinoides)

[BradC]

Aqua soil, check! Driftwood, check!


I work 3-midnight so it took me 2 nights (or mornings) after work to plant all the hairgrass. Took 12 pots and 10 hours to complete

[BradC]

On 11/10 the plants arrived! Was lucky enough for them to come a few hours before work


This a day or so later when I added the other piece of driftwood and moved somethings around.

[MattPeryman]

Very nice tank! I can't wait to see progress.

[BradC]

This is the tank on 11/25


Hairgrass as of 11/28 (after a haircut). Filling in nicely if I do say so myself lol

[BradC]

Tank on 12/5


12/9. This just shows how fast the DHG grows in just 4 days!


12/16


DHG just wont stop growing!

[BradC]

12/20 DISCUS ARE HERE!!


And here is the whole tank on 12/20. DHG needs a haircut ASAP!

[alan7]

that is a beautiful tank how many discus do you have in there and is there any other fish/shrimp with them ?

[VadimShevchuk]

That is a really good looking 55 gallon. Why didn't you add a black background?

[mountaindew]

Good job!
Nice clean healthy setup.
md

[Jonno]

I have a 55 and im quite jealous! This tank is great! what are your running time for the lights and what bulbs do you have?

[tunerz]

What are you fertilizing and how much?

[BradC]

Originally Posted by alan7

that is a beautiful tank how many discus do you have in there and is there any other fish/shrimp with them ?

Thank you!

I started out with two like you see in the pictures. About 3 weeks later I added 3 more.

EDIT: Forgot to answer the rest of your question.

Yes I did have 5 Amano shrimp to start the tank off with but soon after the Discus arrived they became lunch lol. I also have 2 SAE and 2 Sterba's Cory cats running around in there. I really wanted more Cory's but the LFS I got them at only had 2 good sized ones and the rest looked really juvenile. I plan on getting 2-4 more as soon as I can find them.

Originally Posted by VadimShevchuk

That is a really good looking 55 gallon. Why didn't you add a black background?

Thanks!

I actually thought it would look OK with out one.. Really starting to regret the fact that I didn't put one up just to see how it looks.

Also when I first started I didn't think I was going to use the ledge in the back of the tank to store stuff and thought after the plants grew in it would cover the back anyways.

I also have several suction cups attached to the back of the tank and didn't think they would stick that well to a background.

Originally Posted by Jonno

I have a 55 and im quite jealous! This tank is great! what are your running time for the lights and what bulbs do you have?

I run the lights for 8 hours. 11am-7pm.

Both lights are from Zoo Med. One is an Ultra*Sun 6500K and the other is a Flora*Sun 5000K

Originally Posted by tunerz

What are you fertilizing and how much?

I fertilize using the EI method for my size tank..

I do use a little less KNO3. After about a week of dosing the 1/2 tsp I was getting readings of over 50-60 ppm.

I think this may have been from the AquaSoil though?

[BradC]

Originally Posted by mountaindew

Good job!
Nice clean healthy setup.
md

Originally Posted by MattPeryman

Very nice tank! I can't wait to see progress.

Thanks!

[jwm5]

looks great, nice work making it look larger than a 55. at least the way you laid everything out looks a lot better than my 55