# My new 120G Discus tank!



## neonlyte (Mar 10, 2011)

well i finally decided to upgrade from my 55 gallon tank with assorted fish to a 120g tank with my favorite fish ever, discus!

day 1, moving the tank... what a pain! it measures 48x24x24 and has 1/2" thick glass! never again will i ever want to move this! i borrowed a cube van from work that had a lift gate on it and borrowed a heavy duty fridge dolly from my dad's work, never again!

here it is after i got it into place and installed my eheim jager 250w heaters and the output pipes for the filters. while installing the filters the silicone on the right hand pipe came loose and i had to reseal! setback! oh no...










im running a fluval 305 as well as a fluval 304










day 2, i let the silicone dry for 24 hrs and i put in my river rocks and water tested the tank, no leaks! victory! also put in my driftwood (some more is still to come but its soaking) and a jebo filter.



















day 3, i got a marineland double bright LED light, filled up the water and put a thermometer in, but that's not every exciting so i didn't take any photos...

day 4, today is the day i get my fish! i'm so impatient, i'm surprised i lasted that long... by now the water is at the right temp, the filters have been running for a while, everything is stable and ready to go, so off i go to get my new fish, and here they are! the LED light gives off a lovely effect and makes the fish look great!


















































































thanks for viewing! next plan is to get my other driftwood in there and re-arrange things a bit, and put in a bunch of cardinal tetras, then i am all set! don't know how many cardinal's to get, but a large school would be great!


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Not to rain on your parade, Neonlyte, but what am I missing here ? Your tank's just been set up new 4 days ago, and you've just added all those beautiful discus ? How did you work out the cycle for your tank ? Did you add seeded filtration from your existing 55 gal., and any other source of beneficial bacteria colonization to deal with that bio-load ?
I love the fish, Peter has great fish and knows what he's doing - did he know your tank was just newly set up, and did he give you a seeded sponge filter to get things going ok from the get-go ?
I'm somewhat fearful - tell me where I'm off the mark, ok ? - so we can both feel better.


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

sounds like he used media from his 55G


----------



## Peterchow (Apr 21, 2010)

Congrat, Thomas !!!!

The discus look better in your new tank for some reasons(good lighting). Discus love clean fresh water as long as cholrine is removed from the tap water when doing W/C as well as stable PH, and salt. No need to age or cycle water.

Yes, all the filter media are used + bio rings so they did speed up the cycling process for new set up. 

Your tank looks GREAT !!!!!!


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

I hope so - maybe those 2 Rena filters were fully seeded from a previous tank operation - I sure hope that was the case - otherwise the bio-load from that number of discus could spell big trouble trouble real fast. Perhaps Neonlyte can help us understand this soon. Otherwise, he'll need to take some disaster prevention action right away.


----------



## Peterchow (Apr 21, 2010)

emile said:


> I hope so - maybe those 2 Rena filters were fully seeded from a previous tank operation - I sure hope that was the case - otherwise the bio-load from that number of discus could spell big trouble trouble real fast. Perhaps Neonlyte can help us understand this soon. Otherwise, he'll need to take some disaster prevention action right away.


I kept 20+ discus in my previous 75G with one fluval 404 + 2 HOB magnum, with W/C every second day, and they were in top shape.

I see no problems in this tank with 3 times W/C per week.


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Yes, I'm sure of that Peter, but I expect your Fluval & Magnums were seeded at the time.
And wc/s 3 X week are great to maintain good water quality, remove nitrates, etc. for those discus.
But a newly set-up tank - with all those discus - and questionable, perhaps very light Ben. Bac. colonization ? I can envisage an ammonia build-up very soon. Were those Renas seeded ? I've been fish-keeping for 50 years, and I can sense a problem here.
Perhaps I'm being over-sensitive to what may, or may not, have been done to prepare this tank ?


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

HEH PETER..YOU GOT rid of your fish? i figured some looked like my fish..
hopefully all goes well. peter your experienced..you know what to watch for. 
keep us updated on their progess in settling in.


----------



## neonlyte (Mar 10, 2011)

The tank is new to me but not new, it was more of a transplant if anything. I used the seachem new tank chemical for good measure, but the only things new about the tank are the heaters and the light, all other pieces are from someone else, i may be a bit new by some standards but i've kept fish successfully for over 10 years myself


----------



## Peterchow (Apr 21, 2010)

aprils aquarium said:


> HEH PETER..YOU GOT rid of your fish? i figured some looked like my fish..
> hopefully all goes well. peter your experienced..you know what to watch for.
> keep us updated on their progess in settling in.


Yes, April !!!!!

All 13 discus were from your stocks. I need to downsize my tanks in view of my mother in law's injury(cracked right hip).

Thomas, I get most of my discus keeping tips from April since 2007. Your 120G tank can actually handle more discus with stroner filtration + more frequent W/C.

Shelly from "-N/A-" & Joseph from "Josephl" are 2 other very experienced discus keepers in this forum, and you can also pm them if you are stuck.


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Very nice setup. And beautiful fish.

Am I right thinking that the holes for the filters in the base of your stand are to prevent the mechanical coupling between the filters and the stand? Less vibration = less noise? Or am I completely out to lunch here?


----------



## neonlyte (Mar 10, 2011)

13 is enough! I'd like to add a red one perhaps, in the future, and maybe upgrade to something like an fx5... Maybe for christmas!

I dunno what the holes are for, just for easy placement probably, i believe i am the third owner of this tank lol


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Good to hear from you, neonlyte - that helps to explain things, and relieves me as I was simply trying to help out in what seemed to me to be a potential troublesome situation, given that you may be keeping discus for the first time. My apologies if I offended you.
I'm assuming now that those 2 Fluval filters were well seeded somewhere else before being added to your new tank. If they weren't seeded when you got them up & running in your tank, I would keep a close eye on your water parameters ( test for ammonia & nitrites) over the next week or two to make sure things are on track ok. 
All the best. It's a great-looking tank, with super, healthy looking discus.


----------



## neonlyte (Mar 10, 2011)

No i appreciate the feedback... I wanted to get a brand new 210 but i dont have the space or the cash, some day perhaps


----------



## hillmar (Sep 25, 2010)

Wow nice looking Discus.... the tank looks alright too


----------



## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Nice looking setup , i like the substrate choice especially.Stock looks great as well plenty of colour for sure.You mentioned adding cardinals to your aquarium? hope your lucky keeping them alive, discus might pick them off one by one.I started with twelve in my setup , iam now down to three.Keep in mind my discus are feed several times in the day.Food for thought as they say Best wishes and keep posting!


----------



## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Tank looks great and those are definitely some good looking fish


----------



## Holyarmor (Apr 29, 2010)

Nice looking tank + HUGH discus !!!!!

If you do daily water change, the tank doesnt need to create any bacteria cycle as long as cholrine from tap water is removed from every water change. Just add water softener + salt. Your discus will be dancing.


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Don't use water softener. No need to . Our water is already too soft. You don't want a ph crash. If anything add minerals or equilibrium.


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

crazy72 said:


> Very nice setup. And beautiful fish.
> 
> Am I right thinking that the holes for the filters in the base of your stand are to prevent the mechanical coupling between the filters and the stand? Less vibration = less noise? Or am I completely out to lunch here?


im guessing that it allows for easier operation and priming of the filters, would never be air in the intake tube that has to go up and over the edge of the tank and then back down.
i too could be completely out to lunch but it seems it would have that effect.. looks like even if you drained out all the water from the cannisters and put them back and opened the valves gravity would prime them both


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Holyarmor said:


> Nice looking tank + HUGH discus !!!!!
> 
> If you do daily water change, the tank doesnt need to create any bacteria cycle as long as cholrine from tap water is removed from every water change. Just add water softener + salt. Your discus will be dancing.


Yes fine, if he is willing to tie himself down to large wcs on a daily basis in that 120 gal.
Problem is - my understanding from reading the posts is that Thomas is currently planning around 3 wcs/week, and with a start-up heavy bio-load of 13 large discus, he could be open to ammonia exposure problems, particularly if he misses one or two wcs (or if he's away for 2-3 days), at least during the period that his 2 Fluval filters are building up BB through a cycle process.
Seems to be an uneccessary risk to me.


----------

