# My Blues Addiction... Discus Planted Tank Nirvana



## crimper

My Stendker Discus pair... Flachen and Blue Diamond Discus


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## seanyuki

I also like Hansie's Stendker ......wow nice set up and thanks for sharing.


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## Momobobo

Absolutely gorgeous discus and scape! Love it.


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## Fish rookie

very beautiful...what kind of lighting do you use? 
i really like the pictures and the lighting really set the discus off nicely.


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## Sploosh

Beautiful tank! and Discus Pair


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## bigfry

Very beautiful fish and nice planted tank!


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## crimper

Thanks for all the compliments guys, this is a dream come true to me. It took me quite sometime to have a CO2 planted tank and some nice discus. I had this proven pair several moons ago from my buddy (wink wink, nudge nudge) who did a great job in taking care of these lovely fish, however I'm not able to have them spawn. So I thought I might give them a new home... for now... maybe this will induce them to lay some eggs. 

Fish Rookie, I'm using a Tek Light Elite with 4 X 54W Giesman AquaFlora and Coralife Colormax. TBH Giesmans are over priced, I will just get CoralLife and save my money.

By the way thanks Francis for the tips, I'll probably head down South when I got my Christmas present from Santa:lol:


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## MELLO

The pair is looking good in that setup!


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm

Fantastic discus in a beautiful display! Very nicely done


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## crimper

Canadian_Aqua_Farm said:


> Fantastic discus in a beautiful display! Very nicely done


Thanks Rick, it's a dream come true...

I got this pair from my buddy Mello a couple of moons ago... It's well taken cared off.



MELLO said:


> The pair is looking good in that setup!


Thanks man... I got a big thumbs up from my wife when she saw them there this morning.

Yup pre, I got them in a very good/healthy condition of course.. They eat like pigs now.. Can't wait till they spawn.


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## Fish rookie

It is one of the best discus planted tank picture I have seen.
Some planted tanks have beautiful discus but not so beautiful scape and some have very nice plants but so-so looking discus. Your discus are really beautiful, and your plants are grown really well. Very nice. LOVE it!!!!
Do you supply extra aeration? I am very curious to hear about your set up if you dont mind.
Thank you.


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## crimper

Hi Fish Rookie,

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm also a Rookie when it comes to CO2 injected planted tanks. I have followed several Discus tank jornal before I decided to hybernate for a while. 

Please feel free to check my tank specs on the Tank Journal section here at BCA or click on my signature. No extra aeration needed as those plants is pearlin like crazy and provide enough O2. My tank has a low bio load by the way.


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## Jondis21

Wow! One of the best planted tank I've seen.
Plus beautiful pair of discus in it, nicely done.


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## pieces71

Finally pre,in FB I thought from the web,but when I look at it closely,familiar scape and fishes,maybe worth a visit for me to see it in person eh?well done..Pacqiuao lost but this is a winner....


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## crimper

Jondis21 said:


> Wow! One of the best planted tank I've seen.
> Plus beautiful pair of discus in it, nicely done.


Thanks pre, the pair looks familiar eh! Will pay you a visit one of these days or message me and pieces71 if you're heading to Mello's place.



pieces71 said:


> Finally pre,in FB I thought from the web,but when I look at it closely,familiar scape and fishes,maybe worth a visit for me to see it in person eh?well done..Pacqiuao lost but this is a winner....


Yes pare, you know my Discus addiction and planted tank addiction has been up and down. I have dreamed of this setup ever since I started keeping discus... then it came to a halt when I say bye bye to this hobby for a while. Thanks to you and Mello's encouragement to go back to this wonderful hobby.

Will have some drinks when you come over. I got lots of Cool Aid :lol:


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## FishFreaks

great show tank. perfect fish for that tank. well done


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## crimper

FishFreaks said:


> great show tank. perfect fish for that tank. well done


Thanks Kevin, a couple of Piwow Red Turqs will be good in that tank too :bigsmile:


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## trout

Absolutely stunning! Great work.

All you discus folk are really tempting me to try them with all these beautiful fish I keep seeing, especially in a planted setup....


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## Fish rookie

Now I am really going to feed mine lots of food...
I want to do a hardscape tank with a sand bottom when they are bigger.


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## Reckon

Great choice of colors for the discus to go with your tank theme. The Althernanthera Reineckii really complements your fish. Are you planning to add more red plants? Mabbe a Ludwigia Glandulosa or some Ludwigia Arcuata will add even more atmosphere


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## crimper

Reckon said:


> Great choice of colors for the discus to go with your tank theme. The Althernanthera Reineckii really complements your fish. Are you planning to add more red plants? Mabbe a Ludwigia Glandulosa or some Ludwigia Arcuata will add even more atmosphere


Thanks Reckon. Yes I'm still looking for some more red plants, I drop by to my LFS that carry Aquaflora plants a couple of times but don't have those red plants that I want. As you noticed that the right hand side is still vacant, I'm still contimplating on a good mid ground plants for that side as it is facing our main entrance door.

I'm open for suggestions.


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## crimper

Fish rookie said:


> Now I am really going to feed mine lots of food...
> I want to do a hardscape tank with a sand bottom when they are bigger.


Fish Rookie,

I have done a low tech setup with silica sand substrate before, it works quite well (please see some of the pics I have posted on my Journal). Too bad my old Journal here at BCA vanished after the server crashed.

The only issue I have with the low tech setup is the plant selection... you will be limited to what you can put in your tank. but you can have a nice low tech setup with "Adult Discus" in it though.


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## Fish rookie

crimper said:


> Fish Rookie,
> 
> I have done a low tech setup with silica sand substrate before, it works quite well (please see some of the pics I have posted on my Journal). Too bad my old Journal here at BCA vanished after the server crashed.
> 
> The only issue I have with the low tech setup is the plant selection... you will be limited to what you can put in your tank. but you can have a nice low tech setup with "Adult Discus" in it though.


Thanks. I am thinking of just wood and rocks, no plants, just a hardscape, ot biotope though.
But I will wait as I want to keep everything very clean until they get bigger and with rocks and brances it would be hard.
i saw your other tanl from before and that was a very beautiful low tech tank. Discus all looked very colourful and happy, too. 
Yeah, would love to see more pictures of that tank for sure. You must be very proud of yoru discus and discus tank.


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## Reckon

crimper said:


> Thanks Reckon. Yes I'm still looking for some more red plants, I drop by to my LFS that carry Aquaflora plants a couple of times but don't have those red plants that I want. As you noticed that the right hand side is still vacant, I'm still contimplating on a good mid ground plants for that side as it is facing our main entrance door.
> 
> I'm open for suggestions.


How about the L. Brevipes from Bien? The leaf shape is similar to the other plants you have in your tank and it's easy to prune. You need a bit of light for it to color up. The tank I have it in now only has ~2watt/gal and it only colors up at the top. You might need a bit more light than that to get more color. Otherwise L. Glandulosa like I suggested before stays a nice dark red/maroon color. It also has a star like leaf pattern.

I would suggest Nesaea Crassicaulis as it has a nice leaf pattern that works well with L. Aromatica and A. Reineckii but I've struggled with the plant as I find it is somewhat finicky (it is somewhat of a CO2 pig). Otherwise it prefers low kh/gh, something that I understand agrees with Discus. Nesaea Crassicaulis is not as blue but rather yellow, orange, and pink.


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## seanyuki

I love discus in a planted tank.......the one I admire most ........is one from Dan at Gulf Coast Discus.....I did posted them here years ago....perhaps someone may recall them and post them here again.


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## Fish rookie

Personally I really like this: A Hardscape for Discus - YouTube

For a tankw ith plants, the display tank in the beginning of this video is quite well done, too, in my opinion.
I think it is perhaps a low tech tank?


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## crimper

Reckon said:


> How about the L. Brevipes from Bien? The leaf shape is similar to the other plants you have in your tank and it's easy to prune. You need a bit of light for it to color up. The tank I have it in now only has ~2watt/gal and it only colors up at the top. You might need a bit more light than that to get more color. Otherwise L. Glandulosa like I suggested before stays a nice dark red/maroon color. It also has a star like leaf pattern.
> 
> I would suggest Nesaea Crassicaulis as it has a nice leaf pattern that works well with L. Aromatica and A. Reineckii but I've struggled with the plant as I find it is somewhat finicky (it is somewhat of a CO2 pig). Otherwise it prefers low kh/gh, something that I understand agrees with Discus. Nesaea Crassicaulis is not as blue but rather yellow, orange, and pink.


Thanks for your comments and suggestions Reckon.

The L. Brevipes from Bien didn't survive in my tank for some reasons. I will research on those plants that you suggested.

I have tried around 4W/G right on the get go on my first try however my tank didn't do well. That's the reason why I tore it down on my first try as algae gone out of control.

Bien tried 6x54W on the same size tank and got no gain except algae gone out of wack. IMHO the W/G rule is just for reference, as every tank is unique. On my 2nd try I started with little light first around 1W/G... little dosing.. I started with 1/2 of the prescribed EI dose until the plants started to take off.... then I increased all the variables (CO2, ferts and lights) gradually until you reach the sweet spot. My tank is now stable and have outgrown GDA and BBA.


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## crimper

video clip taken from my iPhone


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## ndnhuy

Your tank set up and your Discus pair look amazing Crimper. Do you get any babies from them?


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## crimper

ndnhuy said:


> Your tank set up and your Discus pair look amazing Crimper. Do you get any babies from them?


Thank you ndnhuy. No babies yet, they had spawn once but they ate them all.


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## seanyuki

Nice video and thanks for posting it.


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## discusplantedtanklover

Look as Millionair Discus tank.


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## crimper

discusplantedtanklover said:


> Look as Millionair Discus tank.


I'm still dreaming of my first Million Dollar so I could setup more Planted Discus Tanks :bigsmile:

I only have Million Pesos right now :lol:


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