noob here

[tony4143]

Thank you that would be awesome!

Discus are an investment/lifestyle if you will. Cycling(obviously), Lots of driftwood and heavily planted, balance it all, then get discus. There is a slight chance they will achieve a better growth rate than usual, but unlikely. Mebbid is right, cleeeean water, good diet arr the biggest factors. My guess is that growth rate will stay the same youll just get a more even growth rate out of your group. In smaller tanks an alpha pair, or an alpha m/f will form and release a growth inhibiting hormone, and also push fish around. This can cause different rates of growth in them. In a tank your size there is plenty of room for territories, and multiple big dogs. Ill dig up some pics of the 360 discus/ SA tank a friend has setup. Itll give you an idea of how we set it all up. It does run Co2 as well.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[tony4143]

Keep us updated!

I sure will

 

[tony4143]

I would use co2 with a sump! Tom Barr does and his tanks are just okay(sarcastically said)..... Yes there is degassing BUT you increase oxygenation which is pretty important too. You will have to run a higher BPS but it will be more tolerable for fish since there is plenty of oxygen. Yes you will use more co2 but it's generally pretty cheap.

I would really be concerned with that height. 48" is A LOT, not only for light penetration but for trimming plants, flow etc. I would be very careful with your plant selection because of this. My tank height is 21" and I find it a little challenging for the above reasons.

Thank you for the heads up. Question for you where do you buy you plants?? Local? I am in tampa florida as well, well west of it actually..lol

 

[aqua_chem]

Oliver Knott has an angel tank and a discus tank that seems to be about this tall. Can't even imagine what went into it to get it like it is. He's got lots of other pics of those (and Many other) tanks up on various places, you should definitely check them out.
Brookster, mebbid and b Carl are right scaping and planting that beast is going to be one heck of a hurdle. But hey go big or go home!
Here's the photos of the tanks I was too lazy to crop...


**PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE***

That tank tells a story. A close look at the species in the tank will show that none of them really need more than low light to grow, which is good for obvious reasons with regards to light levels. A key point in this tank will be species selection and patience, as not every plant can be grown reasonably under 48" of water.

Just as another point, I would get no smaller than a 20# CO2 tank as well. Bigger if you can fly it. I don't think CO2 diffusion method might be a problem, with by far the easiest option I see being to have multiple smaller diffusion methods, eg, 3-4 atomizers in the back of the tank. Sump is doable but not ideal, and will need special accommodations. I believe Tom Barr's sump was basically airtight-ish to keep CO2 partial pressure as high as possible within the sump itself.

 

[tiger terror]

Can some show me how to post pictures here? Thank you.

I use imgur to upload photos,another frequently used is photobucket..

20L Mafia...

 

[tony4143]

That tank tells a story. A close look at the species in the tank will show that none of them really need more than low light to grow, which is good for obvious reasons with regards to light levels. A key point in this tank will be species selection and patience, as not every plant can be grown reasonably under 48" of water.

Just as another point, I would get no smaller than a 20# CO2 tank as well. Bigger if you can fly it. I don't think CO2 diffusion method might be a problem, with by far the easiest option I see being to have multiple smaller diffusion methods, eg, 3-4 atomizers in the back of the tank. Sump is doable but not ideal, and will need special accommodations. I believe Tom Barr's sump was basically airtight-ish to keep CO2 partial pressure as high as possible within the sump itself.

I have a 125lb cylinder for my co2 set up so we are good to go there. Plants i am not going to go crazy on, dwarft grass some java, swords etc.. fish will be discus, tetras, corys, a few rams and some hatchets. pretty much thats it.

 

[nerdelish]

Following

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app