noob here

[tony4143]

Hi, I am new here and first time into the planted tank dive. I currently have a 450g tank. 48" tall, brand new and getting all my equipment, knowledge together now. hehe. tank will be a planted discus tank. I bought the co2 set up, reactor, etc. Just order eco-complete today and have a 55g tank for a sub underneath my tank. Looking at a bldc10 pump and a a few diy led set ups for lighting, or the aquamama led set up for now so i can get this tank cycled and stocked up with discus and all the other tank mates. Any and all guideness, pointers etc will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance Tony

 

[Tifta]

Welcome

Sounds like you are on the right path. I have never had discus, but they are just beautiful fish.

 

[scuba dude]

450 g

Nothing like jumping in head first. Keep us posted and good luck.
Have to say I wish I could do one even half that big.

 

[Mebbid]

48" tall tank? holy crap. You are going to need some serious lights to grow anything but low light plants.

I would suggest a DIY Cree fixture from RapidLED with 40 degree lenses. I couldn't even begin to make a recommendation as to how many you will need though.

With you using a sump I wouldn't even try to use pressurized CO2. Instead, look at glut options such as metricide 14.

 

[bcarl_10gal]

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.

 

[ImACoolguy]

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.

You would need to go swimming to have any hope of trimming foreground plants if you can get enough light to have them lol

I'd choose very tall plants like Bacopa Caroliniana and Val's.


Caleb

 

[Brookster123]

That's a pretty ambitious setup there.. 4 feet?!?!? Even with my wingspan I'd be well short of hand plucking a stray runner... for co2 I'd look into a custom inline reactor piped out of a powerhead and repeat. You'll need an array of powerheads on par with a phish light show to make that tank move properly. Leds... build my led or build.your own led if you got the skillzzz.. I'd stick with vals and rhizome mounted plants as to cheat them closer to the light.. buces!!!!!

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[tiger terror]

Wowsers! Gonna take some deep pockets to get this baby right...
I like Brooksters idea about the custom inline reactor setup...

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[RedDevil83]

Pics please!!! Stick a giant pacu in there! Lol


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[IllusionX]

Deep pockets is right. A tank this size will need some very big discus, and at 100$ a fish, it adds up very fast.

And that 48" tall....omg!

 

[RedDevil83]

You think smaller discus would grow faster in a tank that size?


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[ReefBoy]

Keep us updated!

 

[ReefBoy]

I'll be following along for sure

 

[Bichir Bro]

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...




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[IllusionX]

You think smaller discus would grow faster in a tank that size?


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I don't think so. Discus are hard to grow.

In fact, my angels have grew from a nickel size to over 4" while my discus have not grown, if any, at all.

 

[Mebbid]

I don't think so. Discus are hard to grow.

In fact, my angels have grew from a nickel size to over 4" while my discus have not grown, if any, at all.

Fish growth is based on clean water and lots of food. Tank size is not gonna make them grow faster.

 

[IllusionX]

Exactly, that's why large discus are expensive.

 

[PoppaRyno]

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.

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[tony4143]

thanks for all the info everyone. Pressure co2 is def. ging to be used here as i have a 125lbs cylinder filled and ready to be used. I will do some more reading on the power heads and reactor idea. I just got my quote from diyled.com and it will be 4 different fixtures to get the plants to grow according to them. I will look around some more on the web for different options on led lighting, unless someone can give me a few links. I don't even mind building them myself.

 

[tony4143]

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