new project -- need some advice

[lziarek]

ok first off the goal is to have a nice Discus tank and the secondary goal is to have it planted.

Here is the equipment I own currently for this project:
2x penguin 350 - (usually ditch the cartridges and use filter floss)
300 wt heater
6x 55wt t5 fixture (3x blue+ 2x 10k 1x 6.5k)


What I would like to do is keep around 6 Discus and a large school of cardinal tetras with some Cory Cats to keep the bottom clean. The bottom I am thinking of doing a two layer approach with some black sand on top and something a little more coarse below that actually has some benefits for plants.

 

[Purrbox]

With substrates the whichever is finest is always going to work it's way to the bottom eventually. The more often you rearrange your tank by adding new plants, removing old ones, or relocating existing plants the faster they fine sand will settle to the bottom. I would recommend sticking with either the sand or the plant substrate. Both can work well for plants.

BTW - What size tank is this going to be?

 

[JDogg]

how big is the tank? i do not think you want to go less then 75 gal for 6 discus, that would give you, plenty of light for just about any type of plant you want, but you will need to inject CO2.

eco-compleat is a good product in my opinion for a bottom layer of your substrate.

 

[lziarek]

whoops, forgot the tank is a 75 gal.


Also, I was planning on ordering my discuss from:
http://www.greatlakesdiscus.com/index.html Do you recommend getting all of them at once, or sets of two, sets of three?

 

[Purrbox]

Depending on what kind of plants you're going for, you might want to replace a couple of the Actinics with daylight bulbs (either 6500 or 10000 would work) to get yourself up to High Light. If you do that you would definately want to look at getting a pressurized CO2 system. While DIY may be possible, I'd want the extra control when dealing with a delicate fish like those Discus.

 

[lziarek]

I was thinking of avoiding the high light and co2 injection until I got the hang of the planted tank then slowly upgrading. Any thoughts on this? Is this a sure fire way to cause a disaster?

 

[Purrbox]

Should work just fine. That gives you time to save up for the additional equipment at the same time.

With your current bulb selection you're just over 2WPG, which tends to be the grey area as to whether or not you'd need CO2. You might want to consider dropping it down to just two daylight bulbs to ensure that you don't need to worry about it yet. That would still give you Medium Low light and a fair amount of plant options. I'd recommend two daylight and a 50/50 bulb, but I have no idea if they make those in T-5's or not.