Chapter 1 - Discus Keeping theory
Chapter 3 - Tank size and Filtration
Chapter 4 - Planted Discus Tank
To plant or not to plant...?
Discus hobbyists have always had the old argument of bare bottom tanks (tanks primarily with no gravel) versus planted tanks (tanks that have gravel and real or fake plants). Basically if you are planning to raise juveniles, quarantine fish or breed pairs then a bare bottom tank works best simply because it is easier by far to keep clean. Gravel is the best place for fish faeces, food leftovers and other nasties to hide and eventually foul up your tank.
Growing juveniles require constant feeding of very protein rich foods such as beef heart and worms, and beef heart in particular can very quickly foul up your water. If you feed beef heart you will need to siphon out leftovers a few minutes after every meal which can be a huge headache when the tank is planted. Also the fact that you may need to raise temperatures and administer medication also makes it tough when you have plants and gravel. Not to mention the requirements of the plants such as fertilization and CO2 which can create a lot of problems that you simply don’t need when growing out young fish to full size. If on the other hand you plan to have a show tank for adult discus then I think a planted tank is by far the best, and most attractive option.
Decorations - Form and Function
Tank decorations in general though serves two purposes. One is an aesthetic purpose, rocks, gravel and bog wood looks nice in a tank and compliments the pretty fish you keep in the tank. Two is a practical purpose. Fish love structures. Naturally in the wild they hang around submerged tree branches and their color and thin body shape is perfect for ducking in and out of branches and tall plants. Often people say that discus kept in bare tanks with no decoration are forced to be brave and are used to little or nothing in the tank. Others say that their fish are generally more comfortable with tank decorations of some sort such as plastic plants, and they tend not to hang out at the back of the tank as much. Introducing new fish that are used to tank decorations into a bare tank is a bit of a problem sometimes and it will stress them out for a few weeks before they get used to it. I would say that the positive gains of using tank decorations to acclimatize fish and make them feel safe in a new environment far out way the negatives such as less hygienic etc.
I am a big fan of Takashi Amano and have admired his works immensely. With effort and a good understanding of what discus need vs what plants need, I don’t see why one can’t be successful with a planted discus tank. In my opinion, I think planted tanks are the crowning achievement of all aquarists and I don’t see why not if you are willing to spend enough time on research and maintenance. This is what I plan for my 180gal and I hope to set up the tank and establish the plants in discus parameter waters long before I introduce discus. The trick of course is to make sure the discus come first and above all. I plan for a planted discus tank, not a planted tank with discus. All other tanks however such as grow out tanks, quarantine tanks and breeding tanks will be kept bare bottom, perhaps with a few tall plastic plants in there as cover. I also like the sound of real potted plants, or plants that are growing on bog wood. They look very nice but the problems associated with keeping live plants can be a headache in a quarantine tank (such as lighting, C02, fertilizers, incompatibility with medications etc) would turn me off keeping real plants in these “functional” tanks.
Sterilization
If you are planning on planted a tank, gravel and rocks should be washed in regular tap water over and over again until you are 110% sure that it is clean before adding it to the tank. If you are pedantic and 100% sure is not sure enough then you can go the extra step of rinsing the gravel once in a disinfectant like potassium permanganate before rinsing it thoroughly again. This potassium permanganate bath can be used for plants to remove stow away snails and other parasites. Bog wood can be boiled to allow chemicals to leech out of the wood and kill parasites, algae and fungus off the wood. You can again go an extra mile and keep the wood in a separate bucket for a few weeks before use to see if any signs of problems which then can be dealt with before introduction to the main tank.
Potassium permanganate is life saving stuff. It is cheap, relatively harmless, very easy to use and about the only thing that stands between you and uninvited tank guests. Simply dissolve 1/8th a teaspoon of PP into a bucket of water until it has a dark purple color to it. This can also be used to treat your own cuts and is a very good disinfectant! It has multiple purposes that have been well documented. Search for it's uses in the aquaria hobby on the internet. Discus Page Holland have a very good write up on it and I urge you to check it out. Potassium Permanganate is strong stuff and should be used with care and in the right dosages. It will not be able to distinguish between an unwanted parasite and a $200 discus, both are biological matter and both will be dealt with in the same manner by potassium permanganate.
Using these procedures won't guarantee a 100% elimination of uninvited guests but goes along way to help eliminate as much as possible. You can see you can be as clean as you like, but just remember that a 180 gallon tank is not an easy thing to pull down and redo if there is an apple snail break out etc.
Tank Set Up
I will be using a product called Seachem Flourite as lower substrate because of the plants. This is apparently good for plants due to it's high trace element contents such as Iron. Although this is a packaged product I am not satisfied unless I am 100% sure it has been sterilized and will have to go through the same treatment as regular gravel, rinse, re-rinse and rinse again.
Once this is all well and done and everything looks dandy including tank being thoroughly cleaned out, I will then pour in the bottom layer gravel, making a slope towards the front of the tank, perhaps 1 inch at the front and 3-5 inches at the back. You can use larger rocks to create tiers so that the gravel doesn’t even out after time which it eventually likes to do. Then I pour in the gravel top layer which I will use smaller particle river sand (about 1mm in diameter) in and fill the tank with water. It at this time that I do the initial water preparation such as de-chlorinator. There are a million different ways to do the initial set-up but whichever method you choose, just remember that the main goal is to keep the conditions stable. The point is to avoid sudden changes in PH (especially a quick drop in PH), GH, Temperature or any other factor for that matter. To do this you will have to find a very good balance between what the plants need and what the fish need, tending towards the fish of course.
This is why I want to avoid keep juveniles in a planted tank, there are too many variables that will probably inhibit the young ones’ growth. Add to that their strict feeding routine and you have a recipe for instant fluctuations in water parameters. A planted tank in my opinion is in no way a controlled environment, which is what is needed for good, sturdy juvenile growth. When they are large and fully grown, fat, resilient and healthy then I would consider them to be ready to risk putting them into the planted tank. Not that adults can withstand changes in water quality or environment better than juveniles but simply that they will be less susceptible to problems that plague younger, weaker fish. Also you don’t have to feed the adults and strictly as you would juveniles. The other thing to remember is that if you have to dramatically change your water parameters every time you do a water change it can become expensive and down right too much work! Also it can mean that you will have a very tough time making sure conditions are stable and the same every water change.
No such things as a perfect system
Jim E. Quarles quotes that the ultimate parameters for discus are 1 degree of GH, 30 degrees Celsius and ph of 6. I will be keeping my tank at PH 7, 8 degrees of GH or less, and 29 degrees Celsius. Remember stability over all else. The best thing to do is to give yourself enough time to find the best tactic to keep the tank stable, discus friendly and plant friendly at the same time. The last thing you want to do is subject your fish to your experiments with different water change methods or different types of filtration etc. Only introduce your fish when you know that things are right and that you are confident that you can keep things right.
Then there is the additional problem of increased biomass when introducing new fish to the planted tank. Sure it has been 3 months, the plants are doing great. Oxygen levels are high, C02 levels are also high, there hasn’t been any ammonia or nitrites in over 2½ months and everything is dandy. That’s without a significant amount of fish! So you go ahead and add 12 adult discus and suddenly all hell breaks loose. This may be an exaggeration but it is a very real problem. I would suggest that the best method do tackle this problem is to introduce the fish a little at a time. That way you can monitor the conditions as they slowly (if at all) change and counteract it before it is too late.
At the end of the day, there is no real silver bullet solution to the problems of a planted discus tank. It requires a lot of work to set up and maintenance but in my opinion it is not overly difficult and certainly not impossible and the rewards for success are enormous. Research and reading into this topic will go a very long way to ensuring success with planted tanks. This knowledge should be gained and a plan set out long before you buy your tank or first plants.