I have been keeping Discus for almost a year and below are some pictures of my tank with a gravel bottom and a sand bottom. I haven't had any problems keeping Discus but I do have difficulty growing plants. I decided that my difficulty was caused by the gravel substrate, so I changed it to a substrate of 1 1/2" of clay covered by an inch of sand. Its only been 3 weeks but the plants are definitely doing better but I still haven't seen new plant growth. So today I added fertilizer at 1/4 the recommended dose specified on the label. I have 2 40 watt day light spectrum bulbs. I will ask Walter to post a few new pictures in another month. Hopefully my plants will be thriving.
Here some more information about my tank:
Fish: 2 - Red Pigeon Blood, 2 - Turquoise Pigeon Blood, 2 - Cobalt Blue, 2 - Corydoras, and 10-15 Neons.
Plants: 2 - Amazon Swords, 6 - Cryptocoryne (4 different Species), 12 - Vallisneria (2 different species), 5 - Dark Green Cabomba
Food: Ocean Nutrition's Formula One and Jack Whatley's Community Health Food with Garlic, Tetra Color Bits, Tetra Min-Pro, Tetra Ruby, Beefheart, and Earthworms.
Water Parameters: Temp. 86 degrees Fahrenheit, PH - 6.8, Hardness 40 ppm, Nitrate 1 ppm, and Nitrite 0 ppm. I try to do 30% water changes every day.
Filter - Auquamaster (Will upgrade to Fluval 303) Substrate Before - gravel
Substrate After - 1 1/2" clay (Hartz PH5 Cat Litter) covered by 1" of sand. The sand is much easier to take care of. It cuts my water change time almost in half.
Fertilizer Before - None Fertilizer After - Tetra Hilena Crypto 1-0-25h Tank - 75 gallon tank 48" long, 18" deep, 22" high Lights are on 12 hours every day.
If anyone has any suggestions or comments, please E-Mail me at Brian.Polanish@Chase.Com
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