500 Gallons FW Planted Tank

[dhuynh]

I'm going to be using 8xT5s and 2xVHO. Should be enough light even for red color lilies. I will definitely be using compressed CO2; probably a lot of it too considering that I have two overflow and and huge sump. There's too much water agitation in the sump.

I'm also planning to get in about 500 schooling fish. I can't decide between cardinals or rummy nose tetras right now.

Awesome tank to use with Discus! What kind of lighting are you going to use to keep the plants? going to use any CO2?

[acbaldwin]

Lighting sounds perfect!
Take a look at Micro Rasboras - PK had them a while back , very tiny, great colors, and much hardier than cardinals.

[unix858]

damn...... 16 bags of eco com.. and FROM AW hahah how much did that run.... well i need to take pics of the 240g planted... ill post soon i hope. Nice start though. I cant wait to see the discus in there

[greyhoundfan]

Can't wait to see your stocking list. I love discus!! I have quite a few myself. You gotta put some deep blues in there. I'm grooming some Blue Knights from Wayne Ng.

[Trickman2]

Wow you converted over to freshwater. Looks good but I think I liked your reef better.

[DaChrisDude]

Danny, you going to use an Auto-Water-Changer thing?

[paralabrax]

you could try a mix of the two or even three kinds of school fish I had 250 planted tank with discus with a school of 100 hatchit fish, 100 harliquin rasboras, and 150 cardinals was awesome the cards and rasboras would school threw each other while the hatchits all schooled on the surface

[dhuynh]

Unix: The substrate was a killer on my pocket, but you can't go cheap when you're dealing with substrate for plants. I did use playsand from HD, but it was a mess and had to take it out. I also covered most of the back with crushed brick, which is basically clay, so that help saved some money. But I had to get that many eco-complete to get the look I wanted.

acbaldwin, greyhoundfan: I'm still deciding on my livestock. I don't want the tank to be completely packed with discuses, but knowning me, it might be. I would rather for hundreds of schooling fish and maybe 20 discus. I have 11 discus right now, so I might just get a few more.

dachrisdude: Discus really demands high water quality. An auto water changer would not work too well because it won't take enough water at a time to improve water quality.

trickman2: The reef tank was an amazing learning experience, but it was also a lot of work when there were problems. I think I would enjoy a planted tank as much as a reef. I will have a 25 gal reef.


Anyone have hook ups for FW fish? :-D I'm gonna need a lot of them in a few weeks.

[victortrav]

see im not the only one that can appreciate a fw please keep the pics coming looking very impressive so far

[Nick_Kun]

can't you just go to the wholesalers danny?

[unix858]

D... just wondering cuz Im ready to get my aquascape on... haha. everything is plumbed on my end and just need to divide the substrate becuase im making the middle aquascape pool filter sand grade 20 and use flourite on the left and right for the plants. Im deciding still ... i will have pics up by this week. and i need to show you my CO2 delivery system via reactor through return plumbing.

[dhuynh]

Added a couple of plants.
Added 100+ white clouds, but most got sucked into the sump and into the filter.

--> Immediately zip tied some plastic mesh over the overflow.

Added 300+ Neon Tetras


I was gonna do cardinals, but they are very sensitive and pretty expensive. Neon Tetras was a great alternative. Got them from Fountain's Aquarium for $0.33each.

White clouds were $0.10each from Aquatic Warehouse. They are definitely a cool little fish that are usually overlooked.

There's tons of fish in the tank now. I'm not sure if I'll be able to add some rummy nose, but I'm gonna try.


The pH is getting down to 7.4 now. Been doing 100gals/day water change with RO/DI water. I should have never filled my tank up with tap water initially! That was definitely a mistake.

[Diver Dan]

WOO HOO Looks great! When are the discus's going in?

[dhuynh]

When the water gets soft enough. Tap was is way too hard right now. I figure 100gal/day water change w/ RO/DI water will take me about 2 weeks to get the water perfect for my discus.

I also found my Canadian peat moss today, which I'll have to soak and add to my sump. This should help the process along nicely. They tank is coming along quite nicely.

I love watching the Neons school... what a sight!

WOO HOO Looks great! When are the discus's going in?

[Diver Dan]

100 gallons per day is crazy big! How are you making your water or where do you get it?