"The Amazon" 20 gallon high

[catfishmike]

yes i must agree with luca peat is better than blackwater extract.mostly becuse peat is much cheaper than blackwater extract.

 

[mike the zealot]

haha I forgot about this thread.

I moved everyone out of that 20g and put em all in a 55g that's going to be heavily planted. I was actually going to do the peat moss in my filter to darken the water and for pH buffering. The driftwood I get does that to the water as well. The new tank:

55 gallon (48"x12"x17")
Filtration: Eheim 2213
Heater: 350 watt Won Bros. Titanium w/ digital thermostat
Substrate: 35 lbs Shultz Profile
Plants: all plastic for now. waiting on driftwood
Driftwood: self sinking from www.aquarium-driftwood.com, waiting for them to harvest the perfect piece I requested =/
Stock:
1 female Mikrogeophagus ramirezi
1 pair Apistogramma cacatuoides
1 bristlenose ancistrus
5 cardinal tetra
5 rummynose tetra

Future stock (when the plants are established to support the bioload):
1 discus
3 Corydoras adolfoi
3 Otocinclus vittatus
1 zebra ancistrus

That's the plan for now! I might change my mind though, the original plan was actually to keep my 20g as the South American tank, and for the 55 to be a Tanganyikan tank, but I decided I'd rather have the tangs in a 180g+ and try my hand at aquatic horticulture =)

 

[Luca]

Hey Zealot, i'm afraid you'll need more than 1 discus, they will be much happier, i know they are expensive but you can probably track down a breeder and they will be much better quality, LFS's pretty much all have runty ones that don't grow too big.

Go to www.simplydiscus.com for some excellent advice. I've been visiting there for a month or so.

Luca.

 

[mike the zealot]

I know of a few people that keep discus alone successfully. I'd love to have more, but a 55g isn't suited for more than 1 imo, and even then I'll probably either be upgrading later or selling him. When you say happier, you mean as far as activity and color? If there was a real problem with having only one discus, I'd pick none over more.

 

[Luca]

Any fish can be alone, but in nature ofcourse they would often be with their buddies. I don't think discus are "schoolers" per se, you can do what you want but i know they do prefer to be in groups, just ask anyone on www.simplydiscus.com i don't personally have any yet but they have great advice.

One adult discus per 10gallons is the rule so you could actually have 4 very nicely

goodluck,
Luca.

 

[Badplankton]

i like the drift wood, And the plants are very realistic looking

 

[Luca]

Driftwood looks great and is great, it buffers the water. whatever that means. i think the fake plants look good but i would way prefer real ones, the fish know they are fake, the real ones clean the water and my fish like to scatter their eggs in them occasionally

Luca.

 

[mike the zealot]

eh...?

if you read the thread, I am going to be planting. The tank pictured is actually torn down now.

Driftwood buffers the water by reducing the ph and softening it.

 

[Luca]

Yeah i reckon real plants are the way to go, good on ya.
I thought buffering meant resistance to a ph crash? If it lowers the ph and softens the water doesn't that make it more susceptable?

Luca.

 

[prhelp]

Leopardess, very cool of you -- typing all of that stuff. I know this is an old thread, but I stumbled across it and LOVED it.

And the book looks AWESOME -- oddly enough, the book describing amazon tanks -- and many others -- can be found at Amazon.com for less than 20 bucks.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_4/103-4592269-7215833?v=glance&s=books

I hope this link works -- if not, just search books for "Aquarium Designs Inspired by Nature"

This is gonna be great....

 

[wayne at home]

Well check out the links in my reply to 'what goes with discus' in the discus forums. Throw your plants out for that nasty biotope look!

 

[revfred]

Not only a great tank, but great pictures!!! How about posting some info on your photographic technique as well. . . film, lighting, etc. Haven't had much experience shooting through glass. It seems like you are shooting at a pretty slow shutter speed.

 

[jaws2]

well the driftwood is nicer than the fish

 

[mike the zealot]

Thanks jaws2 =) I hope the next piece I'm ordering turns out as well as this one did. aquarium-driftwood.com really has some good stuff.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

nice

Love the Drift wood and what watt bulb do you use......your light is great.

And which type of Driftwood is that from that site.....the stump, or the center piece?

 

[mike the zealot]

that there's a centerpiece.

the bulb is just the stock one that came with the hood when I bought it.

since I moved everyone out of it a couple months ago, this tank is actually now what I'm keeping my shellies in. I'll post pics of both when I can borrow that camera again.

 

[mike the zealot]

and revfred - I'll post some on my photography techniques after this next batch. I've learned a little, and have a long ways to go, but I might be able to impart a few useful tidbits

 

[revfred]

Thanks Mike. Great tank and great pics. You obviously are farther along the photo road than I am re: pics through glass and water.


Fred