4ft discus tank and sump

here goes, what i have is a standard 4ft tank 122cmL 50cmW 50cmH and metal stand bare bottom.
underneath i have a 3ft sump 100cm L 60cmW 40cmH. it has four chambers, in the first one iv got two large sponge filters. second chamber six layers of sponge/filter pads. third one bio balls. and in the last chamber i put three L noodels and two 300watt heater and a 2500LPH pump. ok hold before every one says it to much. my plumbing out of the sump has a valve and the pump can be turned down. i made a spray bar that goes the width of the tank. oh yes the pipe is 25mm i drilled holes with a combined size of 70mm and the bar has an open end. at the end of the day its about 1200/1300lph. at the other end i put a reef octopus overflow box with 32mm pipe, the water sparkels!

now the in mates seven discus in total . they came out of a large tank that was sold. the guy who bought it said .... wait for it ....
i dont want them ???? please will you take them of my hands all i want is the tank! so we have made a very sweet deal and i get to have more friends to play with:bigsmile:
three pidgeion bloods two checkers and one red
one blue diamond
two brilliant turquiose
one leopard
cheers doug

 

Awesome Doug. One day when I'm big I'll try a Discus setup. You have a seriously big sump there packed with the right filter media. Congrats on the deal. You scored big time hey.

 

@SloMo.00. thanx guy the deal was sweet. but best of all i got the tank and sump from a pet shop that was changing owners and bought it all for 50% off:cheesy:
cheers doug

 

yes thats a great setup @doug. awesome filtration there. also some nice discus you have

 

Great looking discus and sump you have. Why not add some decoration to the tank? Maybe a plant or two potted in ceramic pots?

 

@ Firefly have got mapani wood in there but i took it out for the pics, some of the discus hide behind it. you can see it on top of a bucket in the first pic. wanted to have them all in the photos
cheers doug

 

Cool man, just trying to help out.

 

@Firefly ha ha! all good guy! so does it look to sterile? that 100% clean look, quite like the no gear in the tank . splash bar and overflow box and thermometer only
cheers doug

 

Cool cool, each to their own as my mother would say. I find my fish look better with plants and I also like the idea or trying to create a natural habitat for fish. I know I come nowhere near to the real thing but I like to try.

 

@Firefly hey check out my post "dougs tank" let me know what you think
cheers doug

 

so last night i put in the sump 100g of purigen. the water in the first load of pics you can see are tannin stained water, only after about twelve hour almost all gone. iv had it in other bb tank and i must say i wasnt sure what it would do if anything. it has helped my water quality stay more stable :top: seachem
cheers doug

 

so here are a few updates. very happy with how clear its looking. sad to say that i sold three of the discus from this tank. but on a lighter note it give me more room to swop discus around and get to play match maker. iv been waiting for a male checker board, and well isnt he a beaut lets just hope he has it in the sack haha!:laugh:

 

ok so iv moved the two pigeon blood females from my display tank. as soon as i have a pair ill update
cheers doug

 

beautiful fish!

 

@ mattie

yes they are! would like the female in the last picture to pair up with the male. she is a little bigger, iv seen her spawn dozens of times with my brown in my display.
i know that if i do get them to pair it will be a long road before i get fry out of them. but you know if i put my mind to it on my side ill get it right. but at the end of the day the discus have to tick all the boxes in order to get fry.
cheers doug

 

so after a lot fighting between the the girls we have a pair. im a little worried about the odd one out she has take a real beating. the girl that took the beating is this one. iv put her back in my display. she is not happy. on the up side the other one is the one i wanted to pair off. well lets wait to see what happens
cheers doug

 

she has made a full recovery. last night she was tail standing and on her side a bit. the larger female had bitten her nose quite a bit. this morning she is back in her spot with her red turquoise mate and swimming like normal. wow i was real worried! i have read that some fights lead to death. some people will put three discus together to spur on a pair and some times the loser will die. not sure how close she was maybe best not to know.
cheers doug

 

How many adult discus can you keep in a tank this size? and what do you feed your dicus?

 

adult discus need 60l each. the tank i have there is 276l plus iv got 100l sump. so i would say 4 and 1/2 adults with out a sump. but its not good to keep small groups, should be six or more. with a small group there is lots bulling with the bigger group the aggression is spread out more. the discus that are in the tank pair pidgeion blood pair of red spotted greens and a turqu cross of some sort. that make a total of 5. im feeding them blood worm, beef heart mix, frozen brine shrimp, and an imported discus slab "meat vitamin veggie mix"
cheers doug

 

nice going doug all the best ....