Redoing a 90G

[PikeLee]

Hey guys,

I’m going to be redoing my 90G tank and I was hoping I could get some advice on it. This tank is going to be displayed in my living room kind of as a show tank for when guests come by. I plan on redoing it as a Planted Discus Tank. The Occupants are listed below:

5 Blue Panda or the Blue Snakeskin
15 Rummy-Nose Tetras
15 Otto’s
5 SAE’s
3 Singapore Wood Shrimp
And maybe 3 Triple Red Cockatoo’s or 2 Natho Dwarf Pikes

My plants will depends on the amount of light I can put in there. I really don’t want to mess with CO2 for the plants; then again I don’t want to be stuck with Anubias’, Java ferns, and Java Moss. Sooo, my questions are below:

1. What would be the most amount of light in that I can put in the tank w/o having to put CO2 injection? (Keep in Mind the Tank is 24 inches Deep)
2. Does anyone think it’s a bad idea to keep the Discus with the Cockatoos or the Dwarf pikes (nathos, Max size is about 3 inches)?
3. Will SAE’s eat eggs?
4. Would a UV Sterilizer affect a planted tank at all? I hear it makes the water really clear and can kill some diseases. Any links on setting this up and how it works, would be greatly appreciated.
5. Does anyone think this tank will be overcrowded?

Many thanks in advance.

PS. The Substrate is going to be 50% Profile, 50% Fluorite.

[ChilDawg]

I wonder how well your SAEs would get on, given the fact that they are Epalzeorhyncos fish, and are given to a little bit of territorial jealousy toward conspecifics and congeners. I think that you might want to put more Discus together (if they would not overload the bio-filtration) so that they spread their conspecific/congeneric aggression over the whole group.

Do keep in mind that raised temperatures will allow for less dissolved gasses in the water, so you may have to do CO2 injection, like it or not.

Best of luck, and we want pix as soon as it is up! (Though you need not rush...these are sensitive fish!!!)

[beviking]

Sounds like a plan. ChilDawg's comment on the SAE's should be investigated. 15 Ottos? Wow, that's a bunch. Seems that 6-8 would be enough, but if you want 15, there's nothing wrong with that. I'd stay with 5 Discus too.
IMO, sounds pretty sweet!
Wait a minute. Can sounds taste...nevermind.

[PikeLee]

Well I actually have 8 Ottos and 3 SAE’s right now in my 30g Planted tank, and they do their jobs pretty nicely. Although, on the bottom of my cobra grass, there is a bit of brown algae that they’re slacking on. I was thinking since the 90 is 3 times as big I’d need more.

What I’m actually going to do is Setup the tank with the rocks/wood/plants and add the 8 Ottos and 3 SAE’s. If they do a good job with the clean up, I won’t add anymore. But if the cleaning isn’t strong, I’ll add some more in.

This is a tank that I’m going handle pretty gingerly (Especially from the price of the Discus). I like bigger tanks, but once something goes wrong, it can be a real pain. Also, I never had Discus’s or Cockatoo’s before. I’m wondering if someone can tell me from their experiences if the Discus’s are as sensitive as everyone says. I doubt that my Dwarf Pikes will do anything to the Discus’s, but does anyone think the Cockatoo’s will do anything to them? Especially if the female is guarding some fry. That’s the reason for Question 2.

I remember reading somewhere that you really don’t need CO2 unless you have more than 2w/g (not sure on the exact). But since this is a deeper tank than normal, I was wondering if this “rule” still applied. **(Is this more a question for the Plant sections?)**

Thanks for compliments on my future Setup. I just hope all goes as well as I envisioned it.

Any other help/input on the other questions listed from the original posting?

Cheers.

[molahs4]

For more info on the effect of UV on the water column, check the boards at aquabotanic.com. There is concern that it makes some traces unavailable. I have a UV on my 90 and only run it when there is an outbreak of something waterborne (ie. Green Water, ich). It's best not to use it unless you have to since it can also damage beneficial bacteria in the water. I found an 18 watt UV for $50 at petsolutions.com and run it after my eheim 2217 cannister filter. I haven't noticed any reduction in water flow into the tank.

[molahs4]

I forgot to mention that I have 30 ottos in my 90 and they are all well fed. I have 3 SAEs and they seem to be doing a pretty good job for me- almost 4 months without any bad algae outbreaks. I got the SAE's young, and they don't harass anyone. In fact, it's fun to watch them try to join in with the schools of rummy's, or danios, or ottos, or cherry barbs. I think the SAE's have a major identity problem, but it makes it amusing for me.

I don't know about the Singapore shrimp, but a herd of Amanos (c. japonica) would be helpful too.

[tricksterpup]

As for the SAE's, I have kept 6 in a 55 with no problems of them chasing each other. They would just follow each other in a schooling like behavior. The only fish that would bother them though was the red tail shark. They were fine once i removed him.

[superstein61]

As far as the UV Sterilizer goes - well, you have two schools of thought on it. I personally use one and see no negatives from doing so other than the cost - LOL. My water stays crystal clear and I feel more secure given the investment in fish that I have.

As far as it affecting trace elements in a planted tank, I find that hard to believe - as it really only is efective on certain living organisms. I have been adding more and more plants to me tank and have noticed no problems at all with the UV. I know 80GJoe uses one here and has great plants.

[PikeLee]

I’m glad to hear that no one had any bad experiences with the SAE’s. I wouldn’t want to buy 200-300 worth of Discus and find out that the SAE’s started harassing them and stress them out.

I actually want to put the Amono Shrimp in, but my dwarf pikes, and probably the Apistos would have them as an expensive snack. The Singapore Wood Shrimp looks like a crayfish and it camouflages slightly. Instead of 2 Claws it has 4 Feather dusters catchers mitts that are covered with hair. It goes around grabbing algae off of stuff or just sits in a position kind of filtering the water. Cool looking invert. They can get a bit territorial though.

As for the UV sterilizer, I’m going to have to send some messages to 80gJoe and look on some of the other posts/forums. This tank is going to cost me a bit of $ and time, I don’t want any headaches from Illnesses or GW. So hopefully I get more positive results from my research on the UV used in a planted tank.

Thanks for all the replies.

Cheers.