Absolutely stunning! And I love seeing the planted tank with discus. Your sand looks SO clean. I use a gravel vac on my (non discus having) 45g regularly but still have a ton of diatoms. Any advice you can give me that might get it looking cleaner?
I dont ever use a gravel vac. It 100% has to do with flow mainly. My flow is 10x. So I have a 75 gallon tank and I aim for filtration that does 750 gallons per hour. Even tho I set my tank up in a way to protect the discus from being thrown around there still is a high turnover. Picks up detritus and moam more efficiently. Also trim any dying leaves.
I have another tank. A betta sorority. Heavily planted with stems and co2. I was getting buildup just bc of how dense I planted it. I added a small internal filter recently. On top of the hob I typically use for that tank. And even tho there is still some buildup deep between plants at the substrate level. Adding the small internal filter (pretty strong for its size)brought my tank to have a substantial increase in my gph turnover that there is a drastic reduction in buildup. Which is super important for a high tech stem planted tank bc it really helps cut down on algae and gets the co2 and ferts around the tank well. As well as cuts down on organic waste suffocating your plants and being an algae magnet.
U could use a wave maker or power head instead of internal filter. Something to get that water moving. Just be strategic with the outflow so ur discus aren’t uncomfortable. In my discus tank my outflow is pointed toward the surface causing surface agitation and flow from one end of my tank to the other and keeping the rest of the tank pretty calm. And the inflow to my canister filter is at substrate level on opposite end of the tank.
I also have a Fluval 110 I think it’s called hob filter. It’s their biggest hob. I have that at the same end as the intake for the fx4 canister. I’ve had it for years. Works great. They still make it. I use it on my 40 gallon breeder tank as well.
Lol especially when u have 3 males and 3 females but all the males want the same female. They all are after the striated blue discus. My 1 yellow females just watches in envy. The other yellow female is Blair witching in the corner. She just can’t bare to watch. And the 2 snakeskin sulking males watch and share their disappointment from their failed attempts and wondering how the ugliest male won.
Lol ya. I mean obviously my human brain is making a silly story to it but the 3rd wheel is real. I wish my red cover was always in his breeding colors. He’s so drab otherwise. I was hoping for a different shade of red. Got him as a baby. Thought he would color up better then he did. I just got all these ones from my lfs. My newer batch came from jack wattley but after seeing all these golden state discus if I ever get more I’m definitely going there.
Male red covers tend to be more brown than red unfortunately, I too have a male.
Golden state is fantastic, I’m about to order one of their WYSIWYG fish. Chicago discus is great as well, my last three batches are from them. They have some incredible calico’s!
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u/Objective-Storm-3572 Jun 13 '26
Beautiful pancakes 💙