FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I am planning out my 75 Gal High light Discus nature aquarium. I was wondering what light fixtures people use on this sort of setup, and if there is a particular company that sells an "undisputed best" fixture for this. Any insight is greatly appreciated, Thanks much.

I am also curious. Will be tagging along

I Dmay be mistaken, but I didn't think discus appreciate high lighting.

Anyhow, to answer the question, I'd suggest the 4 foot coralife 4 X 64w compact fluorescent fixture for a high light 75g tank.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Can anyone confirm that discus do not appreciate high lighting? Responses Apreciated

I just received my 4 x 65 W freshwater lighting for my discus tank. Discus come from the mangrove jungle with variable lighting intensity (at last that is what I read). I would not put a discus under actinic light, but they are fine in heavily planted tanks with lots of light - unlike cardinal tetras they do NOT shy away from light. Regarding your second question: the best priced high quality light fixture I came across is "Coralife Aqualight freshwater", made by Coralife. It contains 4 x 65 W bulbs, 6,700 K for plants. Two separate light switches, so you can operate two different timers (something I want to try: 130 W 10 hours and full power for 3 hours to simulate the midday sun). Also built in are cooling fans. Very sleek looking and compact. I bought mine online for $215 incl. shipment.

Hope this helps

Iceterran,

Besides the brand of the light (I have only CoraLife for my PCs), here are my thoughts:

You say you have a heavily planted tank. This in itself is insufficient information for what light you should get. To explain:

- Tank stuffed with Anubias and Ferns, low light will do
- Tank filled with light demaning stems, like Rotala Macandra, Glosso, HC, and such, really high light will be needed

The higher the light the more attention (as in tasks) you have to pay to the tank, like adding fertilizers, some form of Carbon (your tank size most likely would mean CO2), and trimming more often.

I also believe that high light does not harm Discus, as long as they can hide if they want to. And a heavily planted tank should have enough hiding spaces anyway.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The tank is nowhere near set up yet, im still in the planning stage, Ive actually decided to go with a 2WPg setup , housing swords javamoss/anubis and corckscrew val. I'm currently looking for a decent deal on a C02 system and a 4X 65 Pc fixture. Now the next problem... I'm not sure what to get for a heater, again its a 75 med light discus tank. Any suggestions as to how many watts is appropriate?

You guys are right. I did some reading and it seems this is an old myth regarding the discus and light. There are a lot of those types of myths regarding discus unfortunately. Sorry for the confusion.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

What kinds of heaters, hm

I would suggest the visi therm stealth, 2 x 200w at least, but this would depend on where you live. If you have relative strong winters and it gets rather cool where the tank is located then you may need more. I assume you know that Discus like higher temperatures, right? If I am not mistaken, then it should be around 82F.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Would i be better off with a wet dry sump or a cannister filter, any Discus experts?

Hi:

I am not bold enough to call myself a discus expert (by no means, really) but I keep them successfully and they appear to be very healthy happy. I am using two canister filters - an Eheim 2026 that does the main task and a small Rena XP1 (eek - stay away from this product)that is used to do the polishing. The Eheim contains peat to soften the water and bring down the pH a bit. The smaller filter is very frequently cleaned and can be filled with nitrate/phosphate remover if desperately short term required (I feed my fish lots of frozend foods and this can put a strain on the water). The second filter also functions as a fall back for security as I am frequently away and the minder is inexperienced with fish. Altogether, a big canister filter will be fine but another filter as a fall back is recommended (the discus keepers I know have either a smaller canister or a bio wheel just in case something coes wrong with the main filter).