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I'm working at doing a 125 gal discus tank with a good bit of plant life in it. The tank measures 48x24x24, I'm running 390 watts worth of compact fluorescant at 6700, co2 off a tank, high-neutriant substrate and undergrav heating. Thus far, my plans include these plants:

Cabomba furcáta
Hygrophila corymbosa ''Compact''
Lilaeopsis macloviana
Microsorum pteropus 'Philippine'
Myriophyllum tuberculatum (Red)
Pogostemon helferi
(ya, i don't know any of the common names for these can you tell?)
bacopa moniari
java moss

Any possible conflicts here? All the high light requirement plants are either going to be directly under the fluorescants. I'm also open to any sugestions, especialy for plants ranging about 20-40cm.

I have a 125G with 386W of light and EcoComplete gravel. Sound familiar? No CO2 injection or ug heating but I consider it to be a moderate light tank.

Mmm, 125G with 390W? Sounds like the Coralife compact fluorescent fixture. It's a very nice unit but be sure to lay in additional silicon retaining bands for the light and purchase the mounting legs. The unit generates heat and should be above the glass tank tops, not resting on the tops. I have this unit on my 125G and I will be shifting from the mounting legs to the "adjustable mounting legs".

Foster & Smith has the unit on sale for $319.99US SALE. Do use the SunPaq Daylight 6700K bulbs. They work very well for freshwater plants. I shifted to two 6700K and two 10000K bulbs but have not been happy with plant growth.

Do double check your plant choices against the
Tropica website. Click the little top right button that says "advanced search" then plug in your tank parameters. All units of measure are metric so be prepared. You can also type the word "discus" into the search box to find two very nice articles on planted discus tanks.

Go see Walter if you would like to see a webpage of a discusholic who is also a talented aquatic gardener. Wonderful tanks!

Comments are from Tropica:

Cabomba furcáta: A very beautiful but also difficult plant because it requires more light than most aquariums can provide. Soft water and CO2 addition are also necessary for optimum growth. Death of lower leaves indicates insufficient light. In good conditions Cabomba furcáta develops small, long floating leaves and often forms beautiful purple flowers. Should be planted in groups, but not too close because the light has to reach the lower leaves. Used to be called Cabomba piauhyensis.

Hygrophila corymbosa ''Compact'': A very compact variety of Hygrophila corymbosa, with the leaves set close to the stalk. Forms numerous side shoots, enhancing the compact appearance. The leaves are a dark brownish green when the plant is delivered, but after a transitional period in the aquarium they turn light green and silver-white on the underside. In strong light the newest leaves are reddish brown in colour and in time the oldest ones die away - especially in dimmer light. New side shoots form often, to replace the old.

Lilaeopsis macloviana:This species of Lilaeopsis requires less light and grows a good deal higher than the other Lilaeopsis species. Runners from L. macloviana creep across the bottom, and vertical branches grow up from the runners. Its habit is similar to Vallisneria, and it is fast growing and easy to care for. L. macloviana grows in a wide variety of habitats, from the Pampas in the Andes where it was found to river mouths and brackish beach meadows, indicating how adaptable this plant is. Thus it tolerates low salt concentrations in a brackish water aquarium.


Microsorum pteropus 'Philippine': Variety of Microsorum pteropus with strikingly beautiful long, slender 'hammered out' leaves. Microsorum pteropus ''Philippine'' grows readily on roots and stones, but can also be planted directly on the bottom - but not too deep. The plant is hardy and also suitable for larger aquariums. It is tolerant of salt, and originated from the island of Panay in the Philippines, where it grows right out in the tidal river mouth and thrives both below and above water. See also Microsorum pteropus.


Myriophyllum tuberculatum (Red): The finely-branched red leaves of Myriophyllum tuberculatum make this one of the most beautiful of aquarium plants. But it makes great demands on the light, and only thrives in a few aquariums. A nutritious bottom and CO2 addition promote growth significantly. M. tuberculatum is most beautiful when planted in groups, but do not plant shoots too close because this will prevent light reaching the lower leaves.


Pogostemon helferi: This plant was discovered by aquarists in Thailand, close to the border with Burma. It is called 'Daonoi' (little star) in Thailand, and it is easy to see why. P. helferi is an unusual and distinctive aquatic plant with a compact habit, curly leaves and a strikingly beautiful green colour. With good light conditions and a substrate rich in nutrients P. helferi forms many side shoots, which develop small roots, and the plant rapidly forms an impressive carpet of foreground vegetation. It important to note, however, that herbivorous fish appreciate this plant as much as aquarists do.

You will have problems with the cabomba and the myriophyllum tuberculatum. They are very touchy and demanding but I applaud your decision to attempt their culture. I might consider cryptocoryne crispatula balansae as a background plant. They will grow to the surface of the 125G then accross the surface for a very pleasant effect. Also consider c. wendtii for a midground palnting.

Work the bacopa into small groupings of 11 to 19 stems. You can generate additional plants by cutting off the tops and placing the cuttings into the substrate. It will grow to the surface of the tank. A thicket looks great!

I aquascaped, planted my tank, filled it and stocked it with 11 adult discus in one day. I used a fully seeded Eheim as primary filtration with a fully seeded AquaClear. No ammonia or nitrite readings ever!

If you use EcoComplete, place the substrate in the aquarium and then position your hardscape - rocks and wood to get an idea of what you want to see. Use a wallpaper tool to sculpt the substrate, then begin planting the tank. TFH had a wonderful article by Takeshi Amano on how to plant a tank. Find it, read it.

After planting the tank, very slowly fill the tank with water. Use a Python and temper (mix) the water at the tap to your desired temperature. You should have a minimum of clouding and quite a bit of de-gassing.





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"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Thankyou for the advice, and erm.. are you sneaking around in my house ? I've got ecocomplete sitting around ready to go and yes, they're coralife. I also incidently based all my research off tropica hehe. At 390 though i figured i'de have been at least into a high light set up . As for mounting legs, where do i get those? i'de planned on just having it on glass. Also, what the heck is a silicone retaining band? (can ya tell i'm new to serious plant keeping?)

I think that covers the onslaught of newbie related questions, other than one- what's my best resource for learning to care for difficult plants? as of now i'm reading like mad on planted aquaria and i'm finding it difficult to find a reliable source. The nearest thing i have right now is a guy working at a LFS (nay, THE lfs) in vancouver (4 hours from here). Yes, i know, alarms should go off with LFS but he's won awards for his aquascaping and i'm embarassed to say that unlike most lfs store employees, he knows FAR more than i do about aquaria in general.

Anyhow, thanks again for the info, any further help would be greatly appreciated.

It seems you are on the right track so far. Something you have not talked about yet is Ferts. The link below is the dosing method I am using along with many other plant people on this site(tetratech,little_fish,Bensaf,etc.) Bob is the one that lead me to the article.

Tom Barr's EI

For ferts you can make an order to Greg Watson's or use seachem's flourish line. I believe most of us are running macros from Greg's and micros from Seachem. At work I am using pretty much all seachem stuff because it is the stuff we sell. It works well.

There are other ways to skin the cat too but this way seems pretty easy and a few of us will tell you that it works. Keep reading around though and find something that will work for you and your fish. As Tetratech has said "You can't be all things to fish and plants".

And while we are showing off our tanks...Bob... here is mine.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Ric,

Here is a link to the mounting legs: Legs You have two choices for legs. The adjustable legs should only be used if you do not use the glass tops for the aquarium.

The silicon retaining bands look like rubber bands and extend across the CF bulbs in the fixture and act as a heat dissipation tool. They become brittle with age and you should maintain a stock of them for the fixture.

Two good sources of plant info on the internet are the planted section of this site and Aquatic Plant Central. The Aquatic Gardener Association also has an excellent website.

Do grab the Tom Barr article that Wings mentioned in his post. I found it to be an excellent guide to fertilizing your aquarium. If nothing else it helped me to understand some of the comments on the plant sites.

There are a number of good books on planted aquaria that you will never see in your local bookstores. The Amano series of books are primarily coffee table books but have little info on setting up one of his tanks or maintaining it or fertilizing it... His series in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine is a bit better but the pictures in his books are incredible.



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__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Thanks for the mounting legs and fertilizer info. I'll be sure to check that out right away. I'm supprised amano's books don't have much for good info. I always thought he'd take a bit more of an axelrod-ish approach in his writing. I've been looking at a lot of his work though; I can never get over how well he works the golden mean.

Within the next couple days I should have my outline finalized (been tinkering for WEEKS with just the plan), i'll throw it up on here when i'm done and see just how many things i need to change hehe. In the meantime, i have lots of reading to do on fertilizers, which i've kind of left in the back of my mind, and the additional plant info.

ok, so i lied, it won't be a couple days for the outline- here's what i'm thinking on doing:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9012/aquascapingcx1.jpg

I know i'm probably going to have a hard time with the cabomba, is there another plant i could throw in there as a show plant? Any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

Nice composition. I assume that the brown pieces are wood with Java Moss and that the back planting numbered 9 is actually 8 or Lilaeopsis macloviana.



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__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Consider placing nymphaea in front of your center background. The underwater leaves will give you a different texture and color. You can crop off the leaves that rise to the surface and want to become lily pads.

Leave the front aquarium substrate clear as a feeding ground for your discus. They will vacuum up leftovers from this area.



Attached Image:


__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

thanks for posting up my image . Yes, 9 is 8- i had a different numbering system for my original print out of plant species i was considering, mixed the two up. The brown is malaysian drift wood, the one on the left sticks up in a nice big solid triangle near the back, and hopefully the point will stick up right on that line i have drawn.

Thanks for the advice with keeping a patch of substrate clear, i was a bit concerned about food pileing up on the bottom and giving me water change nightmares. As for the nymphia, is there any way of keeping it a nice green color maybe a green variation? Also, the idea is for the Myriophyllum Tuburculatum to be one large stock of it, bending over as i've seen it do in pictures, aimed towards the right side of the tank(if i can control it that much).

Oh, and as a last note/quick edit: the #8 i'm planning on trimming down to leave a nice open V shape to meet the tip of the driftwood on the left side. Not sure if that helps any for visualisation. Also, any idea how much i'de have to order to stock the tank like this?

Is that Lilaeopsis at the back of your aquarium?

All the Lilaeopsis species I've seen to date - brasiliensis, novae-zelandiae etc - have all been tiny plants growing no higher than 2-3 inches that are usually pressed into service as front carpet plants akin to Echinodorus tenellus. Is this some new tall growing species I've not encountered, or is is a small plant which you're planning to grow along a bogwood branch?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

it doesn't seem to be any new breed from what i've read, it's just a VERY tall growing kind of lilaeopsis at up to 50cm. I'm keeping an eye out for a taller plant though, something more in the 60-70cm range (just over 2 feet), while being able to maintain it in a fairly narrow yet dense line, so that it floats along the top a hair and doesn't clutter the tank.