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OK guys... I have a 90Gal tank with a Magnum Canister Filter, the basic... The tank has been up for about 7 months now, and I have a couple schools of fish that are doing WONDERFUL.. NOW, I NEED another filter to go with the one I have now.. I was thinking of just getting another one of magnum, but I am open for some sugestions.. ALSO, I have been reading about protein Skimmers and I am not sure if I need one or not?? Should I or not?

Second, what all should go into growing good looking plants?? I have the powercompact unit. 48" 2-65 watt bulbs.. I have a bunch of live plants in my tank.. So far they are ok, but when I got them they were a whole lot greener.. I also have a supplement that I put in the take for the plants.. sooooo? anything else I should do?

Any help would me great. I want this to be perfect before I get my DREAM fish. I"M sure everybody wants the Discus..

THANKS SO MUCH

never herd of using a protein skimmer for discus, mabey you mean uv light, but then i dont own discus, yet.

the lighting on your tank is ok but not really strong enough for medium to high lelvel plants. i would stick to low level plants unless you get more compacts. try anubias, wendt's cryptocoryne, vallisneria, pennywart, and java fern. They are all lower lelvel lights that should do well. what kind are you using as a fertilizer, some suggest against it because of the water quality for the discus.

as for the filter, do as you like, canisters are nice, but cost more money, i would say get one big enough to filter between 7oo-900 gallons per hour. and if you dont have the quick disconnects for the magnum hoses yet i would get them, best 40 dollars i ever spent.



chris

Protein skimmers on FW tanks do little to no good.....Unless your water is very very very hard like a SW tanks water is. A skimmer in a FW tank will just produce wet foam, and will only increase the amount of water that you will have to top off the tank with.

Hi,
A 90 gallon tank that is only 7 months old with two small
schools of fish is not producing enough "waste products"
to provide enough nutrients for the plants. That,coupled
with a watt and a half (round figures) is not enough for
anything but "low demand plants." Crypts, ferns, moss
would be good. Keep in mind that the 90 gallon tank
is deeper than 12 inches and that the light disburses
as it travels through the water, effectively making it
weaker than the watts/gallon figure you calculated.

Stronger lights may be necessary for good growth.
Until you get the larger fish, and the tank is more
established, you will probably also need to add some
fert for the plants too.

As far as the protein skimmer is concerned, they are
useless in freshwater tanks. They simply won't work
at the "consistancy" of freshwater, however they do an
outstanding job in saltwater tanks.

Frank




[span class="edited"][Edited by FRANK 2004-08-02 10:30][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by FRANK 2004-08-02 10:31][/span]

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Thanks guys.. As for the fish in my tank now, I have 3 schools of fish.. All together there are about 35 fish in the schools, and I have 6 cories.. The plants, I might need to get a low level light to go with the one I have now... Also, what about a Co2 system?... WHAT do ya think??