#187: 605L Aquatic Garden Son of Kahuna

Stephen G. Colley Westport, United States

Comments

While your tank is a little "wild" looking I think you have succeeded very well in doing exactly what you've set out to do. Your tank is healthy and attractive and clearly appears to be a comfortable home for a collection of lovely discus.
— Karen Randall

Aquascape Details

Dimensions 183 × 61 × 61 cm
Title Son of Kahuna
Volume 605L
Background black acrylic sheet
Lighting 2 x 150 watt HQI MH, 10,000K
Filtration Ocean Clear 340, Eheim Pro II 2026, Lifegard 25 watt UV. System flow rate set to 2.8x tank turnover / hour.
Plants Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri), Anubias Barteri Round Leaf (Anubias barteri v. Round Leaf), Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri v. Nana), Anubias Petite Nana (Anubias Pygmy Nana), Bronze Crypt Wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii v. Tropica), Red Rubin Sword (Echinodorus v. Rubin),
Red Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea zenkeri), Tawain Moss (Taxiphyllum alternans)
Animals 100 Ghost (Glass) Shrimp (Paleomonetes sp.), 25 Amano Shrimp (Caridina japonica), 5 Singapore Flower Shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis), 5 Swartz's Cory Cats (Corydoras schwartzi), 5 Zebra Loachs (Botia striata), 15 Oto Cats (Otocinclus sp.), 50 Green Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon simulans), 9 Discus (Cobalt and Leopards) (Symphysodon spp.). And if you look hard, you may see a single miscellaneous white tetra. It's not consistent with the aquascape, but it came to my family, desperately needing a home. :-)
Materials 25 ft. driftwood, secured with ADA Woodtight, 1" ADA Bright Sand. Sword plants and crypts are planted in shallow pots of ADA Aquasoil over ADA Powersand.
Additional Information This tank and aquascape were designed to provide a visually pleasing planted environment for discus, while still requiring relatively low maintenance. The plants, fish, crustaceans, and systems supporting the tank, all work together to keep tank maintenance requirements low - currently one weekly 45-60 minute maintenance session. Multiple, small, automated water changes each night yield an equivalent of 50% water change every 3 days. Three tank outflows are plumbed thru the bottom of the tank, with two returns over the top. Pre-filters on outflows and return nozzles are obscured by plants. No equipment was removed for photos. CO2 in-line injection with Mazzei venturi. CO2 kept at 45 ppm by pH controller. Daily micro fertilization with 9 ml ADA Green Brighty Step 2. Potassium dosed to keep tank at 25 ppm at the beginning of each day (prior to uptake). Nitrogen and Phosphate are found in the tap water used in water changes, keeping the tank at 8 and 0.9 ppm respectively. Neither is dosed.

Website problems? contact showcase@aquatic-gardeners.org | privacy policy | terms of use