Need to brainstorm a new project... ALL OPINIONS WELCOME:)

[Troy Valentine]

Surface skimming will help on the FW setup .I would drill and use a wet dry for the FW .To preventing the hitch hikers on the plants put them in a RO/DI and bleach mix for a bit then you move them into RO/DI and change the water a few times and the plants will be clean of hitch hikers .When you set up let me know I will get the bleach to RO/DI mix from my wife for you ,She did this in all the FW planted that we use to have.As far as C02 not sure on that as we never stocked the plants that hard in any of our tanks.

Mike

Thank you Mike, I remember how impressive your setups were. Definitely something to emulate.

[jc]

I had a a f/w discus tank set up for almost a year. You can get surface scum so I attached a surface skimmer to my canister filter. I would recommend just going with a sump. That way you have less clutter in the tank. I also dosed co2 with a ceramic diffuser on the output of the canister filter. It worked fine except for the *tsk *tsk sound from the diffuser. You do get micro bubbles using co2. I also used excel for a while and while it is more expensive I did get just as much growth as the co2 with the added benefit of less hair algae. You can buy excel in bulk and attach it to a doser. I had an accident with my co2 and killed 3 discus in a matter of minutes. Most definitely guard against hitchhikers on your plants. The snails grow like crazy and clog up your filter intakes or impellers. I also dosed dry ferts. It was not that difficult. I put them in a daily pill reminder and I just popped the top open and added it to a small cup of water. Since you have to feed your fish every day I didn't consider it an extra hassle. You could also put the dry ferts in a doser but some of it will float on top and get sucked into the filter which might not be a bad thing since it would probably get mixed in eventually.

[Troy Valentine]

I dont think freshwater lifts the proteins like salt
Ive never had anything on the surface except the first few days from not rinsing the sand enough
Since i have HOB filters i use carbon and they keep the surface agitated enough

How often do you change your carbon? And does the carbon remove organics necessary for the nitrogen cycle and ultimate health of the plants?

[Troy Valentine]

I had a a f/w discus tank set up for almost a year. You can get surface scum so I attached a surface skimmer to my canister filter. I would recommend just going with a sump. That way you have less clutter in the tank. I also dosed co2 with a ceramic diffuser on the output of the canister filter. It worked fine except for the *tsk *tsk sound from the diffuser. You do get micro bubbles using co2. I also used excel for a while and while it is more expensive I did get just as much growth as the co2 with the added benefit of less hair algae. You can buy excel in bulk and attach it to a doser. I had an accident with my co2 and killed 3 discus in a matter of minutes.

I plan on using one ATO for the reef tank and FW systems. I will create an in-line reaction chamber for the fertilizer and CO2. Now how do you know when it is necessary to add CO2? Won't the excess CO2 cause the PH to drop in the system?

[Troy Valentine]

Can you feed your freshwater plant cuttings to your Tangs? Free food is always good....

[allan]

How about a square piece of plexiglass just below the surface to block the clam's stream? Or threaten clam chowder.

[tebstan]

Be sure to find out the preferred pH of the discus you purchase. There can be quite a range depending on who bred them.

I've never tried a bleach dip on plants. What's the ratio?

I've used salt dips, but it varies a lot. Some plants can handle a lot more than others.

There's also these really cool and really effective critters:

Assasin Snails (anentome helena)

They're pretty aggressive hunters

[CoryDude]

Troy, I'm starting see a totm curse. It seems like half the tanks we feature end up coming done right afterwards. But, then I saw you mentioned blue rams and discus, my two favorite fw fish of all time.

Agree with everyone else that surface skimming is the way to go on both the salt and fw tanks. I would definitely use some sort of cover on the fw tank to keep salt spray from entering it. When I had a fw tank next to a salt, the fw tank would always have a slightly elevated specific gravitity (1.001-1.004). Not much, but it may be a problem with the discus.

Have you thought about using a hiatt on the fw tank? If you want, I've got a spare torpedo sitting in the garage that you could use.

For anyone interested, here's pics of the aforementioned culprit.

[jc]

Use a drop checker to measure the right amount of co2.

[Triggerman]

Hey Troy...interesting project...go with wet/dry filters on the freshwater tanks as well but lower flow than your reef tank...look into fintique for the discus since they're already adjusted to our SA hard water..

Also you can bite the bullet an get a larger reef tank to accomodate that monster gigas...

Ray