Introduction

As a beginner aquarist, I did not have much luck with planted aquariums. Water would get messy, I was not well equipped with cleaning tools, dreaded ammonia and nitrites kep invading over and over....you get the idea. Meanwhile my pair of platties started spawning and 7 frys made it to young adulthood, which got me thinking of a bigger tank. Coupled with that I accidentally came across a Discus farm and was absolutely overwhelmed by their beauty. After some studying I figured out that they are not meant for a 16 or 20 gallon that I had. Also I found a store specializing in aquascapes and was totally mesmerized by the sheer beauty of a large well planted and maintained aquarium. That's when I decided that I needed to setup a bigger aquarium, with a pleasing aquascape, lots of space for some discus as well as my florishing family of fishes.

First some studying. What did I cover?

1. Discus would govern the primary aspects of my new aquarium. That meant that all other inhabitants in the tank need to be compatible to that setup. So I checked if my current set of fishes are compatible with Discus?
2. What plants to choose. I have an aquascape in my mind with an idea of what layout I wanted, what kind of color scheme and size and density. Next I had to get the right set of plants which can provide all of those and florish in a Discus environment
3. What kind of tank I needed, what kind of filtration, lighting, aeration, CO2, plant fertilizer and fish food.

I will cover these in details under separate posts later.....till then wish me luck.

And yes, this time I want to experiment with fishless cycling. Not necessarily to speed up the process, but to reduce stress on "starter" fishes. As far as time is concerned, I am taking as much as I need...no rush!!! Why? I plan to spend till end of June to explore and find out good products in a cost effective way. Also this is my time to continue with my studies and plan out my approach well. July 9, I plan to start up my process and if all goes as planned I should have my tank ready with all the inhabitants by August 15. Why these dates? Well of course, my family will be out for vacation for these 6 weeks and I want mess up the house as I wish, just as long as I make to to tidy up everything before they are back. Ssssh, thats a secret :)