I finally got my 125gal tank filled and am in the process of cycling it. It took several try's to get it set up using soil substrate like I wanted because I am planing a planted tank. I had read this book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium where the author shares her method of using soil for a balanced planted aquarium. She claims that she doesn't have to add liquid fertilizers or root tabs and that the soil lasts years. The organic garden soil I got had too much organic stuff and not enough soil, it just wanted to float. So then we dug up soil from our place to layer over it. Our property has been in the family for over 50 years so I know it has not been treated with fertilizers or pesticides and we obtained it from an area that would not have run off from farm lands around. We live on top of a big hill. I was thinking the book said 2in of soil and 1/2 to 1in of gravel or sand. I used 1/2in sand. I had two big pieces of drift wood in there so I couldn't put anything flat on the bottom to keep the water from disturbing the sand. I ended up with the soil coming to the top in a lot of places. It took forever for it to settle and couldn't really vacuum it out without disturbing more soil. I went back and read the book again and realized it was only supposed to be one inch of soil. She warns that if greater than 1in of soil and 1in of gravel or sand are used then it can become anaerobic and toxic to the plants. So I drained the thing a second time and removed all but an inch of the soil. I then layered it with closer to an inch of sand. I decided that the big pieces of drift wood I had were soft wood and I didn't want to use them any way so I left them out and decided to fill the tank before doing the hardscaping so I could lay a flat piece of plastic on the bottom while filling the tank with water so I could do so without disturbing the sand. It finally worked. I went on the search for driftwood in the streams and creaks around our place and found some pretty cool pieces. I have some of the smaller ones in the tank now. Ones I was able to boil. The large pieces I am treating in my tub using the method mentioned in this article. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/driftwood/
I also have added a few plants.
I am trying to decide if I really want to try discus. With my hard water (kh 8) and high ph (8.2) I don't know how well they will adapt. If I do try discus is it best to get them younger like 2" or a little older like 3 1/2- 4"? Should I do 10 of them all at one time or start with 4 to see how they are going to do in my water? Should I use a drip method to acclimate them over several hours or maybe even a day? I asked that question of a site that sells them and the response was, no just float them 15-20 minutes and release them they will take weeks to acclimate to the new water perimeters. Also, has anyone used or heard of Discus Guy or Mac's Discus for buying discus?
