# Finished Discus Setup



## StryfeMP

I've finished my discus breeding tanks just now and quite proud of it as I've never worked with pvc before. From this experience though I'm sure that I'll be working with pvc a lot in the future. I'm going to wait a day or so before I put my fish in there as I must be sure that there aren't any chemicals seeping into the water, but then again the pvc pipes are used as the exit way for the water... better safe than sorry. I've flushed the pipes with water a couple of times already, but I'm going to do it a few more times. I can't wait until my irrigation supplies come in and then the whole discus setup will be completed and I'll have 2gph drippers for each tank, the water coming from the reverse osmosis/di unit. Then hopefully I'll have more successful hatching of the discus fry. The Red Checkerboard discus pair that I have are laying eggs consistently, and have been for a while now. Check out the pictures and let me know what you think. Just to stay on the whole piranha theme of this site, this type of setup can also be used for hatching and growing out of piranha eggs and fry.


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## BOy2K

not too shabby mate!
very high level of finish on the setup , keep us posted


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## fishguy1313

that looks great!


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## dalyhawk

you and your breeding stryfe, ya just cant get enough of it huh? Anyways, breeders look awesome. Job well done my friend


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## StryfeMP

dalyhawk said:


> you and your breeding stryfe, ya just cant get enough of it huh? Anyways, breeders look awesome. Job well done my friend


haha nope, the bug has hit me pretty hard. My hobby gone wild! I love it. Thanks for the compliment. I'm just loving the whole automatic water changing concept, it's really made my fish keeping that much more enjoyable. Here's a picture of my first breeding pair in their own personal tank.


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## Nick G

looks really really good dude, congrats.


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## StryfeMP

Nick g said:


> looks really really good dude, congrats.


Thanks Nick, I can't wait to have tanks full of beautiful discus as I already have tanks full of piranhas, lol.


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## waldron

Man .. lol thats sick.. How did you sucssefuly drill all thoe holes with out break/cracking the glass


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## notaverage

can I ask you to explain the function of the system you set up? You can PM me if ya want but Im sure others would like to know.
Good job anyway....it looks clean!


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## rickstsi

notaverage said:


> can I ask you to explain the function of the system you set up? You can PM me if ya want but Im sure others would like to know.
> Good job anyway....it looks clean!


I would too, VERY NICE


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## StryfeMP

waldron said:


> Man .. lol thats sick.. How did you sucssefuly drill all thoe holes with out break/cracking the glass


Well, I decided to drill/grind my very first hole in a 10 gallon tank as they are pretty cheap and what not and well it definitely did crack, so I drilled some more holes in the cracked tank already so as to get some practice. I've got it down, it's really hard to explain how to do it, but definitely use a hose to run water on the glass over where you want to cut your hole. This will keep the hole saw cool and also rid of glass debris. You can use the bottom part of the hole saw to grind enough into the glass to get a good hold for the hole saw so it doesn't move and then you can start laying the hole saw flat on the glass and grind away until the hole is done.


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## blacklabel

thats a very impressive setup! im not farmiliar with automatic top offs and whatnot. do you have a "system diagram" or something like that? or could you just explain where the water travels from start to finish etc? thanks


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## Splooge

i too am looking to set up an automatic water changer. Please post your setup


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## StryfeMP

notaverage said:


> can I ask you to explain the function of the system you set up? You can PM me if ya want but Im sure others would like to know.
> Good job anyway....it looks clean!


The function of the system is basically the same as my first fry setup. Well, these are really made for discus pairs as well as hatching and raising piranha fry as I still have active rbp breeders. Well, I bought some irrigation supplies and I have 1x 1gph dripper going into each tank to provide the feed water. The water is being filtered and fed by a Reverse Osmosis/DI filter. The overflow is well, the overflow. It is a run to waste system and the pipes are connected and then collected into a tank underneath the tanks, at the moment it is only a 30 gallon tall tank but I've just recently sold many of my reds and will be putting a 55gallon tank in replacement of the 30 so that I only have to empty the tank twice in a 24hour period. I actually got some glass cut at Fischers Hardware and got some tops for the 20gal talls. I think pictures would be better, so here they are.

































































At the moment though I only have the ro/di filter running water into the first tank as my booster pump is not working at all, the blue and red hose.


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## StryfeMP

My RO/DI unit is rated for 100gallons per day and divided up into 4 tanks, that is 25gallons every day, so that will be more than enough of a water change to keep my breeding discus pairs happy as well as have the cleanest water possible for hatching and raising red piranha eggs and fry. In my previous setup I used U tubes to connect each tank to the other and had a home made overflow type deal on the last tank, water fed to the first tank, went into the 2nd, 3rd, etc. and finally to the waste tank. Now with this setup I don't run the risk of the U tubes connecting the tanks losing siphon and potentially having a ton of water on my carpet. Also, I use some Tetra EasyBalance, Tetra Blackwater Extract, and Discus Trace in order to put back minerals lost through the reverse osmosis/di filtration.

Honestly I didn't really plan anything out, I just did it on the fly. Bought what I needed and just did it, it was all in my head what I wanted to do with it. Essentially, this setup is the prototype for what's going to be used in my fish room when I move in April.


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## blacklabel

so if you use ro water you dont need dechlorinator?

very nice setup again...cant wait to see this fish room when you get it set up.


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## StryfeMP

thanks. yea the ro/di filter removes the chlorine and chloramine and basically everything else leaving 100% pure water, well more like 99.99%. lol. So that's why you've got to add back the minerals that the fish need also, being that the water is so pure, it is prone to pH flunctuations as well.


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## Nick G

lookin good dude.
lookin good.
love the updates.


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## bigshawn

Sweet I like what your doing keep us informed....


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## StryfeMP

If you guys haven't noticed those handles for the tops are those sticky hooks, hahaha.


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## Nick G

yeah, i did notice that, and is it just two pieces of glass not connected as the lid?


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## StryfeMP

Nick G said:


> yeah, i did notice that, and is it just two pieces of glass not connected as the lid?


Yeap, I haven't been able to find a local place that carries the plastic hinges that are normally found in aquarium lids so until then, it's just two piece of glass. I had to buy a glass cutter and break off the back corners in order to make room for the wires and drippers.


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## Nick G

yeah i also noticed that as well.
in terms of cutting the glass, how did u do it was it hard?


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## StryfeMP

You know, cutting glass isn't as hard as it may seem. I think it's just daunting just because it's glass. A simply "glass cutter" is all thats needed really and a flat surface. The glass cutter basically etches a line into the glass, you put the glass over a flat surface's edge right where the line is and simply break that piece off. It's really quiet simple, if I had a tripod I'd make a video of it.

Check this out, it's this easy.


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## Nick G

oh damn, i gotta get a glass cutter!
thanks for sharing


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## StryfeMP

No doubt


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## Moondemon

That's a nice project.. and a good thread !
Thanks for posting all of this !


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