# vision 180



## billko (16 Mar 2009)

Hi Folks,First post here and thought i,d share a pic of my tank,




The tank has been planted 6mths and is my first kind of serious attempt at plants,although nothing like the tanks i,ve seen on here (they are awesome)i joined the forum to get good advice and get educated on plants etc,from the experts,
Tank has tetra complete substrate with sand on top,(no C02 injection,) i dose eaycarbo 5ml daily and plant nutrition 2ml daily,tank has T5 lights with reflectors on 9 hrs a day, 2 x 45ltr waterchanges per week,2 x eheim ecco 200 externals (600lph) and the juwel internal,I was thinking of getting a Co2 kit but a bit wary as i,ve got high fish stocking levels but hopefully somebody will put my mind at rest and advise me that C02 is the way to go,,,
Tank has 6 Discus,cardinals,rummynose,dennasoni barbs,cory,s ,oto,s ,bristlenose,and a male betta,
all plants are Tropica and are a mixed bag really but most have done well and i,ve had good growth,fought a few algae battles along the way,but managing to keep on top of it,
Cheers Billy,and go easy please,,,


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## Thomas McMillan (16 Mar 2009)

It looks like a nice setup you've got going on here! 

When you can keep a tank looking as lush as that without CO2, why change now if you're unsure?


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## Superman (16 Mar 2009)

I wish I had discus in my vision 180.
Looks great, might be an idea to slowly change things rather than a drastic change?


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## billko (16 Mar 2009)

Hi Thomas,Thanks for your comments,
When i first set up,the advice i took was i didn,t need C02,so just went with the ferts,i later started adding easycarbo,
I,ve had little algae issues and the same folk i got advice from,are now recommending C02 for me,so i,m a bit confused at the moment,lol,
cheers superman,will be taking advice on board i get here as to what will be best for my set up,
Billy,,


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## billko (19 Apr 2009)

Hi Folks,
I,m upgrading to an Osaka 260 and this is my last pics of my Vision 180,,,
This is my first kind of real attempt at a planted tank,but i,ve also got 6 Discus in there,,(i didn,t want to go down the bare Discus type tank) and reasonably happy with the results,,although the barebottom Discus tank would have been alot easier,,  
Billy,,,


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## donalo (21 Apr 2009)

Beautiful tank. Well done. 

Keep a log/pics of the new tank. How long have you been keeping fish?


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## billko (22 Apr 2009)

donalo said:
			
		

> Beautiful tank. Well done.
> 
> Keep a log/pics of the new tank. How long have you been keeping fish?


Hi donalo,Thanks for your nice comments,
I,ve kept fish for a number of years,but i would say the last 5yrs or so i,ve been really more into it,but the plant side of things has not been my strong point,and it was more about the fish,
When i eventually was brave enough to get Discus,(2yrs ago)i found they were no harder to keep than anything else,just more waterchanges and decided to try and keep them in a nice enviroment with plants which was going against alot of advice from others who had the bare Discus tank,,I got more into plants and found it as addictive as Discus keeping,but i,m still a total novice when it comes to plants and a bit out my depth with the guys on here,but if your going to learn,this is where you will do it,,,  
Cheers Billy,,


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## aaronnorth (1 May 2009)

beautiful tank & discus 
Looking forward to the upgrade too


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## abdul (11 May 2009)

donalo said:
			
		

> Beautiful tank. Well done.
> 
> Keep a log/pics of the new tank. How long have you been keeping fish?



Hi Donalo,

beautiful tank & beautiful discus
i am starting up a new planted discus tank would you recomend RO water or should i use normal tap water
my PH in my area is about 7.4

i have been advised to use tap water & co2unit as this will bring the PH down please advise

kind regards,

abdul


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## billko (16 May 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> beautiful tank & discus
> Looking forward to the upgrade too


Thanks aaron,,,
Just back from holiday and i set up the osaka a week before i left but no ferts for the 2wks i was away and plants not at their best at the moment  i will sort things out and still some new plants too add to the set up but not decided what to get,
The tank needed 40ltrs of water which was a shock when i got back,but all the fish are fine  
cheers Billy,,


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## billko (16 May 2009)

abdul said:
			
		

> donalo said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi abdul,
I keep my Discus in dechlorinated tap water and they are fine,,,tapwater is neutral ph 7 and in the tank it,s 6.6,,,
I would find a reputable supplier that has the same water stats as yours and get your discus from them and you should have no probs,,
I don,t use C02 as i,m worried about my ph crashing but i won,t rule it out in the future and could use coral sand to buffer the water but for the moment i,ll use easycarbo,,,
cheers Billy


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## donalo (21 May 2009)

Any pics of the new setup??


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## billko (19 Jun 2009)

donalo said:
			
		

> Any pics of the new setup??


Hi Donalo,
Sorry for not replying sooner,
I have some pics of the tank,but the plants suffered a little when they went without ferts for 2wks while i was on holiday
I,ve had some algae issues and the Discus are a little skittish in the new open top tank but getting more use to it,so at the moment i don,t want to disturb them too much and will see how the plants grow and will hopefully add some new plants at a later date,
The tank doesn,t have a background so the pics are not easy to take with my cheap camera,,












The first pic is the latest one and the last pic is when i changed over from my vision 180 to the osaka.
 Cheers Billy,,,


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## bazz (20 Jun 2009)

hi billy,
hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you feed your discus?
i've kept 2 before a long time ago in a similar environment to yours, but seemed to spend half my life siphoning uneaten food from the tank. they were fairly fussy eaters, and certainly made and left behind a mess!
cheers and thanx,
bazz!


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## aaronnorth (20 Jun 2009)

nice tank


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## billko (20 Jun 2009)

bazz said:
			
		

> hi billy,
> hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you feed your discus?
> i've kept 2 before a long time ago in a similar environment to yours, but seemed to spend half my life siphoning uneaten food from the tank. they were fairly fussy eaters, and certainly made and left behind a mess!
> cheers and thanx,
> bazz!


Hi bazz,
They are fussy eaters and i feed them, beefheart,garlic,and earthworm flakes,,
Tetra prima,
Frozen turkeyheart,bloodworm and daphnia,
They will also try and steal the cory,s pellets and the algae wafers for my bristlenose and i find a clean up crew of alot of cory,s keeps the bottom clean,
I,ve tried them on lots of different discus mixes with little success,so i just vary the above foods,,
Billy,,


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## billko (20 Jun 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> nice tank


Thanks aaron,,
Billy,,


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## billko (8 Aug 2009)

*Re: vision 180 to osaka 260*

Hi,
Alot of changes to the tank and think i,m a finished with the osaka, although i did want too add a couple of tiger lotus, but don,t know.
I eventually added a black background and moved things around a bit.
I,m still using Easycarbo, but i have started using profito instead of plant nutrition liquid, but only been using it for a few weeks, so too early to say if it,s any better.
Will leave the tank alone now for a bit, and other than a little algae outbreak, it has all went quite well
Anybody any thoughts on the tiger lotus, as i planned to add it to the rear right hand side of the tank.
Cheers Billy,,


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## Nick16 (8 Aug 2009)

what is the specs of the new tank? inc liters?

looks really nice, its rare to see amazon swords used well but you seem to have cracked it.

how many discus have you got?

with regard to the tiger lotus, it will provide more sheltered spots for the fish but as a result it will block out some light for the swords.


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## Fred Dulley (8 Aug 2009)

I love it!


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## billko (8 Aug 2009)

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your comments,
The tank is 260 ltrs and has the standard t5 lighting.
I have eco complete at both ends with tetra complete under the sandy bit in the middle.
The tank is filtered with the fluval 305 external and 2 eheim ecco 200 pro externals.
I dose easycarbo and profito daily and the tank is also well stocked with fish,
6 Discus, cardinals, rummynose, harliquins,oto,s,a pair of bristlenose, assorted cory,s, a male betta and some cherry shrimps.
Nothing hi-tech about the tank or plants that are too demanding, but i wanted a nice enviroment for the Discus and didn,t want to go down the bare bottom tank route, and although a bit more work, it,s worth it.
As for the Tiger Lotus, i,m still unsure on that one but will wait and see.
Billy,,


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## billko (8 Aug 2009)

Thanks very much Fred,
Billy,,


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## aaronnorth (8 Aug 2009)

Thats grown in lovely


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## billko (8 Aug 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> Thats grown in lovely


Thanks aaron,
I,m happy with the way it has turned out,
Billy,,


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