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Brian's ADA 60P (Ver. 2.5) + Ecoxotic E-Series (Starts Pg 34)

143K views 576 replies 76 participants last post by  Brian_Cali77 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm finally getting my ADA 60P Build underway.... exciting!

I'm trying to keep the build (for now) nice but semi-budget friendly with the potential for upgrades in the future. Also with the 'budget friendly' angle in mind, I want to experiment in trying something a little different than the norm. I'm going a little new-school and old-school mixed in with a little taboo in the world of "ADA" yada yada yada... I'm going to put on a black background and use black equipment to be stealthy, and at the same time, allowing things to "pop" more in color -- allowing my lighting choice to really shine! Colorful with contrast is what I'm going for. But in the living room as the "main tank," this is a welcomed addition -- no doubt.

Perhaps, later I will upgrade to the full-on glassware and all -- as with everything, it's subject to change and things evolve. With that said, here we go!


Here are the particulars:

Tank+Stand:
  • ADA 60-P (17g = 24in X 12in X 14in)
  • Ikea Besta

Lighting:
  • Current-USA Satellite LED+ (x2)
  • Current Single Ramp Timer (coming soon)
  • RGB LED mood lighting strip (behind the tank)

Filtration:
  • Fluval C2 HOB
  • SunSun 301 w/ surface skimmer (more on this later) ;)
**Might upgrade to a Fluval 206 + Lily Pipes early next year (or earlier if I hate the HOB idea)**

Substrate:
  • Brian's "Special" Blend (more on this later) ;)
  • Sand (possibly Caribsea supernaturals 'white' sand)

Hardscape:
  • ADA-style DW (not sure what it is... I'll post pics)
  • Yamaya Stone
  • Seiryu Stone

Plants: (subject to change)
  • Collectoritis Style for now! TBD

Fauna:
  • TBD

CO2 / Ferts:
  • PPS-Pro "dry ferts" from GLA
  • Aquatek Paintball Setup
  • Glut (occasional)

Okay... got that out of the way! Here are some pics and some more text! :)



With the RGB mood lighting strips I removed from my 12g. Wasn't sure what else to do with them so I put them behind the tank for fun. Notice how my HOB's almost disappear with the black background? Well, at least for me it does!



So I have these Do!Aqua pipes on hand, and I was really tempting myself with a Fluval 206 purchase. But then I remembered I have a Fluval C2 being unused in my closet so I decided to save some money and go with the C2. I'll just keep the glassware on hoarding status for a later time. ;)


And the lighting! Current-USA Satellite LED+ fixtures (X2). I should be getting around 72+ PAR with these at the 12" distance from light to sub. Let's see what I can grow (hopefully not just algae):



On the tank:


-------------------------------------------------------
FTS: Updated 11/09/13



Version 2 Update: Due to unfortunate circumstances, the 1st scape pictured above had to come to a premature abrupt end. Version 2 'rescape' turned out like this.. latest picture before the tank 'tanked' (again). Version 2.5 in progress as of 6/25/14.



VIDEO!!!!

ADA 60P & Sat+ LEDs - UG Carpet Update: http://youtu.be/zJfC_x2Uckg


More to come... stay tuned!
:thanks:
 
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#2 · (Edited)
So more about this choice in filtration: Fluval C2 + SunSun 301.

I really wanted to go with the lily pipes and canister filter, not only for aesthetic reasons but also for lily pipes being functional in removing the protein layer that is very distracting in a topless rimless build. HOB's aren't that good at dealing with it when the water level is kept high close to the top of the tank. Which is usually the desirable thing to do in a rimless tank.

So I researched some protein skimmer ideas... and stumbled across the SunSun 301. If it works out to plan, I'll have extra filtration plus (the main purpose) surface skimming.



I found it being recommended in the SCAPE forum by cGaR: here

I also found one YouTube video here:


With it being black and all, it will sit nice and semi-stealthy next to my C2 dealing with the dastardly oil slick (aka: protein layer).

So... I ordered it and tested out the surface skimmer attachment in a glass of water. It apparently adjusts automatically to the water level based on buoyancy. Pretty neat and inexpensive solution (if it works!).

Check out this video of the surface skimming attachment demo.


Here's how it looks up close next to the C2:
 
#3 ·
The Hardscape Plan (subject to change):

So here's that DW (not sure what species it is exactly) I kept around from my old halfmoon dwarf puffer tank. I got it at Nature Aquarium in Santa Monica... and I'm sure it came from AFA in SF as I know the owner of NA makes his orders through them -- especially ADA stuff.

Needless to say, this is a very interesting piece of DW and I'm excited to use it again.



My stones... Yamaya + Seiryu. Some came from my rescape of my GLA tank.


And a quick rendering of what I have planned (loosely and not to scale):

 
#4 · (Edited)
+1 Ikea Besta stand!

I see they came out with new colours for the doors. I like the look you have with the HOB and the Current lights, very clean and professional looking.

Ops, didn't see the drawing.

Edit: The corner where the ADA sticker has a weird silicone look, can you take a closer pic?
 
#5 ·
Yeah I already noticed imperfections in the silicone work. I'm a little disappointed but not overly critical... I read the reviews out there how quality has dropped since they started getting them built in China.

Is there something you see that I should be worried about?
 

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#11 ·
#7 · (Edited)
This should be very cool. I like that surface skimmer. I use the Fluval skimmer with my Eheim and can't see myself setting up a rimless without one now. It's made to fit Aquaclears as well so maybe would work with your C2?
I'd looked into the Besta stand for use with my Mr Aqua "60-p" but none of the doors really worked for me in our living room. That grey is fantastic, though!

Question on the Besta - I don't see that door listed with the cabinet. Is it a separate item you purchased?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59925650/
 
#14 ·
Thank you! I've been a big fan of your work, following along your build. You certainly know your way around ingenuity and fabrication... you made the Ray 2 mod look clean & functional. Your scape is breathtaking too.

Anyway... here's an inside shot of the stand. I'd like to get more organized and tidy with the power strip and wires. I might work on that later.

 
#28 ·
Update Time!

Initial hardscape up... I'm going to tweak it a bit so it doesn't look so linear. I also need to smooth out the stand and clean that up a bit. The stones along the sand look like crap right now, but once the carpeting plant grows out, I think it will look good (enough). :proud:



I decide to flood it before fully planting it... Still waiting on some UG, mini AR, and a few other things. I have a bunch of stem plants, but those are easy to plant submersed anyway.

I tied some mini fissidens on the DW. I also tied some fissiden fontanus on some of the stones.



And just some fun with the LED lights (Sat+ and ambient mood lighting) :)







The water is still cloudy, but that's to be expected. I need to do some PWC's today. While the water level is low I'm going to plant some stems.

Stay tuned!
 
#29 ·
Looks good so far. I know you already said it but I would either add to the driftwood or tweak it so it has more movement, it's a cool looking piece but looks a bit "stiff" right now. It's not bad, just needs that little "something" to be excellent. Really liking the setup though.

It looks like you only have one fixture on but do both work well of one remote?
 
#32 ·
Thanks Joey.. yeah we'll see about the stones. Luckily I grabbed some GLA aquascaping wave scissors before they disappeared from that sale. I have no excuses to not keep the UG maintained :)

I have a lot of stems that turned green under wack lighting, like L. Aromatica, Rotala magenta, and r. colorata. Hopefully they'll color up after I move them.
 
#34 ·
Update: Day 1 Planted!

I'm not sure if I'm feeling the "collectoritis" aspect of it... I just decided to plant heavy to help getting the tank cycled and to help with the AS ammonia leaching. I'll probably start subtracting species of plants here and there... I might get mini AR so I'll definitely need room for that.

Also, I decided to plant some HC throughout the front until I get some UG. I'm in no particular rush so I just wanted to get something going in the meantime.

Here are some pics:





More fun with the LED colors... this one was taken at night on the sunset mode and my moodlighting set to purple :)



Here's a close-up of the sunsun 301 skimming... it works like a charm with just a couple slight modifications. I had a load of brown stuff floating on the surface after flooding the tank from the substrate... after I ran this little surface skimmer, it cleared it up like in 10 to 15 minutes (maybe less, I wasn't really timing it):



Video of the surface skimmer in action.

 
#35 ·
I don't think it looks too collectoritis. I think that as long as you keep the wood in mind as you trim, you can very easily achieve a nice background without it being over kill. When I saw the first sentence on my phone, I was like "oh no, not another natural scape with every species on the planet." But I think you did well so far, it will be more telling when it grows in. The background does make the wood's character show up more as well, which is a good thing.
 
#37 ·
Thank you for the reassurance that I just didn't blow the scape. You're right, I'll see how I feel after it grows out a bit. Yeah...I'm actually liking the black background. I honestly didn't think I'd like it because the majority of rimless tanks either have no background or a frosty opaque one. My other rimless tanks are that way, so I guess that's why I went this route with the 60p. Plus it's saving me $100+ on not having to buy a canister (yet)! Maybe Black Friday might change my mind? Lol
 
#44 ·
I don't have a PAR meter so I go by the advertised numbers... but it seems like you'd be able to achieve that if you consider a few inches in substrate height. You'll need to fixtures though like me.

PAR (source):
18” 28
24” 21
ya im not sure two would quite cut it, that would give me the par i need in a few spots not the whole tank. I think im going with the finnex ray 2, for now anyway, maybe if they come out with something alittle more powerful I will switch, love the remote and the different modes. too cool.
 
#45 ·
Cool... well I know both Current and Finnex are in the works for a more powerful plant specific LED system. Might be worth waiting. But if you're in need now of a high PAR LED lighting solution, I'd go with a BML (buildmyled) fixture as my first choice -- I like the Dutch version personally... or the Marineland Aquatic Plant LED or 2x Finnex Fugeray Planted+. These have red diodes in the them to supplement the red wavelength (~620–740nm). Going with Ray 2's only, you'd have washed-out colors (it's very blue spectrum heavy). Red plants eventually fade to green... well that was my experience anyway, running Ray 2's on my 26g bow front (18" distance from light to sub). Go with full spectrum! :)
 
#46 ·
Cool... well I know both Current and Finnex are in the works for a more powerful plant specific LED system. Might be worth waiting. But if you're in need now of a high PAR LED lighting solution, I'd go with a BML (buildmyled) fixture as my first choice -- I like the Dutch version personally... or the Marineland Aquatic Plant LED or 2x Finnex Fugeray Planted+. These have red diodes in the them to supplement the red wavelength (~620–740nm). Going with Ray 2's only, you'd have washed-out colors (it's very blue spectrum heavy). Red plants eventually fade to green... well that was my experience anyway, running Ray 2's on my 26g bow front (18" distance from light to sub). Go with full spectrum! :)
ya believe it or not I have 50/50 actinic compact flourescent right now. Hows that for not enough red. I have another LED thats more like 6000K. So that plus a ray2 and maybe a planted plus when it comes out will probably be my array. Of course now i see petco has the current lights 30% off. I emailed current and they thought I would need 3 to achieve a par of 40, still too rich for my blood.
 
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