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Psiorian's 60F

10K views 61 replies 14 participants last post by  Brian_Cali77 
#1 · (Edited)
So, I’ve been lurking on the forums for a while, and I’ve seen my fair share of journals (maybe too many, its all I do at work). Since you guys helped me pick my tank, I decided it is only fitting to do a journal about it.

Disclaimer I’m still relatively new at this so any suggestions are welcome.

Specs:
Tank: ADA-60F
Lighting: Current Freshwater LED+
Filter: Eheim Ecco 2232, Cal Aqua X1s Inflow.
Substrate: ADA Amazonia
Hardscape: Seiryu Stones

So I’m trying out the layout now. I want to do like a white sand beach sort of scape down a valley.

I've been messing with rock placement for now. There will be white sand where there is no substrate currently (please excuse the bad pictures and the funky lighting):

Top View:


Front View:


I'm liking the right side of the scape. Close up of the Right Side


I’m not sold on the left side I have two options what is in the front view above or the picture below. Alternate Left Side 2:


Things will be easier to see without those fruit loop cardboard in the way an the sand in. Any suggestions on the initial hardscape?

I am trying to debate between HC and UG for the foreground. Do you guys think if I do one side with HC and one side with UG that would look weird? Any opinions on what I should do for the foreground?

I'm going to look for sand tomorrow and get some substrate dividers to keep the substrate out of the sand and foreground plants from mixing.
 
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#3 ·
You've done the sand path before? Does it require a lot of maintenance?

I bought this tank just to do a sand theme :p

Maybe if I don't use too white sand? Maybe white mixed with black to create a gray look so it wont be too bad if it mixes a little with the aquasoil.

The HC path is also a good idea. I'll have to think about this one some more.
 
#7 ·
Thanks. I'll move them and take some more pictures to see how that looks.

Congrats on the new acquisition! Great start so far. I guess the AFA SCAPE meet couldn't wait? LOL

Anyways... I say if you like the sand go for it. You're the one that's going to be looking at it on the daily. I'm not going to lie, it does require more work to keep it tidy. But it's a labor of love. I personally still like a little sand, it adds character IMO.
I figure during the SCAPE meet I can buy something else :p You can always buy something else from there, especially if there is a sale. I found the rocks at the bonsai place across the street for half the price AFA was selling them for, same stones.

I certainly like the right side - a winner. Left, um, maybe also try to angle the rocks a la right side? The shape of the path: blunt up the top corner a bit, the needle tip looks a bit unnatural to me, or plant something at the very top.

Light sand and AS is a PITA, but I love the look.

v3
Yea the path is supposed to be blunted as is the front two corners, my cereal box supports didn't hold up as well as I wanted, but I didn't want them to be too firmly in place as I need to remove them with the sand in. Planting something at the top also sounds interesting, what did you have in mind for that?

I guess I'll still give the sand a go, see if I can handle it.

I have some more rocks as well so I'll do more work on the left side.

Any thoughts on the foreground plant? HC vs UG? Could I do both without looking unnatural?
 
#5 ·
Congrats on the new acquisition! Great start so far. I guess the AFA SCAPE meet couldn't wait? LOL

Anyways... I say if you like the sand go for it. You're the one that's going to be looking at it on the daily. I'm not going to lie, it does require more work to keep it tidy. But it's a labor of love. I personally still like a little sand, it adds character IMO.
 
#6 ·
I certainly like the right side - a winner. Left, um, maybe also try to angle the rocks a la right side? The shape of the path: blunt up the top corner a bit, the needle tip looks a bit unnatural to me, or plant something at the very top.

Light sand and AS is a PITA, but I love the look.

v3
 
#8 ·
I personally like UG, only because it's the newer trend and not as readily available. However, if you haven't done HC and have an urge to have the best of both worlds, why not! Go for it... you can always make changes after if you don't like the results.

Here's a tank shot I saved in my folder of "inspirations"... there's a combo of HC and UG executed well IMO.



On a side note... anyone know how this like river/stream was achieved underwater like that? Looks like some type of resin or something.
 
#11 ·
Awesome thanks, I saved it as well and I'll see if it'll work with the scape however it turns out.

The path seems to peak/end right center.

If you want the illusion of depth, something shorter then on the sides and front, which is a challange. Maybe S. repens, hydrocolite Japan, a single blyxa. Blah, me not liking those choices. For a focal point, a single AR mini. Dearf water lily might work. E. tropica aka Rosette sword. Gee :)

v3
Thanks for the suggestions, it looks like it might be better to just not make it pointed :D

Congrats on the new setup! I love the 60F and hope to try one some day.

I really like the setup so far and I think there's been a lot of good suggestions. You might want to consider either adding some more substrate behind the rock closest to the back wall on the left or moving it slightly away from the rear glass to allow access for planting behind it.
You should get one! They are nice tanks.

Thats a great point! This is something I would have thought of after filling partially and started to plant aand would be lazy to move it by that point. I'll do something about that. Thanks for that.

It might also be worth mentioning that the rock on the left front, if placed with a large flat side facing up near the tank center has a good chance of growing algae unless moss or similar covers the surface, at least its what I've noticed in my tank.
I'm still thinking of what I want it to look like planted, so I'll have to see if I'm going to add moss or not. If not I'll change the orientation of the rock.
 
#10 ·
Congrats on the new setup! I love the 60F and hope to try one some day.

I really like the setup so far and I think there's been a lot of good suggestions. You might want to consider either adding some more substrate behind the rock closest to the back wall on the left or moving it slightly away from the rear glass to allow access for planting behind it.



It might also be worth mentioning that the rock on the left front, if placed with a large flat side facing up near the tank center has a good chance of growing algae unless moss or similar covers the surface, at least its what I've noticed in my tank.
 
#12 ·
So I moved some rocks around added a black background, and moved the barriers and I got this.

(Phone pictures but I was lazy to use the better camera.)



I had to change the right side a bit to balance the left side this is what it looks like now.



This is the left side. I feel better about it now.



Top view.



It doesn't come to a point but the barriers are drooping so it appears it is.

What do you guys think now? Or did you like the old layout better?

Will even out the substrate once I find some sand. For some reason wherever I go is out or only has huge bags. Going to check a couple more places tomorrow.

White sand or light tan sand? Will pure white look too unnatural?
 
#15 ·
I have a Eheim Ecco 2234 filter sitting around, do you guys think that would be too much flow for this tank? 145gph is what its rated at, I'm guessing thats empty as I've heard people say these eccos have low flow.

I know people like to oversize their filters, how to know if its too much besides substrate flying everywhere.

I'll have some sort of lily pipes (not purchased yet), would I need to restrict the outflow with the valves? Maybe buy spin lily pipes?
 
#17 ·
That's one of the reasons I went with a fluval 106 instead of an eheim classic can. I have the ability to throttle it down without risk of prematurely burning out the motor. Plus, the self priming is great. I just bought the clear vinyl hosing from home depot to work with my 13mm cal aqua pipes.

Get the 106 dude...it's a great filter!
 
#24 ·
Well since I need to throttle down flow and that's what the spin is for I got one from chronados before he restocks so when it comes in Ill see how it works.

Still need to find a short inflow as GLA is out of the short ones for now.

Still got a while. I will most likely dry start to at least let things get rooted.
 
#25 ·
Most Eheims come with adjustable flow, including classics. If the manufacturer put that feature in, then a) improbable to do anything bad to the mag drive b) they had a reason. If it is rated for 160 gph, you *might* get 80 in practice. Things get dirty and clogged up, reducing the flow rather quickly. Your plants grow, get trimmed, moved around, replaced - your flow needs will fluctuate.

IME, turning the flow down is much easier then up. Think about it.

v3
 
#26 ·
Been busy as I thought one of my other tanks was leaking but it was those J thermometers siphoning water out of my tank. I emptied the tank and leak tested it and everything was fine. Nevertheless I redid it and moved it to a better location.

Thanks for all the comments on the filter.

Some things that happened since the last update:

I swapped my friend for a 2232 as the 2234 was too tall to fit in the cabinet I had planned.

I got the mini spin lily pipe in, its really small. I have no idea how this flow pattern is going to go, I'll have to test it later. Still no inflow though, waiting on cal aqua pipes from GLA.

I put a black background on the tank.

I also got the current SAT+ as my light. I've been wanting to try this light and all the neat dynamic lighting features and man its amazing! Suspended the light using those zoomed light hangers.

I also added the white sand. My plastic flexible cutting board substrate dividers are coming in the mail still. After they are in place the planting can begin.

Here is a picture of what it looks like now.



 
#33 ·
So I planted and filled the tank. HC in the foreground and UG in the background, some anubia nana petite in the areas that are slightly shaded.

The infamous filling picture


I didn't have my inflow at the time of the filling. I tried the spin out but because of the flow pattern of the spin (it makes like a ball of water around the outflow its really cool) it directed some flow downwards. Because of the shallow height of the 60F it kicks up the substrate no matter where I put it even if I turn the filter down. So I'm selling my spin to try to get something different, probably a cal aqua labs pipe F1.

I went to dual hobs. AC20 and Sunsun 301 until I can get a proper lily outflow to match my X1s that is coming. You can see all the kicked up AS/sand in the back of the picture. I didnt bother cleaning it yet as I'm still trying to test pipes. (The water is still a little cloudy)



If you look eye level you cant really see the HOBs because of the black background.



As the configuration sits now, the lily pipes can only go on the back of the tank unless I buy some elbows. I bought some connectors from home depot today I'll try them and report back how it is working.
 
#37 ·
Looking great. Sucks about the spin not working. I am sure a normal jet should work but maybe a poppy flow? It really doesn't allow for the flow to go downwards, but it's also quite big. If you use the outlet on your 2234, without the plastic insert, that works about the same as a jet style outflow so that may be worth trying and see how much things get stirred up.

Anyway, can't wait to see where this goes.
 
#38 ·
Poppy hmm I do remember your journal about that one, and how you showed the flow patterns, I will have to take this into consideration as well.

Thats exactly what I was thinking just like a jet outflow. But since I bought the filter used and split stuff with my buddy, I realized I didnt have a normal outflow :eek:

I do have the spraybar attachment though (short one maybe 2-3 inches), I'm not sure how that would work would that create enough flow?
 
#40 ·
Just putting two cents in here on the ViV pipes since I carry them.

The Spin pipe does drop a bit. If you were not worried about the force of the flow, you could use a VI-1032 because the output is a full 3/4 of an inch higher than the bottom of the spin pipe in the 13 mm size.

Tank looks sweetly aquascaped.
 
#41 ·
Thanks!

That style of pipe isnt out of the question. I am either looking at one of those or a regular style lily pipe. Depending on the lily it may still disturb the substrate as it angles the flow downwards.

That jet style flow is a good option though as well. Anyone else use these? I havent seen too many tanks with them on.

Any chance to see these on monday madness in the upcoming weeks? :D

I'm going to do some temporary mock-ups to see what things look like so I buy the correct pipe the next time.
 
#42 ·
So I cleaned up the sand, well I tried. I sucked up the top layer of sand as it was stained from the Aquasoil and added new sand. I'll let everything settle a bit before picking out the AS one by one from the sand.

I attached a bunch of elbows to try to make a regular lily pipe fit that I had laying around. I found out I needed to use hose claimps on these elbows as I had a mess when I primed the filter with leaking water everywhere. After putting hose clamps + zip ties + some super glue everything looked dry after 20 minutes of testing.

Here is what the pipe looks like now.



Here is the FTS



It is not bad, but it sticks out pretty far. I guess I'll use this for now until I get some nano lily pipes. What do you guys think are nano lily pipes that much more compact?

I hope there is no water on the ground tomorrow morning I will have to see. :icon_eek:
 
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