Do!aqua Plant Glass Cube20: Quasi-Wabi

[quicktap]

Sorry for the interruption, UG, I wanted to correct something I wrote a few days ago.

The 36W clip on fixture from Archaea DOES NOT come with the ADA 8000K bulb. AFA has another fixture ($119) that does come with the 8000K bulb, but it is a more traditional 4-legged light.

I received my order today (the tank is fantastic), and noticed that I have a 10000K bulb. A quick phone call to AFA cleared up the confusion and we were able to work something out.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

[Ugly Genius]

Interrupt away, quick.
Good to know about the clip-ons. The lamps I had seen, now that I think about it, were the leg-standing ones. I didn't even know that they had clip-on thirty-six watters.
Cool deal with the tank. In an hour or so, I'm going down to AFA to pick up a Mini-L. I'm pretty excited about starting a new tank. This one will be placed where it'll be viewed from three-hundred and sixtyº so the challenge in setting up a hardscape that will account for this is a challenge I'm kind of looking forward to. (Twenty bucks says I will not have this optimism later in the day.)
I'll be going low-light on this tank: two OttLites at thirteen watts a piece. I'll see about not supplementing CO2 or Excel. The initial planting will consist of Special Fern, Bolbitis, and Mini Pellia.

I'm off today at a time I rarely see Quasi-Wabi. I've noticed that it's DIY CO2 production must be in full-swing because it's pearling like nuts. (For a DIY setup, at least.) As a matter of fact, there's one shrimp that must have ran through a field of O2 because he's covered in pearls.

At least there's no worry about suffocation.

[quicktap]

Enjoy the mini-L. I look forward to seeing what you do with it. I've changed my mind a few times about how I'll approach to my own; now that it's here, I think I've got a plan.

Tell Steven and George that order #1317 says 'Hello'.

[Ugly Genius]

Editor's Note: For the benefit of speed readers, interactive portions of this post are preceded by bold text indicating the type of interaction requested.

Well, it's here.

I've yet to get a filter, so it'll be a week or so before I fill this thing, but I'm playing around with the hardscape and that's fun.

The rock on the left is stunning; the photos do not do it justice. It's about as nice as the piece I have in Riven Impact. (And, yes, I forgot to look what kind it is.)
The driftwood is two pieces I'm going to use intertwined. I think they look cool -- like a monster marching out of the mountains.

I have a Coralife twenty-eight watt light that I'll be using. Question: Is this low enough to forgo CO2 on a Mini-L?

Just now, I was studying the hardscape, and it's a good thing that I have a week to finalize things as I just realized that I'm going to have to learn how to plant BIG. (Relatively speaking.) The plants on my usual pallet for Mini-S's, Mini-M's, and Plant Glass 20's are not going to cut it. I need big plants.
I'm not certain if I'm going to do a carpet this time around.
I do know that I want to use Mini Pellia (of course), Bolbitis, and Special Fern. I want to keep the additional plant selection consistent with these three choices in terms of feel. Request: If you have any ideas of plants that you feel will match these three, please let me know.

I was going to call this tank ADA Mini-L: Inevitibility, but I might choose ADA Mini-L: Elements. As in Mini-L, Mini-M, Mini-S: eLeMentS.

Once I get a filter and fill this thing up, I'll start my fourth journal.

Oh, remind me to tell you about some cool stuff they have at AFA.

[amano101]

Oh man that looks awesome. Super evil looking right now with that wood and dark lighting. I love it.

[fishman9809]

plants that would fit this awesome hardscape:

make it look simple, give it a darker feel with moss and maybe some dark colored carpet, MP would be perfect as accents, this tank has an ancient, dark vibe is what im getting from it, looks amazing ugly, just amazing

[tendril]

This tank is like a tiny aquatic jewel. I love it!

[fastfreddie]

Hello. My name is Ugly Genius. I am an addict. "Hi Ugly Genius!"

Dude, you must live at AFA! I am so jealous! So I guess that is the 20" aqualight? I was wondering how that would fit on the Mini L! Looks great. What filter are you considering?
As far as the Co2 question, (like the bold print?, haha), I was using only excel with 36w over my ten gallon with no major problems, with the light not even raised up like yours with the legs. However, the photoperiod was only 5 hours which may be short for your taste, and I was not using Aquasoil, which I would think would also speed the growth, requiring more Co2 to keep up without deficiencies. Also to be noted: I am nowhere near your level of expertise so take my advice FWIW.

I'm really stoked for you. I love seeing guys like you and CL Watkins who are always pulling out new tanks, designs, styles, and methods. It keeps me fired up about the hobby.

Could you tell me how much AS is needed for the Mini L? Good luck! Now go buy a filter!

[Ugly Genius]

Thanks, amano. Initially when the girl and I were in AFA picking out the hardscape, I hemmed and hawed as to weather or not I wanted the top piece of driftwood. I'm glad my hemming and hawing led to me getting it, because it does give a dark, evil vibe that I'm hoping I can pull off with the planting.

To do this, I'll follow fish's advice and try to use only dark plants. This morning, while looking at the hardscape, I realized that a carpet of Glosso or HC is out of the question. Even with CO2, I wouldn't want a carpet that needs regular trimming as the driftwood would be difficult to trim around. If I go for a carpet, it'll be the slow-growing Mini Microsword. It's slow growth, dark coloring, and it's relatively low light and CO2 requirements make it a shoe in for the role. Mini Pellia will be used extensively. I've been watching The Legend of the Seeker on iTunes and while the show is only so so, the New Zealand locations in which they shoot are phenomenally beautiful. Rocks and tree trunks covered in lichen, ferns and vines woven through walls of green. So while I can't recommend the show for plot, I can recommend it to planted tankers for environmental inspiration. Pretty good fight scenes, too.

tendrill, thanks! Speaking of the Plant Glass, AFA has a new nine watt clip on Archaea light. It's pretty cool. It looks like their twenty-seven watt clip-on, but it's smaller. They only have the display one in stock, but will be getting some in soon. I told them that they should make a thirteen watt lamp as that's an ideal size for many of their nanos. They said they'll look into it.

Hey, fast.
I'm helplessly and shamelessly addicted. No doubt.
It is the twenty" Coralife lamp. I've read that this fixtures ballast is rated for forty watts, so if I want to go higher, I suppose I can. This morning, I pretty much decided that seeing as I have an extra diffuser and tubing, I'm just going to inject DIY CO2 from the get-go. The only cost I'd have is the price of two liters of Coke for the bottle.
For the Mini-L, I got two of the small bags of Aqua Soil. This may or may not be enough. Were I ordering, I'd just get one large one and have extra left over for rescapes, et cetera.
EDIT: Forgot, I'll be putting an Eheim 2213 on this tank. I'm of the belief that too much filtration is almost enough.

Here are some close-ups of the hardscape.

This tank will be unique in that it won't be in my kitchen but in the dining room. This room has one of the most beautiful views at sunset as all the walls are splashed in the red, orange, purple, and amber of a sun falling into the Pacific. At the same time, i'll prove to be a challenge in that all that beautiful light will be hitting the side of the tank. I'll have to work something out.

Please excuse the dirty windows.
I'm really good at keeping my tank's glass clean -- not so much on my house.

[Francis Xavier]

I'm a fan of that layout, I think it'll be interesting to see once there's some aquasoil filled in there to create some contours.

[Ugly Genius]

Thanks, X. I'm tempted to fill the tank with AS now and get the hardscape nailed down, but a couple of things are keeping me from doing that. The main one is that I'm too lazy to move the ten gallon tank which sits in the spot in which Elements will be placed.
The Eheim's on order, though -- found it for seventy bucks at Petsmart.

My girl pointed something out yesterday that said what I was thinking about this hardscape but hadn't articulated on a conscious level: the driftwood looks like a character out of the movie Pan's Labyrinth.
So true.
I'll be trying to go for a dark, creepy vibe. The main character of this tank will be the driftwood. I'll use Mini Pellia and, possibly, mosses to accentuate the characteristics I want to bring out of it. (The more I look at the hardscape and think of ways to do this, however, the harder it gets. Planning plant placement is very difficult for me.)

Anyway, this thread is Wabi's so I might as well post some photos of it.

Elements will look a bit like this except darker, without any of the lighter greens that you see,
and a more foreboding, Something Wicked This Way Comes, kind-of-feel.


The Marselia has already thrown out a new frond.


There are eight shrimp in this photo.

Observation: do not buy Special Fern for your shrimp tank. They will eat it.

[Ugly Genius]

The filter should be here on Friday. This is good. I kinda-sorta have an idea of what I want to plant.

In the meantime, I'll post pictures of Quasi-Wabi to take my mind off of my impatience.

[rrrrramos]

The shrimp in the first pic are in the best position they complete the picture. That Rotala looks like it's starting to get a little green already, but that's what you're going for right? Tank's looking great though, are you just running one diffuser in this one?

[blair]

That new tank is amazing! I love the potential scape. You really have something unique and classy that truly compliments your alias and niche in this aquarium world. Can't wait to see it's development.

[thief]

Wow UG that Mini L is looking good. Actually it reminds me a little of my New Mini M scape I am whipping up soon enough. I actually love my Asain Driftwood. It is one of a kind pieces!!! I only have 3 but I will get more soon from my LFS.

Do you plan to use like ADA Nile sand in this tank give it a river type look?

Anyways I your scape is very inspiring to me. I can't wait to get my HUGE order tomorrow and show you the scape I am speaking of!

Ohh and I never shipped you plants. Are you still interested in some Needle leaf Java Fern. It would look great in this tank!


Also do you know what that cool plant is in here that is from AFA and the shrimp eat it. The wavy looking one is what I am talking about.