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ADA 60p - "Oregon" - updated 5/10/2012

23K views 94 replies 33 participants last post by  2in10 
#1 · (Edited)
5/10/2012
still waiting for the Eleocharis Belem to spread some more, think I should probably start trimming it soon... still needing to get a backdrop of some sort to start taking better photos.





4/16/2012
this photo is with the plant grow (reddish) tube turned off and some additional processing in lightroom beyond what I usually do... starting to play around with how I'd want to photograph the tank when I finally get a backdrop in place.


4/06/2012
waiting for the belem to fill in, starting to see some hair algae that I need to figure out how to get rid of. the java ferns are going crazy w/ baby plants about to drop off and the anubias have both had a few new leaves open up. More photos on page 6.




3/20/2012
Added some Blyxa Japonica a week or so ago, then added some Vallisneria and a pair of German Blue Ram's just the other day. Here's what things are looking like at the moment.













3/09/2012
re-graded the substrate and planted the belem (which will hopefully live through USPS' 10-day priority mail adventure).










3/07/2012
I moved so I tore down/rescaped the tank and added co2 for the first time. I was battling hair algae for a long time and the baby tears were getting unwieldy so I decided it was time to restart. only plants so far are java fern and a few anubias coffeefolia's waiting for some eleocharis belem to arrive. (more photos on page 5)






11/14/2011
trimmed the plants way back, finally got around to hanging the light so I could get it up off the tank higher. looking into replacing some of the stem plants with something a little slower growing as well as adding co2 soon.


11/12/2011
blue ram died a few weeks ago due to nitrite levels I believe, tank is out of control with stem plant growth, still combating the spirogyra.


10/23/2011
been battling some spirogyra, pruned plants way back and cut ferts while dosing h202 and excel for 4 days. lost 1 rasbora last week, picked up 10 more this week as well as an electric blue ram. Added a cabomba caronliniana plant and a few blyxa japonica as well



10/10/2011
ammonia is finally down to a negligible level, I added 3 amano shrimp last week and some fish last night. Starting with 7 Rasbora Espei (porkchops) and 3 Otocinclus. I'll be adding 6 or so more rasbora down the road after things get a little more established.

Starting to see some hair algae so I'm dropping my photo period from 10 hours to 7 hours and starting up dosing Excel and ferts again after a 1 week break so I could make sure my water parameter readings were accurate. Here's hoping I can get it under control.



10/2/2011
Cal Aqua Labs inflow and outflow installed, water test today showed nitrites and nitrates at 0 but ammonia is still high for some reason.

Natural and artificial light shots. lots more photos on page 4.




9/30/2011
Baby Tears planted, Rotala cut and replanted, Wisteria on left removed, driftwood came out to tie Christmas moss on which resulted in having to rearrange things and rebuild the substrate back up.


9/19/2011
PH is still low (~5), Ammonia is still high (~5mg/l), nitrites are low (.3mg/l) seeing some good plant growth, wiped white slime off the driftwood yesterday when I did the second 25% waterchange. I just started dosing pfertz micros, pfertz nitrogen, and seachem excel today.


9/14/2011
Tank is first filled, stem plants added, tons of ammonia in the water from the Aquasoil, did a ~30% water change after 12 hours, added some Seachem Prime. Lights are on for 10 hour photo period light yet to be hung, still sitting on top of the tank.

 
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#33 ·
Sweeeeeet, nice fit with not an cm to spare and the tank looks great on the cabinet with the substrate matching the walnut, maybe ADA should change the name to walnut AS.

It definitely makes it look like one peice and there's no doubt they were made for each other, I really like it and can't wait to see more.
 
#34 ·
so after running the filter for 12 hours it's still pretty cloudy, I tested Ammonia this morning and it's true that the amazonia puts off a ton of it... tonight when I get home I was planning on doing a 50% water change initially, then unfortunately I'm going out of town Thursday-Sunday so I won't be able to do another change until then, I figure I'll do 25% changes like every other day when I get back.

Does this sound like a decent plan?
 
#35 ·
Here are some photos of my ammonia filled tank with the stem plants in.







I learned pretty quickly that putting a bushy plant directly in front of the intake is, the thing was totally clogged with debris. I'm still skimming a bunch of random floaties from the aquasoil off the surface.


also, here's a quick teaser from my "real" camera. these were handheld at f/1.4 so there's a little bit of shake from the long exposure... just wanted to get an idea of what I can pull off with the moonlights on. I'll put it on a tripod the next time I take shots like this so I can get some better depth of focus.

 
#39 ·
I can't remember what the red pipe-cleaner looking guys are, I know the other two are red ludwigia and wisteria but the red ones in the middle have seen a noticeable amount of new growth over the weekend.

this is what the plants look like today, compare with the above photo from 4 days ago



I just started dosing pfertz micros and nitrogen today as well as flourish excel. My PH is still very low ~5 and my Ammonia levels are still very high >5.0mg/l. My nitrites seem to be low for now at .3mg/l

I've only done two 25% water changes since setting it up, wondering if I shouldn't be doing more.

A question for anyone that's familiar with amazonia (more like amoniazonia amirite?) can I expect my PH levels to raise back up a bit after things calm down or should I be trying to correct for it somehow?
 
#41 ·
I'm hoping when I start planting mid-ground plants it will help with that, they'll be up on the banks under the driftwood while the foreground and center will be reserved for (likely) glosso.

This is my next project by the way, building a simple coffee table out of black walnut as well to sit in front of the couch the tank is at the end of.





 
#44 ·
So last week I cut some of my rotala in half and replanted them as well as planted some baby tears, last night I pulled my driftwood out to tie Christmas moss on it which ended up turning into a partial rescape where I had to replant most of the baby tears and decided to pull out my Wisteria on the left because it was looking really scraggly and I figured I have plenty of stem plants for now.

I tried to reposition things as best as possible but definitely lost some of the banks I'd built up with the substrate. I like that it opened up the left side a lot pulling out the Wisteria though, wasn't a big fan of it blocking the driftwood.





 
#47 ·
Thanks guys.

I'm figuring I should let the baby's tears get established a bit before I start trimming them down to train them to spread out. Is generally the right approach with carpeting plants? They're definitely longer than I'd like them at the moment but I don't want to start cutting them down to size until the roots have had a chance to take hold.
 
#48 ·
Got a package in the mail from GLA yesterday... have to say, Cal Aqua Labs has some great packaging.





unfortunately I ordered the wrong diameter thermometer, going to have to see if I can do an exchange without shipping cost as much as the thermometer itself is worth.

Here's the aquarium in the corner of the living room:


couple of the new glass:




Here's one earlier in the day with daylight through the window and one a little later with the T5HO on.





and a closeup:
 
#52 ·
Nice setup. It is coming along. I was not going to go with the glass inflow and outflow yet but I think I am going to pull the trigger sooner rather than later on them. I have the same Catalina Solar light, are you getting any algae with the light so close to the tank. I have mine raised about 6" over the tank and I am told I might get an algae bloom.

BTW. I love receiving new toys in the mail for example:



:bounce:
 
#54 ·
Nice setup. It is coming along. I was not going to go with the glass inflow and outflow yet but I think I am going to pull the trigger sooner rather than later on them. I have the same Catalina Solar light, are you getting any algae with the light so close to the tank. I have mine raised about 6" over the tank and I am told I might get an algae bloom.

:bounce:
niiiice, no algae yet, I'm going to hang the light as soon as I can find someone to weld aluminum for me. I'm hoping that it's heavily enough planted for now that the plants are sucking up any nutrients the algae would need, I've seen some pretty crazy growth from the Rotala and Ludwigia. This is at 3 weeks so I could be in for some algae soon but hopefully I'll have shrimps and snails in there by then to help combat anything that might spring up.

I still need to do a cost breakdown and photos of all of my supplies. I'm using pfertz as well but only the micro's and nitrogen at the moment. I took a break from dosing the fertz and excel though as I think it was skewing my nitrite/nitrate readings and I want to be able to tell when my cycle has finished.

The Catalina light I ordered is modified slightly, I have moonlights on a separate power cord so I can have them on their own timer and then I have each of the bulbs on it's own switch so I can turn one off for a few weeks if I do run into an algae bloom or something.

I figure I'll want to add some co2 in a few months here, but so far I'm seeing enough plant growth that I don't need to accelerate it any further yet.

One thing with the new outflow is it doesn't seem to create nearly as much surface ripple as the eheim spray bar I replaced it with. I tried raising it up above the water surface more but that just created an irritating gurgle, hoping there's still enough oxygen transfer going on with less ripple but I'm sure it's doing a much better job of circulating the water lower in the tank.
 
#56 ·
It's the 60p so size is 24"x12"x14", I was looking at the nano's but feel like they'd be too short... it's kind of an odd size for lily pipes unfortunately. I don't think it would be as much of a problem if my substrate wasn't built up so high in the back, when I hang the light I was planning on moving the inflow pipe to the rear of the tank but it'd likely be hitting the substrate.

I'd be curious to hear what size lily pipes other people are running, guess I was just afraid the nano's would be too short.
 
#57 ·
Yesterday I checked my levels and my ammonia is finally down to a negligible level so I decided to go fish shopping.

picked up 7 Rasbora Espei (porkchop rasboras) and 3 Otocinclus



You can see all 3 of the oto's in this photo... I really need a macro lens to shoot fauna.


Unfortunately I'm also starting to see some string algae, hoping I can control this in time. I dropped my photo period from 10 hours to 7 hours and have started dosing excel, micro ferts, and nitrogen again. I had been holding off on dosing the ferts while waiting for the water parameters to level out.

I'm hoping 3 oto's doesn't end up being too much in this tank, initially I had wanted to get pygmy corydora's rather than oto's but I'm hoping the oto's will help me maintain a cleaner tank... will see.

I'll probably add 6 or so more rasbora's in a few weeks as well, the school looks pretty small so far but seem pretty happy.

also hoping to ask some experts for aquascaping advice. I feel like the tank is already starting to get crowded with how fast the plants are growing, wondering if I shouldn't just pull out a few of the stem plants altogether or how I can best trim them to improve the aesthetic against the rear wall... I'll post another thread in the aquascaping forum.
 
#61 ·
ahhh, good to know, didn't realize phosphates helped combat algae growth. I'll make sure I order some from pfertz, I hadn't purchased macro's yet.

And switch the excel to pressurized co2. Worth a lot less in the long run. You picked them up at the anniversary sale at the Wet Spot right? :)
no co2 yet, still shopping around to see what kind of setup I want to go with ;) seems like it'd definitely help combat the algae though I'm sure... wondering what kind of rig I can get into for $100-150. My plants seem to be growing just fine sans co2 but I definitely don't want to be battling algae.

anniversary sale at the wetspot indeed ;) although I didn't really see anything on sale, I was sort of focused on grabbing my fish and heading out... don't suppose you know of any shop in town that has blyxa japonica and/or assassin snails. I've got a snail outbreak from the plants and they're not MTS so as far as I can tell I want to get rid of them, just saw some eggs yesterday and I'm not to thrilled about that.

Looks good. If you want some aquascaping advice...A spool of cotton thread is .99 at Walmart. Retie your moss. I spotted your thread before anything else in the tank. It looks good but the moss will never hide that thread bro.
haha, I'm planning on removing that twine in a week or two when it looks like the moss has established itself. definitely didn't count on it hiding the twine, it's pretty thick.
 
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