ADA 90P Iwugami (56K Warning) Updated 5/16/2013

[FlyingGiraffes]

You could try a layer of crushed lava rock with AS over it. I was worried about compacting also.

Like the rocks, but I think you can get nicer wood.

Looking forward to see your scape.

[mcqueenesq]

Originally Posted by styxx

Oh and BTW mcqueensesq, I went to LSU/UNO for my undergraduate degree! I miss uptown and the Quarter so much! Many of my friends still live there, but left for Grad school after Katrina. Hope things are going well down there these days...

Better than ever. It's truly a renaissance. If this doesn't get your juices flowing, then you've really been gone too long.

[styxx]

Why hellooo there Mr. FedEx package, what is that you have in there for me today? AHA! What do we have here?!?



Note how narrow the outlet is - I wonder if this is to increase the turbulence of the flow?



This intake is really gorgeous in real life and the quality is quite evident. Both of them appear to be very fragile, but they're quite sturdy and composed of thick glass.



I love how the workmanship is reflected in the precision of the cuts; no jagged edges here!

[frrok]

Just curious what Pai Mei thinks of this project. hehe

[styxx]

Originally Posted by frrok

Just curious what Pai Mei thinks of this project. hehe

He thinks that this is devilish, useless, white man's work and he should take over and discipline the inept young student from wasting his precious time. LOL

[frrok]

Originally Posted by styxx

He thinks that this is devilish, useless, white man's work and he should take over and discipline the inept young student from wasting his precious time. LOL

Hahaha! Awesome! Those movies never get old.

[pandacory]

Love the equipment list.

I am interested in how your experience shapes up with the g6 and grow beam leds.

Any concern on the 18" tank height with altums? Ive only ever seen 2 (not doing so well) in a lfs, and they seemed a bit larger and taller than regular angels.

[Craigthor]

Altums truely need a 30" tall tank as they can grow to 15" tall.

[styxx]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

Altums truely need a 30" tall tank as they can grow to 15" tall.

Wow. Well the LFS has some very tiny juveniles available, so I was considering it, but after your little bombshell I guess I might have to pass! @ pandacory, I'll keep you posted. At the moment the G6 is very nice but one shouldn't expect high flow out of it. Given that my tank is only a 90P and thus under 50G, I think it's sufficient, but it's not worth the price for a larger volume if high flow is an important criteria. Don't get me wrong, the flow is decent, just not that powerful. Hard to describe without a video, which I can't make atm . As for the Grobeam 1000, it's without a doubt a very impressive LED fixture. It's convinced me to invest the extra $$ for LEDs despite the lower costs for other lighting alternatives. I'll let the plant growth speak for itself in a few weeks. And for everyone else who's been following the thread, the tank should be here sometime next week! FINALLY!!!

[pandacory]

Which controller are you using for the grobeams?

The gla site is a little unclear for me if the standard controller is capable of handling 2, since they do state it has 2 channels, whereas the upgraded controller is capable of handling 4 (directly stated on the site)

As far as $'s go, they seem to be priced *fair* for the features and coverage as long as they work as advertised and you accept that it is still a new and upmarket technology. They look like one of the better options in a pendant style setup.

What is the working coverage of a single tile? It sounds like about 18"x18" each from the site, so 2 should be perfect for your 90p. a version capable of 24"x24" would be awesome for same pendant style and features.

As far as flow on the g6 goes, I personally think that if the filtration capacity is good for your desired maintenance interval, and stems in dense plantings placed in the weakest flow area of the tank will wave at you, you should be good.

I am excited to see how these perform! Your tank is helping me decide how much drool factor I really want to price in to my next project budget!

[Ozydego]

I use a G6 on a standard 55gal, 48"x13"x20 and I chose to have a seperate powerhead because of the length. Now Pugman uses two on a 180P thats working well, so one G6 could be perfect for the 90P. The lily pipe could have something to do with it seeming to not have as much flow because they are designed to spread the flow out. Pugman is also using pendants with his setup, there are a few similarities between your two tanks, if you havent seen it, here is his thread. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...80p-build.html

[styxx]

@ pandacory, At the moment I'm just using a digital wall timer. I have considered using the multi-controller, but at this time, I'm just using one Grobeam 1000 tile. If I find that I need to use the second one on this tank I will probably add the upgraded controller. First, it does support 4 channels (2 per tile) and second (and more importantly) it eliminates the need for the power "brick" that accompanies each tile. The down side is that the damn multi-controller is exceptionally expensive (more than the cost of a single Grobeam 1000 tile itself). I'd rather reinvest that $ into plants for the time being. Yes the light spread is about 18" x 18" so perfect for my size tank, though considering the height of my stand, I'm holding off on adding the second one to see what kind of results I get. From looking at the light when lit, I'm now worried about algae should I add the second tile to the mix. I tend to agree with you about the G6.

@ Ozydego, yes I'm watching Pugman's thread closely. I wish I could afford a 180P OMG! I'm so jealous! I think flow will be sufficient given the size of my tank, and I'm not really keeping any fish that need a river, lol.

[CmLaracy]

Clever idea to increase the effectiveness of fluorite with ADA substrate nutrients, if I ever have to use anything besides Aquasoil I will definitely be doing this... probably wouldn't have thought to. Great idea, very curious to see how well it works. If I was doing this little trick I'd probably be overly generous with the ADA nutrients to compensate more effectively for the lack of AS nutrients, you can't really over do it with these ADA nutrients, especially the bacter.

Bacter 100 is the only ADA substrate nutrient I've ever used, and wow is it effective. It's also quite good for getting rid of BGA between the glass and substrate. I dose extremely lean with N so occasionally very small amounts pop up when I let my filter slow and N get below 3ppm. Lots of bacter 100 and a generous amount of green bacter completely cycled my tank in 4 days, by day 5 I had amanos and ottos and, wait for it, SSS CRS in and none of them even flinched, 100% survival rate. I used 2x as much AS as recommended as well!

BTW I'd start with 2 of those LED panels, but I'm a high light freak I love the growth and challenge of extremely high light, so YMMV. I've actually considered putting a 250w halide over my 75P but I don't feel like buying a chiller and a water top off system.

[styxx]

Originally Posted by CmLaracy

Clever idea to increase the effectiveness of fluorite with ADA substrate nutrients, if I ever have to use anything besides Aquasoil I will definitely be doing this... probably wouldn't have thought to. Great idea, very curious to see how well it works. If I was doing this little trick I'd probably be overly generous with the ADA nutrients to compensate more effectively for the lack of AS nutrients, you can't really over do it with these ADA nutrients, especially the bacter.

Bacter 100 is the only ADA substrate nutrient I've ever used, and wow is it effective. It's also quite good for getting rid of BGA between the glass and substrate. I dose extremely lean with N so occasionally very small amounts pop up when I let my filter slow and N get below 3ppm. Lots of bacter 100 and a generous amount of green bacter completely cycled my tank in 4 days, by day 5 I had amanos and ottos and, wait for it, SSS CRS in and none of them even flinched, 100% survival rate. I used 2x as much AS as recommended as well!

BTW I'd start with 2 of those LED panels, but I'm a high light freak I love the growth and challenge of extremely high light, so YMMV. I've actually considered putting a 250w halide over my 75P but I don't feel like buying a chiller and a water top off system.

CM,
Thanks. I figured that if I wasn't going to use AS then I better get as close as possible to its nutrient levels. Fluorite is actually quite good, except I want AS type growth, so in went the soil amendments to improve my results. AS and Fluorite are the only substrates I'll ever use. Period, hands down. Of course I've never used them because I've always had Aqua Soil and that typically was sufficient so I guess we'll see how things go. As for the lighting, I'm sure that you would have used two LED panels but you are a light maniac (as everyone knows, lol). I'm trying to achieve two, somewhat competing objectives with this tank. First is growing the E. Hydropiper successfully and still keeping some of the shade loving plants (like the anubias varieties) happy. I'm hoping that the Trident Java will be enough shade to keep things manageable. Time will only tell. But on the upside:

Pics tomorrow!!

[CmLaracy]

Originally Posted by styxx

CM,
Thanks. I figured that if I wasn't going to use AS then I better get as close as possible to its nutrient levels. Fluorite is actually quite good, except I want AS type growth, so in went the soil amendments to improve my results. AS and Fluorite are the only substrates I'll ever use. Period, hands down. Of course I've never used them because I've always had Aqua Soil and that typically was sufficient so I guess we'll see how things go. As for the lighting, I'm sure that you would have used two LED panels but you are a light maniac (as everyone knows, lol). I'm trying to achieve two, somewhat competing objectives with this tank. First is growing the E. Hydropiper successfully and still keeping some of the shade loving plants (like the anubias varieties) happy. I'm hoping that the Trident Java will be enough shade to keep things manageable. Time will only tell. But on the upside:

Pics tomorrow!!

Once again, super idea... I know fluorite works quite well, and with those nutrients I wouldn't be surprised if you get growth as good or better than just AS and no additives. And you know what you're doing, I'm sure you could get those shade lovers to grow tremendously under 2 panels , between shading them with the trident and keeping things balanced, you'll be just fine I promise. You can always take one down. Personally though, if you choose to use two, I'd start at least the first week or two with one panel. I usually start the first week or two with my halide at 18" then move it to 10" slowly over the course of a week. This time I started at 10" cause the bulb was shot.

BTW, 45lbs of seiryu was a risky move my friend, I ordered 60" from AFA to make sure they were large enough and that I'd have extra for variety and flexibility for new scapes. I'm definitely happy with the choice, it was worth the money... if I could go back I would have made it 75lbs believe it or not.

Excited for the pics, 90P is my favorite tank along with 120H... don't let me down