Jeffrey's "Little Man" -ADA 60-P

[jmhart]

It's time to setup my 60-P.

In June my wife and I found out we'd be moving from the San Francisco Bay Area back home to Atlanta. Sad as I was about losing access to such great stores as AFA, Ocean Aq, and Albany Aq , I made an opportunity out of it. At the time I had four tanks setup: a 5.5g, 45g, a 46g, and a 75g all planted, all high tech. I liquidated all of them.

From the ashes rose a currently in progress 120g, and an ADA 60-P, the subject of this thread.

The tank was purchased in June, but it sat in storage until just now. I ordered a custom cabinet, which took some time, and then had to stain and polyurethane it.









Now that the stand is done, the real fun can begin:

[NJAquaBarren]

I'm thinking of a 60cm as a 2nd tank soon too. Look forward to watching our project develop.

AB

[jmhart]

Equipment will be:

ADA 60-P
9L ADA AS II, initially, more if I decide I want it
Coralife 2x65 PC initially. I may bump this up to 150w MH later on.
Eheim 2236 for filtration
Coralife Turbo Twist UV 6x(it's what I had sitting around, uber overkill)
Hydor 300w inline heater (again, I had it sitting around, overkill)
Pressurized CO2
Milwaukee pH controller
DIY Inline pH probe and co2 injection.

I'm not sure what route I'm going with the scape, but I know it'll have a lot of anubias nana 'petite'.

Initial stocking will be:

2-4 Dario Rubra
4 Parotocinclis eppeliyi sp 'Peru'
Maybe a pair of Apistogramma Caucatoides 'Triple Red' (again, maybe. they are in a 15g
quarantine tank right now, and they may hang out there until the 120 get setup)

I plan on getting ~6 pygmy cories form Invertz Factory. Other than that, I'm keeping stocking ideas open.

[Phil Edwards]

Jeff,

Do you have petite nana or do you need some?

[roybot73]

I know everybody has strongly differing opinions on lighting (wpg, intensity, etc...), but 130 watts of pc will be more than enough lighting, and 150 watts of halide over an ~18 gallon tank that you want to feature "a lot of anubias nana 'petite' " is on the extreme end of overkill -- 8.3 wpg!!! You'd be walking a tightrope to avoid an algae filled cesspool

If you want intense light, a 70W halide will do the job nicely and if you want managable, even light a 2 (or 4 bulb for more flexibility, burst options) HO T5 system would be ideal.

Just my 2¢

Looking forward to seeing this running!

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by NJAquaBarren

I'm thinking of a 60cm as a 2nd tank soon too. Look forward to watching our project develop.

AB

Thanks! It's a really fun size. It's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I had thought about the 60x45x45, but that would have been too big for what I was going for.

Originally Posted by Phil Edwards

Jeff,

Do you have petite nana or do you need some?

My cup runneth over. Between the plants I got from you and those I had floating, the 60-P is gonna fill up fast. It just means I'm gonna have to get the 120g setup quicker.

Originally Posted by roybot73

I know everybody has strongly differing opinions on lighting (wpg, intensity, etc...), but 130 watts of pc will be more than enough lighting, and 150 watts of halide over an ~18 gallon tank that you want to feature "a lot of anubias nana 'petite' " is on the extreme end of overkill -- 8.3 wpg!!! You'd be walking a tightrope to avoid an algae filled cesspool

If you want intense light, a 70W halide will do the job nicely and if you want managable, even light a 2 (or 4 bulb for more flexibility, burst options) HO T5 system would be ideal.

Just my 2¢

Looking forward to seeing this running!

The PC lighting will be sitting ~3" over the tank, one bulb on for 8-10 hours,and the second on for a midday burst. If I switched to MH, I would raise it above the tank significantly. I've never been a fan of 70w MH. No matter what size tank, it just doesn't seem to be a significant amount of light.

[roybot73]

Originally Posted by jmhart

... I've never been a fan of 70w MH. No matter what size tank, it just doesn't seem to be a significant amount of light.

Seriously? While I had mine running it seemed to grow anything and everything just fine. Too fast, to be honest...

But, like I said, just my $.02...

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by roybot73

Seriously? While I had mine running it seemed to grow anything and everything just fine. Too fast, to be honest...

But, like I said, just my $.02...

I appreciate you sharing your experience. It may just be the particular bulbs I've seen. Switching to MH is not in the immediate future, so I would do a bit more research before that time came. Honestly, if Fishneedit would just get some more 4x24w T5HO lamps back in stock, I'd get one of those, set it, and forget it.

[roybot73]

I noticed a huge difference in light output from different bulbs. It really does boil down to "you get what you pay for"!!! The ~$90 AquaMedic 10K bulb was the brightest, nicest looking bulb I ever used, Ushio 10K weren't bad @ $40, and anything <$20 - forget it.

Those Fishneedit fixtures seem pretty sweet...

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by roybot73

I noticed a huge difference in light output from different bulbs. It really does boil down to "you get what you pay for"!!! The ~$90 AquaMedic 10K bulb was the brightest, nicest looking bulb I ever used, Ushio 10K weren't bad @ $40, and anything <$20 - forget it.

Well, now that I've got my handy dandy PAR meter, I could really do some analysis.

Originally Posted by roybot73

Those Fishneedit fixtures seem pretty sweet...

When they first came out, I figured "eh, cheap and crappy", but now that they've been out a while, I've heard really good things. As long as it's a good housing and good ballast, I can replace a cheap bulb.

[jmhart]

A modicum of progress.

I put together the manifold I'll be using for the inline pH probe and the co2 injection.



Water flows from left to right, first hitting the pH probe mounting using the handy dandy Heyco liquide tight cordgrip, and then onto the co2 injection. I'm using an irrigation drip connection. Great little bit of plumbing. If you've never used one, it's perfect for this. You slide in your 1/4" line, then give it just a little tug, and it seals up around it like a chinese finger trap.

Had to make do with a couple of fittings from the local Ace Hardware(so much quicker than driving out of the way to Home Depot) so I'm gonna have to let the PVC glue seal up.

[jmhart]

I've made some good progress. The innards are all complete.


I had to wait for the pvc cement on my pH probe/injection manifold to dry overnight, but then it was easy enough to install:



Had one little hang-up..... I for the outside boards are 1/2", so that the 3/4" screw I used to mount the manifold ended up being about 1/4" too long:



Later on I'll cut that off and fill the whole in, but not today.

The manifold is then hooked up like this.



The pH probe has to stay wet, so it can't be installed until the very end, but you can see the co2 line installed in the irrigation fitting.

The final construction of the inside goes a little something like this:





And I'm ready for the next part:

[jmhart]

I'm still working on my mad Google Sketchup skillz, but the plumbing goes a little something like this:

[Phil Edwards]

Very nice! I just love seeing a nice clean installation, almost more than the mature tank itself.

[bigboij]

very clean setup should be one to watch