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Marimoball's ADA 120p

54K views 245 replies 78 participants last post by  SKYE.__.HIGH 
#1 ·
OK I have been in the hobby for twenty years. So after learning so much on forums my 120gal planted Discus was tore down.
This was my 120gal planted discus tank


Then the Tear down.

After my ADA60P I have been wishing for an ADA120P. So I finally managed to purchase one.
Here is the list of equipment so far
ADA120P
Garden Mat
ADA Lily Pipes inflo and out
6x9L bags of aquasoil
6L bag of powersand
Bactor
step 1 step2 brighty K Brighty special lights Brighty special shade
tourmaline BC
green gain
Hardscape is 100lbs of Seiryu stone and 100lbs of Chinese zebra rock
3x8000K MH bulbs
The stand will be an ADA replica and will be ready for painting tomorrow
I can't decide on lighting but I narrowed it down to two. The 6 bulb T5 HO
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...y~FILTFIT58U~category~48in_Units~vendor~.html
TEK light or 2x150w Aquamedic pendants
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquar...ing_metal_halide_aqua_medic_ocean_lights.html


Here's the stuff I have so far
 
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#144 ·
Thanks for the compliment. Cooper good to hear from you. Im gonna put you on the spot and say that you have had your 90P siting on the floor for over 3 years. Shame on you get that tank set up:icon_redf you have everything including the ADA garden stand and the grand solar. Plus Ill help you whenever:thumbsup:
 
#146 ·
Still battling green fuzzy algae. Photoperiod is 5 hours a day, daily 30ml doses of excell and 50% water changes every 3-5 days:mad:.I may raise the lights a bit What do you think? Water still turns yellow after a couple of days. Remember I have about 7 nine liter bags of aquasoil. And today i added 5 more Amano shrimp. I did add hairgrass to the background. I was thinking of getting some mollies because I heard they eat hair algae then returning them to the LFS. I also notice today that the glosso that I replanted back in the soil is speading but the one that is tall is not spreading. Since the no one has glosso around here I am growing some emerced outside on my deck with aquasoil I have about one square foot now. I think I will plant it in the tank. I may get HC or UG and plant it in the center and see how it does, if it spreads I will gradually remove the glosso. I ordered some quick disconects so I can install the liliy pipes and some ebay moon light may be added to the pendants. I was thinkinking that addidng an inline reactor may slow down the flow of the output so Im thinking of adding a eheim 2215 to the other side with the reactor and some liliy pipes or one galss co2 diffuser at each end. I really like the Iwagumi style, but it is much more difficult to ballance the whole light ferts and co2 thang. But ill keep trying:thumbsup: i think its alot more easier to set up a tank in the nature syle b/c the stem plants use up alot of nutrients fast thus lowering the chances of algae. So i must continue to try things out cuz Im sure not gonna give up on this scape:)
 
#147 ·
Marimo,
Great looking tank, setup and scape. It seems that raising the lights a little would reduce the intensity, since your having the algae problems give it a shot. I don't think they would look too high as well. I would do glass reactors at each end to start for the co2, since it's easy and would look good.
 
#148 ·
DF thanks for the compliment. the tank is coming along. still some algae issues. photoperiod is 7 hours now and the glosso is growing more compact. I did a 50% water change with RO water which was a PITA becouse I don't have an RO system yet. Im thinking of borrowing a UV sterilizer, but for now Ill let the tank mature on its own. there was some marselia with the glosso and I say it covered 40% of the foreground. i like the marselia b/c it grows really compact and is a darker green than glosso. Plants now include dwarf hairgrass E. tenellus micro glosso, and marselia. Ill add giant hair grass to the back if my LFs gets there shipment on friday Ill post pics tomorrow.
 
#150 ·
I think the RO water is making a difference. water was bought at a filtered drinking water store. The guy ran the water through his huge filtration system then through an extra filter till the TDS meter was near "0". My LFS will not get any more plants until next year. So no giant hairgrass for a while :(

Here are some pics from today.









comments welcome
 
#152 ·
Thanks Mizu for the complement

Well after using 30ml excell daily and a weekly 30% RO water change, the algae is 90% gone :bounce: photo period is 8hrs now and the glosso/marselia/E.T. Micro mix is really growing thick and compact. Im beginning to dose ADA Step one three pumps twice a week and brighty K four pumps a day. I only have 5 huge Amano shrimp and they keep the stones very clean. I use to brush the stones with a tooth brush once a week but not no more. I will add 5 more shrimp and 4 more oto's for a total of 9 oto's. I added a black background the plants colors is much better.

Here is some advise for any one attempting an Iwagumi scape do not do not have any MTS in youir tank. They will burrow in the substrate and gradually flatten the substrate. I say this from experience and b/c I pulled out the last MTS today.:thumbsup:
 
#155 ·
I say this from experience and b/c I pulled out the last MTS today.:thumbsup:
Give it time. . .they have been known to live in bags of unused, unsubmersed substrate for up to a year; extremely hardy and near impossible to get rid of in my opinion unless you gave the tank a copper bath which is obviously out of the question. . .

Great tank and great thinking on the photoperiod and dosing to get rid of the algae!!!:)
 
#156 ·
Give it time. . .they have been known to live in bags of unused, unsubmersed substrate for up to a year; extremely hardy and near impossible to get rid of in my opinion unless you gave the tank a copper bath which is obviously out of the question. . .

Great tank and great thinking on the photoperiod and dosing to get rid of the algae!!!:)
That was the only MTS I have seen in two months, even when the lights were off. So im crossing my fingers. The glosso has been through alot some times it looked like it was not gonna make it, but it bounced back.
 
#157 ·
Still some algae issues:mad::mad:but less now. did a huge trim about a gallon size freezer bag full of glosso tenellus, m. minutia mix too bad there is fuzzy cotton like algae, would be a nice raok even though its easy to remove the algae by hand.
Only change is that there is a black background and gaint hairgrass in the background. The G. hairgrass is doing nice. was thinking of getting some molly's cuz I know the eat that algae then giving them away. any whoo updated pics soon.
 
#158 ·
Update. tank is almost complete. I raised the lights to reduce the algae growth. photoperiod is 7 hrs for now. Still have not added the ADA lily pipes:sleep: .. RO system coming next week then then the glosso will look its best.
removed the hairgrass cuz it was invading the glosso foreground..removed the giant hairgrass also cuz the marselia grew behind it making it look messy

before the big trim

after trimming


filled two of these

 
#161 ·
thanks guys. This tank is high maintenance with 1 or 2 trimmings per week and 30% x2 water changes per week, Organic there are no plants floating, What you see is an amazing amount of pearling. The whole tank is covered with oxygen bubbles. Im gonna post a vid on you tube soon to show the pearling. Thanx again.
 
#163 ·
Im having a Blue green algae break out. I clean it out daily but it keeps coming back. I seen threads that recommend erythromycin. But first I will try a 3 day blackout and increase the nitrates by dosing more. If that does not help then Ill use the erythromycin. BTW my RO filter is here just need to install it. Wish me luck:thumbsup:
 
#167 · (Edited)
An update! ADA Lily pipes are finally installed! I had a BG algae breakout and overdosed excell right before the lights went off :mad: which resulted in killing all my Amano shrimp and leaving my fish gasping for air the next day. I went to work and when I came back all my shrimp were cooked pink in the the tank. did a 50% water change and added a couple of air stones as well as a HOB with Purigem. I replaced the 20 Amano shrimp and a SCAPE member told me of a LFS that had green neons. I went over and bought them all. So now I have 90 green neons after adding the 25. this pictore is after another 4 day blackout before a trim and before adding the shrimp and fish.

 
#171 ·
I have tried putting the lily pipes next to each other and could not tell the difference in flow. The filter is on the left. Maybe having shorter tubing would increase the flow if I put both on the left.
Ill try to post a FF pic but the metal halides are so bright it makes it difficult for a good pic.
 
#173 ·
Yeah purple or pink. I have a canon Elph 7.0 meg. Its pretty good better than most point and shoot cameras. Takes awesome Macro pics which is why I bought it. Its not as good as an SLRof course. I was thinking of having someone take some pro pics for the ADA contest but it won't bounce back to the way I want it by the deadline.
 
#176 ·
Well another update im going back to the clean fresh cut look again and moving some fish out to make way 4 more green neons. Some have died and other jumped out so I will remove the tons of blue endlers some micro rasboras one panda gara and maybe some SAE's that are huge they can go graze on another tank. BTW the snow ball population is exploding in this tank.







thanks 4 viewing my thread :icon_redf
 
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