unirdna's ADA 90P

[unirdna]

Originally Posted by Betowess

Ted, I'm sure you are aware of this. Can you lower the light just for photo shoots to clear the top 1/3 reflection - or maybe be able to swing/pivot the light towards the back to do same? Going to look sweet. But it looks like you took out some of the wood too.

I've been meaning to fix this - I hate that reflection. So, I put my brain to it, and here are the (abnormally successful ) results. This is permanent, not just for photos. What you see is the norm (now).

Glare gone:


Now lets make it pretty:


Silhouette:


"Sunset":


All photos were taken with my Canon S80 digital camera - 1/8 shutter spd - 50 ISO. There was NO photoshopping (not that I could if I wanted to). They were all taken from a tripod, so if you want to have some fun, save them to your computer and page through them - the wood stays in exactly the same place.

Now, who wants to know how I did this ?

[unirdna]

I have received a few PM's asking about the substrate dividers, so I'll post the info on the thread.

The material is acrylic - the thinnest stuff Menards carried (.080 I think it was). You can find it in sheets, in the window department - about $12 a sheet. Thin has three advantages. 1 - it bends easily. 2 - it is less conspicuous. 3 - it costs the least. I cut the acrylic to size using a bandsaw (fine tooth - high speed).

The suction cups are made by Adams (suctioncups.com). They don't have retail sales on their website, but you can find them at TrueValue hardware stores. Frequently, they come with hooks on them, but I just remove those hooks. Adams suctioncups are holding up my lily pipes, as well.

[Raul-7]

Originally Posted by unirdna

Now, who wants to know how I did this ?

Everyone!

I love the lighting effects, the first one (second picture) especially.

[Nightshop]

Placed a filter over the back light?

[Betowess]

Originally Posted by Nightshop

Placed a filter over the back light?

That's my guess on the orange sunrise. My other guess is a spray painted foamcore to that nice flat blue color (almost same as window trim). The only thing I would do different would be to raise it a foot or so to cover all the window - still showing the wood out of the tank's top.

Regards the light, did you swing it (balance it) so the front is lower than the back?

Anyhow, nice work Ted. The background is about the best I've seen on the forum. Nice, clean, neutral, and flexible.

[unirdna]

You all give me too much credit. The answer is, I simply mounted a piece of foam core between the back drop and the tank. This had all kinds of results - all positive.



- It completely shadowed the backdrop from the MH light.
- It bounced the Halogen (backlight) lighting back down - giving the halo effect at the top - this greatly enhanced the color.

As for the color changes ("silouette" vs. "sunset"), that's easy - the light has a high and low setting .

So, photo 1 was the MH only.
Photo 2 was MH and Halogen (high).
Photo 3 was Halogen only (high).
Photo 4 was Halogen only (low).

Remember the camera settings were NOT changed. The colorations were all created by the blending of lighting. If I'm being honest, I just got lucky. Really lucky.

Originally Posted by Betowess

The only thing I would do different would be to raise it a foot or so to cover all the window - still showing the wood out of the tank's top.

Originally, I had it like this - so it would give contrast to the emergent wood. But, the 12 inches of exposed white board overwhelmed the tank; it was distracting. And it also ruins the "tank vs. room" feel. I prefer the space in the aquarium to be unique to the rest of the room.

[unirdna]

Originally Posted by unirdna

This journal will very much be a learning experience. I will share the bad as well as the good.

I was serious about this....so, without further wait - here is the BAD.

The first weeks were a challenge. ADA substrate bleeeeeeeds Nitrogen like a motha. And without a complete N-cycle, this means NH4. Ugh. For the first two weeks, my N-cycle was running in sand. If I left the tank go for a few days, NH4 would be 5ppm - NO2 around .25ppm - NO3 about 10ppm. So, there was NO3, but I'm not so sure this was the result of conversion from NH4. More likely, it bled out of the Aquasoil/Powersand as Nitrate to begin with.

So, as I waited for the N-cycle, my tank suffered. The E. tenellus grew a bit, but not well. The moss did NOT grow. And the poor crinum in the corner spent its time remembering better days. But, one species did wonderfully - the DIATOMS (ominous music).

Here they are:



Since I was already doing biweekly (twice per week), 80% water changes, I used this time to remove whatever "loose" diatoms I could. From my past experience, I know that diatoms are short-lived and will eventually rot out, so I didn't make any crazy efforts to remove it from the moss.

About 7 days ago, my tests showed that the NH4 was on the decline, and NO2 was quickly climbing. Within 24 hours, all the NH4 was turned into NO2. In another 48 hours, all NO2 was converted to NO3. And, to my glee, after the last water change, I have seen no significant increase of any N-products. Seems the aquasoil had finally settled in.

The day the N-cycle was rocking, the diatoms stopped growing. The following day, they started to lose their structure, and have been dying back ever since.

I gave the tank a couple more days, did another 80% water change, and added 8 Caridina shrimp. After seeing no casualties in 48 hours, I decided to finally add my school of Cardinal Tetras.

It has now been 2 days, and all organisms are doing well - no deaths - yipee. The shrimp are either eating the dying diatoms, or simply kicking them loose to be sucked up by the filter. New varieties of algae are showing up, but none of the dreaded varieties (clado, staghorn, bba). A bit of BGA and spot algae - no big deal.

The tenellus has gained momentum and the moss has started growing - many new fronds. I have also ordered a sizeable amount of Cyperus helferi and Eleocharis vivipara from aquaspot world. These plants will undoubtedly be in emersed form, so they will need to go through an acclimation process. I waited on these two, and did not put them in the tank to start because I know that both of them are particularly suspectible to algae attack. I wanted to introduce them to a tank with healthy water.

Here's how things looked as of this evening:

[Betowess]

Sounds like you are through the worst of it, so that's good. About a month so far? You may see some more diatoms, but hopefully not. Mine didn't hit hard til the second month, but that's flourite so probably completely different.

The cardinals look great in there!

[jeffboyarrdee]

yea with the ada soil... its smart to do water changes every other day for the first two weeks. atleast aquaforest in SF does it that way. and then we always suggest stacking the tank with plants especially in the beginning to have that symbiotic relationship with the nitrifying bacterias. But it seems like you are getting it all under control. ADA soil in the long run is really awesome for the plants, but in the beginning its kinda hard sometimes.

[plantbrain]

BTW, much like mulm, I've used pre cycled filters and old ADA AS to a new tank without issue.

A slight 2-5 day bump in NO2/NH3 was it.
Amano suggest every other day 50% water changes.
Note: for contest tank prep work, he also suggest this routine as well.

This same approach may also be used using soil based tanks + CO2 to get over the initial hump. This tank does not have much plant biomass, and it has a lot of light.

I back off the light more and then later, lower it back down.
This is especially true for new tanks.

Nice stand BTW.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[PeteyPob]

Great setup! I also had a rough time when i got my tank setup and added aquasoil.

[Roc]

WOW if I spent this much time or money on one of my fish tanks I would lose my wife

Everyone give a round to the wife..........


great looking tank, can't wait to see it fill in

[Lee]

This tank looks other worldly, almost haunted with the background lights. But it's missing something I can't pinpoint. I like the cave effect of the wood on the left side.

[awrieger]

Very nice, Ted. Those Cardinals added a really nice final touch to the scape. It's just the right balance.

[unirdna]

I finally feel the tank has settled in enough to add the sensitive plants.

- diatoms are g-o-n-e.
- thread algae and BGA slowed to first gear (still a bit on sand)
- moss growing well
- fish and shrimp healthy

I leave for a 10-day vacation, Thursday. Guess I'll do a 50% water change and think positively . Cyperus is notoriously fastidious, so I can only hope that my tank has the "right stuff".

Cyperus:



Eleocharis:



Front view:



Side view: