The wood pieces look like an excellent fit for the tank, and I think they will look really nice against the ADA Colorado sand. Where did you buy the sand, by the way?

 

Thanks @Mr.Submarine! I got all my ADA stuff from Aqua Forest Aquarium.

ADA Colorado Sand - Free Shipping

It is a cosmetic sand with a natural reddish color. It brings out the green color of aquatic plants, enables to create the natural feeling in a layout. Placing it in a thin layer, it is also good for growing Wabi-Kusa in submerged form. IMPORTANT: *We already cover the shipping fee for this...

aquaforestaquarium.com

Question about sand, is it ok to put sand on top of the aqua soil? Would they mix together? Should I wall them from each other?

 

I really like that driftwood arrangement! Look forward to seeing it all come together.

Another vote for not mixing soil and sand.

 

@LidijaPN & @Virtus thank you for saving me a muddy mess. I'd really like to use the sand, so I'm thinking of making an Epiphytic plant tank (no plants that need soil). Mainly just moss, Pinnatifida, and Buce attached to the driftwood and rocks.

Is it ok to use the ADA power sand underneath the Colorado sand?

 

@LidijaPN & @Virtus Is it ok to use the ADA power sand underneath the Colorado sand?

I was thinking about the same issue this weekend and found some older TPT threads suggesting that putting ADA Power Sand under other sand would probably result in the Power Sand rising to the top and the other sand settling below it, resulting in an unsightly mess. I don’t have any firsthand experience with this, though — so please take this point with a huge grain of salt.

 

Basically anything you put on top of anything in a tank is gonna mix... you can do an underlayer of sand and then do a scattering of fine gravel on top to make the transition from hardscape to sand seem more natural... but generally it’s a box full of water, things are gonna mix...

People usually separate different substrates horizontally, with rock barriers or whatever in between, but even so you will have some mixing and will have to invest some effort in keeping it tidy, if you want it to stay tidy...

I’m always stunned at how messy the process of replanting plants is. It could be just that I suck. But when you’re trying to pull up those longer roots, things go everywhere.... and I’m super gentle.

 

Here's my new plant list. Let me know what you think and if you think it's enough to cover the driftwood and rocks.

• IC202 ADA Tissue Culture - Hygrophila pinnatifida (cup size: short) x 3
• IC809 ADA Tissue Culture Plant - Christmas moss (Vesicularia Montagnei) (cup size: short) x 2
• IC106 ADA Tissue Culture - Bucephalandra sp. 'Sintang' (cup size: short) x 1
• IC179 ADA Tissue Culture - Bucephalandra Pygmaea 'Green Wavy' (cup size: short) x 1
• IC126 tissue culture-Anubias barteri var. nana petite 'snow flake' (cup size: short) x 1

 

I'll leave your plant questions to the real experts ha.

As @LidijaPN said don't cap any substrates you're not okay with eventually mixing. I tried Fluval Stratum capped with sand and didn't even get through the initial fill and planting without basically ruining it. If you do decide to just do sand don't let that deter you from using rooted plants though. There are tons of members here, myself included, who have heavily planted tanks using only inert sand. As long as you're fert dosing the water column you'll be fine. If you're really concerned about it you can add root tabs around the heavily planted areas but the general consensus seems to be it's unnecessary at best.

 

Yeah you can totally plant straight into sand. No problem with that.

Your plant list is cool but beware that tissue cultures can be tricky/ require a delicate touch to grow out. You get a cup of absolutely miniature plantlets and until they grow out a little they’re very sensitive. The good side is you get an absolute mass of plants whereas if you were buying them grown you’d get like 6-8 stems (when I bought my pogo stellatus purple octopus cup there were over 50 plantlets in there) but you have to grow them out from that minuscule size (I wiped out all my pogos with an unwise decision).

 

You get a cup of absolutely miniature plantlets and until they grow out a little they’re very sensitive.

I have some experience. I ordered 3 tissue cultures from BucePlant and received 3 cups of jelly and leaves. They were all flattened due to shipping, and I thought they were all dead. I threw them in some water, let the gel dissolve, and now they look like this (excuse the algae). I hope to have similar luck with my 2nd tank.

 

I committed to this minimalistic hardscape, but now I have a ton of leftover substrate. I guess I'll save it for tank #3.

Could I get advice on equipment placement? Is that driftwood in front of the lily pipe going to cause issues?

 

Could I get advice on equipment placement? Is that driftwood in front of the lily pipe going to cause issues?

No in a 60p that won't be an issue especially with the good sized canister your using. It's funny, I just happened to be on instagram and saw a very similar hardscape arrangement.

 

I filled up my CO2 tank, hooked up my canister, and tweaked the scape a little bit.

Lily pipe hoses are a pain if your tank isn't flush with the stand.

And my plants arrived this afternoon! They came in better shape than I expected considering they were imported from India. ADA packs their cultures very well. Now to wait until the kids are asleep, so I can have my late night planting session.

 

I started my planting session using ADA Terra Tape to hopefully grow moss and Pinnatifida out of the waterline.

I found I didn't have enough moss and it's much harder using thread than super glue. Here's the tank fully planted before fill up. I was happy with the results.

Filling the tank didn't go as well. I didn't weigh the driftwood enough to prevent it from floating which led to some plants dislodging. I used some rocks to keep the wood down until it gets waterlogged. Hopefully that won't take too long. I think the water is a little cloudy because I didn't pre-wash the sand.

Considering this is a new tank and since I'm using inert substrate, should I still do frequent water changes? I'd rather not disturb the aquascape until the wood gets waterlogged.

 

Considering this is a new tank and since I'm using inert substrate, should I still do frequent water changes? I'd rather not disturb the aquascape until the wood gets waterlogged.

You don't need to do daily, but you should still be changing water at least weekly or semi-weekly. There will still be decomposing organic matter that won't be processed by an immature bio-filter, plus with inert substrate I assuming your dosing and you want to keep those within range. Water changes are always good for several reasons. It doesn't take alot to start algae once you have the lights going.

 

you don't strictly need any water changes during the cycling period....

Never heard of terra tape, seems cool? It helps plants attach?

 

Never heard of terra tape, seems cool? It helps plants attach?

It helps grow plants immersed by wicking water above the waterline.

DOOA Terra Tape

DOOA Terra Tape is a self-adherent water retentive tape product for keeping live plants from drying out by winding it around driftwood and creating an appropriate environment for growing epiphytes such as moss. Please wind it around driftwood while leaving its end in the water and attache some...

aquaforestaquarium.com

 

I zip tied more rocks to the driftwood to get it more stable. I'm planning to do a 30% water change tonight.

I finally got my hanging kit for the Chihiros lights, and I'm loving the colors. I don't have to adjust temp setting on all my photos anymore.

I didn't realize I planted some pinnatifida above the water line. It's near some terra tape and I see the roots growing towards the water. I hope it survives.

I really like how the anubias barteri 'snow flake' and the buce pygmaea look. I'm excited to see them grow out.

 

Looks great! I really like your minimalist hardscape. It's going to look awesome when it grows out.

Dave

ETA...those anubias have more roots than Heinz has pickles!

 

ETA...those anubias have more roots than Heinz has pickles!

Legit they look like jellyfish!!!

 

I went out of town for a few days to come back to a hair algae outbreak on my BioCube.

Hopefully a 75% water change and bump in CO2 would tone it down.

The 60P is doing well. Pinnatifida started growing. They even have a reddish hue. I’m going to switch to dry ferts tomorrow.

 

I promised myself I would keep tech to the bare essentials. I don't even have a thermometer for this tank. However, the gear head in me couldn't help it. I ordered a Red Sea Reefdoser 4 channel dosing pump for ferts and top off.

I still want to keep the tank as clean as possible, so I tried finding a spot that would be minimally invasive. I thought next to the lily pipes would be the best choice, but I didn't realize how beautiful the tank looked when viewed from the side.

 

Not much to report on the 60P today. I did however get a new accessory to my very first low tech immersed water feature.

I had a little pier/dock installed, so I could fish in this 1/4 acre pond. Aside from the aerator, all I have to do is throw some bacteria packets every couple weeks. The fish take care of all the problem algae. I wish my indoor tanks were this easy.

 

I installed a mirrored light hood to the Chihiros WRBGs and new dosing unit over the weekend. The light hood purchase was mainly so I could get free shipping on the hanging kit from FZone, but I actually like it. It's nice to see a reflection from above. I'm not sure if it intensifies the light much, the lights are already plenty bright.

The dosing kit is the Red Sea ReefDose 4. Red Sea makes some solid gear and I liked how easy it was to service the dosing heads. The pretty tube colors and clips also helped. Sadly, those color tubes are 3mm ID/5mm OD and wouldn't fit onto my DIY dosing containers. I ordered some John Guest barb connectors to finish the setup.

The Pinnatifidas seem to be growing fast and coloring nicely. Even the Christmas moss is a nice shade of green. The Buce Green Wavy and Sintang are slow growers, but I see new leaves popping out.

I'm a little concerned about the Anubias barteri 'snow flake'. The roots have grown, but I haven't any new leaf growth. Also, they seem to be covered by diatoms. Do you think the diatoms will be pass on its own? The tank is 2 weeks old, so I'm assuming it's just the cycling process.

I've been dosing GLA's PPS-Pro recipe (2ml macro, 1ml micro) daily. I tested my nitrate levels last night with a Salifert test kit, and it was undetectable. I increased ferts to 3ml macro and 2ml micro today. CO2 drop checker is green at lights on (9am) and near yellow by lights off (5pm). Should I increase ferts even more? Also, I've been doing 30% water changes every 3 days.

 

I did a 75% water change a couple nights ago and ended up with what looks like a bacteria bloom in the water column. The plants don't seem to mind it. Pinnatifida growth is speeding up, and I even see new/larger leaves on the Anubias snow flakes. Is 75% too much? I didn't think I'd hurt anything since there's no live stock.

On other news, freshwater Salifert test kits! They do exist. These were delivered from fishtanksdirect.com.

 

Just changing the water shouldn’t hurt anything, even if you change 90%.... as long as you dechlorinate?

 

as long as you dechlorinate?

I use RO/DI water re-mineralized with Seachem Equilibrium. Maybe it's because I pulled one of the canister filter sponges out and replaced it with polyfill last week. It might be doing another cycle because I removed too much bacteria.

Freshwater feels so forgiving when compared to reef tanks, I've gotten a little complacent. You'd never squirt H2O2 directly onto corals to get rid of algae. It's nice not being so gentle with aquariums. Consequently, this why I'm down to 2 corals and anemone. I'm sorta just waiting for an excuse to turn that tank planted.

 

I've been trying to understand how to properly use a TDS meter with the PPS-Pro fert system.

Perpetual Preservation System - TDS Meter

TDS meter Total dissolved solids TDS meter is an electronic device measuring electrical conductivity of water. Pure water has low conductivity and water with dissolved inorganic ions has conductivity higher. Organic contaminants, such as from fish and plants don’t have much impact on TDS

sites.google.com

I didn't realize there's different ways to measure TDS. First I needed to measure in µS instead of ppm, and I needed to make sure the tank's TDS stayed under tap water + 90 µS. For me that would be 250 µS (re-mineralize RO) + 90 µS = 340 µS. Each daily dose should add 10 µS which the plants should use up each day. At 4 ml macros + 2 ml micros, I've been dosing way too much. My tank's TDS was at 450 µS.

Last night I did a water change using pure RODI water (5 µS) which brought my TDS down back to 250 µS. I dosed 4/2 ml ferts this morning to determine how much it raised TDS. It was 20 µS, so I'll need to cut ferts down to 2 ml macros and 1 ml micros. Hopefully I'm doing this properly or at least don't hurt the plants.

Unfortunately the bacteria bloom didn't go away, but luckily the plants don't seem to be affected. I'm enjoying seeing the pinnatifida grow so quickly. They appear to be pearling to me, but I'm not if that's just the CO2 building up on the leaves.

 

You don't really notice how much plants are growing unless you step away for a few days. After going out of town for the weekend, I came back to what looked like an explosion of pinnatifida. I was thinking of ordering more plants next week, but now I'm not sure if I'll have room. I hear you need to be aggressive when trimming pinnatifida. Would it be ok to trim roots, or is that a no-no?

I didn't know Christmas moss had roots. I was too lazy to break out the DSLR macro lens, but here's a close-up with my iPhone.

 

I did my first trimming last night. I was afraid to really cut into it, so I just cut the large pinnatifida leaves. I'm getting diatoms on my anubias and some buce, so I pulled everything out and brushed it off. Also, since the driftwood was completely waterlogged, I was able to remove some zip tied rocks.

I should have paid more attention to maintenance when creating my scape. It's a big pain to get between that driftwood. I sorta wish I started with an iguami scape instead. Hopefully algae won't be a big problem once it matures. I'm really debating on getting one of those Twinstar algae inhibitors. I'm not looking forward to another 2 hour cleaning session.

This is how everything looks this morning.

 

super nice looking!! It's a very unique setup in that you can easily pull out just about any part of your hardscape hahah. Definitely can't do that with mine!! I think it's kinda genius

 

Algae is always going to be a challenge with limited plant mass scapes. You probably don't need alot of light since the Pinna is way up top and you have lowlight plants on the bottom. Adding some more plants might help, even some moss covered stones around the base of those branches. I would also consider using carbon in the filter and obviously keep up with large and consistent water changes.

 

Adding some more plants might help, even some moss covered stones around the base of those branches. I would also consider using carbon in the filter and obviously keep up with large and consistent water changes.

I'm really new to planted tanks, and I wasn't sure how plants grew. I thought christmas moss would cover all the wood, but it's seems to prefer growing upward. I'm planning get some weeping moss to cover the rest.

Pinnatifida on the other hand grows so fast, at least compared to other plants I have. I'm actually trying to get it to turn redder, hence the high light and low nitrates. They should shade the low light plants underneath.

I ended up ordering the Twinstar algae inhibitor. I'll try carbon sponges for the Oase prefilter. I prefer less water changes, but it's not really a big deal with double taps on the canister hoses.

My war with algae starts now!

 

I dosed 2 ppm of ammonium chloride last week and tested 0 ppm NH3/NO2 after 24 hours. I didn't want to put all that sweet, sweet built up beneficial bacteria to waste, so after a water change I stopped by my LFS.

I picked up 12 chilli rasbora and 3 otto cats. The LFS kept all their fish on city tap, so I had to drip acclimate them to my much softer, CO2 injected water.

All the chilli rasbora instantly hid in the pinna and rocks after adding them to the tank. One otto kept swimming up and down; however, the other pair "schooled" together and started working on the diatom algae. It was lights out after adding the fish, so they had all night to cool down. I dropped lights to 15% and limited CO2 to 4 hours the next day to let the fish get accustomed to the tank. The Twinstar algae inhibitor arrived on Saturday night, so I installed that to hopefully get the fish more oxygen.

The ottos were making quick work on much of the algae, but they didn't touch the hair algae. It's too soon to tell, but I think the algae inhibitor coupled with ottos is really keeping algae in check. I may need to supplement the ottos with algae wafers or vegetables soon. Or pull them out and let them go to town on the Biocube.

I'm so excited to finally have livestock in my tank. I'm even more excited that algae is getting under control. Here are some tank shots.