[Brian_Cali77]

I'm finally getting my ADA 60P Build underway.... exciting!

I'm trying to keep the build (for now) nice but semi-budget friendly with the potential for upgrades in the future. Also with the 'budget friendly' angle in mind, I want to experiment in trying something a little different than the norm. I'm going a little new-school and old-school mixed in with a little taboo in the world of "ADA" yada yada yada... I'm going to put on a black background and use black equipment to be stealthy, and at the same time, allowing things to "pop" more in color -- allowing my lighting choice to really shine! Colorful with contrast is what I'm going for. But in the living room as the "main tank," this is a welcomed addition -- no doubt.

Perhaps, later I will upgrade to the full-on glassware and all -- as with everything, it's subject to change and things evolve. With that said, here we go!

Here are the particulars:

Tank+Stand:

• ADA 60-P (17g = 24in X 12in X 14in)
• Ikea Besta

Lighting:

• Current-USA Satellite LED+ (x2)
• Current Single Ramp Timer (coming soon)
• RGB LED mood lighting strip (behind the tank)

Filtration:

• Fluval C2 HOB
• SunSun 301 w/ surface skimmer (more on this later)

**Might upgrade to a Fluval 206 + Lily Pipes early next year (or earlier if I hate the HOB idea)**

Substrate:

• Brian's "Special" Blend (more on this later)
• Sand (possibly Caribsea supernaturals 'white' sand)

Hardscape:

• ADA-style DW (not sure what it is... I'll post pics)
• Yamaya Stone
• Seiryu Stone

Plants: (subject to change)

• Collectoritis Style for now! TBD

Fauna:

• TBD

CO2 / Ferts:

• PPS-Pro "dry ferts" from GLA
• Aquatek Paintball Setup
• Glut (occasional)

Okay... got that out of the way! Here are some pics and some more text!

With the RGB mood lighting strips I removed from my 12g. Wasn't sure what else to do with them so I put them behind the tank for fun. Notice how my HOB's almost disappear with the black background? Well, at least for me it does!

So I have these Do!Aqua pipes on hand, and I was really tempting myself with a Fluval 206 purchase. But then I remembered I have a Fluval C2 being unused in my closet so I decided to save some money and go with the C2. I'll just keep the glassware on hoarding status for a later time.

And the lighting! Current-USA Satellite LED+ fixtures (X2). I should be getting around 72+ PAR with these at the 12" distance from light to sub. Let's see what I can grow (hopefully not just algae):

On the tank:

-------------------------------------------------------
FTS: Updated 11/09/13

Version 2 Update: Due to unfortunate circumstances, the 1st scape pictured above had to come to a premature abrupt end. Version 2 'rescape' turned out like this.. latest picture before the tank 'tanked' (again). Version 2.5 in progress as of 6/25/14.

VIDEO!!!!

ADA 60P & Sat+ LEDs - UG Carpet Update: http://youtu.be/zJfC_x2Uckg


More to come... stay tuned!
:thanks:

 

[Brian_Cali77]

So more about this choice in filtration: Fluval C2 + SunSun 301.

I really wanted to go with the lily pipes and canister filter, not only for aesthetic reasons but also for lily pipes being functional in removing the protein layer that is very distracting in a topless rimless build. HOB's aren't that good at dealing with it when the water level is kept high close to the top of the tank. Which is usually the desirable thing to do in a rimless tank.

So I researched some protein skimmer ideas... and stumbled across the SunSun 301. If it works out to plan, I'll have extra filtration plus (the main purpose) surface skimming.

I found it being recommended in the SCAPE forum by cGaR: here

I also found one YouTube video here:

With it being black and all, it will sit nice and semi-stealthy next to my C2 dealing with the dastardly oil slick (aka: protein layer).

So... I ordered it and tested out the surface skimmer attachment in a glass of water. It apparently adjusts automatically to the water level based on buoyancy. Pretty neat and inexpensive solution (if it works!).

Check out this video of the surface skimming attachment demo.

Here's how it looks up close next to the C2:

 

[Brian_Cali77]

The Hardscape Plan (subject to change):

So here's that DW (not sure what species it is exactly) I kept around from my old halfmoon dwarf puffer tank. I got it at Nature Aquarium in Santa Monica... and I'm sure it came from AFA in SF as I know the owner of NA makes his orders through them -- especially ADA stuff.

Needless to say, this is a very interesting piece of DW and I'm excited to use it again.

My stones... Yamaya + Seiryu. Some came from my rescape of my GLA tank.

And a quick rendering of what I have planned (loosely and not to scale):

 

[Brian_Cali77]

+1 Ikea Besta stand!

I see they came out with new colours for the doors. I like the look you have with the HOB and the Current lights, very clean and professional looking.

Ops, didn't see the drawing.

Edit: The corner where the ADA sticker has a weird silicone look, can you take a closer pic?

Yeah I already noticed imperfections in the silicone work. I'm a little disappointed but not overly critical... I read the reviews out there how quality has dropped since they started getting them built in China.

Is there something you see that I should be worried about?

 

[Brian_Cali77]

The Besta stand was a great idea. Looks great.

Thank you!

Question on the Besta - I don't see that door listed with the cabinet. Is it a separate item you purchased?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59925650/

Yes... I couldn't find these glossy doors online or in the catalog either. But they certainly have them in-store.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Nothing to worry about, it's fine. The silicone job on mine is all that great either.

I seen picture of the old ADA tanks and they look perfect, it's as if there no silicone at all.

Thanks for the reassurance and picture. I was hoping for ADA perfection but I didn't have high hopes, after reading about these issues prior... so I'm cool with it as long as it doesn't leak or anything.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

I think this will be awesome, the whole setup looks great so far.

Thanks! Means a lot, especially with how nice your tank looks. I'm hoping I can pull off something nice in the scape.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Great start! You've clearly put a lot of thought into your layout. I'll be following this for sure.

Also, I like that Ikea stand a LOT! When you get a chance, I'd love to see a pic of the inside of it.

Thank you! I've been a big fan of your work, following along your build. You certainly know your way around ingenuity and fabrication... you made the Ray 2 mod look clean & functional. Your scape is breathtaking too.

Anyway... here's an inside shot of the stand. I'd like to get more organized and tidy with the power strip and wires. I might work on that later.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks, Brian, I may take a ride this weekend then. What'd the door itself run you?

Here's the kicker! When I went to Ikea to buy the besta, I really wanted the glossy gray door. Since I didn't see it online or in the catalog, I had no idea how much it would be. I did know that the standard doors cost only $10 (the besta is 65$). I was sticker shocked to discover the gray glossy door and some other glossy finishes are $50! Quite the markup!! So I decided to grab a regular door, disappointed... on the way to checkout, I stopped at the "as-is" handy man corner and found the gray door in perfect condition (not a scratch, wrapped in plastic), just missing the mounting hardware, for only $5! So I bought both doors to get the hardware to mount it. It was like meant to be man! Score for sure!

Here's the other attractive glossy finish... it's like gray with black stripes. Found this picture online in my research.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks for the kind comments — I'm just having fun.

Regarding your stand, I know people have posted how much they like my stand, but I like this one better. It was also cheaper for you to buy this than it was for me to build mine, not to mention FAR less work. And... better organization, more storage space, more modern looking, and I'm sure other things I haven't thought of yet.

Nice score. roud:

Yeah I considered building a DIY stand but it would have costed more and like you said, more work. Glad there's this option. Your stand is nice though...it has character! Are you thinking of switching things up and repurposing that stand?

 

[Brian_Cali77]

That looks great! Did you have to reinforce the Besta cabinet?

No reinforcement... I know others who have used it and even drilled it with no ill-effect to structural integrity. I sat on it prior to putting my tank on it! It's fairly solid! Lol

 

[Brian_Cali77]

DUDE, same thing happen to me! :icon_eek: They only had the glossy red glass one on sale, I guess nobody liked red. I got two doors for 40.

IKEA for the WIN!

That's awesome and a nice come up! Those red doors definitely sets that stand off. I like that white glass top too!

60P + Besta pimp club!

 

[Brian_Cali77]

^ You can be 1, I'll be 2. :bounce:

I'll set it up... but I think you should be #1 and I'll be #2 (or three)... I know for sure you rocked the Besta with a 60p because I recall you recommending it when I was researching in some other thread roud:

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Update Time!

Initial hardscape up... I'm going to tweak it a bit so it doesn't look so linear. I also need to smooth out the stand and clean that up a bit. The stones along the sand look like crap right now, but once the carpeting plant grows out, I think it will look good (enough). roud:

I decide to flood it before fully planting it... Still waiting on some UG, mini AR, and a few other things. I have a bunch of stem plants, but those are easy to plant submersed anyway.

I tied some mini fissidens on the DW. I also tied some fissiden fontanus on some of the stones.

And just some fun with the LED lights (Sat+ and ambient mood lighting)

The water is still cloudy, but that's to be expected. I need to do some PWC's today. While the water level is low I'm going to plant some stems.

Stay tuned!

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks!

I tied a bunch of mini fissidens to the branches of the DW. I'm not sure what else to do to it...it will take sometime to grow out to be more noticeable.

When I plant, I'll add both lights. But yes, they both work off one remote.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks Joey.. yeah we'll see about the stones. Luckily I grabbed some GLA aquascaping wave scissors before they disappeared from that sale. I have no excuses to not keep the UG maintained

I have a lot of stems that turned green under wack lighting, like L. Aromatica, Rotala magenta, and r. colorata. Hopefully they'll color up after I move them.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Update: Day 1 Planted!

I'm not sure if I'm feeling the "collectoritis" aspect of it... I just decided to plant heavy to help getting the tank cycled and to help with the AS ammonia leaching. I'll probably start subtracting species of plants here and there... I might get mini AR so I'll definitely need room for that.

Also, I decided to plant some HC throughout the front until I get some UG. I'm in no particular rush so I just wanted to get something going in the meantime.

Here are some pics:

More fun with the LED colors... this one was taken at night on the sunset mode and my moodlighting set to purple

Here's a close-up of the sunsun 301 skimming... it works like a charm with just a couple slight modifications. I had a load of brown stuff floating on the surface after flooding the tank from the substrate... after I ran this little surface skimmer, it cleared it up like in 10 to 15 minutes (maybe less, I wasn't really timing it):

Video of the surface skimmer in action.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

I don't think it looks too collectoritis. I think that as long as you keep the wood in mind as you trim, you can very easily achieve a nice background without it being over kill. When I saw the first sentence on my phone, I was like "oh no, not another natural scape with every species on the planet." But I think you did well so far, it will be more telling when it grows in. The background does make the wood's character show up more as well, which is a good thing.

Thank you for the reassurance that I just didn't blow the scape. You're right, I'll see how I feel after it grows out a bit. Yeah...I'm actually liking the black background. I honestly didn't think I'd like it because the majority of rimless tanks either have no background or a frosty opaque one. My other rimless tanks are that way, so I guess that's why I went this route with the 60p. Plus it's saving me $100+ on not having to buy a canister (yet)! Maybe Black Friday might change my mind? Lol

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks Joey! No doubt, if I get them, I'll hook you up.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

man those lights are cool, I wish they could produce the par I need, if they did they would be mine!!!

Curious... what PAR are you looking for?