[Dou]

Hi everyone – I’m relatively new to the hobby but I’m absolutely addicted. Seeing everyone’s tank journals here is especially inspiring and one day I would like to set up a large tank as well (when I can afford a larger home…). Until then, apartment restriction says the largest tank I can have is 30G. So I went for the ADA 60P (17G). There was a lot of trial and error, algae outbreaks, melting plants, death of fauna but overall this has been an extremely fun experience. My eventual next steps are to increase slopes and fill in with more red plants/add rocks to create better contrast. Feedback always welcome!

Progress Photos from the Beginning – this was my initial layout. Eventually it got to the point where I wanted to switch things up as I had learned a lot. It was a huge undertaking but I essentially moved substrate from the back right side up to the front.

** Updated .GIF 2016/07/04**

Right before the trim & move. Quite filled in but I wasn’t quite satisfied with the right side. I had delayed getting a pair of scissors until this moment.

A couple weeks after the trim & move. It was quite the undertaking and 90% of the time I was thinking to myself – what have I done. Substrate was kicked up, everything seemed like it was mixing together… But in the end, I think it’ll look great once everything starts filling in again.

Decided to rescape a bit again as I was not completely happy. More additions/removals coming soon...

The more additions

Bonus picture of my den x)

2016/07/04

--- TANK DETAILS ---

Hardware & Layout:
ADA 60P
Eheim 2215 Canister Filter
Do!Aqua Lily Pipes
Wooden Air Diffuser
Marina 150W Heater
Milwaukee Regulator+Solenoid
Spiderwood
ADA Amazonia
ADA Colorado Sand
River Pebbles
Yamaya & Koke Rocks
Chihiros Doctor LED Light

Fish/Fauna:
18x Threadfin Rainbows
~ 5 Pygmy Cories
[STRIKE]~ 15 Green Neons[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]6x Gertude Rainbows[/STRIKE]
6x Sparrow Rasbora
[STRIKE]3x Kubotai Rasbora[/STRIKE]
~ 3 Otocats
~ ? Wild Type Neocaridina
~ 6x Amano Shrimp
~ 1x Nerite Snail
~ ? Ramshorn Snails
~ ? Malaysian Trumpet Snails
~ ? Random Small Snails

Flora:
? Unknown Hygro-like Plant
Trident Java Fern
Monte Carlo
Anubias Petites
Anubias Nana
Christmas Moss
Flame Moss
Java Moss
[STRIKE]Murdannia Keisak[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Rotala Glandulosa[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Fontinalus Antipyretica[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Hygrophila Pinnatifida[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Rotala Bonsai[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Needle Java Fern[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Salvinia[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Misc. Buces[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Eleocharis Montevidensis (Hair Grass)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Eleocharis Parvula (DHG)[/STRIKE]

 

[Opare]

Woah nice tank area! Really great job for someone who is 'new' to the hobby hahaha. See the multiple tank syndrome has already set in hard. What light are you using?
I would get a few more Kubotais, groups are better, although it may stretch the bioload a bit. You could switch one of the other fish species for more of them as an alternative. I see an Otocinclus there as well, I think you missed it in your stocking list hahaha. Also, recommend a group of them unless you already do have a group which was not listed.

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[Dou]

Thanks x)! Yes I have been hit hard haha. Partner grudgingly has allowed me to buy this many tanks (I have another one in the living room Brio35 - so that's 6 total). I'm using the Chihiros Doctor LED light - which is working great so far. One day I'll go full ADA fanboy and get the AquaSky.

In hindsight I would do just as you recommended but I've been adding things slowly... So I got a real mish mash here. Ideally I would love to add 10-20 more sparrow rasbora but I keep getting tempted by random new fish from the LFSs haha (and I'm already overstocked).

Woah nice tank area! Really great job for someone who is 'new' to the hobby hahaha. See the multiple tank syndrome has already set in hard. What light are you using?
I would get a few more Kubotais, groups are better, although it may stretch the bioload a bit. You could switch one of the other fish species for more of them as an alternative. I see an Otocinclus there as well, I think you missed it in your stocking list hahaha. Also, recommend a group of them unless you already do have a group which was not listed.

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[Opare]

Resist the urge! Do it for the fish!


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[Dou]

Decided to rescape my 60P a bit last night. More work is coming (additional small/branchy wood near the bottom for root-y effects, some more rocks, changing the plants) but I just wanted to highlight how often I've changed my mind. It was a lot of work (~4 hours) but definitely worth it. I tried to move all my pygmy cories.... However one somehow evaded my detection and was schooling in my face lol ==. Only noticed him when I took the photo.

 

[Dou]

And updated with more rocks, increased slopes and swapped some plants out. Didn't find any pieces of wood I liked... so perhaps I will add that later on. Also traded in my green neons for threadfin rainbows - they were just sticking out too much before. These are more subtle and will fit quite nicely I think once they colour in. Pretty happy with it now overall, but the next steps are probably to add some different coloured plants.

 

[Opare]

The new scape looks fantastic. Good job. Much improved from the first few scapes, this seems to have much more focus.


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[BBogdan]

I love the simplicity!
Very nice green, good job !

 

[Dou]

Quick update on my 60P - moss starting to grow in... will need about 2 more months I think for it to become what I want it to be. Also, the ? plant is called "Eichhornia Diversifolia". It grows super fast...

 

[Tomas_Megis]

WOW! Really nice tank! How are you satisfied with Chihiros A-Series light? I have this light just for 3 months and I need to say it was great deal for this money...

www.tomasmegis.cz
Czech Republic | Prague

 

[Dou]

For what you pay - this is definitely an awesome light! I only wish it had a controller so I could create a sunrise/sunset effect.

I also updated my original post to reflect the most recent changes and added an updated photo of my den =). Don't want to make this thread too image repetitive so here are the imgur links if you want to click instead of scrolling up:

- Progress .GIF: http://imgur.com/Fi8J9bg
- Den: http://imgur.com/2gdKONO

WOW! Really nice tank! How are you satisfied with Chihiros A-Series light? I have this light just for 3 months and I need to say it was great deal for this money...

tomasmegis | fotografie
Czech Republic | Prague

 

[Dou]

Update:

- Removed "Eichhornia Diversifolia"
- Added Myriophyllum Tuberculatum
- Removed Monte Carlo on the right
- Added in Lilaeopsis on the right
- Rearranged rocks
- Rearranged some plants, and did a lot of trimming (which doesn't seem like it at first)

Bonus picture of my newly scaped MiniM. I designed it specifically to mimic the natural setting in taiwan/china where wild crystal bee shrimp are found - waiting for the amazonia ammonia spike to finish its course and adding them in after =).

 

[OVT]

Me like, a lot! roud:

My only question is how you got your ex green neons to be in the open?

 

[charlie 1]

Great job, love the evolution of the tank.
Regards

 

[Dou]

I think for that one photo - I just got extremely lucky. I sat there behind the camera for a good 15 minutes. When it was really dense, they just loved to hide between and under everything - and only come out when I'm not looking. Funny enough, when I removed some of the hiding places by making it less dense, they came out to swim. Normally they aren't shy - but only when you stare right up to the tank they hide... which I normally always do.

However, I had decided to remove them because they took too much attention away from the overall aquascape - it's the first thing anyone sees. They are nice and all but it wasn't allowing my hours and hours of work to really shine at all.

Me like, a lot! roud:

My only question is how you got your ex green neons to be in the open?

 

[Couesfanatic]

How is this going?

 

[Dou]

How is this going?

I've been super busy but here are some photo updates =). Edit// Recently the take went through a major rehaul which was the move of sand substrate back to the front (no more soil/sand divide). This was a hard decision to make but many people told me that they thought it would look better so I did it (and I think I agree with them). Of course at first I regretted even doing anything but it turned out pretty alright. I also removed the red plants, I think for my aquascape it just didn't fit. There's no point in forcing something that didn't match with the theme/style. Another major learning point is that I should have an idea before I start - or else I'll end up changing my mind a million times like I did for the 60P. It looks nice, but not as "natural" as it could be because I was more focused on making it look nice rather than focusing on what looks the most natural. I learned so much from this tank and have since rescaped it to something a little more chaotic and jungle-y. I got chocolate gouramis and wanted to create the perfect home for them essentially. In the end, I spent 10+ hours rescaping but I'm pretty happy with it (and now letting things grow in to be more natural).

Progression:

Final Photo:

Re-scaped the 60P:

Photos of the new inhabitants =):

Wild CBS & Baby

And my new project =D - custom 90x36x30 tank.

 

[Opare]

Woah that new scape is fantastic. Reminds me of a lot of the high-placing contest scapes you see nowadays.


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[Dou]

Woah that new scape is fantastic. Reminds me of a lot of the high-placing contest scapes you see nowadays.


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Thanks! The fact that you think so is very flattering =). I think I am just missing a couple plants in there to making it complete (but haven't decided what yet). I think I'm looking for some type of carpeting plant as well as one stem of something a little more rare, like a random flower you find in the middle of a forest. The only thing that concerns me about the tank as it is now is the Buce I added in... Still new to this plant and I lost almost half of it when I left it in my quarantine tank to hold until I was ready to rescape. I actually moved the entire tank to the other side of the room so I could fit he new 90cm.

 

[Opare]

Thanks! The fact that you think so is very flattering =). I think I am just missing a couple plants in there to making it complete (but haven't decided what yet). I think I'm looking for some type of carpeting plant as well as one stem of something a little more rare, like a random flower you find in the middle of a forest. The only thing that concerns me about the tank as it is now is the Buce I added in... Still new to this plant and I lost almost half of it when I left it in my quarantine tank to hold until I was ready to rescape. I actually moved the entire tank to the other side of the room so I could fit he new 90cm.

No worries cus it's true! The scape has come a long way and right now it looks baller as hell.

For your 'flower' type plants I would look at getting colourful Bucephalandras, but you seem to be dipping your hand in that already. I feel like a colourful stem could take away from the hardscape and jungle look, I may be wrong though. Maybe some Monte Carlo just to cover a little bit of the front but not to really capret the whole thing to give a natural look rather than the manicured carpet looks.
As for the Buceps health, I faced a similar thing. A lot of the old (looked emersed) leaves melted away, but the plants now have new leaves shooting out. I would just be patient and leave it as long as the rhizome is still hard.


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