[NueoK]

After few years in the salt water aquariums, I finally decided to start up my first planted tank. So after hours and hours of research I have decided I ADA tank setup is what I wanted. I thought it be fun to start a build thread so I can get some critique on my first attempt. If you have any comments, or things I should be doing differently let me know, I would appreciate it.

Equipment :
ADA 60F
ADA Co2 Advanced Kit
ADA Aquasky Moon 601
ADA Drop Checker
ADA Thermostat
Do Aqua In/Out Flow
Twinstar M5
Marineland C160 Canister

Substrate :
ADA Aqua Soil Power (Top Layer) and Normal(Bottom Layer)
ADA Power Sand Special S
~10 LBS Black Mountain Seiryu Stone

Plants :
Staurogyne Repens
Eleocharis Belem
Riccia Fluitans
Heminathus Callitricoides
Hydrocotyle Tripartita

 

[Nigel95]

Nice system you got there! Welcome to the beautiful world of the planted tank.

Good work with the hardscape working front to back. Gives nice depth. Never work from left to right a.k.a. the family photo.

The wood doesn't seem to fit in all the rocks. Remove it or put more wood in there (hard to find a balance with rocks and wood).

Next time split the carpet plants more. 1) better for your wallet 2) faster coverage. Only disadvantage is that it takes a lot of time.

As the 60f is not so high in terms of height you should watch out with that ada aqua sky for algae. Maybe add some floating plants or build a dimmer on it.

 

[torque6]

At that depth, you do not need to use a high PAR led.

 

[NueoK]

Nice system you got there! Welcome to the beautiful world of the planted tank.

Good work with the hardscape working front to back. Gives nice depth. Never work from left to right a.k.a. the family photo.

The wood doesn't seem to fit in all the rocks. Remove it or put more wood in there (hard to find a balance with rocks and wood).

Next time split the carpet plants more. 1) better for your wallet 2) faster coverage. Only disadvantage is that it takes a lot of time.

As the 60f is not so high in terms of height you should watch out with that ada aqua sky for algae. Maybe add some floating plants or build a dimmer on it.

Thanks for the kind words! I do some photography for a side hobby, so yes I tried to create something differently. But not sure if I still like the scape. Hard to find a vendor near by for these rocks!

And yes that wood... LOL it was an addon because I had wood, and I had moss... Since I dont have any other tanks, I figure I try to use it. But it will be gone after it grows, I mainly wanted to see how these weeping moss grow out.

And thanks for the tips on the carpet. My idea was to plant dense as possible, but I have read spreading them have better results. This again is the case of me over buying

Coming from a reef tank, im used to buying the brightest light I can get. Try to hit 300-400 PAR. But in the planted aquarium I didn't see many people talk about par. So I based the light on reading plant descriptions for baby tears "High Light" "High CO2" So just bought the brightest I can get a hold of!

 

[NueoK]

FYI : Aquasky Moon 601 produces about 350 Par in the center at about 5 inches under water!

 

[timb000]

I like! :smile2::bounce:

 

[NueoK]

So my tank is still new at 1 week, but I cant believe the growth this tank is getting. Plants are coming out greener, and HC are starting to get real dense already. And I see bunch of roots in the front of the display.

 

[SKYE.__.HIGH]

Photo bucket changes everything, might want to get a new hosting service other than that the photo looks great..... LOL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NueoK]

Photo bucket changes everything, might want to get a new hosting service other than that the photo looks great..... LOL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the heads up

 

[Dragonxflare]

Hows the Twinstar M5? Is this a product you would recommend?

 

[Nigel95]

Hows the Twinstar M5? Is this a product you would recommend?

Only good for extra oxygen IMO..

 

[NueoK]

Hows the Twinstar M5? Is this a product you would recommend?

Well hard to say right now, but with the light on for 8 hours a day with a half planted tank, im not getting any algae at the moment. I have not seen diatoms either.

But its early to tell if the unit actually helps curve algae, so we will see!

 

[Dragonxflare]

Only good for extra oxygen IMO..

So it tech. can replace the air pump for Oxygen? I read that this unit actually takes oxygen out of the tank, is that true?

Well hard to say right now, but with the light on for 8 hours a day with a half planted tank, im not getting any algae at the moment. I have not seen diatoms either.

But its early to tell if the unit actually helps curve algae, so we will see!

Awesome, can't wait for the results. I am very curious about the Shrimp 50 model they have as well.

 

[Dragonxflare]

@NueoK

Did you use this unit during your cycling process?

 

[NueoK]

Week 3 Update:

Things are starting to grow nicely in the tank. Finally seeing some diatoms build up in the tank.

Moss has taken off on the off placed wood, but its actually looking nice. But yes it doesnt belong in here. I just started a ADA 30W which this stick can probably go into.

Few things to note though... I bought 2 cups of HC at different times from Aquaforest, as you can see one patch that is growing like weeds are from one cup. The other cup is not growing at all. It was actually in so so shape when I put them in, but I hoped it will recover.

The first cup actually was growing in the tissue culture cup for a full 3 weeks, and the so so quality cup was planted the day it arrived.

3 weeks in I still have 3ppm ammonia and no nitrites using an API test kit. I tested nitrates using test strips and its shows 5ppm. Odd I thought I would see some nitrites by now.

Bump:

@NueoK

Did you use this unit during your cycling process?

I been using the M5 (mode 1) from day 1, since that is what Twinstar recommended doing.

 

[Dragonxflare]

We started our tanks around the same time. I am only seeing 1 PPM ammonia, 5ppm nitrate and zero nitrite as well... a bit odd, I figured I would see something by now as well.

 

[NueoK]

We started our tanks around the same time. I am only seeing 1 PPM ammonia, 5ppm nitrate and zero nitrite as well... a bit odd, I figured I would see something by now as well.

Just saw your journal as well

I been doing 20% water change daily with remineralized rodi water.... and can’t keep my ammonia down with this Ada soil.

I’m trying to follow Ada recommendations. Not dosing any other bacteria other then Bacter 100. If you want instant cycle, I had great luck with Seachem Stablity in the past. Typically cycle a tank in a week. But I chose to this time to try the Ada meathod.

 

[Dragonxflare]

Just saw your journal as well

I been doing 20% water change daily with remineralized rodi water.... and can’t keep my ammonia down with this Ada soil.

I’m trying to follow Ada recommendations. Not dosing any other bacteria other then Bacter 100. If you want instant cycle, I had great luck with Seachem Stablity in the past. Typically cycle a tank in a week. But I chose to this time to try the Ada meathod.

I am a little surprised I am still having ammonia. It's currently 1ppm, but I am using SL-Aqua soil, which doesn't leach much ammonia at all. Currently on week 3, and I recently dosed Dr. Tims One and Only... and been dosing Aqua Vitro "Seed" daily, to try to speed up the cycle.

I heard that cycling normally takes longer under cooler temps, and systems with PH under 7. Since mine is 6.2-6.3, this might attribute to it maybe

 

[Dragonxflare]

Hows the tank looking? Cycling coming along?

 

[Tnalp]

on ada amazonia regular using rodi and remineralize... takes me around a month to cycle a tank