# Brian's ADA 60P (Ver. 2.5) + Ecoxotic E-Series (Starts Pg 34)



## 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:


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## 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):


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## FlyingHellFish

+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?


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> +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?


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## NJAquaBarren

The Besta stand was a great idea. Looks great.


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## Jack Gilvey

This should be very cool. I like that surface skimmer. I use the Fluval skimmer with my Eheim and can't see myself setting up a rimless without one now. It's made to fit Aquaclears as well so maybe would work with your C2? 
I'd looked into the Besta stand for use with my Mr Aqua "60-p" but none of the doors really worked for me in our living room. That grey is fantastic, though!

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/


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## FlyingHellFish

Brian_Cali77 said:


> 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?


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.


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## zodduska

Brian_Cali77 said:


>


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


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## AnotherHobby

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.


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## Brian_Cali77

NJAquaBarren said:


> The Besta stand was a great idea. Looks great.


Thank you!





Jack Gilvey said:


> 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.


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> 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.


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## Brian_Cali77

zodduska said:


> 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.


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## Brian_Cali77

AnotherHobby said:


> 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.


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## Psiorian

Oh man!

This looks good! Two currents and the new ramp timer eventually! 

I'll be following this one!


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## Jack Gilvey

Brian_Cali77 said:


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


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


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## Brian_Cali77

Jack Gilvey said:


> 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.


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## AnotherHobby

Brian_Cali77 said:


> 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.


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:


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## gus6464

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


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## Brian_Cali77

AnotherHobby said:


> 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?


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## Brian_Cali77

gus6464 said:


> 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


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## parrottbay

Nice, keep me updated!


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## AnotherHobby

Brian_Cali77 said:


> 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?


I don't know. I just know that if I'd seen this first, I would have gone this direction. I have other things I want to get first, but I won't be surprised if I end up swapping out.


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## FlyingHellFish

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I was sticker shocked to discover the gray glossy door and some other glossy finishes are $50! Quite the markup!!



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!


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> 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!


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## FlyingHellFish

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


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ 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:


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## 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!


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## talontsiawd

Looks good so far. I know you already said it but I would either add to the driftwood or tweak it so it has more movement, it's a cool looking piece but looks a bit "stiff" right now. It's not bad, just needs that little "something" to be excellent. Really liking the setup though. 

It looks like you only have one fixture on but do both work well of one remote?


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## 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.


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## keats

It's looking good Brian! I like the sand around the front, although I'm afraid that the stones might get lost in the UG. It will look awesome with a splash of red from the AR mini.


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## 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.


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## keats

I didn't get anything. I'm broke from setting up my tank  lol. I like the look of all those stems. One I want to get is Ludwigia Senegalensis. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## 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.


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## talontsiawd

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.


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## keats

Looks good Brian. The AR Mini will give a nice accent to the other plants. Excited to see it fill in. When you get that AR Mini going maybe we can trade some plants 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## Brian_Cali77

talontsiawd said:


> 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


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## Brian_Cali77

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


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## bud29

That scape definitely has potential  Now comes the ever-present wait in planted tanks for things to fill in...


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## carpalstunna

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


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## Brian_Cali77

carpalstunna said:


> 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?


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## carpalstunna

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Curious... what PAR are you looking for?


40-50 but my tank is 22 inches deep plus the distance off the water, its a long way for those little LEDs to go.


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## Brian_Cali77

I don't have a PAR meter so I go by the advertised numbers... but it seems like you'd be able to achieve that if you consider a few inches in substrate height. You'll need to fixtures though like me. 

PAR (source): 
*18” 28
24” 21*


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## carpalstunna

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I don't have a PAR meter so I go by the advertised numbers... but it seems like you'd be able to achieve that if you consider a few inches in substrate height. You'll need to fixtures though like me.
> 
> PAR (source):
> *18” 28*
> *24” 21*


ya im not sure two would quite cut it, that would give me the par i need in a few spots not the whole tank. I think im going with the finnex ray 2, for now anyway, maybe if they come out with something alittle more powerful I will switch, love the remote and the different modes. too cool.


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## Brian_Cali77

Cool... well I know both Current and Finnex are in the works for a more powerful plant specific LED system. Might be worth waiting. But if you're in need now of a high PAR LED lighting solution, I'd go with a BML (buildmyled) fixture as my first choice -- I like the Dutch version personally... or the Marineland Aquatic Plant LED or 2x Finnex Fugeray Planted+. These have red diodes in the them to supplement the red wavelength (~620–740nm). Going with Ray 2's only, you'd have washed-out colors (it's very blue spectrum heavy). Red plants eventually fade to green... well that was my experience anyway, running Ray 2's on my 26g bow front (18" distance from light to sub). Go with full spectrum!


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## carpalstunna

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Cool... well I know both Current and Finnex are in the works for a more powerful plant specific LED system. Might be worth waiting. But if you're in need now of a high PAR LED lighting solution, I'd go with a BML (buildmyled) fixture as my first choice -- I like the Dutch version personally... or the Marineland Aquatic Plant LED or 2x Finnex Fugeray Planted+. These have red diodes in the them to supplement the red wavelength (~620–740nm). Going with Ray 2's only, you'd have washed-out colors (it's very blue spectrum heavy). Red plants eventually fade to green... well that was my experience anyway, running Ray 2's on my 26g bow front (18" distance from light to sub). Go with full spectrum!


ya believe it or not I have 50/50 actinic compact flourescent right now. Hows that for not enough red. I have another LED thats more like 6000K. So that plus a ray2 and maybe a planted plus when it comes out will probably be my array. Of course now i see petco has the current lights 30% off. I emailed current and they thought I would need 3 to achieve a par of 40, still too rich for my blood.


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## zodduska

Looking great! :thumbsup:


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## Brian_Cali77

zodduska said:


> Looking great! :thumbsup:


Muchas gracias


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## FlyingHellFish

Very nice tank! I like the sand contrast, which I was afraid to even try. The one thing I really like is the HOB and surface skimmer, they're barely noticeable. 

She's going to be a beauty when she fills in!


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## Psiorian

How do you like the sunsun 301? I have some surface scum and this looks like a good solution as I can't find the eheim skim 350 anywhere yet. 

You mentioned you made some modifications? Is this plugging up the lower intake making this a surface skimmer only?


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## zodduska

Psiorian said:


> How do you like the sunsun 301? I have some surface scum and this looks like a good solution as I can't find the eheim skim 350 anywhere yet.
> 
> You mentioned you made some modifications? Is this plugging up the lower intake making this a surface skimmer only?


BigAl's has the skim350 for 23.99, in fact I'm receiving one from them today.


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Very nice tank! I like the sand contrast, which I was afraid to even try. The one thing I really like is the HOB and surface skimmer, they're barely noticeable.
> 
> She's going to be a beauty when she fills in!


Thanks dude... yeah I'm glad the HOB works out with the black background. The fluval c2 and sunsun are both black so it's perfect. I still might use my lily pipes by next year if I want to change things up. Maybe in a rescape. 

I can't wait till it fills in, too! I'm starting to see the tops of the L. Aromatica turn purple. Glad, because I was a little worried the Sat+ wasn't up to the task. The HC was pearling too.


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## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> How do you like the sunsun 301? I have some surface scum and this looks like a good solution as I can't find the eheim skim 350 anywhere yet.
> 
> You mentioned you made some modifications? Is this plugging up the lower intake making this a surface skimmer only?


It works really well... it's exactly like the Azoo Palm Filter in construction but just black and with the surface skimmer. It only comes with a sponge so I added filter floss and biomax. 

Yeah I plugged up the bottom a bit with a black latex glove finger and rubber band to get more suction from the surface skimmer. I've seen another person in SCAPE plug up the bottom with filter floss. My method worked but then it started to sound like a sink drain because no water was coming in from the bottom...so I made a couple slits to allow "some" water in from the bottom but most from the top... it works much better now and is pretty quiet. The surface of the water is crystal. 

I got it on Amazon for 9$ (+ shipping). If you can find it locally or have a LFS order it, you can probably save on shipping.

Edit: I also cut the extension tube with a dremel to shorten it by 1/2" so I can keep the water real high in the tank, while allowing more leeway for the water level to be low for it to still work.


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## Psiorian

zodduska said:


> BigAl's has the skim350 for 23.99, in fact I'm receiving one from them today.


Nice! which tank are you putting it in?

And man I should have red your response before ordering the sunsun, although its only $14 on amazon with shipping, I'm sure I can find a tank to put it in.


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## Brian_Cali77

zodduska said:


> BigAl's has the skim350 for 23.99, in fact I'm receiving one from them today.


That's a nice one too... I didn't see that! Lol.. although, it would add a more bulkier unit inside the aquarium rather than the thin intake tubes of the sunsun. I do like how the eheim would be like a powerhead though for circulation purposes. Pros and cons.


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## Brian_Cali77

We have HC pearling! I think Mikey likes it!!! Two Sat+ lights that is!


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## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> We have HC pearling! I think Mikey likes it!!! Two Sat+ lights that is!


Nice!


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## zodduska

It's in my 12 long, I'll post photos and impressions in the journal later tonight for anyone interested.



Psiorian said:


> Nice! which tank are you putting it in?
> 
> And man I should have red your response before ordering the sunsun, although its only $14 on amazon with shipping, I'm sure I can find a tank to put it in.



Looking good! Really nice pics, the clarity on that tank is outstanding. Seems like it'll be enough light then. 



Brian_Cali77 said:


> We have HC pearling! I think Mikey likes it!!! Two Sat+ lights that is!


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## tizzite

Very cool.

Does a single remote control both fixtures?


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## Brian_Cali77

tizzite said:


> Very cool.
> 
> Does a single remote control both fixtures?


Yup... sure does!


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## FlyingHellFish

Brian, it looks like HC is going to carpet just fine with those LEDs. You're getting the same growth I got at the start, so welcome to the wonderful world of HC Cuba carpeting.

Be sure to enjoy the tedious trims and removal of leafs,


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## Brian_Cali77

Haha...thanks! I already have to deal with it in the 60F. I'm hoping to swap out the HC for UG though -- if not all of it, a majority at least. It's probably just as bad to maintain and clean, but I wouldn't know.


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## Brian_Cali77

*GLA Tools Arrived Today! *

So after "accidentally" discovering the blow out sale of GLA's high quality aquascaping tools, I couldn't resist the opportunity to treat myself to some NICE TOOLS! I must say, Orlando over at GLA is a great guy to talk to and the customer service he provided was second to none. roud:

Anyway, these tools are phenomenal. I can't imagine how GLA can improve on these... but, according to Orlando, they are coming out with a whole new line that is going to improve on an already excellent product. Either way, they are the best aquascaping tools I've owned and I'm stoked I got them at an excellent price! Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to trimming up the overgrown HC in the 60F (just the tedious clean up sucks!)

Thanks GLA! :bounce:


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## Psiorian

Dang you went all out!

Nice set!


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## FlyingHellFish

Holy cow, that a nice set. Good choice going with high quality gear, my cheap asian tools are dull and breaking apart at the seams. The package said stainless steel but I kid you not, there rust on it. 

What the middle right funky looking one for? Carpet trimming I'm guessing?


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## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> Holy cow, that a nice set. Good choice going with high quality gear, my cheap asian tools are dull and breaking apart at the seams. The package said stainless steel but I kid you not, there rust on it.
> 
> What the middle right funky looking one for? Carpet trimming I'm guessing?


Not to high jack but there are different grades of stainless. Some will never rust, some will rust a bit, some will be bad. Usually with the cheap stuff, they don't use stainless screws and stuff. Not to be weird but I always ask for any SS stuff when I get stitches which happens every 1.5 years or so it seems. Best stuff I have had, going to go check out a medical supply place by my house.

But yeah, SS has different grades, I am not so up on it but all SS stuff I got from a welding friend never rusts, most the stuff I buy from the local hardware place does a bit, every time I buy off the shelf stuff (cosmetic scissors for eyebrows and similar), tends to rust.


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## Psiorian

talontsiawd said:


> Not to high jack but there are different grades of stainless. Some will never rust, some will rust a bit, some will be bad. Usually with the cheap stuff, they don't use stainless screws and stuff. Not to be weird but I always ask for any SS stuff when I get stitches which happens every 1.5 years or so it seems. Best stuff I have had, going to go check out a medical supply place by my house.
> 
> But yeah, SS has different grades, I am not so up on it but all SS stuff I got from a welding friend never rusts, most the stuff I buy from the local hardware place does a bit, every time I buy off the shelf stuff (cosmetic scissors for eyebrows and similar), tends to rust.


Just to go off of what talon said, 304 SS can still rust. 316SS doesn't rust. Those numbers are the grades. Just FYI if anyone wants to know.


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## zodduska

Nice haul Brian, I'm jealous!


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## carpalstunna

I was so jealous I bought some too


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks guys... I'm going to use them today 

I read somewhere that they're made of a tungsten steel alloy. This was not indicated on the GLA site. Anyone know if it's tungsten and what is its resistance to rust?


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## Psiorian

Tungsten doesn't rust. Its resistant to water and oxygen I think.


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## FlyingHellFish

PUT THE 60P BANNER BACK ON! Do not denied the people of this forum the work of art you did.

Kidding aside, how you like the new gear? My cheap scissors pulls up on the HC, which in turn uproots a few stems. I want something that will cut through a thick layer of carpet like butter.


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## Jack Gilvey

Tank is looking great, Brian! And I got my haul of of tools from GLA as well, very impressed. 
I'm kinda PO'd that I'd ordered a couple Fluval tools just a week before the GLA prices dropped so much as I really prefer the GLA.


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## tropicalmackdaddy

Nice tools bro! 
I got a set as well, except all of mine are straight and not curved because they ran out :/
I am satisfied with the quality, but I could never imagine paying $20-40 dollars for any of these.


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> PUT THE 60P BANNER BACK ON! Do not denied the people of this forum the work of art you did.
> 
> Kidding aside, how you like the new gear? My cheap scissors pulls up on the HC, which in turn uproots a few stems. I want something that will cut through a thick layer of carpet like butter.


New banner prototype released. 

Man.... these tools are freakin' cool. The nude scissors and the wave do just the trick. They're all pretty sharp... Orlando over at GLA told me the "new line" will be scary sharp and the metallurgy is astounding. Blows my mind, because I'm so impressed with the old line.


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## Brian_Cali77

Jack Gilvey said:


> Tank is looking great, Brian! And I got my haul of of tools from GLA as well, very impressed.
> I'm kinda PO'd that I'd ordered a couple Fluval tools just a week before the GLA prices dropped so much as I really prefer the GLA.


Thanks, Jack! I'm glad you were able to snatch up these fine tools and enjoy them as I do. This is coming from a guy who used to use scissors from the dollar store, tiny tweezers for planting, and an old credit card for spreading substrate...lol

I feel so spoiled with these tools!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

tropicalmackdaddy said:


> Nice tools bro!
> I got a set as well, except all of mine are straight and not curved because they ran out :/
> I am satisfied with the quality, but I could never imagine paying $20-40 dollars for any of these.


Well at least you got some.. but TBH, knowing how nice these are now, if I didn't have these tools, I'd probably buy 1 or 2 at full price (glad I didn't though). I mean, the ADA tools look to be about the same, but when you compare their prices to GLA, GLA at full price was a steal. 

Look at ADA, it's mind boggling.

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76_6_40


----------



## tropicalmackdaddy

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Well at least you got some.. but TBH, knowing how nice these are now, if I didn't have these tools, I'd probably buy 1 or 2 at full price (glad I didn't though). I mean, the ADA tools look to be about the same, but when you compare their prices to GLA, GLA at full price was a steal.
> 
> Look at ADA, it's mind boggling.
> 
> http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76_6_40


I wish I could convince poeple to buy $170 scissors....They should come with a pedestal


----------



## parrottbay

I just went on the website to get some but they are out basically 


Brian_Cali77 said:


> *GLA Tools Arrived Today! *
> 
> So after "accidentally" discovering the blow out sale of GLA's high quality aquascaping tools, I couldn't resist the opportunity to treat myself to some NICE TOOLS! I must say, Orlando over at GLA is a great guy to talk to and the customer service he provided was second to none. roud:
> 
> Anyway, these tools are phenomenal. I can't imagine how GLA can improve on these... but, according to Orlando, they are coming out with a whole new line that is going to improve on an already excellent product. Either way, they are the best aquascaping tools I've owned and I'm stoked I got them at an excellent price! Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to trimming up the overgrown HC in the 60F (just the tedious clean up sucks!)
> 
> Thanks GLA! :bounce:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*Current-USA Single Ramp Timer!*

Look what I just got!  

I think I'm going to have one Sat+ ramp Up 1 hour before the 2nd light turns on (that's on a basic timer), then ramp down 1 hour after the 2nd light turns off... Should be interesting! Once I stock this tank with fish, this should definitely minimize them getting spooked out with lights turning on/off abruptly. 

It's not as cool as the Pro Timer but it was available now and cheaper!


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> *Current-USA Single Ramp Timer!*
> 
> Look what I just got!
> 
> I think I'm going to have one Sat+ ramp Up 1 hour before the 2nd light turns on (that's on a basic timer), then ramp down 1 hour after the 2nd light turns off... Should be interesting! Once I stock this tank with fish, this should definitely minimize them getting spooked out with lights turning on/off abruptly.
> 
> It's not as cool as the Pro Timer but it was available now and cheaper!


Nice!

Looking forward to seeing it in action.

Will you be getting the pro ramp timer when it comes out as well?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

I'm not sure... I'm pretty happy with the setup now. I'll consider the pro when I learn more about it. Hopefully who ever wins it in the Current contest posts a review or something so it would give me a better idea if it's worth it for my needs.


----------



## arrie

hows the stand holding up to the weight of the tank? love the idea


----------



## Brian_Cali77

arrie said:


> hows the stand holding up to the weight of the tank? love the idea


So far so good... seems very solid. I researched it before I decide to get one for the 60p. There were others before me that used it so that made me feel comfortable enough to go for it. 

Check out this other 60p build thread by talontsiawd... He gave a pretty good review on the Ikea Besta. Also starting at post #22, he shows that he even drilled holes in the sides of it for his hoses. If his tank + stand are holding strong with those holes, then I would say its fairly a safe bet that it would do fine. Just be cautious about not getting the stand wet... wipe off any water immediately as it will begin to warp the laminate. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=436833&page=2

Although, I only drilled one hole in the bottom back for the electrical and co2 line.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

A dimmer timer for LEDs? You're making it tough on my wallet. Any word on the new planted version of the Satellite? If I remember correctly, there was talk on a higher output version with planted tanks in mind.


----------



## carpalstunna

FlyingHellFish said:


> A dimmer timer for LEDs? You're making it tough on my wallet. Any word on the new planted version of the Satellite? If I remember correctly, there was talk on a higher output version with planted tanks in mind.


I havent heard anything yet either, everyone was saying october. He is making it tough on my wallet too, I just picked up one of these ramp timers last night. He is also the reason I bought a couple GLA tools.


----------



## Vermino

Brian_Cali77 said:


> 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 9/30/13* (still waiting on UG to replace the HC in the foreground)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *More to come... stay tuned! *
> :thanks:


HOW CAN YOU AFFORD ALL THESE NEW TOYS!?! haha god i love your setup. How do you like the surface skimmer?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> A dimmer timer for LEDs? You're making it tough on my wallet. Any word on the new planted version of the Satellite? If I remember correctly, there was talk on a higher output version with planted tanks in mind.


I just know it's suppose to come out soon, before the end of the year. But you never know, they could still be working out kinks or what not. Kevin (Current) hasn't been active this month in the forum. Wonder where he went? There's some threads laying idle in the sponsor forum. 



carpalstunna said:


> I havent heard anything yet either, everyone was saying october. He is making it tough on my wallet too, I just picked up one of these ramp timers last night. He is also the reason I bought a couple GLA tools.


Sorry about that! At least I try to find the 'deals' and what's economical... how are you liking those tools though? 



Vermino said:


> haha god i love your setup. How do you like the surface skimmer?


Thanks!

The skimmer is cool... It makes some sink-draining noise occasionally. I just have to clear the strainer attachment from any debris like floating HC then it's quiet again. The top of the tank is crystal w/out any sign of surface scum.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'll let you in on a secret, HC Cuba loves medium LED lights.










Shhhhhhh... :biggrin:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'll let you in on a secret, HC Cuba loves medium LED lights.
> 
> Shhhhhhh... :biggrin:



Haha... well I guess I'm lucky then because it so happens I have medium LED lights! LOL

I just got some UG in so I'm going to move the HC into a tighter section and figure out this UG. :red_mouth

On another note, got a very interestingly shaped Drop Checker from HK the other day! I saw it on eBay and just had to have it! It's beautiful, especially for the price! 










My tank is looking semi-crappy right now... I have stringy brown diatoms or rhizo on everything. It's nothing new, it's to be expected in a newly setup tank. Just playing the waiting game now.


----------



## tetra10

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Haha... well I guess I'm lucky then because it so happens I have medium LED lights! LOL
> 
> I just got some UG in so I'm going to move the HC into a tighter section and figure out this UG. :red_mouth
> 
> On another note, got a very interestingly shaped Drop Checker from HK the other day! I saw it on eBay and just had to have it! It's beautiful, especially for the price!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My tank is looking semi-crappy right now... I have stringy brown diatoms or rhizo on everything. It's nothing new, it's to be expected in a newly setup tank. Just playing the waiting game now.


I have some stringy brown algae and diatoms on my newly setup 60-p too, i know how it feels man :/


----------



## Brian_Cali77

The long brown stringy diatoms are in full force...


----------



## tetra10

Brian_Cali77 said:


> The long brown stringy diatoms are in full force...


I'm really sorry to hear that  my diatoms are more dirt looking I have a little bit of the stringy kind. hang in there man, there is light at the end of the tunnel! I think diatoms feed off of light, phosphate, and silicates so I might buy some Purigen or a chemical filter media. I'm also doing water changes every 3 days and I'm on my 6th or 7th week


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah I've dealt with this stuff before... patience is key. Luckily it is easily removable. I do have purigen but I'm waiting to get fully cycled before I use it. 

I just did a 50% PWC and removed most of it... but it grows back super fast.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah I've dealt with this stuff before... patience is key. Luckily it is easily removable. I do have purigen but I'm waiting to get fully cycled before I use it.
> 
> I just did a 50% PWC and removed most of it... but it grows back super fast.


Yea I hate this stuff. It grows crazy fast. Too bad you couldnt shape it into something that looks nice. 

Is there a reason why you're not using the purigen now? you can recharge it later right?

By the way very interesting looking drop checker. :thumbsup: Is it big? or about the normal size?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Purigen shouldn't be used until a tank is fully cycled. It interferes with the process... it's also stated in the FAQ's on the Seachem site. 

The drop checker isn't that big. It's about the same size as other glass drop checkers.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Purigen shouldn't be used until a tank is fully cycled. It interferes with the process... it's also stated in the FAQ's on the Seachem site.
> 
> The drop checker isn't that big. It's about the same size as other glass drop checkers.


Ah nice, cant tell by the picture. I envisioned an Easter egg.

Thanks for the point about the purigen, my LFS guy failed to mention that. Hope I didnt screw anything up too bad.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

That diatom bloom will die down in less than a month, I went through the brown version of that. Mine was never as majestic as yours though.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

are you dosing excel at all? you might dose 1.5x the recommended amount but no more than that once a day, it might not kill the algae but it will help keep it in check till you can add amanos and ottos. I had that stuff before and its like removing spider webs from the tank lol


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah I did a 50% PWC yesterday, removed as much of the diatoms as possible, and double dosed on the 'initial dosage recommendation' of excel (actually using Glut). I'll dose 1.5x the daily dose today going forward until the tank is clear for inhabitants. 

Thanks for the advice!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> till you can add amanos and ottos.


Speaking of which... this tank is filled and will continue to be filled with treated tap. I'm in AZ so my tap is liquid rock, pretty much. Do you guys know if Amanos are cool with hardwater? How about pH swings from having my co2 on a timer?


----------



## zodduska

I never had any trouble keeping Amanos in hard water, mine is pH 8.2 and KH 16 out of the tap. AFAIK I don't think pH swings from injecting co2 have any effect on livestock, it's all about the hardness.


----------



## zodduska

By the way, if it makes you feel any better, I'm also dealing with diatoms at the moment, some of my hc is looking a little brownish.. I've even got a tiny bit of bba sprouting on the rocks.


----------



## keats

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah I did a 50% PWC yesterday, removed as much of the diatoms as possible, and double dosed on the 'initial dosage recommendation' of excel (actually using Glut). I'll dose 1.5x the daily dose today going forward until the tank is clear for inhabitants.
> 
> Thanks for the advice!


I dose 9mls a day, bro. Don't be afraid.  


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## talontsiawd

In my 20L, I dosed 10 ML a day with livestock (healthy) with no issues. I will probably dose the same once I get my new livestock nice and healthy. I unfortunately had some Spirogyra algea (I believe) introduced to my new tank, not too bad now but I am also not dealing with it yet. Luckily, my Rummy Nose Tetra's seem to like it as a snack. 

Anyway, don't get scared of dosing Glut. I was taught by many members with beautiful tanks to just dose the max amount daily until you get a hold of things. I also tend to keep CO2 levels appropriate for livestock. Two reasons, first, I am feeding algae CO2 and letting it thrive, many do better than plants with good CO2 if you are not doing anything else. Second, you don't set yourself up for disaster when you have to lower it back down. Not an expert here though.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

zodduska said:


> I never had any trouble keeping Amanos in hard water, mine is pH 8.2 and KH 16 out of the tap. AFAIK I don't think pH swings from injecting co2 have any effect on livestock, it's all about the hardness.


Good to know! I think those will definitely be on the stocking list. I want to keep the species minimal though, although I wish I can say the same about my plant selection! LOL 



zodduska said:


> By the way, if it makes you feel any better, I'm also dealing with diatoms at the moment, some of my hc is looking a little brownish.. I've even got a tiny bit of bba sprouting on the rocks.


Although I feel for your plight, in a strange sort of way, it does feel better when others are in the same boat! Here's to yours and mine clearing up sooner than later brother! :thumbsup:



keats said:


> I dose 9mls a day, bro. Don't be afraid.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


Alright I'll start dosing heavier... it's not like there's any livestock anyways ATM. I'm about to plant some UG soon, anyone know if Glut has any negative impact on that plant? 

Here's what arrived... looks pretty darn good! 











talontsiawd said:


> In my 20L, I dosed 10 ML a day with livestock (healthy) with no issues. I will probably dose the same once I get my new livestock nice and healthy. I unfortunately had some Spirogyra algea (I believe) introduced to my new tank, not too bad now but I am also not dealing with it yet. Luckily, my Rummy Nose Tetra's seem to like it as a snack.
> 
> Anyway, don't get scared of dosing Glut. I was taught by many members with beautiful tanks to just dose the max amount daily until you get a hold of things. I also tend to keep CO2 levels appropriate for livestock. Two reasons, first, I am feeding algae CO2 and letting it thrive, many do better than plants with good CO2 if you are not doing anything else. Second, you don't set yourself up for disaster when you have to lower it back down. Not an expert here though.


Dude... I HATE Spiro! I had to deal with it on numerious occasions. I tried almost everything and couldn't get rid of it. I finally caved in and tried some AlgaeFix, sparingly, and it worked to knock it out! Good luck on yours, man! Spiro is, unfortunately, one of those algae species that thrives on everything healthy plants to (i.e. good light, co2, and ferts).


----------



## Psiorian

To my knowledge UG is fine with excel. I use it and spot treat with it and its fine so far.


----------



## Aqua Hound

Hey I am loving the way this tank is coming along especially that nice carpet of HC you have going. I was wondering cuz I also have HC, but I can't get this to grow to save my life. I have high lighting and pressurized CO2, but I think it might have to do with my liquid rock water  I was wondering if you could give us the levels of your tank, like ph, KH, GH, and whatever specs? I recently ordered some sera super peat as I hope this will lower the ph and hardness of my tap water. I have had a hard time keeping anything in my city water simply because it is too hard with usually a ph of around 8.5 or higher  Any tips to growing this plant. Thanks!


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Aqua Hound said:


> Hey I am loving the way this tank is coming along especially that nice carpet of HC you have going. I was wondering cuz I also have HC, but I can't get this to grow to save my life. I have high lighting and pressurized CO2, but I think it might have to do with my liquid rock water  I was wondering if you could give us the levels of your tank, like ph, KH, GH, and whatever specs? I recently ordered some sera super peat as I hope this will lower the ph and hardness of my tap water. I have had a hard time keeping anything in my city water simply because it is too hard with usually a ph of around 8.5 or higher  Any tips to growing this plant. Thanks!


u.g , h.c and a few other carpets like an acidic substrate such as aquasoil. Its a bit harder to grow in say eco complete or something that doesn't have buffering qualities. Its also a bit easier to grow in a finer substrate, like the small powder sand from ada, it lets the roots absorb nutrients better as it sort of packs in more densely around the shallow roots. Doing a dry start for h.c helps it spread out more and establish its roots, which once flooded makes it grow in a little faster. h.c also does well with excel dosing, not sure how u.g does with excel. plants in general will do better with lower ph, 8.5 is rather high, most species do well around 6-7 ph but that doesn't mean you cant grow them in your tap water. If its in a small tank you can always cut the water with r/o


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> To my knowledge UG is fine with excel. I use it and spot treat with it and its fine so far.


Thanks for the input on that! The UG is my newest plant species so I want to make sure I give it a chance to survive in my tank. 



Aqua Hound said:


> Hey I am loving the way this tank is coming along especially that nice carpet of HC you have going. I was wondering cuz I also have HC, but I can't get this to grow to save my life. I have high lighting and pressurized CO2, but I think it might have to do with my liquid rock water  I was wondering if you could give us the levels of your tank, like ph, KH, GH, and whatever specs? I recently ordered some sera super peat as I hope this will lower the ph and hardness of my tap water. I have had a hard time keeping anything in my city water simply because it is too hard with usually a ph of around 8.5 or higher  Any tips to growing this plant. Thanks!


Thanks man... I've grown HC well with using PPS-Pro dosing regimen, decent lighting (at least 30+ PAR), and CO2 injection. I have also noticed that it grows significantly better and responds very well to Aqua Soil. My water is liquid rock too in AZ... I'll have to get back to you on the full run down on my parameters... I'll test tonight or tomorrow.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*UPDATE!!! 2 Weeks Since Planted! *

Well I'm still dealing with diatoms, but that's no surprise in a newly planted tank. I did a manual removal of much of it as I could. I also groomed the sand and rearranged some stones. 

*Here are some changes:*

I removed the Rotala Colorata and moved the R. Magenta to that spot next the HM.
I also created some flame moss rocks by securing them with tied on loofah mesh. This is my first time doing this and I wanted to see how they'd look like mini flame moss bushes. I created a line with them in front of the HM and piled a bunch of on the DW's base. I might remove them from the DW and sell them or something if I don't like the result. 
I'm also going to remove the single stem of Persicaria sp. "Kawagoeanum" that's growing in the back/front. It was temporary anyways... 
I received the Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' and planted them as a street extending to the back of the stones.
I planted some Staurogyne repens (Tropica 49) in front of the AR "mini" to help contrast the red and also soften the transition from UG/HC to the AR. 
I moved all the HC to a more compact section in the front. I then planted the UG in clumps along the front.

*Observations/Questions:*

The Myriophyllum Mattogrossense grows FAST! It's already reaching the surface almost. I'm considering whether to swap this out for Pogostemon Erectus to go for a lighter more pronounced green. Thoughts? 
The UG looks white and very light green on some leaves (bladders?). Is this okay for now?
The R. Magenta has grown roots but is staying very short. I'm guessing it's like R. Macrandra and hates my hard water. Might have to go back to R. Colorata.
The Mini Fissidens has browned but is now bouncing back on the DW branches. I see nice bright green fronds popping up.. unfortunately, they're covered in diatoms ATM 

And without further ado, some pics (I have yet to bust out the DSLR, so these Galaxy S4 pics will have to do... sorry guys, my tank is not worthy of DSLR pics yet): 




























A night shot with the cloudy dynamic mode... plus the mood lighting, got some Barry White playing (j/k)!


----------



## Cardinal's Keeper

Looks pretty good overall man, i like the balance of colors. Ya, Myrio's a weed! When I was growing PE, it would bush out really nice an be a very bright green. Grew pretty fast but it's density and color would nice.

Not sure about the UG, never seen that but maybe it's transitioning.. Hopefully not melting, but even if it does some should survive to bounce. Hope that HC carpets out for ya too


----------



## FlyingHellFish

That so strange, white UG? Got a close up of them? I'm sure they are transitioning, I get a lot of funny colours whenever a plant is damage. 

If you pinch DHG, the top of the blades turns the a beautiful ruby red. Then it you knows, dies and falls off.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Cardinal's Keeper said:


> Looks pretty good overall man, i like the balance of colors. Ya, Myrio's a weed! When I was growing PE, it would bush out really nice an be a very bright green. Grew pretty fast but it's density and color would nice.
> 
> Not sure about the UG, never seen that but maybe it's transitioning.. Hopefully not melting, but even if it does some should survive to bounce. Hope that HC carpets out for ya too


I pretty confident the HC is thriving and I should have a nice rug soon. I think I'm going to swap for PE. Only thing I hate about it is the extensive root structure. Makes for pulling them quite a mess. 






FlyingHellFish said:


> That so strange, white UG? Got a close up of them? I'm sure they are transitioning, I get a lot of funny colours whenever a plant is damage.
> 
> If you pinch DHG, the top of the blades turns the a beautiful ruby red. Then it you knows, dies and falls off.


Here's a close up.. looks like coleslaw! Lol


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

myrio is definitely a weed, however i would leave it in for a while, maybe a month, till your over the algae phase, its good at sucking up the nutrients and ammonia because of how fast it grows, it has very fine roots so its easy to take out if you leave it for a while. Give the rotala magenta some time to transition to your water, in 2 more weeks or so you should see better growth once they become more rooted.


----------



## ua hua

That looks really nice. Is that P. stellatus in the back right?

I always had problems with R. macrandra and R. magenta before I changed my substrate to Aquasoil because my kH was around 12 before. What is your kH in this tank? I don't think R. macrandra likes higher kH because after many failed attempts at it now it's growing like crazy in a lower kH.


----------



## AnotherHobby

That's how my UG looked when I planted it, but it greened up nice within a couple of weeks. Here it was right after planting:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

AnotherHobby said:


> That's how my UG looked when I planted it, but it greened up nice within a couple of weeks. Here it was right after planting:


Good to know, my UG has some hope! Oh man, your tank never ceases to amaze me.. it's beautiful in all its stages! You need to bless our 60p Club with some pics!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> myrio is definitely a weed, however i would leave it in for a while, maybe a month, till your over the algae phase, its good at sucking up the nutrients and ammonia because of how fast it grows, it has very fine roots so its easy to take out if you leave it for a while. Give the rotala magenta some time to transition to your water, in 2 more weeks or so you should see better growth once they become more rooted.


Thank you for the advice. Sounds good, I'll give it some time and observe it. 




ua hua said:


> That looks really nice. Is that P. stellatus in the back right?
> 
> I always had problems with R. macrandra and R. magenta before I changed my substrate to Aquasoil because my kH was around 12 before. What is your kH in this tank? I don't think R. macrandra likes higher kH because after many failed attempts at it now it's growing like crazy in a lower kH.


The plant is L. Aromatica. P. Stellatus does look very nice though... never tried that plant. Maybe next time I'll give it a go. 

I'm going to test everything today and post the full parameter run down.


----------



## maxwellag

Hey Brian, I noticed this today:

http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-lighting/current-single-ramp-timer.html

I'm not sure if it would work with two fixtures... But its nice to know they are available now.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Brian_Cali77

maxwellag said:


> Hey Brian, I noticed this today:
> 
> http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-lighting/current-single-ramp-timer.html
> 
> I'm not sure if it would work with two fixtures... But its nice to know they are available now.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2


Hi Max... I got one and I'm currently using it on one Sat+ to ramp up (sunrise) 1 hour before the 2nd light that turns on that's on a conventional timer... then it ramps down (sunset) 1 hour after the 2nd light has turned off.. works perfectly and I really love it! Can't wait to stock this tank to see how the fish react to it.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Alright guys, here are my water parameters... looks like I'm finally cycled!

Give me the good, the bad, and ugly:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 7 - 8 ppm
pH: 7 ppm
GH: 16
KH: 7
PO4: 0.5 ppm


----------



## ThatGuyWithTheFish

Those nitrates are really low. Have you been dosing? Also your water is really hard.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah I'm dosing PPS-PRO and yes, I have liquid rock for tap in AZ. No RO unit in my apartment. I already lug gallons of RO for my 60F for the shrimp...I'd really hate to have to lug more for this tank too. 

What are the problems with hard water for this tank? I've read that it would be okay. 

Guess I need to up my PO4 as well for the red plants.


----------



## John Simpson

nice work


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

the water hardness should be fine, maybe not soft enough for very very few species, which mostly seem to be sensitive to kh and not so much gh. So long as the plants are growing well i wouldn't mess with it.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

John Simpson said:


> nice work


Thanks, John! How's the shop going? 



Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> the water hardness should be fine, maybe not soft enough for very very few species, which mostly seem to be sensitive to kh and not so much gh. So long as the plants are growing well i wouldn't mess with it.


Thanks for the input... yeah, plants are growing so I'm not too worried.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Updates! How the UG going? I had a horrible time trying to grow UG, I spent quite a bit of money on two pots that just melted. 

Oh and Brian, any word on the new Satellite for plants?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

I'm still battling what ever ailment my tank is going through, whether it be filamentous diatoms or algae -- I've been told both. But out of frustration because it grows back long in as little as two days, during my last PWC, I did a manual removal and treated the tank with a heavy dose of Glut and sparingly dosed Algaefix. A day later, the stuff turned from brown to a whitish color. Fast forward another day, it has become almost all white with no new growth. Makes me think it was an algae of sorts because Algaefix doesn't affect diatoms I believe (only silicates). I'll see how the algae/diatoms (?) are tomorrow, then maybe do one more dose of Algaefix if it's working (which I think it is).

The UG is hanging in there... no new noticeable growth or melt. I've read that it can take time before it acclimates to start growing. So I'm not expecting much.


----------



## tetra10

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I'm still battling what ever ailment my tank is going through, whether it be filamentous diatoms or algae -- I've been told both. But out of frustration because it grows back long in as little as two days, during my last PWC, I did a manual removal and treated the tank with a heavy dose of Glut and sparingly dosed Algaefix. A day later, the stuff turned from brown to a whitish color. Fast forward another day, it has become almost all white with no new growth. Makes me think it was an algae of sorts because Algaefix doesn't affect diatoms I believe (only silicates). I'll see how the algae/diatoms (?) are tomorrow, then maybe do one more dose of Algaefix if it's working (which I think it is).
> 
> The UG is hanging in there... no new noticeable growth or melt. I've read that it can take time before it acclimates to start growing. So I'm not expecting much.


i am also, still a victim of diatoms. they make all of my rotala green look disgusting and all the new growth is soo covered in brown


----------



## Jack Gilvey

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks, Jack! I'm glad you were able to snatch up these fine tools and enjoy them as I do. This is coming from a guy who used to use scissors from the dollar store, tiny tweezers for planting, and an old credit card for spreading substrate...lol
> 
> I feel so spoiled with these tools!


 I'm really glad I got mine when I did! 

http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquascaping-tools.html


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Holy Moly man! I'm super glad I did too!!! That's quite the price jump! I got a whole set for the price of one of those!


----------



## Jack Gilvey

Same here!


----------



## ADEng

Hey Brian, great looking tank. I've been lurking the forum for some time now and you've inspired me with your log! I started my own here as well. I too went with the ikea besta and ada 60p combination. I really dig how your tank is starting out and it will be awesome once you have some livestock put in. Good job man.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Holy Moly man! I'm super glad I did too!!! That's quite the price jump! I got a whole set for the price of one of those!


Oh man so glad you posted about these tools before or I'd have missed the sale!

Well maybe one day, there will be better tools and these will go on sale too


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

I was sort of kicking myself for spending $20 on scissors and pincetts...(yea im cheap) now im glad i bought them when i did!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

So here's a *small update*!

The filamentous diatoms or unknown algae (rhizoclonium?) is still clearing up. It went from brown to white then it bounced back a little, and then I dosed once more with Algaefix (this makes it just two doses total) 1/2 the recommended dose on the bottle each time... the stuff is all white again and falling off the plants with ease. I can literately blow it off with a turkey baster. It should clear up soon. 

I also added a few stems of pogostemon erectus. I'm planning to grow it out to eventually replace the myriophyllum mattogrossense in the middle. I also added two stems of rotala macrandra (originating from another hardwater tank) to see how they'd do in this tank. If it does better than the rotala magenta, I'll probably just pull out the r. magenta and continue to propagate the r. macrandra. 

Here's a before and after trim... my tank still has a ways to go. The alternanthera reineckii 'mini' seems to finally be acclimating to my tank as I see new red growth on the top, while the original leaves look kinda crappy ATM (this is also in part due to the dead algae). 


















Close-Up of one of my Flame Moss rocks. 









Hopefully the next update will look much better.


----------



## tetra10

looking good! my diatoms are just starting to go away as of 2 days ago!


----------



## ADEng

Tank is looking good! I'm digging that black ground and although I dismissed the idea at first, I'm starting to think about doing it to my own tank again... 

I like the plant you've got in the back right corner. Which one was it?


----------



## Psiorian

Looks great! Cant really see algae from the pictures (though I'm sure you can see it in person). Hang in there sounds like there is light at the end of the tunnel. Your flame moss rocks look much better than my flame moss rocks covered in diatoms  

This just further reinforces me to put black backgrounds on my tanks.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

tetra10 said:


> looking good! my diatoms are just starting to go away as of 2 days ago!


Thanks... good to hear your diatoms are going away!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

ADEng said:


> Tank is looking good! I'm digging that black ground and although I dismissed the idea at first, I'm starting to think about doing it to my own tank again...
> 
> I like the plant you've got in the back right corner. Which one was it?


Thanks! Yeah I wouldn't have thought about ever putting a black background on an ADA tank but I was inspired to do it with the 60p Reef setups. Plus, I've been there and done that with no background or an opaque white background with Lily pipes before, so doing something different than what everyone's doing was appealing (not to mention a little cheaper). 

The plant in the back right is Limnophila Aromatica.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Looks great! Cant really see algae from the pictures (though I'm sure you can see it in person). Hang in there sounds like there is light at the end of the tunnel. Your flame moss rocks look much better than my flame moss rocks covered in diatoms
> 
> This just further reinforces me to put black backgrounds on my tanks.


Thanks, bro! Yeah the black bg is coming back! Haha... But yeah, it grew on me. I've been running no background or opaque in my 60F and Mini M, so this is a change. I like how it makes the plants pop and helps hide the equipment.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Quick little YouTube vid showing my plants pearling with just a few hours under 2x Sat+ lights!.I turned the filter off so you can see the bubbles flowing straight up like carbonated water 

Tank still has a ways to go. Cleaning up and growing out. Work in progress!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKEyX7Ta2fo&feature=youtube_gdata_player


----------



## Jack Gilvey

Looks great!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Jack Gilvey said:


> Looks great!


Thanks Jack! roud:

------------------------------------

On another note... my mini fissidens are growing in nicely! I tied them on as green but they turned brown shortly after... I was about to tear them out and use another type of moss.. but I decided to wait. Next thing you know, they're growing in nice and *GREEN*! :biggrin:










Here's some more snapshots for the heck of it... 

This one I believe I had the purple preset activated coupled with the nightmode setting on my GS4. 









Not sure about this one... but thought it was a cool angle. 









I'm getting bored waiting for this to grow in the way I want it to.. I also added in an Aqueon Pro 50w Heater because the night temps are starting to dip. This is, of course, in preperation for the FISH! I think my next update should include fish stocking! Just need to test the parameters again beforehand.


----------



## Psiorian

Oh man those current lights are awesome for color, especially that bottom picture. I like the angle it makes it look more filled in.

It looks awesome!

Great about your mini fiss that is what happened to mine, I was getting fustrated but then all of a sudden they turned green.

What are your thoughts for fish?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Oh man those current lights are awesome for color, especially that bottom picture. I like the angle it makes it look more filled in.
> 
> It looks awesome!
> 
> Great about your mini fiss that is what happened to mine, I was getting fustrated but then all of a sudden they turned green.
> 
> What are your thoughts for fish?


Thank you sir! 

I'm not quite sure about this fish... I don't really want to go all out because money is tight ATM. I would REALLY want that apistogramma agassizi fire red as my centerpiece fish. But I think cost of buying it and shipping is more than what I want to spend.

I do already have: 
12x Neon Tetras (got them for only $8). 
5x Ember Tetras. 

Probably going to buy:
3x Otocinclus (wating for the $1 sale at Petsmart again). 
1x Male Electric Blue Ram or apistogramma cacatuoides (still debating this one, depends on my LFS's deal). 
Maybe Amano Shrimp too...


----------



## lamiskool

Great lookin tank man! I love the scape and assortment of plants, beautifully done.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

lamiskool said:


> Great lookin tank man! I love the scape and assortment of plants, beautifully done.


Thank you very much! It's a little in the collectoritis side... But I'm trying to refine it still and make it work.


----------



## puopg

For the UG, It takes literally 2 months before you will notice it to spread. What its doing is sending these thin runners all over the place. You can see this for yourself when the time comes. But once this happens, it'll cover pretty fast.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

puopg said:


> For the UG, It takes literally 2 months before you will notice it to spread. What its doing is sending these thin runners all over the place. You can see this for yourself when the time comes. But once this happens, it'll cover pretty fast.


Yeah thanks for that tidbit on UG. I kinda figured it would be doing something before I'll see any noticeable growth. I've read it takes a while if not melt. Whether it be just acclimating or (as you mentioned) sending runners or rooting. The HC on the other hand is growing like a beast. However, the HC was grown immersed while the UG was received grown emersed. So the HC had very little to acclimate to. Either way, I can't wait till this UG takes off already! LOL


----------



## parrottbay

Also, how do you like the CO2 reg?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> Also, how do you like the CO2 reg?


It works great. I have 3 of them so far, all working fine w/ no issues to report. At first the needle valves required re-adjustment to keep them at the BPS rate I put them on... after a while though, it stayed steady with no adjustments needed. Strange! 

But overall, I think they're great for the "value" and having a cool touch solenoid. I also like how small they are. Drawback of course is that they're paintball and require more trips to refill than a full size co2 cylinder (i.e. 5#, 10#, etc.).


----------



## Dantrasy

beautifully executed. forgive me if i missed reading it, but where have you placed the flame moss rock? i ask because flame can grow very tall and cutting it makes it look unnatural for a long time.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Dantrasy said:


> beautifully executed. forgive me if i missed reading it, but where have you placed the flame moss rock? i ask because flame can grow very tall and cutting it makes it look unnatural for a long time.


Thanks for the compliment -- especially coming from a guy with some jaw-dropping aquascapes! 

I have the flame moss rock all along the base of the DW and put a row in front of the baby tears (HM), separating it from the HC and reds.


----------



## parrottbay

Brian_Cali77 said:


> It works great. I have 3 of them so far, all working fine w/ no issues to report. At first the needle valves required re-adjustment to keep them at the BPS rate I put them on... after a while though, it stayed steady with no adjustments needed. Strange!
> 
> But overall, I think they're great for the "value" and having a cool touch solenoid. I also like how small they are. Drawback of course is that they're paintball and require more trips to refill than a full size co2 cylinder (i.e. 5#, 10#, etc.).


 Awesome, thanks! I have been using the Milwaukie one with a paintball tank, so I know what you mean with more trips lol


----------



## Down_Shift

This tank still kicks ass


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## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> This tank still kicks ass


Thanks!


----------



## zico_aqua

This is one cute colorful tank really like it. Looking forward to the UG filling in. Good work.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


----------



## Down_Shift

Brian. What's the par readings like for the areas you have UG? How's it reacting so far


----------



## Brian_Cali77

zico_aqua said:


> This is one cute colorful tank really like it. Looking forward to the UG filling in. Good work.


Thanks for the kind words zico. 




Down_Shift said:


> Brian. What's the par readings like for the areas you have UG? How's it reacting so far


I'm not sure since I don't have a PAR meter. But directly under both, I'm estimating about 72 PAR. I just know that whatever I'm getting in the foreground, it's more than adequate as I see compact growth, HC is crawling low rather than vertically, UG is now all green and (finally) growing, and LOTS of pearling!

I've been away for a few days but my GF has been dosing for me. Being away and not seeing my tank daily, the growth is far more evident. The HC is thicker and the UG is now in growing mode. I also came home to a good amount of green dust algae... anyone know what should be adjusted to deal with GDA?

Here's some pics... no more coleslaw looking UG. It's now a uniform light green 



















The trumpet snails keep making my AS mix in and fall onto the sand. Need to tidy that up. 

Fish will be added tonight too.


----------



## talontsiawd

Looking great. Has come a long way in a short period of time.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

talontsiawd said:


> Looking great. Has come a long way in a short period of time.


Thank you... plants are growing fast. I'm thrilled too because utilizing two Sat+ lights on a tank this size was in question. Hasn't been done before as far as I know. But the more I see how they're reacting in a positive way to this lighting, the more I'm seeing the benefit of going this route.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Hey Brian, could you get a close up picture of the HC Cuba? I want to see how the SAT+ is fairing. I don't think I can wait for their Planted version, trying hard to resist not buying it.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Sure thing.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks for the shot! It's creeping nicely for you, I guess it's not such a high light requiring plant after all. How many bps you pumping? 

If you were to rescape the tank, how would you separate the sand from the soil?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah I think HC just needs mid to high 30's in PAR to thrive. I'm getting well above that. I'm running 2 bps with glut supplementation. Drop checker is a lime green. 

I've dealt with sand separations before when mixed in with other substrates. It's extra work but doable. First off, I have substrate barriers and supports embedded throughout -- this helps in reducing the substrate to mix. I just used cut up poly plastic placemats. Secondly, the sand is easy to target and remove using a small gravel vac siphon for the majority of it. Then I'll use a turkey baster for the the rest when a little finesse is required. 

I also use one of these strainers to separate AS from sand. The Turkey Baster works like a charm to vacuum up AS granules. Then just shoot the sand and AS in the strainer, sift the sand out..dump AS back in the rest. Extra work...but it's an effective system to keep the sand tidy.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ hahah Brian, I'm not that dumb, I know what a strainer looks like.  

Oh and don't add Cherry Shrimps, they breed too fast. When I trim my HC Cuba, I'm constantly getting nip by them. It also takes twice as long because you have to avoid all the small babies.


----------



## Down_Shift

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah I think HC just needs mid to high 30's in PAR to thrive. I'm getting well above that. I'm running 2 bps with glut supplementation. Drop checker is a lime green.
> 
> I've dealt with sand separations before when mixed in with other substrates. It's extra work but doable. First off, I have substrate barriers and supports embedded throughout -- this helps in reducing the substrate to mix. I just used cut up poly plastic placemats. Secondly, the sand is easy to target and remove using a small gravel vac siphon for the majority of it. Then I'll use a turkey baster for the the rest when a little finesse is required.
> 
> I also use one of these strainers to separate AS from sand. The Turkey Baster works like a charm to vacuum up AS granules. Then just shoot the sand and AS in the strainer, sift the sand out..dump AS back in the rest. Extra work...but it's an effective system to keep the sand tidy.



man my head hurts from all this OCD work


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ hahah Brian, I'm not that dumb, I know what a strainer looks like.
> 
> Oh and don't add Cherry Shrimps, they breed too fast. When I trim my HC Cuba, I'm constantly getting nip by them. It also takes twice as long because you have to avoid all the small babies.


Oh no, I wasn't implying that! 

I just couldn't find the right size small strainer and large enough mesh to work perfectly in letting sand fall right through while holding on to the AS. I'm the dumb one because I used to tediously separate granular substrates from sand with tweezers! It took forever to maintain the sand in my GLA tank here! LOL... this strainer is my salvation! =P










I'd love those RCS... too bad we're not neighbors!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ hahah Brian, I'm not that dumb, I know what a strainer looks like.
> 
> Oh and don't add Cherry Shrimps, they breed too fast. When I trim my HC Cuba, I'm constantly getting nip by them. It also takes twice as long because you have to avoid all the small babies.


Y'all still got ketchup chips in Canada? Lol


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> man my head hurts from all this OCD work


Lol... tell me about it.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*Neons and Embers Added! *

(and 1 Oto... will add more soon)  














































Probably aside from the Otos, I'll be adding an Apisto in the near future. For now, I'm just excited to have some stock in here.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> *Neons and Embers Added! *
> 
> (and 1 Oto... will add more soon)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably aside from the Otos, I'll be adding an Apisto in the near future. For now, I'm just excited to have some stock in here.


Awesome! Looks great! 

I'm thinking if trying neons next. How many neons and embers you put?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Awesome! Looks great!
> 
> I'm thinking if trying neons next. How many neons and embers you put?


Thanks! 

I put 12 neons (got them from the $1 petsmart sale... gotta love petsmart for this) and 5 embers. I would have wanted to go green neons because they stay smaller, but my LFS didn't have any.


----------



## zodduska

Nice, looks great with the fish in!


----------



## Psiorian

Congrats on being featured by current USA!

Oh their facebook cover photo too!!! NICE!


----------



## ADEng

Wow. Beautiful tank. It's really come together now with the neons adding even more color to the mix. What are your future plans now?


----------



## Fat Guy

awesome!!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Psiorian said:


> Congrats on being featured by current USA!
> 
> Oh their facebook cover photo too!!! NICE!


Congrats Brian! I wish I could get my photo on a big company's facebook page. You got a great tank, I hope Current USA gives you something from all the SAT+ attention you got them. 

I notice they posted the image today, pretty much at the same time. :flick:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

zodduska said:


> Nice, looks great with the fish in!


Thanks! 





ADEng said:


> Wow. Beautiful tank. It's really come together now with the neons adding even more color to the mix. What are your future plans now?



I might increase the ember tetra count a bit. Also add more Otos... maybe Amano shrimp to the cleaning crew. Still thinking of a centerpiece fish.... might go with an apisto cacatuoides "triple red." I just don't know if the apisto will look too big? 

Other than that... need the UG to fill in. Propagating the ludwigia red, p. erectus, and r. macrandra. I'll eventually remove the myrio. Lots of trimming and shaping! 




Fat Guy said:


> awesome!!


Thank you sir!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Congrats on being featured by current USA!
> 
> Oh their facebook cover photo too!!! NICE!


Sweet! I just saw that now... thank you for the heads up. 







FlyingHellFish said:


> Congrats Brian! I wish I could get my photo on a big company's facebook page. You got a great tank, I hope Current USA gives you something from all the SAT+ attention you got them.
> 
> I notice they posted the image today, pretty much at the same time. :flick:


Thanks, Tony! Yeah, I hope I win their Planted LED when it comes out! Or a Pro Ramp Timer! Haha

BTW, just saw your tank featured on Seachem's Facebook. Good job!


----------



## ADEng

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I might increase the ember tetra count a bit. Also add more Otos... maybe Amano shrimp to the cleaning crew. Still thinking of a centerpiece fish.... might go with an apisto cacatuoides "triple red." I just don't know if the apisto will look too big?
> 
> Other than that... need the UG to fill in. Propagating the ludwigia red, p. erectus, and r. macrandra. I'll eventually remove the myrio. Lots of trimming and shaping!


I'm basically in the same boat as you. I am pretty much set on using rasboras maculatus as my schooling fish. Also not sure on the shrimp. I don't think i will  and I was also considering putting in an Apisto but i don't know if it will ruin the scale. Well if you do, I'm sure we'll find out! I don't think it will but my buddy who has more experience than I says it will.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Sweet! I just saw that now... thank you for the heads up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Tony! Yeah, I hope I win their Planted LED when it comes out! Or a Pro Ramp Timer! Haha
> 
> BTW, just saw your tank featured on Seachem's Facebook. Good job!


That'd be sweet if you got a planted led or a pro ramp!

WOW, Tony, nice now I know theres a seachem FB page


----------



## Brian_Cali77

New video of my Neons and Embers  

Please excuse the mess... need to clean the sand and do a little scrubbing soon.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> New video of my Neons and Embers
> 
> Please excuse the mess... need to clean the sand and do a little scrubbing soon.


Looks good! I'm definitely going to try Neons next!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thanks... yeah, even so they're so common, I don't think I can ever get bored of them.


----------



## Rivercats

The tank is looking really good Brian!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Did you change the lighting mid way on that video? That a really nice effect, can you set the light to rotate through presets? 

I like your Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, how did you tame the growth? I couldn't get it to grow in one spot, it just exploded all around.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Rivercats said:


> The tank is looking really good Brian!


Thanks Rivercats 

I hope to see some of your build journals here on TPT. They're amazing!





FlyingHellFish said:


> Did you change the lighting mid way on that video? That a really nice effect, can you set the light to rotate through presets?
> 
> I like your Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, how did you tame the growth? I couldn't get it to grow in one spot, it just exploded all around.


The latest video I have the Sat+ on a dynamic fade mode. It's a sunny cloud setting that has smooth and subtle transitions. It's one of my favorite modes. You have a good eye to notice 

I think the hydrocotyle is being tamed by a combination of things. First, the light is strong enough to make it want to grow low and dense. Secondly, it's blocked in by the hardscape. I do trim the stems it sends out outside of the bush though. It's also trying to creep backwards into the L. Aromatica... I'm going to have to cut those out.


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> The latest video I have the Sat+ on a dynamic fade mode. It's a sunny cloud setting that has smooth and subtle transitions. It's one of my favorite modes. You have a good eye to notice


Which dynamic setting is this?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Which dynamic setting is this?


The one at the very right bottom corner, next to the lightning options.


----------



## Down_Shift

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks Rivercats
> 
> I hope to see some of your build journals here on TPT. They're amazing!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The latest video I have the Sat+ on a dynamic fade mode. It's a sunny cloud setting that has smooth and subtle transitions. It's one of my favorite modes. You have a good eye to notice
> 
> I think the hydrocotyle is being tamed by a combination of things. First, the light is strong enough to make it want to grow low and dense. Secondly, it's blocked in by the hardscape. I do trim the stems it sends out outside of the bush though. It's also trying to creep backwards into the L. Aromatica... I'm going to have to cut those out.




DUDE that is a bad ass feature on the Sat+


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> DUDE that is a bad ass feature on the Sat+


Thanks, bro. It's a fun light, no doubt... I've had many, but this has certainly elevated the fun factor w/ all the features. I can't wait to see what Current has in store for their Planted (high PAR) version! roud:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Time for my weekend *UPDATE!* 

I've been in and out of my house all week so I had little time to maintain this tank. It basically grew out nuts, like a jungle! Unfortunately, some algae did too! I had a little algae buildup on the sand and it forms like a clumpy layer on top of it.. Anyone know what type of algae that is? It pearls like crazy when both lights are on. 

Anyway, a buddy of mine wanted a little portion of UG, HC, and stem trimmings so I hacked away last night, spot treated the sand with H2O2, and re-groomed everything! I was going to wait until I had a little grow-back before I posted an update, but what the heck! I like to show the good, the bad, and the ugly in my journals (not just all "good"). 

Here's the before pic. UG filling in and HC has fully carpeted its section. The AR Mini lost a bit of its coloring due to being partially blocked out of light from the overgrown Myrio. Took care of that! Mini Fiss is growing in nicely on the DW. 049 has dug in nicely and growing in compact. Propagating P. Erectus, Ludwigia sp. Red, and R. Macrandra... will eventually push out the Myrio.










Here's post-trim (this is the 2nd trim since I started this tank, BTW). I busted out the GLA nude scissors and the curved spring scissors for the HM bush (among other things)  I pulled out 2 clumps of UG and a row of HC for a buddy (yes I'm too nice... would have preferred to waited until my tank fully grew in). The UG wants to invade the sand... I think I'm going to let it a bit in the middle right where there's a loner clump with sand on the left and right of it... I want that section to be nice and straight with UG. 



















Alright guys... thanks for following!


----------



## maxwellag

Wow, the trim made it look a lot cleaner and more pronounced. Still looking awesome! Are you doing anything special to grow the UG? I couldn't get it to grow. 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks, Max! Nothing special, really. My substrate is AS topped with Fluval Shrimp stratum (poor man's version of "powder type" AS... Haha). I dose PPS-Pro with a little extra on the micros and increased PO4. I also dose API Leaf Zone twice a week. CO2 is 30ppm, based on a happy green drop checker. Photoperiod is 8 hours with both lights (roughly 72 PAR), 10 hours with a single Sat+ (comes on 1 hour before and turns off 1 hour after...on a single ramp timer)... well, that's the rundown. I also talk to my UG and mindmeld with it..  Haha

Edit: and my tap in AZ is liquid rock.


----------



## carpalstunna

Looking good bri! You don't by chance want another ramp timer? I bought one thinking I could use it but turned out I couldn't


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## Brian_Cali77

carpalstunna said:


> Looking good bri! You don't by chance want another ramp timer? I bought one thinking I could use it but turned out I couldn't


Thanks Stunna! Dang dude... what light didn't it work out for you on? How much you want to off load it for?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

UG sending runners


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## parrottbay

Looks good STILL like always Brian!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Drop dead gorgeous, Brain. I like the mixture of colours with the red in the middle. Your ball of rotala actually looks like a ...ball of rotala. 

Is there an amount of trimming rotala will tolerate before it just dies? I'm thinking I need to uproot mine and replant, any advice on creating the ball? 

Oh and is that phoenix moss in the middle left? Did you just tie it with floss?


----------



## carpalstunna

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks Stunna! Dang dude... what light didn't it work out for you on? How much you want to off load it for?


15$ shipped and its yours. I thought it would work on an aquaray LED fixture I have. Unfortunately the barrel plugs are different sizes. I could get adapters but then I decided I was going to sell the aquaray and get the new finnex so it will never get used. I dont mind getting it to you cheap as I know I will never use it and it will just sit in a drawer forever.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> Looks good STILL like always Brian!


Thank you
for the kind words. 




FlyingHellFish said:


> Drop dead gorgeous, Brain. I like the mixture of colours with the red in the middle. Your ball of rotala actually looks like a ...ball of rotala.
> 
> Is there an amount of trimming rotala will tolerate before it just dies? I'm thinking I need to uproot mine and replant, any advice on creating the ball?
> 
> Oh and is that phoenix moss in the middle left? Did you just tie it with floss?


Tony... my name is Brian, not Brain! Haha... anyways, that's not rotala. It's HM (regular Baby Tears). It grows like mini green rotala so it's quite easy to get a ball out of it. But as for rotala, it can handle a good amount of hacking. Just make sure there are a few nodes of leaves left and it will grow back. Also replant the trimmings close to the other stems to form a dense grouping. I found that using the curved spring scissors made the job of shaping it a lot easier.

Yeah, I have a few bushes of fissidens growing throughout. I tied it to lava rocks with cotton string.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

carpalstunna said:


> 15$ shipped and its yours. I thought it would work on an aquaray LED fixture I have. Unfortunately the barrel plugs are different sizes. I could get adapters but then I decided I was going to sell the aquaray and get the new finnex so it will never get used. I dont mind getting it to you cheap as I know I will never use it and it will just sit in a drawer forever.


Man... that's a good price! I'm tempted but I'm quite happy with the system I have right now. If I were to get another ramp timer, it would be the dual or pro. I'm sure if you post it in the classifieds or Sat+ club, someone might want to snatch that up.


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## Psiorian

carpalstunna said:


> 15$ shipped and its yours. I thought it would work on an aquaray LED fixture I have. Unfortunately the barrel plugs are different sizes. I could get adapters but then I decided I was going to sell the aquaray and get the new finnex so it will never get used. I dont mind getting it to you cheap as I know I will never use it and it will just sit in a drawer forever.





Brian_Cali77 said:


> Man... that's a good price! I'm tempted but I'm quite happy with the system I have right now. If I were to get another ramp timer, it would be the dual or pro. I'm sure if you post it in the classifieds or Sat+ club, someone might want to snatch that up.


Oh man thats a good deal! If Brian doesn't want it I'll help you out


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## carpalstunna

Psiorian said:


> Oh man thats a good deal! If Brian doesn't want it I'll help you out


haha sorry to turn your thread into a classifieds. Continue on with the oohing and ahhing over the tank.


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## Psiorian

Super nice, glad to see the UG is spreading!

I've been wondering for the longest time where the CO2 diffuser is in this tank. Did you use black tubing to hide it from us? What type of diffuser are you using?


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## Brian_Cali77

carpalstunna said:


> haha sorry to turn your thread into a classifieds. Continue on with the oohing and ahhing over the tank.


Haha... I don't mind. Just as long as the ramp timer finds a new home where it's used and not locked away in a drawer. 
I appreciated first-dibs on it!




Psiorian said:


> Super nice, glad to see the UG is spreading!
> 
> I've been wondering for the longest time where the CO2 diffuser is in this tank. Did you use black tubing to hide it from us? What type of diffuser are you using?


Thanks... this is my first time with UG so I'm super stoked to see it growing, too. I was worried because I read that it needs soft water. It's actually doing alright in liquid rock.

The co2 is hidden with black tubing in the back right corner. I'm using a glass U connector so the tubing hangs neatly over the tank. The diffuser is a black fluval ceramic diffuser. All further hidden by the L. Aromatica.


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## Brian_Cali77

Here's a close-up of the CO2... those glass U connectors from evilBay China are great! Cheap and effective!










Close-up of my L. Aromatica. It was cut short not too long ago...It's starting to re-color. Higher intensity lighting would make this easier (and/or more PO4, I think). But overall, they're healthy and that's what really matters.


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## FlyingHellFish

BRAIN!!!, er... Brian, sup.

Really liking the L. Aromatica, I wanted that plant but it grew funny in my tank. Oh and do you pull out the stumps? I find that if I leave the stumps, they regrow and it messes up the replanted stems.


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## tetra10

how are you liking the black fluval diffuser?


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## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> BRAIN!!!, er... Brian, sup.
> 
> Really liking the L. Aromatica, I wanted that plant but it grew funny in my tank. Oh and do you pull out the stumps? I find that if I leave the stumps, they regrow and it messes up the replanted stems.


I haven't pulled out the stumps yet. There hasn't been much die off at the bottom, so I just trimmed and let the tops grow back. Maybe this time around I'll cut and replant the tops, and yank the stumps... I know it's gonna create a mess though. Oh well!


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## Brian_Cali77

tetra10 said:


> how are you liking the black fluval diffuser?


I actually really like them when they're not in sight. They produce one of the finest mist of bubbles out of all my ceramic diffusers. So efficiency is there, but sacrifices in aesthetics. But they're cheap and hide well on black backgrounds.

If I ever decide to use the Lily pipes and go a different route with this tank, I'm thinking of getting one of those beetle diffusers (probably an ADA knock-off like NAG or Rhinox).


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## Brian_Cali77

*New Video.... *

This was my first attempt at video editing... plus my video equipment sucks! So I apologize in advance! Oh, and if you hate electro loungie music, hit the MUTE! Haha :hihi:

Got some *Time-Lapse Video *in here so the tetras look crazy swimming around to the music!!! The main purpose of the time-lapse is to demonstrate the Single Ramp Timer's Ramp-Up and Ramp-Down. The Ramp Cycle happens within a 15 minute time-frame... but because it's sped up to 9X normal time, it happens within 2 minutes in the video. After the Ramp feature... I demonstrate 1 light versus 2 lights on (light intensity test for your eyes). Next will be a quick cycle (3x Speed: Time-Lapse) of some of the dynamic modes. Followed by a bunch of filler video clips and slideshow... feel free to not watch that! LOL

*Timeline Guide (in case you want to scrub through the video to any certain point):*

00:55 - Ramp Timer: Ramp Up Demo (Time-Lapse @9x speed - less than 2 minutes)
02:45 - Ramp Timer: Ramp Down Demo (Time-Lapse @9x speed - less than 2 minutes)
04:32 - Light Intensity Test: 1x Sat+ vs. 2x Sat+ (2nd light turns on @ 04:48 )
05:08 - Dynamic Modes Demo (Time-Lapse @3x speed)
06:31 - Random Video Clips of the Tank (END OF DEMO CLIPS)
09:53 - Random Slide Show (Ends at 10:33)


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## zodduska

Tank looks great, the video is killer! What camera did you use for the time lapse stuff? Was it filmed and then sped up? I noticed as the timer was ramping down there was intermittent brightening, I assume that's just auto-exposure adjusting?

By the way, I wish Current would wrap up that contest.. I was stalking the forum constantly on Monday, made me feel like I've got OCD. There's a slew of Arduino parts in my Amazon cart and I'm itching to pull the trigger..


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## Dantrasy

Very nice vid! You can't get those lights here in Australia, we're still on the Up leds and a lot go for diy led floods. 

L. Aromatica is pretty big. Manageable? Cutting from the bottom and replanting can painful. 

Something that would go real nice there is Rotala wallichii, if ever you'd like a change.


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## Brian_Cali77

I primarily used an old Kodak Zi8 (looks like those Flip HD camcorders) on a tripod. As an aside, I want to get a Canon T4i or something similar. I then used Corel VideoStudio Pro X6 to speed up the time. The Ramp Up is butter smooth... however, the Ramp Down has noticeable steps as it dims down. It's not perfect but IMO, it gets the job done. My Neons don't freak out as they used to when the lights abruptly shut off. As a result, no jumpers and carcasses to pick up off the carpet.

Yeah I hope someone gets that Pro and Dual Timer soon. I'm eager to see how they perform.


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## Brian_Cali77

Dantrasy said:


> Very nice vid! You can't get those lights here in Australia, we're still on the Up leds and a lot go for diy led floods.
> 
> L. Aromatica is pretty big. Manageable? Cutting from the bottom and replanting can painful.
> 
> Something that would go real nice there is Rotala wallichii, if ever you'd like a change.


Thanks for the comment on the video and for the recommendation on a replacement plant for L. Aromatica. I'll ride it out for a bit and if it doesn't work out well, I'll definitely look into R. Wallichii as a replacement. 

Any other suggestions would be appreciated to consider.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

So things aren't always perfect... anyone know what algae this is forming on the leaves and rocks?

Is it green dust, GDA, and/or green spot, GSA? 

If so... how do I correct it?




























Thanks in advance for the help.


----------



## talontsiawd

Brian_Cali77 said:


> So things aren't always perfect... anyone know what algae this is forming on the leaves and rocks?
> 
> Is it green dust, GDA, and/or green spot, GSA?
> 
> If so... how do I correct it?
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance for the help.


As far as I know GDA is a brighter green than that (like HC color). GSA is a darker green like the color you have. GDA is going to be on the glass for sure, GSA may or may not. So, I think you have GSA. 

How to get rid of it, let me know, haha. I have big issues with GDA and GSA. Actually, I always have problems with both when I start a new tank. I find they tend to come together. My temp fix is 6 hour photoperiod, 5ml of Excel/10 gallons and manual cleanup. If growth sustains, usually it's enough to get ahead of it so it's not so problematic. If growth doesn't get ahead, it will come back just as strong.


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## zodduska

Looks like GSA to me, how's PO4?


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks guys for helping ID the stuff. I need to test for PO4 and come up with a better solution of dosing it at the correct levels. I know one of the major drawbacks of PPS-Pro is the propensity to get GSA due to being too lean on PO4. I know the whole thing around PPS-Pro is that everything is dosed lean, but I want to dial it in to get at the 'just right' amount. 

That's going to be my main focus right now, war on GSA, until I figure this out. I'll get the PO4 test and get back to y'all on the levels I'm at.


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## Psiorian

Yea I find that I have to dose a lot of PO4 to avoid this stuff. I think Tom Barr mentioned he doses up to 10ppm in some of his tanks. I kept going up slowly and ended up around 3-5 ppm (EI method) and then the problem started to go away. 

I don't know if Id bother with the test as my LFS said it isn't that accurate. And that may be true if you don't calibrate properly. Just start dosing more slowly and see if the problem goes away.


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## RyanMan

Hey Brian, I know you're trying PPS-Pro, but that may be a lot of work to dial in, and remain consistent. Even the slightest change could begin to bloom algae if you get below the desired levels. Ever considered dosing EI and just stuffing those plants with everything they need? It might be a waste of fertilizer but not nearly enough to become a problem. Then all you'd need to do is monitor your CO2 for proper diffusion and circulation.


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## RyanMan

I don't wanna tell you what to do... I just wanted to give a suggestion! It could make life easier.


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## Cardinal's Keeper

*Brian's - ADA 60P - Satellite LED+ to the power of 2!*



Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks guys for helping ID the stuff. I need to test for PO4 and come up with a better solution of dosing it at the correct levels. I know one of the major drawbacks of PPS-Pro is the propensity to get GSA due to being too lean on PO4. I know the whole thing around PPS-Pro is that everything is dosed lean, but I want to dial it in to get at the 'just right' amount.
> 
> That's going to be my main focus right now, war on GSA, until I figure this out. I'll get the PO4 test and get back to y'all on the levels I'm at.


Probably about time you started using the Nutrient Calculator if your really wanting to dial things in. If your not already 

R O T.L A

Also probably need to start cutting back on light intervals and intensities. I think over on S cape I was kinda hinting to that and that you were riding the edge so to speak.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thanks everyone for the advice and feedback. I'm going to try a few things with my PO4 dosing before I decide to switch to EI. I'm pretty happy with PPS-Pro otherwise so I'm going to just customize it a bit before I give up on it. I'm lazy and busy with school (awful combination) so not having to do 50% PWC's is one of the most appealing aspects of PPS-pro.


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## Brian_Cali77

Cardinal's Keeper said:


> Probably about time you started using the Nutrient Calculator if your really wanting to dial things in. If your not already
> 
> R O T.L A
> 
> Also probably need to start cutting back on light intervals and intensities. I think over on S cape I was kinda hinting to that and that you were riding the edge so to speak.


Yeah I used one of wet's calculators to mix it up. I'm just not being consistent with dosing and calculating on my end. So it's user error most likely. I just need to focus in on my routines and establish a method to stay consistent. 

Hmmm... on SCAPE? I'm trying to recall where you advised me on that? Don't recall :-/


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## Brian_Cali77

Also...in terms of GSA, I recall reading somewhere that Nerites are particularly good at eating it. I wanted to shy away from them because I hated when they'd make my DW look like a sesame bun. But I guess I'll give them a go. I'll just add scraping eggs to my cleaning routine.


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## Brian_Cali77

UG growing nuts under these lights! 

Almost have a full carpet from small clumps of UG -- albeit a relatively small area for it. I recall planting it looking all whitish like coleslaw... I'm impressed as this is my first go at this plant and lighting. 

First planted just over a month ago:









As of tonight:


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## Psiorian

Oh man! thats some nice coloration and growth on the UG!!!

Now I want to add another SAT+ to my 60F so I can get that kind of growth


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks, man! Your tank is significantly shallower than mine so you may not need a second one.


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## talontsiawd

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks, man! Your tank is significantly shallower than mine so you may not need a second one.


I was going to say the exact same earlier but I had a last minute recording session. A 60F can get by with very little light, I agree with you 100%


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## Brian_Cali77

Anyone have any pointers on how to trim UG and when I should do it? It's getting thicker but I have no clue.


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## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Anyone have any pointers on how to trim UG and when I should do it? It's getting thicker but I have no clue.


You can just hack it and save trimmings for an emmersed setup like anotherhobby did.

Based on his journal and recent developments, I would cut it low and or thin it out so you dont have the whole carpet come up like he did.


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## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> You can just hack it and save trimmings for an emmersed setup like anotherhobby did.
> 
> Based on his journal and recent developments, I would cut it low and or thin it out so you dont have the whole carpet come up like he did.


Wow... I just read that part where he lost and gave up on it, despite keeping it short. I guess I need to mow and thin it out by pulling clumps here and there. 

Thanks for that link to the info!


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## volatile

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Also...in terms of GSA, I recall reading somewhere that Nerites are particularly good at eating it. I wanted to shy away from them because I hated when they'd make my DW look like a sesame bun. But I guess I'll give them a go. I'll just add scraping eggs to my cleaning routine.


This is also why I didn't want nerites, but when I go to fish stores and look at nerites there, I don't see eggs anywhere? So I'm wondering what makes them lay or not lay eggs. :icon_ques


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## Brian_Cali77

volatile said:


> This is also why I didn't want nerites, but when I go to fish stores and look at nerites there, I don't see eggs anywhere? So I'm wondering what makes them lay or not lay eggs. :icon_ques


I'm not sure either... Maybe when they get acclimated to a new environment, they get comfortable enough to start laying them. They're probably not at the LFS long enough.


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## Brian_Cali77

On another note...

My L. Aromatica needs a trim. The tips are getting nice color though.


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## Psiorian

Wow nice color!


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## talontsiawd

Jealous of your L. Aromatica. Can't get any color out of mine.


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## FlyingHellFish

talontsiawd said:


> Jealous of your L. Aromatica. Can't get any color out of mine.


I'm jealous of his entire tank.


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## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'm jealous of his entire tank.


I am too, that is just a "particular jealousy" on the top or my list of jealousy of this tank:thumbsup:


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## Brian_Cali77

I forgot to say thank you guys for the kind comments! You guys have nice tanks too... 60p club baby! 

Anyways... my tank needs a trim and sprucing up a bit. I have to ask myself, why did I put sand in front of the AS? Haha... have to tediously remove the rabbit poop substrate from the sand. Oh well, labor of love. 

Here's a picture as of tonight. Just got done killing off the BGA I was getting. I'll do a cleanup this weekend. Anyways, the UG is super lush! S. Repens are growing super compact. I must say, I'm really impressed with using two Sat+ lights!



















GSA still needs to be addressed... I'll start the onslaught this weekend as well


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## awesometim1

I heart this tank... especially loving the UG carpet

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


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## AnotherHobby

Looking fantastic and lush!


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## Brian_Cali77

awesometim1 said:


> I heart this tank... especially loving the UG carpet


Thank you! UG is awesome! My first attempt and it hasn't let me down  



AnotherHobby said:


> Looking fantastic and lush!


Thanks, man. BTW, does it look like it needs a trim or when 'should' I start to thin it out? I know you had a recent catastrophe with your UG. I recall reading somewhere that Tom Barr saying something like you need to pull it out, thin it out, and replant them really deep. I'm not sure how often that needs to be done? I'm thinking maybe after two or three mowings? :help:


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## keats

Looking awesome, Brian! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## awesometim1

What plant is on the left of the UG? Baby tears?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


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## majerah1

Beautiful tank! Love the colors.


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## lamiskool

I would also love to know this, my ug carpet in one of my tank is really really going crazy but have been putting trimming it



Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thank you! UG is awesome! My first attempt and it hasn't let me down
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, man. BTW, does it look like it needs a trim or when 'should' I start to thin it out? I know you had a recent catastrophe with your UG. I recall reading somewhere that Tom Barr saying something like you need to pull it out, thin it out, and replant them really deep. I'm not sure how often that needs to be done? I'm thinking maybe after two or three mowings? :help:


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## Brian_Cali77

awesometim1 said:


> What plant is on the left of the UG? Baby tears?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


Baby Tears in the back left and dwarf baby tears in front of that.


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## Brian_Cali77

End of the road for this tank, for a bit guys.. 

Had an apartment fire Friday (while no one was home) due to a faulty circuit or something in the kitchen wall. The sprinklers and fire department managed to contain the fire in the kitchen and rescue my dog, THANK GOD. I arrived on scene to an utter disaster. Water flooded the apartment, black smelly soot EVERYWHERE! I lost a lot of personal belongings. Sucks!

The 2g Pico cube was totaled. The 60P looked okay but I guess the fire fighter must have knocked a fixture into the tank when they threw a tarp over it. All the fish in there were dead... I'm assuming via electrocution. The other tanks (60F and GLA 6g) survived. Had to leave the 60P for the insurance adjuster. I can possibly salvage it after Monday because it "looks" unscathed. Hopefully there's no damage from heat, with relatively close proximity to the kitchen. Worried somewhat about silicone warping or something?

Basically can't touch kitchen and living room stuff. So I took the plants out of 60p (destroyed my scape in the process) and moved the rest of my tanks to our new unit on the other side of the apartment community. Destroyed those scapes too by removing the heavy layout stones in order to move the tanks more safely.

What a mess! I've been scrabbling to RE-set up the 60F and GLA 6g as temporary holding tanks. Might set up another 10g I had in the garage, if need be. Most of the plants look good, just need to re-set these tanks up with lights, filter, and co2 tonight to keep them on life support!

I saved 2 scarlet badis, although they don't look too good. Saved 2 CPDs and my betta. 11 neons, 5 embers, 3 otos, and 4 pygmy corys all died 

Here's some horror pictures:

Apartment from local news helicopter.










Horror scene:









The 60P 









To be continued...


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## Jdiesels

Dang, I'm sorry to hear about that dude. sending my thoughts to you and your tanks


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## awesometim1

Omg that's really bad. Sorry for the loss...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


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## Bserve

Oh my god that's terrible! Best of wishes from me and my family.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## keats

Wow! I'm so sorry, Brian. If you need anything while re setting up the tanks just let me know and I will gladly send it your way. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## parrottbay

Horrible....


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## Psiorian

Whoa so sorry for your loss. Glad you guys are safe. Lemme know if you need any plants or stuff to get started again.


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## lamiskool

Dude im sooo sorry...On the bright side at least no one was hurt. You can always rebuild a tank, so im glad at least no one was hurt you know? Kinda a bummer about the fish also as I get attached to them. Keep us posted and take care, hope you all the best.


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## Big O

im so sorry.
everything happens for a reason.
may God bless you and yours


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Wow that's horrible! Glad nobody was hurt and they got the dog out safely!


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## tefsom85

Very glad no one was hurt. Sorry for your losses.


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks everyone for the outpouring of love and concern.


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## FlyingHellFish

Brian, that awful,  Sorry you had to go through this. 

When you do get back, maybe the 60P club can do some ROAK, I know I can. If you want anything in my tank, let me know. I still have a mat of HC I can rip out, or maybe some shrimps.


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## talontsiawd

Brian, very sorry you have to go through this. Like everyone else said, thank god no one was hurt (except the fishies RIP). Hope the living situation issues go smoothly and insurance people are reasonable.


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## tropicalryan

Oh man, that was a beautiful tank. My condolences, what an awful thing to happen to your apartment. Hopefully it all works out. Wishing you the best!


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## Lowe

Dang Brian. I wish you and your fam a speedy recovery from all this =(


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks fellas...I really appreciate the love! As soon as I get another light and my new place situated, I'm aiming for a rescape by the end of January.


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## datsunissan28

What insurance company do you have? I train property adjusters for a living so if you need any assistance please pm me.


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## Brian_Cali77

Thanks... we have allstate. The adjuster was cool to work with and was very accommodating. I appreciate the offer of help


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## Brian_Cali77

Okay guys... I'm almost back!

Got my empty 60P all cleaned up and back on the stand. I'm ready to start setting it back up. However, this might be another short-lived scape because we might move again in a few months or so. With that said, this scape might be very basic, serving function over form I suppose. I'm definitely going to stick my DW back in because it has a very healthy growth of mini fissidens on it. I'm also going to use UG and Mini AR. Also, no more sandy front because I'll be tearing down again relatively soon -- just too messy. Not sure what else at this point. 

But what do you guys think of substrate? Amazonia or Afiricana?


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## Down_Shift

Damn Brian. Was wondering why I haven't seen you around lately. I hope everything gets back to normal and you get re situated again!


----------



## Psiorian

Welcome back!

What about the UP Aquasand from GLA? Ever think of trying that? People seem to like it.

If I didnt have bags of unused amazonia I'd give the aquasand a try.


----------



## Fat Guy

wow, (just reading this a month later). that's crazy what happened. good to hear you are back.


----------



## keats

Awesome, bro! I say go for Africana. I liked it a lot when you had it in the GLA 6g. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## RyanMan

I'd say go for the Africana as well! It did look pretty great in the 6G


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thanks everyone. My GF just chimed in at my house and suggested that I use Amazonia to better match our livingroom decor! Lol 

I guess she's the boss and I'll roll with it. Since we had to buy some new furniture, I bought more Ikea Besta furniture to match the gray door of the Besta stand. I must say, it's looking pretty Ikea showroom up in here! “Like everyone else, I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct." - Tyler Durden (Fight Club) 

Oh... and I snuck in a PS4 since my Xbox360 and PS3 got flooded during the fire... Haha

One last thing... look what came in the mail today


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Welcome back!
> 
> What about the UP Aquasand from GLA? Ever think of trying that? People seem to like it.
> 
> If I didnt have bags of unused amazonia I'd give the aquasand a try.


Dude... I've been wanting some of this or the Azoo Plant Grower bed.. but AS is cheaper. 

Btw, how's the 60F doing?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

keats said:


> Awesome, bro! I say go for Africana. I liked it a lot when you had it in the GLA 6g.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2










RyanMan said:


> I'd say go for the Africana as well! It did look pretty great in the 6G


I'll rework the GLA tank after the 60P to keep the Africana going


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Hey Brian, 

Good to see you getting back on your feet! Are you sticking with the LED+? Maybe some other CurrentUSA light fixture, maybe? 


Hey did you try asking Current for help on the warranty? I think they would get great public relations and great exposure if they sent you replacements as sign of good will. I mean, if you think about it, you pretty much usher in the fixture, shed some light (no pun intended) on the product with your review.

"We heard one of our loyal customer needed help so we sent him a free replacement" - Current USA

You can't buy that type of PR, right CurrentUSA?

Haha I'm just trying to get you some free lights bro.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Hey Tony... Yeah man, LED+ for now. Maybe by the time I move again Current/Ecoxotic will release their more powerful version. When that happens, I'd love to do a light suspension over the tank with Lily pipes. I'll try your suggestions, too. Thanks bro!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Okay... I'm reversing course here... I'm going Africana in the 60P!


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

azoo plant grower bed is less dusty, but not as good though overall. Doesn't buffer the ph for very long, i think its higher in iron than aquasoil but very little nitrogen, i had good growth with it, but not great growth.


----------



## parrottbay

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Okay... I'm reversing course here... I'm going Africana in the 60P!


I'm glad to hear that and eager to see it!


----------



## Psiorian

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Dude... I've been wanting some of this or the Azoo Plant Grower bed.. but AS is cheaper.
> 
> Btw, how's the 60F doing?


Tis true it is cheaper to go the other routes. If only shipping didnt cost so much 

Glad to see you're getting back into it.

60F is doing alright, been neglected a bit over the holidays with vacations and such.


----------



## xmas_one

Whoa, just read about that fire! 60p was looking awesome in the thread, then BAM! Give a holler if you're looking for any plants. Eagerly waiting for new pics!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Psiorian said:


> Tis true it is cheaper to go the other routes. If only shipping didnt cost so much
> 
> Glad to see you're getting back into it.
> 
> 60F is doing alright, been neglected a bit over the holidays with vacations and such.


Yeah shipping dirt is ridiculous! We'll need an update on your thread soon 




xmas_one said:


> Whoa, just read about that fire! 60p was looking awesome in the thread, then BAM! Give a holler if you're looking for any plants. Eagerly waiting for new pics!


Thanks, Dan. Not nearly as nice as yours. I need to learn how to exercise some constraint in keeping my collectortis tendencies at bay. 

Thanks for the offer on plants... 

Here's one pic... disaster death valley of toxic substrate and rotting fish carcasses on the left. Cleaned up and setup up at my new place in the right. Just waiting on one more bag of AS. Should arrive within two days.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Darn!

I just received my package from AFA today. I was pleasantly surprised how fast they shipped the AS. Unfortunately, they sent me 9L of Amazonia when my invoice clearly reflects Africana. I just emailed them so hopefully we can find a solution soon. Guess my re-scape will have to wait longer.


----------



## talontsiawd

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Darn!
> 
> I just received my package from AFA today. I was pleasantly surprised how fast they shipped the AS. Unfortunately, they sent me 9L of Amazonia when my invoice clearly reflects Africana. I just emailed them so hopefully we can find a solution soon. Guess my re-scape will have to wait longer.


After everything you have been through, I am sorry to hear that. Look forward to the next version of this.


----------



## parrottbay

Hopefully, you got a free bag of soil lol


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> Hopefully, you got a free bag of soil lol


Wouldn't that be nice. I'm curious to see how AFA's customer service handles their mistake. I'm not asking for free soil, but perhaps a discount on the correct AS plus free shipping, rather than wasting time and money to ship the Amazonia back. 




talontsiawd said:


> After everything you have been through, I am sorry to hear that. Look forward to the next version of this.


Thank you, bro.


----------



## parrottbay

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Wouldn't that be nice. I'm curious to see how AFA's customer service handles their mistake. I'm not asking for free soil, but perhaps a discount on the correct AS plus free shipping, rather than wasting time and money to ship the Amazonia back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you, bro.


True but it'll be a waste of time and money to resend that bag back but I'm curious to see how they treat customers. also, the plants I got and growing new leaves,.thanks!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> True but it'll be a waste of time and money to resend that bag back but I'm curious to see how they treat customers. also, the plants I got and growing new leaves,.thanks!


True... good to hear the s. Repens recovered. Btw, is the hydro koralia working well for you?


----------



## maxwellag

Glad to see that you're finally coming back. How is the plant hospital coming along? Did they all recover from their "burns"?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

What's up, Max. Yeah man... they all bounced back with a little TLC. Just nothing is scaped. Just substrate and plants... no hardscape in any of the tanks. LOL


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Okay so everything is cool now. I just got off the phone with AFA. Instead of sending the Amazonia back and wasting shipping cost, I'm going to keep it at its cost minus shipping (so I paid $14 more here). They're sending me Africana today at no extra cost... I opted to upgrade to 'powder type' for an additional $12. So all in all, I think AFA handled it well and fairly.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*Version 2 Update!*

What's up Everyone... got my tank finally setup again. It almost looks like the original scape with a few changes. I'm not too sure if I like it or if I liked the old version better. It will be easier to tell when the plants fill in a bit...LOL Oh well, it's done (at least until I move again).

Anyway... So the first layer I used Africana regular and topped it off with Africana Powder Type. This is my first time using the Powder version of any AS, and I have to say that I really like how clean it looks. It looks so smooth like sand and it's easier to plant in. I just hope that it doesn't get too unsightly when detritus accumulates on it. The larger granules were pretty easy to siphon without sucking up any substrate. 

Here's a close-up of the two substrates compared to one another. 









Well here's my go at my rescape. I'll admit, I'm a little impatient and not as good as my GF with stone placement. I was heavily debating (well for an hour) whether I wanted the left larger stone to go the same direction as the others, or the opposite way. I chose the latter and now I'm questioning that decision! Oh well... I'm not changing it!










As for the SunSun surface skimmer I was using, I decided to re-purpose that in my 6g tank for now. I opted to buy an Eheim Skim 350 because it was on sale at Dr. Fosters. I also wanted to fulfill my curiosity about it since it didn't cost that much. I'll wait and see if the my plants will grow to hide it enough to my liking. As of right now, it kinda sticks out like a sore thumb. Performance-wise, it works well as the surface look crystal clear. However, it burbs a lot of bubbles and is occasionally noisy. I'm going to experiment with it a little more. I might go back to the SunSun if I start to hate it. 









Here's the layout plan:









And some pics after planting... I'm planning on a super nice UG carpet!  

















For now, I set the Sat+ lights up with a Single Ramp Timer and a conventional timer. I'll probably switch over to the Ramp Timer Pro this weekend when I have more time to fiddle with setting up a good program/schedule for it. 










Thanks for following and for any critiques/comments. roud:


----------



## Down_Shift

Great work Brian. Glad you're back in the 60p game!! The skimmer is a hob single unit or works off the canister?


----------



## ua hua

The Africana soil looks really nice with the Ohko stones. Sometime in the future I plan to do a 12gal. long with the Africana, Ohko stones and Congo sand foreground.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Very very very nice layout! I love that African soil, my ADA dealers never stocks any of the exotic type. 

I also like that "plant list" on the scape, it looks as if a professional graphic designer did that for you.  

I would like to do one but my skills only go as far as MSPaint.


----------



## billbug68

Awesome, dude! I like this scape better! It should fill in nicely!


----------



## RyanMan

Looks great! Love the new substrate.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> Great work Brian. Glad you're back in the 60p game!! The skimmer is a hob single unit or works off the canister?


Thank you, Sir! The Skimmer is it's own unit, like a powerhead or internal filter with a Skimmer intake. It's actually working quite well right now and there's no more burping bubbles. I even turned it off last night to test how fast the surface gets murky. Sure enough, this afternoon the water had some oil slick / protein layer... turned the Skim350 on, it got the surface crystal again in like less than a minute! Works great!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

ua hua said:


> The Africana soil looks really nice with the Ohko stones. Sometime in the future I plan to do a 12gal. long with the Africana, Ohko stones and Congo sand foreground.


Thank you for the comment. I really like Africana right now. I got so used to seeing Amazonia dark substrate, this lighter color is a nice change. It has really grown on me. Plus, the color options in the Sat+ lights can really affect how the Africana looks. For instance, when I put the Sat+ on Sunset or Cloud Cover, the substrate just pops out to you. Looks great! The Ohko stones are a great combo with the substrate, IMO. LMK when you launch your 12L scape, I'd love to follow along


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Very very very nice layout! I love that African soil, my ADA dealers never stocks any of the exotic type.
> 
> I also like that "plant list" on the scape, it looks as if a professional graphic designer did that for you.
> 
> I would like to do one but my skills only go as far as MSPaint.


Tony! Buddy... Thanks for the compliment on the scape. Now I know it's good to go now that I got the blessing of the 60P Club president!  

So you can't get Africana in Canada? Are there not any US sellers that can send it to you? If one of us US folks sent a bag up there, would we have to do some crazy customs forms/fees? 

Anyway... you should outline your next scape in MSPaint! Let's see the plan, bro! New scape for 2014! BTW, are you going to keep those fancy disco lights on the tank? I think they look pretty cool


----------



## Brian_Cali77

billbug68 said:


> Awesome, dude! I like this scape better! It should fill in nicely!


Thanks, Bill! I tried to plant the UG as nice as you do the HC. I had to fight the urge to plant haphazardly. I thought this somewhat organized planting would appeal to your OCD. I know you and my GF are on another level in terms of rock placement. Did I "miss the mark" in that respect... be honest! LOL


----------



## Brian_Cali77

RyanMan said:


> Looks great! Love the new substrate.


Thank you very much!


----------



## billbug68

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks, Bill! I tried to plant the UG as nice as you do the HC. I had to fight the urge to plant haphazardly. I thought this somewhat organized planting would appeal to your OCD. I know you and my GF are on another level in terms of rock placement. Did I "miss the mark" in that respect... be honest! LOL



Nah man! It looks great!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Tony! Buddy... Thanks for the compliment on the scape. Now I know it's good to go now that I got the blessing of the 60P Club president!
> 
> So you can't get Africana in Canada? Are there not any US sellers that can send it to you? If one of us US folks sent a bag up there, would we have to do some crazy customs forms/fees?
> 
> Anyway... you should outline your next scape in MSPaint! Let's see the plan, bro! New scape for 2014! BTW, are you going to keep those fancy disco lights on the tank? I think they look pretty cool


I dig the scape indeed, it was good enough to make me go back and rethink my scape. I'm back at square one thanks to you  

About the customs- The receiver pays the custom fee, the form is just what it is. I remember asking about the powder type of AquaSoil and it was special order and a long wait. 

The lights are good, my plants were pearling last night. The LEDs they uses are commonly found in the higher end LED systems, think ELOS (ADA's more expensive and attractive sister in europe), so I know they are capable of growth. Its the damn Marine colour I can't get use to, I can set the colour down but I'm sure the PAR goes down too. I'm going to suggest that they add more white LED along with a few other improvements, then this light be a killer. 



Hopefully you got something to review soon? :bounce:


----------



## talontsiawd

agentkhiem said:


> Hi Brian, how is the stand holding up so far? I've read that the material is prone to warp when in contact with moisture. Any issues with the water changes?
> 
> Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk


I have the same, as do many others and I am just about at the 6 month mark, nothing I can see is any different from day 1.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

The stand seems as sturdy as ever. I was a little worried because, I'm not sure if you've read back further in my thread, but I had a pretty bad fire in my apartment not too long ago. Sprinkler water got everywhere, including the stand. It wasn't soaked (i think) but there were definite hard water stains by the time I removed my tank and stand. I cleaned everything up, and there was no warping I can see and it looks good as new. I had the stand on blocks to raise it off the floor at my old place. I believe this saved my stand because there's a dark soot water line on those old blocks (apartment was flooded).

I have since replaced those blocks with Besta legs.. it raises the stand by 5". I was a little concerned about the strength of the legs, but they're solid too. I just inspected my stand now with a flashlight and see no issues. 

Here's a pic as of today (new legs installed):


----------



## keats

The color on your Macrandra looks exceptional, Brian. What's up with that HA? I hate that stuff so much. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Brian_Cali77

agentkhiem said:


> I appreciated the feedback. Sorry to hear the bad news, by the way.
> 
> Edit: You in the valley as well? We should swap fish goods sometime.


Thanks... it could have been worse. Luckily I'm back with little fallout. 

What part of AZ are you in?





keats said:


> The color on your Macrandra looks exceptional, Brian. What's up with that HA? I hate that stuff so much.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


Thanks, Joey. They are just starting to color up. But TBH, they look that way because the Sat+ in this picture is on sunset/rise mode. There's extra red in the RGB mix.


----------



## keats

I gotcha. Well anyway, I think the scape looks great. I like the separation between the UG and the stem plants with the rocks. I think it gives great contrast 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## Brian_Cali77

Yeah.. I think I like this scape much more over the last one. It's growing on me. As you can see in the picture, I'm starting to get that bizarre brown filamentous algae growing on the mini fiss. I just dosed a bit of algaefix. Can't wait till this tank cycles, too. I want to stock it already.


----------



## keats

Yeah I had a bout with that stuff awhile back. It was when my tank was cycling and went away without me doing anything. Haha. What are you thinking for stock?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Brian_Cali77

agentkhiem said:


> I'm in the West Valley. When we go to Scottsdale, we consider it a field trip.
> 
> I did get the same stand, but I haven't filled the tank yet.
> 
> Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk


Cool, man... I'll have to keep an eye out for that build journal. Do you ever make your way down to Aqua Touch? Great store for planted tanks!


----------



## MERSF559

don't you have a YouTube Chanel? your tank looks familiar lol


----------



## Brian_Cali77

MERSF559 said:


> don't you have a YouTube Chanel? your tank looks familiar lol


Yup... I post some videos there once and awhile. Do you have one?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

agentkhiem said:


> Once in a great while, I do. Their stuff sure is pricey, but their livestock is living the dream.


Yeah true... but sometimes it just makes more sense to buy stem plants from them because they sell by the clipping... The high light fast growers propagate quickly anyways, so 1 or 2 stems of each plant you want will usually do. It makes out cheaper than shipping it, sometimes. I buy most of my stuff online. Their aqua soil and layout stones are definitely overpriced. Great store and staff though.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

keats said:


> Yeah I had a bout with that stuff awhile back. It was when my tank was cycling and went away without me doing anything. Haha. What are you thinking for stock?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


Nothing too extravagant. We'll be moving again in 2 to 3 months. I'm thinking the same stock I had before... neons, embers, and otos. I'll see if my LFS can get me a deal on green neons.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

agentkhiem said:


> When I used to be in the Bay Area, I would drive to AFA. Decent prices, totally ADA-cultured selection. I started my first ADA Mini M there, just because I thought the rimless look was neat. I didn't realize how lucky I was to not pay for shipping. Looking back, I should have bought a 90-P or 120-P before I left!


If I ever make it out to SF, AFA is on my list to visit. I go to Santa Monica a lot, so I stop at Nature Aquarium. They got one of the best display tanks I've seen. Truaqua in S. Cali is not too far of a drive from AZ. They look like they got some nice large AquaTop rimless tanks. Could save lots on shipping if you ever take a "field trip" that way.


----------



## keats

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Nothing too extravagant. We'll be moving again in 2 to 3 months. I'm thinking the same stock I had before... neons, embers, and otos. I'll see if my LFS can get me a deal on green neons.



Personally, I like cardinals better. I just like the color better on them. I love then embers. I wish I could get them around me. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah cardinals have the best color. But green neons are the smallest, which means more I can house while maintaining scale. Or, go for happy medium with just dollar neons...lol


----------



## keats

Lol yeah it's tempting. Thought about just a big school of embers?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Spiffyfish

I used to live in Tucson, and in my opinion Ben's store AZ nature aquatics puts AFA to shame. I have made a few purchases at both and just like the shop in AZ better and the help/knowledge. Btw your tank looks awesome.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

keats said:


> Lol yeah it's tempting. Thought about just a big school of embers?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


Yeah I did.. I think they'd blend in too much with my new substrate. I'll put some in here but it will have a larger school of neons. I really liked them before I had to tear this tank down.





Spiffyfish said:


> I used to live in Tucson, and in my opinion Ben's store AZ nature aquatics puts AFA to shame. I have made a few purchases at both and just like the shop in AZ better and the help/knowledge. Btw your tank looks awesome.


ANA looks absolutely amazing. I've seen that store mentioned a lot in the local AZ forum. I think ANA had a nice display tank that was entered in that aquascape contest. I'd love to visit that place if it weren't two hours away! They should have an online store, IMO.


----------



## AnotherHobby

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I have since replaced those blocks with Besta legs.. it raises the stand by 5". I was a little concerned about the strength of the legs, but they're solid too. I just inspected my stand now with a flashlight and see no issues.


Those legs look really good. Much better than the blocks. :thumbsup:

Tank is looking great!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

AnotherHobby said:


> Those legs look really good. Much better than the blocks. :thumbsup:
> 
> Tank is looking great!


Thanks... My GF hated me for using those ghetto-ness blocks! In a way, they weren't the most aesthetically pleasing but served its purpose of providing a solid base while raising the tank 8". It also served the ultimate unintended purpose of saving my tank and stand from the flooding that ensued from the fire. 

But overall, the 'Besta legs' are inexpensive and I should have just gotten them from the start.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Got my (late) xmas present in the mail today... it's also going to be for my photography course I'm taking next session. Anyways, it's the nx300. Don't know how to take pics yet outside of Auto. But took a couple test shots today on auto, thought they looked nice...LOL


----------



## Bserve

Use an f/ around 11, ISO 6400+, 1/150 second or faster, daylight Whit balance. Easy for tanks.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Bserve said:


> Use an f/ around 11, ISO 6400+, 1/150 second or faster, daylight Whit balance. Easy for tanks.


Thanks for that tip. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.


----------



## ua hua

The tanks looking really nice and I can't get over how much I like that soil. It's surprising more people don't use it.


----------



## Bserve

I may use it in the rescape I have planned; depending on what plants I use


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah it's a refreshing change if you're used to dark/brown-black substrate. Then you'll be happy to go back to Amazonia after...LOL


----------



## MERSF559

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah it's a refreshing change if you're used to dark/brown-black substrate. Then you'll be happy to go back to Amazonia after...LOL


my pogostemon erect us is starting to show new fine needle leaves growth. any tips with trimming the new growth to replace the old growth?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

MERSF559 said:


> my pogostemon erect us is starting to show new fine needle leaves growth. any tips with trimming the new growth to replace the old growth?


Let it grow out a few inches at least. Then I just treat it like any other 'stem plant,' just snip (but not too short) and replant the tops.. tops root while the base develops new shoots (usually 2). Ever since I got the long pinsettes, planting has been a lot easier.


----------



## Bserve

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah it's a refreshing change if you're used to dark/brown-black substrate. Then you'll be happy to go back to Amazonia after...LOL



Why? Does it have like a nutrient deficiency?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Well it has less nutrients than Amazonia... but even Amazonia gets depleted of nutrients eventually, but people still continue to have great tanks with depleted AS. Just do your dosing regimen whether it be EI or PPS and you're good to go. Some people drop in a few O+ tabs... I dunno. The strengths of Africana, however, from what I've learned, are that is has a superior buffering capability and doesn't leach crazy amount of ammonia... it's a trade-off. But I was speaking in terms of pure aesthetics. Some days you feel like rocking dark clothes where other days you want to change it up to something light (do you feel like chocolate today, or vanilla?). Same with substrate, IMO, I got bored seeing dark rabbit poop substrate so I wanted to change to Africana -- which was, ohhhh ever so refreshing. When I switch back one day, it will feel more of a welcomed drastic change (at least for me it is).

Edit:

In terms of growth, I already had to trim the Rotala Macrandra and HM (baby tears). The ET, UG, AR mini are all growing pretty fast... So in terms of "growth" potential, the Africana is doing very well.


----------



## Bserve

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Well it has less nutrients than Amazonia... but even Amazonia gets depleted of nutrients eventually, but people still continue to have great tanks with depleted AS. Just do your dosing regimen whether it be EI or PPS and you're good to go. Some people drop in a few O+ tabs... I dunno. The strengths of Africana, however, from what I've learned, are that is has a superior buffering capability and doesn't leach crazy amount of ammonia... it's a trade-off. But I was speaking in terms of pure aesthetics. Some days you feel like rocking dark clothes where other days you want to change it up to something light (do you feel like chocolate today, or vanilla?). Same with substrate, IMO, I got bored seeing dark rabbit poop substrate so I wanted to change to Africana -- which was, ohhhh ever so refreshing. When I switch back one day, it will feel more of a welcomed drastic change (at least for me it is).
> 
> Edit:
> 
> In terms of growth, I already had to trim the Rotala Macrandra and HM (baby tears). The ET, UG, AR mini are all growing pretty fast... So in terms of "growth" potential, the Africana is doing very well.


Yeah, my scape i have in mind will be similar to this, but my stones are seiryu not red, so the africana would be good i hope. It's going to be a heavy slope so probable amazonia regular topped with africana powder (taking cost into mind).


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Wow, you're going to layer them? It might look cool at first, but I can't imagine how it would look once it mixes. You can create slopes by using eggcrates or you can put cheap gravel in a media mesh bag then pour the substrate over it. You should also use substrate supports (a la cut up plastic polypropylene placemats) to help keep the slope from sliding.


----------



## Bserve

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Wow, you're going to layer them? It might look cool at first, but I can't imagine how it would look once it mixes. You can create slopes by using eggcrates or you can put cheap gravel in a media mesh bag then pour the substrate over it. You should also use substrate supports (a la cut up plastic polypropylene placemats) to help keep the slope from sliding.


I'm using Home Depot lava rocks, also heard they're rich in iron.If they do mix, I think it would look cool (I hope).


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Bserve said:


> Use an f/ around 11, ISO 6400+, 1/150 second or faster, daylight Whit balance. Easy for tanks.


I tried these exact settings and the picture looked very dark. So I fiddled with the manual settings and arrived at this... 

F/11, ISO 1600, 1/13 @ 18mm focal length. Still have a lot to learn... but no post processing on this what so ever.


----------



## xmas_one

Open that lens up, it's ridiculous to shoot at f/11 with that high of an ISO unless you're into noise and washed out colors. 

Shoot at ISO 100, maybe 200 if you have to. 

Also full tank shots usually look best about 2 stops underexposed. 

Put the camera on books or whatever to get it framed right and use the timer to trigger the shutter.

Tank looks great!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

xmas_one said:


> Open that lens up, it's ridiculous to shoot at f/11 with that high of an ISO unless you're into noise and washed out colors.
> 
> Shoot at ISO 100, maybe 200 if you have to.
> 
> Also full tank shots usually look best about 2 stops underexposed.
> 
> Put the camera on books or whatever to get it framed right and use the timer to trigger the shutter.
> 
> Tank looks great!


Thanks for the photo tips (and compliment on the tank)... I feel like the biggest noob. Lol

I'll try what you suggested next.


----------



## Bserve

Yeah, it really depends on how much depth of field you want. F/11 usually is a decent compromise of being open and depth of field. And if you have fish, they're gonna be blurred at anything slower than 1/100 sec. The ISO just is bright/darkness, so do that last. If noise is bothering you, I suggest perhaps lowering the ISO and do some post-processing.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brian, that a awesome picture! I need to get me a DSLR, they're so expensive argh


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Brian, that a awesome picture! I need to get me a DSLR, they're so expensive argh


You should, Tony! Save up, you'll get one in no time. Which one have you been eyeing up?


----------



## Bserve

I suggest the canon 70D


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Bserve said:


> I suggest the canon 70D


Those are nice, but expensive! I'd get the less expensive T5i and invest in glass. But then again, I REALLY like my NX300. Only thing missing is an EVF. But it's no biggie, I still got the camera despite that shortcoming.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I was thinking either the Canon or Nikon, which one would best for micro shots or does it solely depend on buying a lens?

Hey Brian, good news, details in pm.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> I was thinking either the Canon or Nikon, which one would best for micro shots or does it solely depend on buying a lens?
> 
> Hey Brian, good news, details in pm.


Where's my PM?.haha

But yeah, Nikon or Canon can achieve comparable quality. But, macro shots can be achieved by an expensive macro lens or inexpensive 'extension tubes.' My GF got some nice macro shrimp pics with just her kit lens and extension tubes.

Edit:
Sample macro shot with a Canon Xsi, kit lens + macro extension tube.










With the quality of this image, I don't think you need to drop a lot of loot on an expensive camera body + macro lens, unless of course it's chump-change to you.


----------



## parrottbay

very cool


----------



## The Trigger

Awesome shots Brian!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Another NX300 pic... sorry, I'm just having too much fun with this thing! 

Tried Aperture Priority mode @ 18mm and brought the F-stop down to f/3.5. Camera chose the rest (1/100, ISO 1600). Corrected a bit in PS for crop & contrast. DOF is looking nicer. 










Edit:
Created an unedited video, too. Trying out the touchscreen AF. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-vXQ9j-Nhg&feature=youtube_gdata_player


----------



## kevreh

Hey nice depth of field! With good lighting I'm surprised you need to go that high with the iso. I try to keep it below 800 or you get more noise. In PS, I usually use auto levels, helps the image usually.

I watched your video....About your video software question, I like Adobe Premier, they have an Elements version (cheaper than pro).


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kevreh said:


> Hey nice depth of field! With good lighting I'm surprised you need to go that high with the iso. I try to keep it below 800 or you get more noise. In PS, I usually use auto levels, helps the image usually.
> 
> I watched your video....About your video software question, I like Adobe Premier, they have an Elements version (cheaper than pro).


Cool, thanks for the feedback and tips. I'll explore reducing the ISO. The NX300 is suppose to perform better than some entry-level DSLR's in higher ISO settings. Noise gets apparent at 3200 or higher. But I'm a newb and still learning. 

I'll take a look at Premier Elements for video editing. But I was sort of leaning towards Corel VideoStudio Ultimate because of all the ProDad plugins you get. We'll see.


----------



## kevreh

BTW, the stock lense on that camera is a 20-50mm f3.5-5.6. Using the lense zoomed out will allow you to get f3.5, which is the "fastest" the lense gets and the fastest possible shutter speed at any given scene and iso. 

When your in aperature priority, change the aperature and observe the shutter speed to see what I mean. Ditto with the iso and zoom. They're all inter-related.

The goal is to keep iso low, and shutter at least 1/60 if handheld. Hope this helps.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kevreh said:


> BTW, the stock lense on that camera is a 20-50mm f3.5-5.6. Using the lense zoomed out will allow you to get f3.5, which is the "fastest" the lense gets and the fastest possible shutter speed at any given scene and iso.
> 
> When your in aperature priority, change the aperature and observe the shutter speed to see what I mean. Ditto with the iso and zoom. They're all inter-related.
> 
> The goal is to keep iso low, and shutter at least 1/60 if handheld. Hope this helps.


Ahh, the nuances of photography.. I'll try that. Btw, I chose the option for the 18-55mm OIS lens. It has the optical stabilization that the 20-50mm didn't.


----------



## kman

Tank looks great! I'm hoping to steal your ideas liberally. 

(getting a Mr Aqua 17 gal tank, nearly identical to the ADA 60P, and most likely using one Current USA Sat LED+, but no co2 so we'll see!)


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> Tank looks great! I'm hoping to steal your ideas liberally.
> 
> (getting a Mr Aqua 17 gal tank, nearly identical to the ADA 60P, and most likely using one Current USA Sat LED+, but no co2 so we'll see!)


Sounds good... still a fine choice. There's another TPT member that has a 60p low tech with a Sat+. Looks good, too. Feel free to use any of my methods. Perhaps you can find some inspiration there as well. 

Here's her thread:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=468433&highlight=

LMK when you start your build thread, would love to follow. On a side note, join our Sat+ and 60p Clubs.


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Sounds good... still a fine choice. There's another TPT member that has a 60p low tech with a Sat+. Looks good, too. Feel free to use any of my methods. Perhaps you can find some inspiration there as well.
> 
> Here's her thread:
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=468433&highlight=
> 
> LMK when you start your build thread, would love to follow. On a side note, join our Sat+ and 60p Clubs.


LOL thx, although I'd feel like an imposter with the Mr Aqua tank instead of the actual 60P. 

If I end up going with the Sat+, though, I'll join up! Still debating between the Finnex Planted+ and the Sat+, although the Sat+ is in the lead, at the moment... in my head, at least!

I'll look over that thread, thx!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> LOL thx, although I'd feel like an imposter with the Mr Aqua tank instead of the actual 60P.
> 
> If I end up going with the Sat+, though, I'll join up! Still debating between the Finnex Planted+ and the Sat+, although the Sat+ is in the lead, at the moment... in my head, at least!
> 
> I'll look over that thread, thx!


Have you also considered CAD Light Zen tanks? They're ADA quality with the low iron but cheaper. They're in Cali, too. There's a 23g that's close to the dimensions of the 60p. 

It's not on their site, but you can probably contact them... 
http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=52

Here's an example of one:
http://scapeclub.org/forum/showthread.php?22676-CAD-Lights-Zen-23g


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Have you also considered CAD Light Zen tanks? They're ADA quality with the low iron but cheaper. They're in Cali, too. There's a 23g that's close to the dimensions of the 60p.
> 
> It's not on their site, but you can probably contact them...
> http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=52
> 
> Here's an example of one:
> http://scapeclub.org/forum/showthread.php?22676-CAD-Lights-Zen-23g


I saw those, they do look nice! The 23g is a smidge bigger than I want, though... the Mr Aqua 17.1gal is nearly perfect. Within 1/2" of the 60P in each dimension. (23.6 x 11.8 x 14.2 vs. 24 x 12 x 14 for the ADA) The only meaningful difference is the low iron glass and the price! And the logo. 

Frankly I wouldn't mind splurging on the 60P but my wife already knows the price of the Mr Aqua and ok'd that purchase... I'd have some 'splaining to do if I showed up with a tank that cost twice as much! (plus my LFS already ordered one for me)


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brian, you serious? You didn't get it? I wrote so much, argh. Anyways I'll do it again, sending it soon.


----------



## AnotherHobby

kman said:


> I saw those, they do look nice! The 23g is a smidge bigger than I want, though... the Mr Aqua 17.1gal is nearly perfect. Within 1/2" of the 60P in each dimension. (23.6 x 11.8 x 14.2 vs. 24 x 12 x 14 for the ADA) The only meaningful difference is the low iron glass and the price! And the logo.


The Mr Aqua 720li is identical to the 60p, and low iron. I have one and I'm super happy with it. I got mine at Marine Depot. They don't list it on their site, but they'll special order it for you. I paid $122.98 shipped.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Ohh yeah... totally forgot about that option! Definitely a VERY nice alternative to ADA.


----------



## kman

AnotherHobby said:


> The Mr Aqua 720li is identical to the 60p, and low iron. I have one and I'm super happy with it. I got mine at Marine Depot. They don't list it on their site, but they'll special order it for you. I paid $122.98 shipped.


Sounds nice, although the 60P is $130 so for the extra $7 I'd probably go for the ADA tank. (If nothing else, there's a resale advantage to the name) Still, good to keep in mind, thx!

The Mr Aqua 17.1 gal is $70 at my LFS, plus I have a little credit there so a bit less.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

$70 is a good deal! I'd go with it rather than risk getting the wifey p'd off! 

What LFS do you go to? I used to live in West LA... Nature Aquarium in Santa Monica is very nice!


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> $70 is a good deal! I'd go with it rather than risk getting the wifey p'd off!
> 
> What LFS do you go to? I used to live in West LA... Nature Aquarium in Santa Monica is very nice!


I have several I go to regularly (aside from a couple mega chains, like PetCo and PetSmart, which have their uses), depending on where I'm starting from and what I need. But Underwater Depot in Sherman Oaks is my go-to place for planted tanks, because one of the guys there, Cory, really knows his stuff. He has really nice 'scapes all over the shop.  Their plants are also healthy and clean, unlike a lot of other local shops. It's a small shop so they don't carry everything I need, so I supplement, but it's still nice to have a decent shop fairly nearby.

I'm planning to make the pilgrimage to Nature Aquarium this weekend, actually, to stock up on stuff for the new tank.  (mr aqua tank is coming from UD)

Yes, $70 is definitely worth it. It's a touch cheaper at Marine Depot, but not once you add in the $20 oversize shipping surcharge! Plus, all the advantages of keeping your LFS happy with you (including a place to swap it for a new one if there is a problem!), not to mention some store credit I need to use anyway.


----------



## AnotherHobby

kman said:


> Sounds nice, although the 60P is $130 so for the extra $7 I'd probably go for the ADA tank. (If nothing else, there's a resale advantage to the name) Still, good to keep in mind, thx!
> 
> The Mr Aqua 17.1 gal is $70 at my LFS, plus I have a little credit there so a bit less.


You need to get better at comparing prices. You must compare total price (shipping, any applicable taxes, etc) when comparing products/vendors. A 60P is just over $200 shipped from AFA, which makes it 63% more expensive than the Mr Aqua 720li, which was just under $123 shipped. If you could get an ADA 60P locally for $130 and save the insane $70 shipping charge (Marine Depot only charged $10 shipping/handling on the Mr Aqua tank), that would change things. Something tells me that it wouldn't be $130 locally though. 

If it was just a $7 difference, I would have done the 60P.


----------



## kman

AnotherHobby said:


> You need to get better at comparing prices. You must compare total price (shipping, any applicable taxes, etc) when comparing products/vendors. A 60P is just over $200 shipped from AFA, which makes it 63% more expensive than the Mr Aqua 720li, which was just under $123 shipped. If you could get an ADA 60P locally for $130 and save the insane $70 shipping charge (Marine Depot only charged $10 shipping/handling on the Mr Aqua tank), that would change things. Something tells me that it wouldn't be $130 locally though.
> 
> If it was just a $7 difference, I would have done the 60P.


Considering the _actual_ comparison was $70 (locally for my Mr Aqua) vs. $123 (or more, for ordering the 720li), you're right, while I didn't put that much effort into the comparison to the 60P, since I felt my point, for ME, was made without going through extra the steps to get a full and complete total on the 60P.

EDIT: FWIW, I can get the 60P locally for $148. Still worth it (to me) over the $123 720li, but still _not_ worth it (to me) over the $70 Mr Aqua tank, where the biggest difference is regular glass (vs low iron) and no ADA logo.


----------



## AnotherHobby

kman said:


> FWIW, I can get the 60P locally for $148. Still worth it (to me) over the $123 720li, but still _not_ worth it (to me) over the $70 Mr Aqua tank, where the biggest difference is regular glass (vs low iron) and no ADA logo.


I think I'd make the same choice. I have a regular Mr Aqua that's not low iron, and I'm super happy with that one too. :thumbsup:


----------



## kman

AnotherHobby said:


> I think I'd make the same choice. I have a regular Mr Aqua that's not low iron, and I'm super happy with that one too. :thumbsup:


Yup. Doesn't mean I don't still drool over that logo.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'm not too overly impressed with the newer ADA tanks, they are nice but are far from perfect. The older germany made ADA tanks are better constructed. Some of the silicone in my tank is crooked,  

Hey Brian, when your ready, give the public a little taste of what you can do with graphics. I got a sneak peak and I can see where the aquascaping skills come from. 

What your opinion on using the golden rule or other tricks to balance out the tank? I have one of those ADA Journal in pdf and they devoted 10 pages on balance alone. I couldn't bring myself to read through all of it.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'm not too overly impressed with the newer ADA tanks, they are nice but are far from perfect. The older germany made ADA tanks are better constructed. Some of the silicone in my tank is crooked,


Yeah at the start of my thread here, I complained about the lack of perfection in my silicone, too. But hey, my tank survived being not too far from where the fire struck in my house. I'm pretty sure it got exposed to some pretty high temps. I was a little apprehensive with using it again. But seems as good as new. 

Even my little 2.1g Aquatop pico cube survived a fall off the bar into the kitchen. It was even closer to the fire! I cleaned it up, tested overnight for leaks... and it was good to go! 

*Before:* 









*After:* - (Not an impressive scape... I think my worst one on this little cube. Created real quick post-disaster)











FlyingHellFish said:


> Hey Brian, when your ready, give the public a little taste of what you can do with graphics. I got a sneak peak and I can see where the aquascaping skills come from.
> 
> What your opinion on using the golden rule or other tricks to balance out the tank? I have one of those ADA Journal in pdf and they devoted 10 pages on balance alone. I couldn't bring myself to read through all of it.


LOL... the 'taste' is what you see in the 60P Club logo... the better stuff I'm saving until I'm ready  

TBH, I'm not well studied on the golden rule and aquascaping. I just go with the flow and aim to not make things too symmetrical and keep my stones in odd numbers... power dominant stone to sacrificial stones... yada yada yada... haha

Any tips???


----------



## parrottbay

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'm not too overly impressed with the newer ADA tanks, they are nice but are far from perfect. The older germany made ADA tanks are better constructed. Some of the silicone in my tank is crooked,
> 
> Hey Brian, when your ready, give the public a little taste of what you can do with graphics. I got a sneak peak and I can see where the aquascaping skills come from.
> 
> What your opinion on using the golden rule or other tricks to balance out the tank? I have one of those ADA Journal in pdf and they devoted 10 pages on balance alone. I couldn't bring myself to read through all of it.


Hell Fish, Send me that PDF  lol 

Brian, glad to see all the tanks coming back together! Both tanks are looking AMAZING; like always haha!


----------



## kevreh

I'd like to see that PDF too if there's a link.


----------



## Bserve

Brian_Cali77 said:


> LOL... the 'taste' is what you see in the 60P Club logo... the better stuff I'm saving until I'm ready



Oh man, I'm excited


----------



## kevreh

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Even my little 2.1g Aquatop pico cube survived a fall off the bar into the kitchen. It was even closer to the fire! I cleaned it up, tested overnight for leaks... and it was good to go!
> 
> *Before:*


Can't believe the tank didn't break, since its not tempered glass. BTW, did you ever find out the cause of the fire?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

YES! That rimless tank is perfect for *ahem, a new project. If those guys like my early tank shot I sent them, they will drool over what you scape with it.

@ parrottay,

Sorry, I can't send you the pdf, I got it from a friend of mine who owns a boat, and lives down by the bay. 

It's by far one of the most boring, beating a dead horse type article I read in a while. Skimming through the pictures helped though. 

But honestly, make a scape that you like. ADA's rules are a bit too restrictive for my taste.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kevreh said:


> Can't believe the tank didn't break, since its not tempered glass. BTW, did you ever find out the cause of the fire?


I haven't been told directly. But we did get a letter from the insurance company suggesting that they are attempting to recoup their losses from parties responsible. I'm assuming it's a manufacturer of one of the appliances. They had engineers take the toaster and toasteroven apart. Crazy stuff... just glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> YES! That rimless tank is perfect for *ahem, a new project. If those guys like my early tank shot I sent them, they will drool over what you scape with it.


Dude, this Pico cube would be way too small. It'll probably be 1000 PAR! Haha


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> Brian, glad to see all the tanks coming back together! Both tanks are looking AMAZING; like always haha!


Thank you, sir.... any new developments on your end? Get the blown out truck engine fixed?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Dude, this Pico cube would be way too small. It'll probably be 1000 PAR! Haha


Don't you love the wonderful world of 0 - 100% of control? And Brian, reviling a little bit too much in that comment? :icon_cool
I think I might be more excited to see what you can do with it, than you. But hey, I think this beats the ROAK of HC Cuba I was thinking of sending you.


----------



## kevreh

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I haven't been told directly. But we did get a letter from the insurance company suggesting that they are attempting to recoup their losses from parties responsible. I'm assuming it's a manufacturer of one of the appliances. They had engineers take the toaster and toasteroven apart. Crazy stuff... just glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been.



Thats scary. I had a canister water filter crack and do a bunch of damage to my main level. Fire is a whole different thing.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Don't you love the wonderful world of 0 - 100% of control? And Brian, reviling a little bit too much in that comment? :icon_cool
> I think I might be more excited to see what you can do with it, than you. But hey, I think this beats the ROAK of HC Cuba I was thinking of sending you.


Yup .. I'm just speaking in hypotheticals. 

But yes, control is great. I experience just that using Sat+ lights.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kevreh said:


> Thats scary. I had a canister water filter crack and do a bunch of damage to my main level. Fire is a whole different thing.


What kind of canister was it? That scares me, too. I have two fluval cans. Crossing my fingers something like that doesn't happen to me. What's crazy about our fire is that no one used those appliances. They were just plugged but unused. I suppose it had faulty components and caused an electrical arc of sorts. Then WAAAAM! Electrical fire. Moral of the story, be careful of unattended and plugged in appliances. They still take on power even if they're not being operated.


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> What kind of canister was it? That scares me, too. I have two fluval cans. Crossing my fingers something like that doesn't happen to me. What's crazy about our fire is that no one used those appliances. They were just plugged but unused. I suppose it had faulty components and caused an electrical arc of sorts. Then WAAAAM! Electrical fire. Moral of the story, be careful of unattended and plugged in appliances. They still take on power even if they're not being operated.


Absolutely. Years ago my parent's kitchen burned from a faulty coffee maker. To this day I'm paranoid about unplugging appliances if I'm not using them! Although I do cheat with the toaster oven, since it has a clock and that would be annoying.


----------



## kman

AnotherHobby said:


> I think I'd make the same choice. I have a regular Mr Aqua that's not low iron, and I'm super happy with that one too. :thumbsup:


And the irony is, my LFS made me a stupid offer on the low-iron version of the tank, and my wife ok'd the slight price increase, so I'm now getting the low iron version, which should be tomorrow or Thursday. :red_mouth


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> And the irony is, my LFS made me a stupid offer on the low-iron version of the tank, and my wife ok'd the slight price increase, so I'm now getting the low iron version, which should be tomorrow or Thursday. :red_mouth


Nice! The wifey wants something nice for Vday! 

Anyways, I think you'll appreciate the low iron glass if you haven't had it before. Only negative is that you'll probably never want to buy a regular glass tank again.


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Nice! The wifey wants something nice for Vday!
> 
> Anyways, I think you'll appreciate the low iron glass if you haven't had it before. Only negative is that you'll probably never want to buy a regular glass tank again.


Heh-heh... yup, she definitely wants something nice now, in return. 

Yes, I'm sure I'm going to love it. First low iron; I'm all old school. Now I gotta stop eyeing those low iron cube tanks at TruAqua! (repeat: "There's _nothing_ wrong with my Fluval Spec. There's _nothing _wrong with my Fluval Spec. There's _nothing _wrong with my Fluval Spec..."

(and my wife would never allow MTS at home!)

Oh, and I ordered the 24" Sat+ light for it. Just one, since no co2, hoping to keep the algae down as it is since it's just barely into medium light territory.


----------



## kevreh

Brian_Cali77 said:


> What kind of canister was it? That scares me, too. I have two fluval cans. Crossing my fingers something like that doesn't happen to me. What's crazy about our fire is that no one used those appliances. They were just plugged but unused. I suppose it had faulty components and caused an electrical arc of sorts. Then WAAAAM! Electrical fire. Moral of the story, be careful of unattended and plugged in appliances. They still take on power even if they're not being operated.


It was a clear water filter canister from ebay, the kind that uses those standard charcoal filters from home depot. Just decided to crack on its own. 

Most small apliances in the kitchen should be protected by gfci, assuming the kitchen is up to code.


----------



## kman

kevreh said:


> It was a clear water filter canister from ebay, the kind that uses those standard charcoal filters from home depot. Just decided to crack on its own.
> 
> Most small apliances in the kitchen should be protected by gfci, assuming the kitchen is up to code.


LOTS of homes out there with non-GFCI outlets that pre-date that code change. Mine has all GFCI, but we recently re-did our whole kitchen. Before, no GFCI.

Also, appliances with small on-board heaters (like toasters and coffee makers) can overheat and melt/catch fire without actually shorting out (which would likely pop the circuit even in non-GFCI homes). That's what happened with my parent's kitchen.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah we have GFCI plugs. The fire Marshall said they were fine. I noticed they ripped the wall out to inspect the electrical in the walls..

Now I'm curious as to what happened. I think I'm going to call and ask to see the investigation reports.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Anyways... leaving this discussion on a positive note.. From the ashes of the past disaster comes the rise of the Phoenix! 

Time for a *mega picture update extravaganza!* Getting a little trigger happy with the NX300. Still a work in progress. My settings are all crazy! 

This will probably be my last picture update until the UG fully carpets in and the plants get trimmed.

Added the group of fauna... *Ember Tetras* (8 of them)! I'll probably head over to Petsmart on Friday for the dollar neon sale and get a bunch of those. 

What do you guys think of a Gold Ram as a centerpiece fish? At first I was thinking of an Electric Blue, but the Gold might look cool with the Africana and the Embers? 



















==========

I had one tiny little stem of elatine triandra left that survived... I manged to grow it out just a bit. But after put it in here, it just started taking off! 










==========

Check out the UG... it's sending runners like a good little plant!  









==========

Just wanted to see how my tank would look if I suspended the light and didn't obstruct the view from the top. The Eheim Skim 350 and C2 are keeping things nice and crystal! 









==========

What's powering it all... the Sat+ X2! A nice solid moderate light level in the right "full spectrum" does wonders and keeps algae at bay (w/ proper co2 and ferts of course). 









==========

And lastly, end the night with a nice cloud cover dynamic mode.  









==========

*So yeah... no more updates until she's ready! Thanks for following everyone! Happy scaping!*


----------



## AnotherHobby

kman said:


> And the irony is, my LFS made me a stupid offer on the low-iron version of the tank, and my wife ok'd the slight price increase, so I'm now getting the low iron version, which should be tomorrow or Thursday. :red_mouth














Brian_Cali77 said:


> ...I think you'll appreciate the low iron glass if you haven't had it before. Only negative is that you'll probably never want to buy a regular glass tank again.


What this guy said.



Brian_Cali77 said:


> Time for a mega picture update extravaganza!


Looks great! :thumbsup:


----------



## 808style

Brian_Cali77 said:


> 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.


what are you using as your paintball tank stand? i've been going nuts looking for something just like this!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

808style said:


> what are you using as your paintball tank stand? i've been going nuts looking for something just like this!


It's a kitchen utensil holder. I bought it at a store called Home Goods. This isn't the exact one, but looks like it...

Amazon.com - DecoBros Utensil Holder Caddy Rack, Chrome Finish - Utensil Organizers


----------



## 808style

Aaah thank you so much! That's such a great idea. I read through your entire journal btw, wonderful tanks!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thank you. How's access to aquarium goods in HI?


----------



## kman

Got my Sat+ delivered just now. Seems to work great! Playing with the modes is fun. I'm part of the club, woohoo!

It's killing me that I don't have time to pick up the tank it's going on (Mr Aqua 60P clone) until Saturday...


----------



## Asu1776

That pogostemon erectus is looking pretty awesome. I recently got the plant myself, and I love how it grows so straight up. Have you ever let it reach the surface and what does it do? 

Also been looking to replace some ludwigia red with r.mac. How are your nitrates and how does your r.mac do with your levels?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> Got my Sat+ delivered just now. Seems to work great! Playing with the modes is fun. I'm part of the club, woohoo!
> 
> It's killing me that I don't have time to pick up the tank it's going on (Mr Aqua 60P clone) until Saturday...


Nice! Sleek fixture isn't it? Anyways, I know the excitement in anticipation of getting a new tank. It's part of the addiction.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Asu1776 said:


> That pogostemon erectus is looking pretty awesome. I recently got the plant myself, and I love how it grows so straight up. Have you ever let it reach the surface and what does it do?
> 
> Also been looking to replace some ludwigia red with r.mac. How are your nitrates and how does your r.mac do with your levels?


The pogostemon erectus is a great plant. I've allowed it to reach the surface until the leaves started to pierce the surface. I cut it shortly after though. The root structure is quite stout, so pulling stems can get messy. 

My nitrates are at 15ppm last time I checked. I think the R. Macrandra is doing well actually. It hated my previous tank that had eco complete as substrate. The plant is now doing much better in the Africana. Could be a deeper red but my lighting is only moderate. But still has a nice enough reddish tone that contrasts well behind the mini fissiden covered DW and adjacent to the p. erectus.


----------



## 808style

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thank you. How's access to aquarium goods in HI?


Since we live on a rock in the middle of the ocean, shipping prices can be ridiculous for hardware. There are also tight restrictions on the type of flora and fauna that can be brought in since we have such a unique and fragile ecosystem here and the protection of that is vital. I'm always jealous of the great stuff you guys are able to get so easily there!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

808style said:


> Since we live on a rock in the middle of the ocean, shipping prices can be ridiculous for hardware. There are also tight restrictions on the type of flora and fauna that can be brought in since we have such a unique and fragile ecosystem here and the protection of that is vital. I'm always jealous of the great stuff you guys are able to get so easily there!


Crazy... well we're jealous of the paradise you live in. My GF and I always talk about moving to HI, at least for a year. We went to Honolulu several years ago. SCUBA was amazing! 

But yeah, I can see the reasoning behind the restrictions. I recall still seeing great tank builds coming from there.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

So I went to Petsmart yesterday I grabbed 10 ($1) Neons and a couple of Otos. I took a little stroll by the plant section and found some goodies... They also had a pretty good looking tissue culture pack of Pogostemon Helferi with very minimal browning... still plenty of good viable material in here. 










So yeah, if you guys head over to your own Petsmarts, there's the sale plus this $5 off $25 printable in-store coupon:
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/petsmart.com#print.5495717


----------



## Asu1776

I've been tempted to buy the petsmart downoi so many times. Considering how much one crown costs online or via the forum, it's a pretty solid buy, if they survive that is. Plus they are snail free. Do share how they turn out!


----------



## The Trigger

Asu1776 said:


> I've been tempted to buy the petsmart downoi so many times. Considering how much one crown costs online or via the forum, it's a pretty solid buy, if they survive that is. Plus they are snail free. Do share how they turn out!


They grow great. I've used them a few times and never had any problems at all. They are very much a solid buy for the amount you get


----------



## parrottbay

Very nice, I didn't know they sold it there...


----------



## lamiskool

If you guys check out my journal, in my 2.5 gallon 1 bag of the cultured downoi has completely covered the tank. They are extremely healthy after they transition to submerged growth.


----------



## kman

Thanks for the tip, Brian! Guess I need to add PetSmart to my collection of errands tomorrow... gonna try to get the new tank set up enough for the fish to return! Just need a few more things (mostly, Java Moss).


----------



## merckey

Brian_Cali77 said:


> So I went to Petsmart yesterday I grabbed 10 ($1) Neons and a couple of Otos. I took a little stroll by the plant section and found some goodies... They also had a pretty good looking tissue culture pack of Pogostemon Helferi with very minimal browning... still plenty of good viable material in here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So yeah, if you guys head over to your own Petsmarts, there's the sale plus this $5 off $25 printable in-store coupon:
> http://www.retailmenot.com/view/petsmart.com#print.5495717



Good deal. My local pet smart sold their completely brown/melted plants 50% off! Really no way to get them survive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> As for the SunSun surface skimmer I was using, I decided to re-purpose that in my 6g tank for now. I opted to buy an Eheim Skim 350 because it was on sale at Dr. Fosters. I also wanted to fulfill my curiosity about it since it didn't cost that much. I'll wait and see if the my plants will grow to hide it enough to my liking. As of right now, it kinda sticks out like a sore thumb. Performance-wise, it works well as the surface look crystal clear. However, it burbs a lot of bubbles and is occasionally noisy. I'm going to experiment with it a little more. I might go back to the SunSun if I start to hate it.





Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thank you, Sir! The Skimmer is it's own unit, like a powerhead or internal filter with a Skimmer intake. It's actually working quite well right now and there's no more burping bubbles. I even turned it off last night to test how fast the surface gets murky. Sure enough, this afternoon the water had some oil slick / protein layer... turned the Skim350 on, it got the surface crystal again in like less than a minute! Works great!


Are you still using this skimmer? I'm noticing a bit of a bio film on my tank, too, and this might be good solution, at least if I can hide it behind some plants somewhere...


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah it works great. I really like it.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Ohhhh yeah! I'm excited. Just got back from the LFS and traded in some Blyxa Japonica for store credit and got an Electric Blue Ram. I just finished acclimating him and released him in the tank. I've always wanted an EBR, but they were priced pretty high for me to risk... knowing how touchy Rams can be in general. I'm crossing my fingers he'll do well because there's no fish guarantee. But all in all, he's looking pretty healthy and not looking all stressed out. I'll keep the lights dim until he gets comfortable.


----------



## kman

GORGEOUS!

I've wanted an EBR since I first saw them! But I also like having shrimp in the tank, soo...


----------



## green18

Amazing shots!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> GORGEOUS!
> 
> I've wanted an EBR since I first saw them! But I also like having shrimp in the tank, soo...





green18 said:


> Amazing shots!


Thanks, guys.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

UG carpet is almost fully carpeted. I'd say in about a week or two. I'll get some full tank shots up in celebration 

Meanwhile... here's some fun pics for the heck of it.


----------



## Vermino

Brian_Cali77 said:


>


I'm so jealous Brian! especially with the Fissiden, mine isn't growing that green but I see you are getting hair algae in them too. Have you tried excel or something to kill off that algae spot?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Vermino said:


> I'm so jealous Brian! especially with the Fissiden, mine isn't growing that green but I see you are getting hair algae in them too. Have you tried excel or something to kill off that algae spot?


LOL... yeah the disadvantage of high res pics, you can't hide much in them. Well it's a weird algae, at first I thought it was filamentous diatoms because when it's in full bloom, it's a very fine, light brownish algae that gets super long if it's not killed. 

I found out that Algaefix, even in small dosage, kills this stuff almost instantly... turns it white and then it disintegrates shortly after. I made the mistake thinking it was all gone and didn't do a follow-up dose to get what ever little bit survives... then it reared its ugly head again. I'll get it under control and cleaned off by the next round of photos. 

The mini fiss is great stuff. I have f. fontanus in my other tank and the mini variant is my favorite. I was luckily enough to get a hitchhiker of it and just grew it out. The fiss was turning brown at first in my old tank with different lighting. I guess it really likes the conditions in this tank. Could be a combination of new aqua soil, lights, and ferts... got things in balance.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Patiently waiting for my UG carpet to fill in to "full carpet" status... maybe a week or two more for the FTS. Decided to have some fun and bust out my new Extension Tubes for some macro photography with the kit lens. All handheld shots with fast shutter settings to catch those little buggers. 









































































And some non-extension pics (30mm f/2 prime lens):


----------



## Crazy4discus

Looking good!!


----------



## kman

I love your shots. I've got to work on my technique!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Amazing shots, Brian! Very professional looking photos, you're putting that camera to good use.

I was reading that you wanted those stainless steel out/in, it's by an Asian Company name DICI. They make awful regulators but have very good "everything else". The problem with the regulator is that it's made originally for the asian market and they cut corners fitting it for North American use. 

Anyways, the pieces run 130 for both. I have a local shop that sells it.


----------



## U2Kent

FlyingHellFish said:


> Amazing shots, Brian! Very professional looking photos, you're putting that camera to good use.
> 
> I was reading that you wanted those stainless steel out/in, it's by an Asian Company name DICI. They make awful regulators but have very good "everything else". The problem with the regulator is that it's made originally for the asian market and they cut corners fitting it for North American use.
> 
> Anyways, the pieces run 130 for both. I have a local shop that sells it.


I must have missed where these steel in/out's were, do you have a link to any photos of them in action? considering I've broken two cal aqua labs outflows to the tune of $70 apiece at this point I wouldn't mind looking at stainless... how is the circulation with the outflow?


----------



## kman

U2Kent said:


> I must have missed where these steel in/out's were, do you have a link to any photos of them in action? considering I've broken two cal aqua labs outflows to the tune of $70 apiece at this point I wouldn't mind looking at stainless... how is the circulation with the outflow?


I've seen them on eBay (which we can't link here) and on Amazon. This what you're looking for?

Amazon.com: DICI Aquarium Stainless Steel 12MM Inflow & Outflow Pipes: Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: DICI Aquarium Stainless Steel 12MM Inflow & Outflow Pipes: Pet Supplies


----------



## U2Kent

kman said:


> I've seen them on eBay (which we can't link here) and on Amazon. This what you're looking for?
> 
> Amazon.com: DICI Aquarium Stainless Steel 12MM Inflow & Outflow Pipes: Pet Supplies
> 
> Amazon.com: DICI Aquarium Stainless Steel 12MM Inflow & Outflow Pipes: Pet Supplies


looks like it, but really I was hoping to see photos of them actually in people's tanks.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Those are it, and I don't know anyone who has them. I believe VIV makes a steel in/out as well.


----------



## kman

Urgh. There's someone here on TPT with those stainless pipes, but no way I'll be able to recall which thread I saw the photos in. I know they were commented on, so some good search-fu might turn it up. Try the google search option for more flexibility, perhaps.


----------



## theericafish

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=496449&highlight=stainless+steel+pipe

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=215162&highlight=stainless+steel+pipe


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Down_shift's 60P build is the one with the SS Lily pipes. I kinda like his version with the skimmer attachment. I wonder how well the skimmer works? 

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=461881

Anyways, I'm in no rush to get pipes. I have two pairs of glass ones collecting dust. I'm hoping to use them soon though. But if I didn't have those or they break, I'd probably get SS ones as replacements.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Maybe another week before it's ready for some FTS pics. The UG is about 95% filled in. I trimmed all the stems down last week. So it should be ready as well for nice pics. Shaped the pogo erectus and HM into nice round bushes 

Here's a sneak peek at the UG. The two Sat+ lights are working well at growing it lush.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*2 Months Since Planted - Update! Picture Heavy!*

What's up everyone. Well, it's officially 2 months since I rescaped and planted. Once the UG settled in, it just took off! I haven't trimmed the UG at all since I planted it. I did, however, trim this tank at least twice. 

It hasn't been a perfect ride with this, however. I did have a CO2 leak a couple of weeks ago and although the BPS was set high, I wasn't getting much CO2 coming out the diffuser. I have the diffuser in the back middle so it's hard to see. To top it off, my drop checker has been acting weird in that once it hits yellow, it never goes back to green. Even after I turn off the CO2 for over a day. I'm not sure if it's the reagent or what. As a result, I didn't even realize my tank was getting less CO2 and I did have a little run-in with BBA and some green fuzzy algae in the Mini Fissidens. I fixed the CO2 leak by ditching a faulty cheap plastic check valve. I also spot treated the BBA and algaefixed the fuzzy stuff. 

On another note, my Elatine Triandra has been turning yellow with pin-holes in it. I guess it's a deficiency but I'm too lazy to bust out the test kits. I know it's a N hog, so I probably need to dose more N. But I'm thinking of just yanking it out and replacing it with S. Repens or something. I think it would contrast well against the AR mini. 

Okay... too much text and no pictures! Here we go....

*2 Months of growth... Before and After! *










*FTS:*










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










------------------------------------------










*Just some notes and reflections here:*


The Eheim Skim 350 works really well at keeping the surface clear. The only drawback is that it has a tiny sponge inside and it clogs up real fast. So I find myself having to rinse and squeeze out the sponge weekly.

The 2x Sat+ lights have impressed me with the way it grew this lush UG carpet for me. My only gripes are: one, I can't suspend the lights over the tank due to them not being the highest output out there. And two, the red plants could get deeper red if I had more intensity. On the "bright" side, I think the Ecoxotic version of the Sat+ on steroids should be out soon. Might upgrade to that, we'll see... 

Still need to install the Ramp Timer Pro and test it out. It's just been a combination of school and laziness. But I'll get the ball rolling very soon. 

The BESTA stand. Well, what can I say. It's a great stand for this tank! I don't have access or the DIY skills to build an ADA-Style tank, but this sure is a great compromise, IMO. I'm glad I bought the Besta Legs as well. I like how they're adjustable so that you can get the tank level. Also adding several inches to the overall height is great.

Thanks for following along... and comments or critiques are welcomed.


----------



## Dantrasy

Excellent photos Brian, and such a beautiful tank. 

Are you aiming for more height back-right?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Dantrasy said:


> Excellent photos Brian, and such a beautiful tank.
> 
> Are you aiming for more height back-right?


Thank you. Yeah I want the HM to grow out more so I can trim it better into a round bush. Other than that, I don't mind that negative space above it. I need to trim the mini fiss down too.


----------



## kman

Wow, that's gorgeous! I love your carpet, that came in wonderfully. 

I'm kinda torn myself between waiting for the new higher output light and picking up a second Sat+ (although I LOVE the Sat+ form factor, so the new light would have to have similarly sleek looks to be a contender). The single channel ramp timer I'm using now is doing it's job perfectly, but I admit to having read over those Arduino controller threads pretty eagerly. I really love the slow ramp feature, though, and they haven't gotten ramping working just yet, so I'm pretty torn.

I thought I read that the higher end Current controllers don't play nicely with the Sat+. Did you get different information?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> Wow, that's gorgeous! I love your carpet, that came in wonderfully.
> 
> I'm kinda torn myself between waiting for the new higher output light and picking up a second Sat+ (although I LOVE the Sat+ form factor, so the new light would have to have similarly sleek looks to be a contender). The single channel ramp timer I'm using now is doing it's job perfectly, but I admit to having read over those Arduino controller threads pretty eagerly. I really love the slow ramp feature, though, and they haven't gotten ramping working just yet, so I'm pretty torn.
> 
> I thought I read that the higher end Current controllers don't play nicely with the Sat+. Did you get different information?


Thanks for the compliments. 

I'd say, just get a second Sat+ and wait on the higher output one. Usually the first runs might have issues, not to mention a premium price. Prices will come down... unless, you like to be an early adopter and write a review or something? I'm just real curious as to how much the Ecoxotic Sat+ will be. 

I really like my single ramp timer as well. I'm so content with it that I've been in no rush to setup the Pro. But I'm curious to see what I can do with it. I'm sure others are too, so i need to play with it and report back. 
The Arduino is interesting. But I'm more about the customer ready stuff. I'm not much of a tinkerer. Looking at code gives me headaches! Lol


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks for the compliments.
> 
> I'd say, just get a second Sat+ and wait on the higher output one. Usually the first runs might have issues, not to mention a premium price. Prices will come down... unless, you like to be an early adopter and write a review or something? I'm just real curious as to how much the Ecoxotic Sat+ will be.
> 
> I really like my single ramp timer as well. I'm so content with it that I've been in no rush to setup the Pro. But I'm curious to see what I can do with it. I'm sure others are too, so i need to play with it and report back.
> The Arduino is interesting. But I'm more about the customer ready stuff. I'm not much of a tinkerer. Looking at code gives me headaches! Lol


I'm only somewhat of a tinkerer... I can do it, but I also prefer the sleeker professionally produced options. But it's not really coding since all the work has been done. I currently manually turn the lights on in the morning (sunset mode) so I can feed them before work, then manually turn them back off after approx 30 min until the timer kicks them back on for good from 4-midnight. A more advanced timer could certainly handle all of that (hopefully the pro?), but the arduino does it in a pretty cool manner for only about $40. And it's really tempting to be able to have a schedule where the morning lights start automatically for feeding, then off, then morning lights again from say 4-5 when the main photoperiod kicks in, then the full lights from 5-11, then back down to sunset for an hour, and then finally the blue moonlight mode from 12-1 or so to end the evening.

If only it ramped nicely...

I wish I knew when the new light was coming out, when it does I can probably snag a second Sat+ cheap from someone upgrading, LOL


----------



## talontsiawd

Looks great Brian. I think it looked better than the previous scape. Really coming together nicely.

My one and only suggestion would be to lower the heater or tilt it to the side so it's covered 100%.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> I'm only somewhat of a tinkerer... I can do it, but I also prefer the sleeker professionally produced options. But it's not really coding since all the work has been done. I currently manually turn the lights on in the morning (sunset mode) so I can feed them before work, then manually turn them back off after approx 30 min until the timer kicks them back on for good from 4-midnight. A more advanced timer could certainly handle all of that (hopefully the pro?), but the arduino does it in a pretty cool manner for only about $40. And it's really tempting to be able to have a schedule where the morning lights start automatically for feeding, then off, then morning lights again from say 4-5 when the main photoperiod kicks in, then the full lights from 5-11, then back down to sunset for an hour, and then finally the blue moonlight mode from 12-1 or so to end the evening.
> 
> If only it ramped nicely...
> 
> I wish I knew when the new light was coming out, when it does I can probably snag a second Sat+ cheap from someone upgrading, LOL


Yeah, I know I can do the Arduino project if I wanted to as well. But it's really not that important to "me." I have some experience coding so it's somewhat familiar to me. 

We'll keep our eyes peeled for that new Ecoxotic Sat+! Hoping for a good price point to make it enticing.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

talontsiawd said:


> Looks great Brian. I think it looked better than the previous scape. Really coming together nicely.
> 
> My one and only suggestion would be to lower the heater or tilt it to the side so it's covered 100%.


Thanks, Matt. I like it much better as well. When I move again in next couple of months, I have a third scape and plan for the lighting and filtration in mind for version 3. 

Yeah, I agree about the heater. I should have removed it for the pics. I just remove it anyways around this time because it's super hot here in AZ.


----------



## Crazy4discus

Awesome tank!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Loving the UG carpet, Brian! And I agree with Matt, I think this beats your old scape. I would love to do a UG carpet, but it's super rare up here. For some reason, we're getting a lot of HC Cuba flooding the stores right now. Hopefully we have better selections once the weather warms up. 

Update us on the new lights if you get a chance. I'll just live vicariously through you.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Crazy4discus said:


> Awesome tank!


Thank you  



FlyingHellFish said:


> Loving the UG carpet, Brian! And I agree with Matt, I think this beats your old scape. I would love to do a UG carpet, but it's super rare up here. For some reason, we're getting a lot of HC Cuba flooding the stores right now. Hopefully we have better selections once the weather warms up.
> 
> Update us on the new lights if you get a chance. I'll just live vicariously through you.


Thanks, Tony! Too bad it wasn't easier to ship plants from US to Canada (or any other country for that matter). We're practically neighbors being that we're adjacent to each other. Have you seen any other Canadian aquascapers with UG in their tanks in the past? 

As for the light upgrades, it's a big "maybe." We'll see... as I'm quite happy with the Sat+ system overall. The results speak for themselves IMO. I don't have to have super high light PAR pumping blinding lights. It just adds to the difficulty of balancing everything in terms of CO2, photoperiod, and ferts. This sort of makes things easier while still delivering results. 

Anyways, I'll leave the HIGH light to your MicMol project and live my high-light aspirations vicariously through you.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

talontsiawd said:


> Looks great Brian. I think it looked better than the previous scape. Really coming together nicely.
> 
> My one and only suggestion would be to lower the heater or tilt it to the side so it's covered 100%.


Just for the heck of it... I post-processed to remove the heater to see how it would look


----------



## talontsiawd

Perfect.


----------



## parrottbay

Looks awesome brother! Glad yours turned out perfect


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> Looks awesome brother! Glad yours turned out perfect


Thanks, bro! Any updates with your build? 60P?


----------



## ua hua

Looking really nice:thumbsup:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

ua hua said:


> Looking really nice:thumbsup:


Thank you... I just skimmed through some of your builds. Pretty impressive. Love that Koi pond!


----------



## jcgilmore2

Tank looks great man. UG is looking amazing... always wanted to try it but never pulled the trigger.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thank you... You should try it, it's a great plant! Easily made my short 'favorite' list so far.


----------



## gatorsmashed

Wow, all the iterations of this tank have turned out quite awesome. Very sleek overall look as well. I was wondering what the cage-like stand is that you are using for your paintball tank? Sorry if this has already been answered I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures and reading some of the spec but must admit I haven't had the time to ready through the whole thread yet.

-Tony


----------



## Brian_Cali77

gatorsmashed said:


> Wow, all the iterations of this tank have turned out quite awesome. Very sleek overall look as well. I was wondering what the cage-like stand is that you are using for your paintball tank? Sorry if this has already been answered I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures and reading some of the spec but must admit I haven't had the time to ready through the whole thread yet.
> 
> -Tony


Thank you, Tony. The cage-like stand I'm using to hold the paintball tank up is actually a Utensil Holder/Caddy (similar to this: here) I got locally from Home Goods.


----------



## The Trigger

Tank is looking awesome Brian. UG looks great. Might be looking to replace my hairgrass with this


----------



## Brian_Cali77

The Trigger said:


> Tank is looking awesome Brian. UG looks great. Might be looking to replace my hairgrass with this


Thanks man! Yeah UG is super nice! I'm so happy with this plant and is by far one of my favorites.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*2 Month Mark - UPDATE VIDEO*

Wanted to try out some new video equipment as I'm also trying to improve on my video skills along with my photo skills. Anyways, here's a little video I put together of the tank. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJfC_x2Uckg&feature=youtu.be


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Great video,Brian. I wish I took the time to capture my progress in video. I'm in need of a good camera.

I like the music too, the whole thing is very professional looking. So is this how professional aquascaper are born? 

- Great tank
- Get Fans
- Sponsored 
- ?????
- Profit


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Great video,Brian. I wish I took the time to capture my progress in video. I'm in need of a good camera.
> 
> I like the music too, the whole thing is very professional looking. So is this how professional aquascaper are born?
> 
> - Great tank
> - Get Fans
> - Sponsored
> - ?????
> - Profit


LOL... that was a good one! Pro aquacaper, hmmm.... far from it. Mostly everything I've done to this tank is taboo if mentioned in the same breath of ADA. It's okay, I'm avant garde like that 

What's the 4th set of question marks mean? Micmol?


----------



## talontsiawd

Brian_Cali77 said:


> LOL... that was a good one! Pro aquacaper, hmmm.... far from it. Mostly everything I've done to this tank is taboo if mentioned in the same breath of ADA. It's okay, I'm avant garde like that
> 
> What's the 4th set of question marks mean? Micmol?


Well, you need a manager, that may be the "????". I only take a small cut of 75% if you are interested. I got connections too, I will get it into the next 2Pac video when he transcends from heaven, only a few months away I have been told. Let me know, serious inquires only:icon_evil:icon_smil


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Hahah, the ???? is from a meme. You list a crazy plan and then ???? and end with profit.


----------



## Crazy4discus

All I can say is wow!!!!! Awesome!!!!!!


----------



## bigmattyl

Hey Brian, 

I was wondering if your could like tele-strate, john madden style one of your pictures of your full tank and point out which plants are where, Im new to planted tanks and would love that type of reference.

Thanks! =)


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Crazy4discus said:


> All I can say is wow!!!!! Awesome!!!!!!


Thank you  



bigmattyl said:


> Hey Brian,
> 
> I was wondering if your could like tele-strate, john madden style one of your pictures of your full tank and point out which plants are where, Im new to planted tanks and would love that type of reference.
> 
> Thanks! =)


Here's a layout diagram I created when I was planning the scape:









I replaced the ET (Elatine Triandra) with Staurogyne repens.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Need some help guys...

My Ram has some sort of lesion on his side. Anyone know what it is and how to treat it? Looks like his scales are missing on that area. Sigh...


----------



## parrottbay

Brian, your video, woof... Just kidding it's awesome! What do you use to clean your glass?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thanks, James. I just use a typical aquarium glass scrubbing pad. I also have a MagFox to scrub away in the tight corners or everywhere else between major cleanings.


----------



## parrottbay

Cool thanks and your welcome. hope you caught the home alone reference though lol.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Naw didn't catch that. I was wondering what woof meant? Lol


----------



## parrottbay

Glad we have that understood now. Lol how many tanks do you have running now?


----------



## Chris_Produces

This tank journal has served as much needed inspiration for me, since I'm also running a Sat+ fixture, to try a very nicely colorful planted tank. I was skeptical at first, thought I was going to end up moving to a T5HO fixture. This journal kept me on track though lol. I just purchased my 2nd Sat+ for my 40B and I'm pumped!!!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

parrottbay said:


> Glad we have that understood now. Lol how many tanks do you have running now?


4 at my place, and 2 at my parent's house I setup and maintain. How about you?

Edit: not counting the 2 tanks out of commission in the garage.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Chris_Produces said:


> This tank journal has served as much needed inspiration for me, since I'm also running a Sat+ fixture, to try a very nicely colorful planted tank. I was skeptical at first, thought I was going to end up moving to a T5HO fixture. This journal kept me on track though lol. I just purchased my 2nd Sat+ for my 40B and I'm pumped!!!


Sounds nice! A 40B would sound great for two Sat+ lights! Nice shallower depth to get just enough light, plus more even coverage front and back. Post some pics in the Sat+ Club so we can link to your journal.


----------



## Chris_Produces

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Sounds nice! A 40B would sound great for two Sat+ lights! Nice shallower depth to get just enough light, plus more even coverage front and back. Post some pics in the Sat+ Club so we can link to your journal.


Yeah it def looks better and the plants look great. Now I need to switch my drop checker to a more reliable solution. All I have right now is that white bottle with all the green chinese writing all over it. My DC can be yellow as all get out and the fish won't show any signs of stress. Got to get that API reagent. Posted up on the Sat+ Club.


----------



## dru

Brian_Cali77 said:


> The stand seems as sturdy as ever. I was a little worried because, I'm not sure if you've read back further in my thread, but I had a pretty bad fire in my apartment not too long ago. Sprinkler water got everywhere, including the stand. It wasn't soaked (i think) but there were definite hard water stains by the time I removed my tank and stand. I cleaned everything up, and there was no warping I can see and it looks good as new. I had the stand on blocks to raise it off the floor at my old place. I believe this saved my stand because there's a dark soot water line on those old blocks (apartment was flooded).
> 
> I have since replaced those blocks with Besta legs.. it raises the stand by 5". I was a little concerned about the strength of the legs, but they're solid too. I just inspected my stand now with a flashlight and see no issues.
> 
> Here's a pic as of today (new legs installed):


Oh that is sexy. If they are sturdy those legs seem like a no brainer


----------



## Chris_Produces

Is there a new updated list of all the plants you currently have planted in this tank?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

dru said:


> Oh that is sexy. If they are sturdy those legs seem like a no brainer


Thanks... yes sturdy as my tank is still held up by them (thank goodness). 





Chris_Produces said:


> Is there a new updated list of all the plants you currently have planted in this tank?


Same plants, same setup... rescape in the coming month or two.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

So here's a new development with my 60p. I had to take an emergency leave to the Philippines because my grandma got ill and passed away shortly after. So I was overseas for about a month. I had my GF take care of my tanks, but that didn't work out too well. My CO2 stopped because the regulator somehow came loose off the cylinder and I came home to algae galore and dead plants...



Moreover, our moving to a new place has been delayed for another 2 to 3 months.. I was pretty much going to give up on this tank and start fresh. But instead, I decided to recover it with slight modifications. 

So instead of a full-on rescape, this has become a salvage operation. I'm going to remove the DW, add more stone, and rearrange some of these plants (somewhat). Hopefully I can get these plants healthy again. I'll call this Ver. 2.5. Not yet worthy of Version 3, which will have an all new look and setup. This will probably be shortly after we move. 

But for Ver. 2.5, I'm going to make one notable change, I'm swapping the dual Sat+ for a single Ecoxotic E-Series. For now it will sit directly on the tank. However, my goal, in the not too distant future, is to get the official 'hanging kit' and suspend the E-Series since it has the extra PAR power to do so. I want to have an open top again, and I believe the E-Series will allow me that. At that point, I'll do the full rescape with a frosty opaque white background w/ canister & Lily pipes. Something clean and more minimalistic. We'll see...


----------



## kman

Good luck! Let me know how you get rid of that algae...


----------



## AnotherHobby

Damn that sucks! Salvage operations can be very rewarding though. If you want any donated plants to speed up the processes, let me know. I trim every Sunday.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

kman said:


> Good luck! Let me know how you get rid of that algae...


Thank you. Will do. 


AnotherHobby said:


> Damn that sucks! Salvage operations can be very rewarding though. If you want any donated plants to speed up the processes, let me know. I trim every Sunday.


Yeah it's a challenge and when it recovers it will be an accomplishment. Wow man, I really appreciate the offer of donated plant trimmings. It's just so darn hot in AZ right now, I'm afraid the plants wouldn't survive shipping without cool packs and an insulated box. Too much trouble to put you though. It's cool though, I'll make do with what i have.


----------



## talontsiawd

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah it's a challenge and when it recovers it will be an accomplishment. Wow man, I really appreciate the offer of donated plant trimmings. It's just so darn hot in AZ right now, I'm afraid the plants wouldn't survive shipping without cool packs and an isolated box. Too much trouble to put you though. It's cool though, I'll make do with what i have.


It doesn't matter, they will survive 99% of the time. I can ROAK you some stuff too, PM me, it will be random stuff from my 60P if you need any.


----------



## AnotherHobby

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah it's a challenge and when it recovers it will be an accomplishment.


It's a challenge for sure. You've seen my tank, and how bad I destroyed it last November. It can take a while, but you can totally do it.

Keep your eye on the weather. If you get an opening, let me know. Or, ship it to your work if possible where it won't sit out in your mailbox. Your only risk is $6 worth of shipping.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Sorry to hear about your grandmother! plants bounce back pretty well in the right conditions, i doubt you will have trouble getting things to recover! hack the fissidens to the bone on the tree, that stuff once established grows back very quick and extremely dense. u.g and stem plants should be easily recoverable.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

talontsiawd said:


> It doesn't matter, they will survive 99% of the time. I can ROAK you some stuff too, PM me, it will be random stuff from my 60P if you need any.


Thanks, Matt! I'll keep that in mind. LMK if you ever need something too.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

AnotherHobby said:


> It's a challenge for sure. You've seen my tank, and how bad I destroyed it last November. It can take a while, but you can totally do it.
> 
> Keep your eye on the weather. If you get an opening, let me know. Or, ship it to your work if possible where it won't sit out in your mailbox. Your only risk is $6 worth of shipping.


I'll keep an eye on the weather.. But first, I'm going to see what plants rebound. I already have a bad case of collectoritis. But maybe when I do the full rescape I'll take you up on that if there's a species I'd like to try. By then, the weather in AZ should cool down. I'll be sure to reciprocate that kindness.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> Sorry to hear about your grandmother! plants bounce back pretty well in the right conditions, i doubt you will have trouble getting things to recover! hack the fissidens to the bone on the tree, that stuff once established grows back very quick and extremely dense. u.g and stem plants should be easily recoverable.


I appreciate that! She made it to 101, so she lived a good life. 

You know what.. This is a GREAT idea. I'm going to hack away and keep the DW in here. I really like that piece so it'll be a shame to let it go now. I'll do a lot of cleaning, replanting, and some rearranging today. I'm going to reboot this scape for now.


----------



## talontsiawd

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks, Matt! I'll keep that in mind. LMK if you ever need something too.


I am in need of a nicely scaped 60P to be honest. Maybe once you are done we can swap them out?:red_mouth

For real though, I will wait for the recovery, of course and if something sparks my eye, we will talk.


----------



## Dugsul808

another amazing tank in the forums.


----------



## Down_Shift

Bro. Amen to your grandmother. 

Waiting to see what you have up your sleeve!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

talontsiawd said:


> I am in need of a nicely scaped 60P to be honest. Maybe once you are done we can swap them out?:red_mouth
> 
> For real though, I will wait for the recovery, of course and if something sparks my eye, we will talk.


Haha... It's really not all that nice. But thanks! Yeah just PM me if you see something. 



Dugsul808 said:


> another amazing tank in the forums.


Thank you!  



Down_Shift said:


> Bro. Amen to your grandmother.
> 
> Waiting to see what you have up your sleeve!


I appreciate that. Not much big at this point. I'll post some pics now of the clean-up operation. The tank is looking pretty pitiful at the moment.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*Update Time:*

So I got the new Ecoxotic E-Series the other day. But before I could set it up, I had to really clean-up the tank, cut away algae infested and dead plants. I took the advice of Ach1Ll3sH33L and hacked away A LOT of mini fiss off that DW. Some of the remaining moss on the DW is green while other parts are brown. I hope that it will recover because I really love this branchy DW with the mini fiss on it. 

So here's my new toy. 24" Ecoxotic E-Series fixture. 









FTS with a custom dim setting I created. Tank looks devoid of plants right about now 









Another angle. This time on "Full Spectrum" mode. I know the Eheim Skim 350 is just an eyesore, isn't it? 









Another dim setting I created to view my tank outside the photoperiod. 









Here's another change I made. I got a Nag-Aqua (ADA Knock-Off) Beetle 30mm diffuser. It was truly a PITA to get the tubing over that stem!


















*Some initial thoughts on the E-Series on the 60P:*

Although I really like the light overall, I think I'm just not used to seeing less even light coverage versus my dual Sat+ fixtures. There's a noticeable cutoff in light inside the tank along the back glass. It's completely dark a third down from the top due to the beam angle and relative short distance when the fixture is placed directly on the tank. However, this is quickly remedied when I lift the fixture several inches off the top of the tank. There isn't that much discernible reduction in brightness at the substrate level when I do this. I can only conclude at this point, that the hanging kit will definitely be needed if you want the tank evenly lit from bottom to top, front & back. I believe the hanging kit will be out in a month or two, so I'm going to keep my eye on that rather than DIY rigging up my own. For now, I'll continue to use the fixture as is, since my plants are all low to the substrate anyways.

Now the waiting game as my plants (hopefully) recover. 

Thanks for tuning in!


----------



## OVT

Thank you for the write-up and for being an early adopter. I assume I am not the only one interested in 1 x Exo vs 2 x Sat+ comparison. The spread is a bit of a bummer, especially as i do like a lot of tall stems.

Any comments on the PAR at substrate vs 2 x Sat+?

For raising the fixture off the tank, I used two mounting legs from my Hagen Glo t5 and they work well with Sat+. Might not be the cleanest looking solution, but cheap enough.






v3


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Since I don't have a PAR meter I just go by posted numbers. So I calculate 72 PAR with dual Sat+'s. 105 with the E-Series at the same distance. So if I can suspend this light a bit, I'll have the better spread and an open unobstructed view of the top. I'll also still have enough PAR for my needs. I'm in no rush to suspend the light. I want to first test it as is on the tank, gauge the results. Then by the time the official hanging kit comes out, I think I should be ready for a whole new look with this tank. 

I'm thinking of removing the black background. Switching it to an opaque transparent background. Setup a canister with Lily pipes.. so it would complete the look with the suspended fixture. Clean and minimalistic. 

The spread on the e-Series it's that bad really for a single row of LEDs. It just depends on the application and what your willing to do with the light. For instance, if you had a 60p or similar dimension tank, and your goal was an iwagumi scape, then this light would be perfect. You'll most likely have carpeting plants anyways, or other non-tall species of plants, so you'll be fine. But like you said, with tall stems it might be an issue without creating some distance from the top of those stems. 

I have stems in here now recovering. We'll see how good or bad it is within some weeks.


----------



## umarnasir335

Although the new light LOOKS very pleasing to the eye (very balanced white and blue tone in your pics), I don't understand why they couldn't get this fixture to be at least as powerful as the RAY 2 DS, given as to how much it costs?

Do you think the lesser spread of this new light vs. 2 SAT+s will hurt plant growth?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

The E-Series is more powerful than a Ray 2. Comparing both 24" models, the Ray 2 gets 74 PAR at 12", while the E-Series pulls in 105 PAR at that distance. 

The beam angle from a single E-Series, if that tank is as shallow as my 60p (14" tall) and if you set the fixture on the tank will have some shadowed areas in the upper most part of the tank in the back and front. I see the light cut off about two-thirds up. But if your tank was taller than 14" or if you suspend this fixture, like what I'm doing on my 60F and will do on this tank, that shadowed region would be eliminated or wouldn't matter. 

For what I have planned on this tank, I don't think the spread is a deal breaker. I think the plants should respond well to the increased PAR. I'm hoping to get better color development in my red plants too. If by suspending the light my reduced PAR produces less than desirable results, I don't mind doing an all green nature style or iwagumi scape. 

Don't get me wrong, IMO and IME, I think the Sat+ is a viable option. Dual Sat+ lights are a great if you're not suspending them to squeeze as much PAR out of them possible (with the exception of super shallow tanks, then anything is possible).


----------



## OVT

I hear ya, Brian.
Suspending the light is not practical in my situation and one 100+ PAR t5 tank is plenty for me. Now I am looking more for decent PAR with uniform coverage and good color with LEDs. Worst case, I can put up to 4 Sat+ on a 60P's rim.

In your case, I am curious to see how long it will take you to bracket your new Exo with your 2 Sat+ in your quest for PAR .

I am plant rich, space poor: Feel free to hit me up if your plants take too long to bounce back.

v3


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah that would be insane.. two Sat+'s with an E-Series in the middle bracketed and suspended! 

But it doesn't look bad if you use 1x Sat+ + 1x E-Series if you want more options, higher PAR, and full coverage.

Pictured side-by-side:


----------



## OVT

There you go!
Did not take you long. Now just add the second Sat+ and set a FW record.

It's good to see them side by side - gives me some more ideas. The Exo's narrow depth opens up even more possibilities - stack those guys up!

But then i would need a second job and the one I have right now is a pain enough.

v3


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Just saw and subbed to your cube tank rocking 3x Sat+ fixtures. Man, that's a record right there! I was going to sell one Sat+, might just have to keep both around with "ideas" you're throwing out there. But for now, the Ecoxotic is rolling solo.


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah that would be insane.. two Sat+'s with an E-Series in the middle bracketed and suspended!
> 
> But it doesn't look bad if you use 1x Sat+ + 1x E-Series if you want more options, higher PAR, and full coverage.
> 
> Pictured side-by-side:


Sat+ AND E-Series... now that's an interesting idea. The E-Series comes with it's own ramp timer, too, right?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yessir


----------



## talontsiawd

Thanks for the comparison. The E-Series is way slimmer than I would have thought. Just seeing it alone, I thought it was more like half the width of the Sat + which made me think it was much taller. That is very sleek for what it is.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah it's pretty slim . They're both pretty slim in their different ways. The E-Series is a little taller, but skinnier. The Sat+ is more flat and wide. 

Here's more side by side comparisons.


----------



## talontsiawd

Oh, even better. Yeah, I only saw the Current's out of a box like 2 weeks ago at OVT's house, I didn't know they were that small and flat. Makes my Coralife NO fixture look big and I thought that was pretty sleek looking but that's compared to my huge ass T5HO fixture that could double as a hood for the 60P haha.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

2 sat+ with an E-series in the middle.....*drools


----------



## Brian_Cali77

LOL... okay, now we're talking 175 PAR! And starting to look like a hood [emoji16]


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I think you might have given Current USA's an idea on a new fixture, or at least a fixture that I would want.

1 Sat front - coverage, 
1 Eco - Full spectrum 
1Sat back - coverage

So basically, its white at the side of the fixture for higher spread with the colour leds in the middle. 

You know what would be really awesome? If Current makes 1 fixture but in the same size as your set up above. 

Then add a hinge for the front LED unit to lift up, like a car's hood.

Brian what you think of SS inlet and outlet? Are you a fan of those type of pipes?


----------



## OVT

Brian_Cali77 said:


> LOL... okay, now we're talking 175 PAR! And starting to look like a hood [emoji16]


Ok, I can live with that. You can just slide all 3 back and forward for tank access. Make the ramp timer extendable so one can add / remove fixtures at will. The set up above is hitting $400 territory ... for a $130 tank.

Brian, now your "desert" scape is almost complete - just add some cholla wood and a cow's scull ... LOL

v3


----------



## OVT

Re-name the thread to "Authentic West Arizona Biotope".

v3


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> I think you might have given Current USA's an idea on a new fixture, or at least a fixture that I would want.
> 
> 1 Sat front - coverage,
> 1 Eco - Full spectrum
> 1Sat back - coverage
> 
> So basically, its white at the side of the fixture for higher spread with the colour leds in the middle.
> 
> You know what would be really awesome? If Current makes 1 fixture but in the same size as your set up above.
> 
> Then add a hinge for the front LED unit to lift up, like a car's hood.


Yeah if they can somehow keep the price down on something so robust. 



FlyingHellFish said:


> Brian what you think of SS inlet and outlet? Are you a fan of those type of pipes?


I really like them. Cleaning glassware gets tiresome real quick. I have two sets of glass lilies just collecting dust right now because A.) I'm too lazy to set them up... 2). I don't look forward to the upkeep on them. So if I didn't have those pipes, I'd probably buy some SS ones. But when I rescape this tank, I'm going to bust out the glassware.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

OVT said:


> Ok, I can live with that. You can just slide all 3 back and forward for tank access. Make the ramp timer extendable so one can add / remove fixtures at will. The set up above is hitting $400 territory ... for a $130 tank.


That's mere pocket change to reefers. I know we're planted tank folks, but we can sometimes think big, can't we? 



OVT said:


> Brian, now your "desert" scape is almost complete - just add some cholla wood and a cow's scull ... LOL
> 
> v3





OVT said:


> Re-name the thread to "Authentic West Arizona Biotope".
> 
> v3



Yeah seriously... it's looking quite desolate like the desert around me. It's actually pretty sad really because I grew up and lived in Santa Monica near the beach most of my life. Actually, can't wait to move back! I guess that's why I like surrounding myself with many tanks. If this doesn't start looking lively, I'm not sure how much my patience can hold out. I might have to take AnotherHobby and Matt up on the plant donations. :icon_conf

Speaking of cholla wood, here's what one of our hikes looked like!


----------



## OVT

OVT said:


> I am plant rich, space poor: Feel free to hit me up if your plants take too long to bounce back.


That ^^^


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Cool man.. I missed that part! I'll keep that in mind.


----------



## ConfidentBlue

So jealous! Still trying to decide which fixture for myself!!! Ahh


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Bserve

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah seriously... it's looking quite desolate like the desert around me. It's actually pretty sad really because I grew up and lived in Santa Monica near the beach most of my life. Actually, can't wait to move back! I guess that's why I like surrounding myself with many tanks.



I live near SaMo and I still surround myself with tanks.. :>


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Bserve said:


> I live near SaMo and I still surround myself with tanks.. :>


Yeah I don't blame you. Do you visit nature aquarium often? I really like that little shop! I miss going to Catalina for some SCUBA too!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

A little late night viewing with the default moonlight mode on the E-Series. 

It makes the substrate look like the surface of mars! 










And my fish super vibrant -- no Photoshop, straight from the camera.










Another interesting thing I discovered is that if I dose Fe right after I dose my macros, particularly PO4, they bind and create a cloudy tank. I thought I had a bacterial bloom for a second. Anyways, it cleared up after several hours. But it made kind of a nice haze, like a late night fog had rolled in, with beams of LED light poking through.


----------



## Bserve

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah I don't blame you. Do you visit nature aquarium often? I really like that little shop! I miss going to Catalina for some SCUBA too!



I used to go every weekend but have only been like twice since I took down the tank in the spring.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

It's only been *3 weeks* having the e-series on my 60p, but growth is taking place! The recovery effort is turning out successful so far. 


*Before and After Shot: *


----------



## Brian_Cali77

New resident!!!

Crowntail Betta... He's like a Blood-Orange Color, which I thought would look cool in here. My GF doesn't really like it... but I got bored and picked him up for now. I can always rehome him in another tank if I feel he doesn't fit in...LOL


----------



## Bserve

Wow those colors


----------



## talontsiawd

Recovery effort looks like it's paying off well. Vast improvement so far.


----------



## mythin

Wow thats gonna look nice once it matures, great hardscape, is that ohko rock or whatever its called, it looks nice


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Bserve said:


> Wow those colors


Yeah the RGB's help with the "pop," depending on the setting.roud:



talontsiawd said:


> Recovery effort looks like it's paying off well. Vast improvement so far.


Thanks, Matt... still got some ways to go... but it's looking like its on the right track so far. 



mythin said:


> Wow thats gonna look nice once it matures, great hardscape, is that ohko rock or whatever its called, it looks nice


Thank you, sir! Yup... Ohko indeed!


----------



## frrok

Looks great man. Betta is so pretty. Reds look good under that light!


----------



## AnotherHobby

Looking great! Are the RGB's any brighter on the new light, or are the same as the CSP? I know the whites are a lot brighter, just wasn't sure about the RGB part.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

frrok said:


> Looks great man. Betta is so pretty. Reds look good under that light!


Thanks, frrok! The betta is interesting to me. Just because I never really cared for them before. But i like how he acts all tough because he sees his reflection. The light can really affect colors.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

AnotherHobby said:


> Looking great! Are the RGB's any brighter on the new light, or are the same as the CSP? I know the whites are a lot brighter, just wasn't sure about the RGB part.


Thanks! I think the rgbs are brighter but yes, the whites are even more brighter so the difference in color modes is very subtle at full strength. You'd have to turn down the white channel in order to see more drastic changes in color on the level of the CSP's. But although the color from the RGB's are drowned out a bit, I believe the benefit is still there in terms of providing the plants the full spectrum and providing just enough pop so the colors in the tank aren't drab or washed out (i.e. the Ray 2 effect).


----------



## Lyfeoffishing

Hey brain!!!

Nice tank once again lol. Btw what is that red plant in the mid ground on the right? I need to add some color to my tank and that plant looks cool


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Lyfeoffishing said:


> Hey brian!!!
> 
> Nice tank once again lol. Btw what is that red plant in the mid ground on the right? I need to add some color to my tank and that plant looks cool


Thanks, man! It's alternanthera reineckii mini.


----------



## kman

Hey Brian, I may have asked you this before, but it has become relevant again:

What kind of paint did you use to paint the back panel black? I'm getting tired of the temporary paper background I used (as my wife veto'd the paint idea initially), and I think my wife is adequately accustomed to the black background at this point so I could switch to the more permanent (and cleaner) solution.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

It's not paint.. It's actually this stuff 

Con-Tact Brand Self-Adhesive Chalkboard Liner, 18-Inch by 6-Feet:Amazon:Home & Kitchen


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> It's not paint.. It's actually this stuff
> 
> Con-Tact Brand Self-Adhesive Chalkboard Liner, 18-Inch by 6-Feet:Amazon:Home & Kitchen


Bad link for some reason; maybe this one will work for people:

Amazon.com - Con-Tact Brand Self-Adhesive Chalkboard Liner, 18-Inch by 6-Feet - Chalkboard Contact Paper

So... the _sticky_ side is black? I wouldn't have expected that. Just stick it on and trim with a razor?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah sticky side is black. I measured and cut prior. Then use an old credit card to push out any air pockets that get trapped while applying. Good thing about this method is that there's no sticky residue when you remove it. 

For the opaque frosty backgrounds, I also use contact paper. But the clear one, which has some opacity.


----------



## kman

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah sticky side is black. I measured and cut prior. Then use an old credit card to push out any air pockets that get trapped while applying. Good thing about this method is that there's no sticky residue when you remove it.
> 
> For the opaque frosty backgrounds, I also use contact paper. But the clear one, which has some opacity.


Straight into the cart, sez I!


----------



## daworldisblack

kman said:


> Bad link for some reason; maybe this one will work for people:
> 
> Amazon.com - Con-Tact Brand Self-Adhesive Chalkboard Liner, 18-Inch by 6-Feet - Chalkboard Contact Paper
> 
> So... the _sticky_ side is black? I wouldn't have expected that. Just stick it on and trim with a razor?


Seems it'd be similar to applying vinyl to aquarium. I did a vid on it a while back if it helps:


----------



## kman

daworldisblack said:


> Seems it'd be similar to applying vinyl to aquarium. I did a vid on it a while back if it helps: How to apply vinyl background to an Aquarium - YouTube


Yup, that's the process I was referring to.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

*Week 5 Update - Grown entirely with a single E-Series!*

Okay, so it's been *5 weeks* so far and the recovery has been successful. The UG is filling back in and almost fully carpeted the foreground. The AR mini went from super tiny nubs to nice full development in leaf size and color. The R. Macrandra is developing more red. The Blyxa Japonica in increasing in size and has a side-shoot already. While the Rotala Rotundifolia is growing the fastest in this tank, it's still on the green side. There's slight color development. I've read this plant can be tricky in getting it red. Oh well, I don't really care...I'll give it some time and see how the tips get after a few trimmings and replantings. Also, I think the Rotala Magenta isn't looking all that nice. I might get rid of it soon if it doesn't start looking better soon.

On a side note, not with the plants but with the substrate. I'm starting to notice is this blackish gunk that's developing in the substrate that you can see through the glass. I'm not sure what it is? I stirred it away with a hypodermic needle 2 weeks ago and it disappeared. It reappeared and looks slightly worse. So yesterday I injected it with some H2O2 to see if it's some type of algae. It bubbled up a lot so it might be doing something. I'm going to keep at it until it looks clean again. But it is apparent that this is a disadvantage to using a light colored substrate such as Africana versus Amazonia, which would be better at concealing discoloration like this and mulm/detritus. 

*Well here are the update pics. *





































*Check out the PEARLING on the Rotala!* :icon_smil









Red developing more in the R. Macrandra (plus pearling!):


----------



## mythin

Wow, great recovery, i love the moss on the drift wood, looking good


----------



## Lyfeoffishing

Beautiful recovery on your tank man. Hope it keeps growing for you!!! 

On another note how are you liking the ecoxitic light so far?

55 gallon community


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## daworldisblack

Wow its really looking good as it progresses!


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## Brian_Cali77

mythin said:


> Wow, great recovery, i love the moss on the drift wood, looking good


Thank you! 


Lyfeoffishing said:


> Beautiful recovery on your tank man. Hope it keeps growing for you!!!
> 
> On another note how are you liking the ecoxitic light so far?
> 
> 55 gallon community


Thank you. I'm really enjoying this light so far. It has some added features my Sat+'s didn't. But as a light sitting on the tank, I think they're about equal because they both have pros and cons. Dual Sat+'s had better even coverage and more noticeable color control, but blocked a good amount of top view and less PAR overall (why I needed duals and for them to be as close to substrate as possible). The E-Series looks better on top of the tank because it's so skinny. But the true test is to see how well it'll still grow plants suspended a bit. It has the extra power, so it should deliver. Just waiting to see what Ecoxotic's official 'hanging kit' looks like to make a decision on which direction to take this. But for now, I'm in no hurry. Plants are continually filling in and making progress in color. 


daworldisblack said:


> Wow its really looking good as it progresses!


Thank you. I hope to get it filled in nicely and to trim & shape it better. It's getting there.


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## Brian_Cali77

So comparing this shot of the rotala a few days ago, with one from today... I'm starting to see some coloration in the tips!!! So when the rotala hits the surface, I'll trim them and replant... I'm hoping that the red will continue to develop in this plant


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## Brian_Cali77

*Week 6 Update*

So it's now *Week 6 *and the tank is filling in. UG carpet is almost back to full foreground coverage. Blyxa is getting big! I've been doing a little trim here and there to propagate the stems. I also removed chunks of mini fissidens off the DW. I'm going to shape it into a bonzai looking tree or something. 

Here's the 6 week progression. 










FTS by itself:









Close-up of the DW and mini fiss. As you can see, I'm getting the green fuzz algae in it. I'm not sure how to take this stuff out! Guess the lighting is too strong being that this is right under the E-Series. Oh well. I might get some Amano Shrimp soon and see if they help. 









Really nice compact growth out of the Star. Repens (Tropica 49):









It's snowing!!! 









Any comments appreciated. Thanks for following along this (recovery) journey.


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## Dantrasy

Looks very nice. i wish i could get fiss to grow like that. 

Just a small thing, but i find the stems behind the dw a little distracting. They take something away for the flow of the dw as they pop up in the gaps. i move them and keep them low. 

the fiss'ed up dw is awesome and imo deserves to be an uninterrupted focal point.


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## Down_Shift

wow bri the fiss on the wood made a huge jump from week 1 and 3.. amazing


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## AnotherHobby

Excellent recovery Brian! Your tank is looking really nice again! 

We've both nursed our tanks back from death.


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## ADAtank

Everything looks really good.


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## talontsiawd

Great recovery so far. Looks much better. That UG came a long way.


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## kman

Gorgeous.  Yet another reason why I really need to think about tearing down my tank and rebooting it. My algae is getting out of control...


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## Brian_Cali77

Dantrasy said:


> Looks very nice. i wish i could get fiss to grow like that.
> 
> Just a small thing, but i find the stems behind the dw a little distracting. They take something away for the flow of the dw as they pop up in the gaps. i move them and keep them low.
> 
> the fiss'ed up dw is awesome and imo deserves to be an uninterrupted focal point.


Thanks.. interesting point. Should I move the DW all the way to the back and fill in the front of it with the rotala macrandra, but keep it short?


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## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> wow bri the fiss on the wood made a huge jump from week 1 and 3.. amazing


Thanks.. I just keep getting this green fuzzy algae in it. I don't know how to fix it. Do your cool yellow flesh snails eat algae? Haha


AnotherHobby said:


> Excellent recovery Brian! Your tank is looking really nice again!
> 
> We've both nursed our tanks back from death.


Thanks, bro... You were right about how rewarding it would be to recover it rather than just give up and start again from scratch. Your tank is always looking so pristine. It's amazing how high tech it is.


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## Down_Shift

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks.. I just keep getting this green fuzzy algae in it. I don't know how to fix it. Do your cool yellow flesh snails eat algae? Haha
> 
> Thanks, bro... You were right about how rewarding it would be to recover it rather than just give up and start again from scratch. Your tank is always looking so pristine. It's amazing how high tech it is.



They do! They basically will eat anything. I am keeping them fed so they don't decide on eating stuff I don't want dead lol!!

Scrape it off with a knife? I has that weird fuzzy sfuff before. I left it. Kinda looked natural haha


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## Brian_Cali77

ADAtank said:


> Everything looks really good.


Thank you!


talontsiawd said:


> Great recovery so far. Looks much better. That UG came a long way.


Thanks, Matt. Hope your tanks get to where you're happy with them. I'm excited for your 12L and Sat+ combo. If I didn't have a 60F already, I'd be adding the 12L for sure. I'll just live vicariously through your build! 


kman said:


> Gorgeous.  Yet another reason why I really need to think about tearing down my tank and rebooting it. My algae is getting out of control...


Ah man... i hate algae! I need to catch up on your thread and see what's going on there. I wonder why you're getting algae. I'm also dealing with some green fuzzy crap in my mini fiss.


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## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> They do! They basically will eat anything. I am keeping them fed so they don't decide on eating stuff I don't want dead lol!!
> 
> Scrape it off with a knife? I has that weird fuzzy sfuff before. I left it. Kinda looked natural haha


What are those snails called again? Do they reproduce in your tank? They don't lay unsightly white eggs everywhere like nerite snails do they?


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## Down_Shift

Brian_Cali77 said:


> What are those snails called again? Do they reproduce in your tank? They don't lay unsightly white eggs everywhere like nerite snails do they?



Poso yellow rabbit snails

They come in different colors as well. 
Don't think they lay eggs. They reproduce very very slowly compared to nerites.


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## Brian_Cali77

Experimenting:


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## Dantrasy

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Thanks.. interesting point. Should I move the DW all the way to the back and fill in the front of it with the rotala macrandra, but keep it short?


perhaps just move the stems left a bit. the macrandra looks nice and red. is there another stem there to the left of the macrandra? looks like ludwigia repens. that stem is a bit too dark coloured, mixes in with the colour of the dw too much imo. so really, all i'm suggesting is shift the dark coloured stems.


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## Nathan.G

Hi Brian, just got the link to ur journal from anotherhobby, took about a week to get through it. as i was reading and u showed the pic of the fire. i remember seeing it on the news. It made this big world seem a little smaller. You said something about liking shrimp, I currently have a small herd of cherries if u are interested also i am horrible at plant names but if u see any in my profile pics u like there yours. I live in the valley and can hand deliver ,maybe make a trade?

also i shop at aqua touch, i bought 3 bags of the 9L amazonia for cheaper than i could get them shipped. Just a thought


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## Brian_Cali77

Hey Nathan.. crazy you recall seeing my calamity unfold a bit on the news. Luckily it could have been much worse. 

Anyways, I have PFR shrimp so no need for RCS. But thanks! Any other species? 

AquaTouch is definitely a nice shop. Probably the best in and around Phoenix. There's supposedly a better planted tank LFS in Tucson. Forgot the name. Last time I checked, my ADA AS was cheaper shipped from AFA than it would have been purchased at AT. Glad you got the bags less here. I wonder if they dropped their price or if AFA increased there's?

I'll PM you on plants.


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## Nathan.G

i bought em less than a year ago and they were like 70 a bag

Im on the fence about something and I'm hoping u could give a little insight, Im torn on lights. I have 4t5ho with individual reflectors over a 40b and need new lights so I'm about to pull the trigger on some BML 10k and 63k any thoughts?


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## mythin

If you dont have any shrimp in the tank yet, i recommend algae fix, it was the only thing I used that took 100% care of my spirogyra algae, if thats what you have, id use it. I couldnt even kill it with black outs or cranking co2. Safe for fish, maybe not so much for snails/shrimp.


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## Brian_Cali77

Nathan.G said:


> i bought em less than a year ago and they were like 70 a bag
> 
> Im on the fence about something and I'm hoping u could give a little insight, Im torn on lights. I have 4t5ho with individual reflectors over a 40b and need new lights so I'm about to pull the trigger on some BML 10k and 63k any thoughts?


Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I think the BML is a fantastic choice! I would have went that route if I didn't like the ramp function and FX that's all baked into these E-Series lights. I personally enjoy the flexibility and control RGB LEDs give you. I know that the BML's can be controlled somewhat with a separate controller purchase. But I think the overall cost with that makes the E-Series more appealing, IMO.

Bump:


mythin said:


> If you dont have any shrimp in the tank yet, i recommend algae fix, it was the only thing I used that took 100% care of my spirogyra algae, if thats what you have, id use it. I couldnt even kill it with black outs or cranking co2. Safe for fish, maybe not so much for snails/shrimp.


Yeah I do have algaefix on hand. I think I'll try a session of that soon to see if it can kill off some of the green fuzz algae.


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## Down_Shift

damn dude i want your light =X


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## Brian_Cali77

Down_Shift said:


> damn dude i want your light =X


Are you hinting that you'll be getting one soon? Haha


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## Nathan.G

Are u seeing better growth from 1 e series than u did with 2 of the sat+


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## Drift Monkey

Brian_Cali77 said:


> 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.


Lol, this is a pic of my setup before I filled it. :hihi: It's not a planted tank though.


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## Andrew H

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Hey Nathan.. crazy you recall seeing my calamity unfold a bit on the news. Luckily it could have been much worse.
> 
> Anyways, I have PFR shrimp so no need for RCS. But thanks! Any other species?
> 
> AquaTouch is definitely a nice shop. Probably the best in and around Phoenix. There's supposedly a better planted tank LFS in Tucson. Forgot the name. Last time I checked, my ADA AS was cheaper shipped from AFA than it would have been purchased at AT. Glad you got the bags less here. I wonder if they dropped their price or if AFA increased there's?
> 
> I'll PM you on plants.


 Arizona Nature Aquatics. Very cool we have such an awesome shop in town.



Nathan.G said:


> Are u seeing better growth from 1 e series than u did with 2 of the sat+


Curious to see the answer.

EDIT - Scrolled through your thread. Better growth but not as much coverage. You said something earlier about running the two Sat+ lights and how it'd be enough light for what you wanted and you wouldn't have to worry about blinding light from a more powerful light. Still feel the same? Have a 60p that I want to set up and I'm torn between running your previous set up or just getting something else with more par. But now I'm kind of leaning towards the dual light set up to get better coverage and since you were able to grow the same types of plants I want, I believe it may be my best option.


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## Trnt

I came across your thread while looking for a stand for my Mr Aqua 17.1, a 60p clone if I am not mistaken, and I had a feeling that I had seen your layout before. Low and behold that it was your youtube video of the Ramp timer in action that I was remembering. Thanks for the video! Sold me on one instantly. 

How is your besta stand holding up by the way? Is this the one you have?

I saw that you had an apartment fire a while back, I'm sorry to hear that- my house burnt down when I was a kid in the middle of the night. No one was hurt thankfully, although we did lose a boston terrier. Having a house fire definitely gives you a bit of a different perspective on material goods. I'm glad you were safe.


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## Brian_Cali77

Trnt said:


> I came across your thread while looking for a stand for my Mr Aqua 17.1, a 60p clone if I am not mistaken, and I had a feeling that I had seen your layout before. Low and behold that it was your youtube video of the Ramp timer in action that I was remembering. Thanks for the video! Sold me on one instantly.
> 
> How is your besta stand holding up by the way? Is this the one you have?
> 
> I saw that you had an apartment fire a while back, I'm sorry to hear that- my house burnt down when I was a kid in the middle of the night. No one was hurt thankfully, although we did lose a boston terrier. Having a house fire definitely gives you a bit of a different perspective on material goods. I'm glad you were safe.


That's cool you remember my tank from YouTube. Glad my video was helpful to you. I appreciate your sympathy about the fire. It was quite an experience, luckily I didn't lose anything irreplaceable. 

BTW, welcome to the 60p club. It's a fantastic footprint and offers plenty of scape potential, ADA or Mr. Aqua variant makes no difference. And yes, that's the Ikea Besta Cabinet I use. At first I did it ghetto style by using cinder blocks to elevate the stand in a study yet inexpensive way. Ironically, this saved my stand from flood damage from the fire. To this day, my tank and Ikea Besta combo are still going strong. Only change I made was adding the Besta legs to elevate the stand off the ground. Works and looks great.


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