# ADA 60P|MicMol AquaMini X2| PurpleMonkeyDishwasher



## FlyingHellFish

Hi, this is my new ADA 60P. I call the scape, Purple Monkey Dishwasher

*List:*
ADA 60P
AquaSoil 9L
Ryuoh Stones

*Filter:*
Eheim Classic 250 

*Co2:*
Matheson 3122 custom build / 2 outputs

*Stand: *
Ikea something 

I'm pumped, 


_Setup with stand:_
You think this can hold up 18 gallons? 









_Lighting - 10 bucks:_
I'll switch them out if they are not enough, 23 watt CFL bulbs.









Looks decent, super cheap too.









_My DIY garden mat:_
It's a non slip bathroom mat.









Again, do you think this can hold up a ADA 60P, Soil, Rocks?









_The stuff inside:_









My beloved Matheson 3122, the best conversation starter. Disregard the rubber bands, will come up with something better. A string or some bubble gum maybe. 










I did this with Flourite Black and Paintball Co2, hopefully I can do better. 









And this











*"Journal too long, just show me the pictures"*

Here ya go:

Dates according to Imgur's upload time.

1st scape 7months ago

HC Cuba carpet with DHG as back up (I had doubts about HC)


















2nd look 5 months ago


















3rd look 4 months ago
Bob Ross approves of the tank

























4th look 3 months ago

















5th look 2 weeks ago
New MicMol leds, I switch to Glosso mid way


















Feb 15th
My first gloss trimming, I'm in need of quality scissors. 









March 15th
White LED on, Blue/Colour off









March 26th









Miscellaneous garbage.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

besta ikea furniture, it can hold the weight just fine. Just be sure to keep water off of it, if left it will start to lift the 'laminate'. Ikea also makes a smaller version of that.. that just so happens to be the exact width of the 60p


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Is there anyway to prevent that? They sell a glass cover but I don't know, would that be alright? 

Has anyone try the Besta desk? It's basically half of what I got. I thought it would be too weak for a 60P. I was thinking the middle support beam would be a better choice.


----------



## h4n

Looks like your off to a ncie start!
Thats a nice red co2 tank! where did you get that lol?
And $10 for the light fixture thats cheap! Where?


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Is there anyway to prevent that? They sell a glass cover but I don't know, would that be alright?
> 
> Has anyone try the Besta desk? It's basically half of what I got. I thought it would be too weak for a 60P. I was thinking the middle support beam would be a better choice.


It works fine, but you would probably enjoy more cabinet space. The tank should be on a mat so using that glass below it should be fine if you do this.


----------



## xcooperx

nice tank!!!!! xbox fan boy, lol jk


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> It works fine, but you would probably enjoy more cabinet space. The tank should be on a mat so using that glass below it should be fine if you do this.


What table is that? Is that a 60 P as well?

@h4n 

That what they sell local here in Toronto, I would prefer an aluminum one rather than the steel. It is really heavy when filled. I rather trade it for a silver colour one.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

this is it
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00134052/#/50102157

the tank is the mr aqua 17.7 gallon, same dimensions as the 60p if im not mistaken
theres a ps3 on the other side.. lol but it never gets used


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ OMG you serious? They told me to get the one with the middle support. Which is basically two of them fused together. 

How long has that tank been up? I see you added those legs, was it just for look or does it help? 

Speaking of fan boys, I too am one. All of them.


----------



## GMYukonon24s

Nice setup!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I installed the glossy glass top which were 20 dollars. They came with those sticker glued on both side. It's a very nice system they have, you can use a knife to cut the stickers to remove the top. I really hope this top doesn't crack. The ikea product specialist (uhm ok?) said it was fine. I told him I was using a mat under the tank, he said even better. 










Trying out Seachem's new line. I love the bottles! Seachem is going all Apple on us and it's working on me. Hint: You can use reuse the bottles for DIY dry fertilizers. God knows it's looks better than a tub of white powder in them. 










First few splashes of water in the tank for funies. 










This is what I end up with, I still have about 1 - 2 L of AquaSoil. Not bad compared to other substrates. 










Anyone know what this is on the Ruyoh rocks? I know it be used, but what plant is this? 










I just don't want some sort of crazy algae. It looks like HC Cuba close up, I can see small leafs, maybe 3 - 4 around a circle.


----------



## rasbora

I'd say mini pellia, but its awfully light colored if it is.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

The holes have been drilled! I also upgraded to a 2215, thinking maybe the flow would be better. Not sure if that was a smart move though, might be a bit too much flow. 

Here is what left of the back, a simple drill and a holes bit cut a nice circle. 









Need to sand the edges down to make it neat.










A crazy funky four way reflection of the lights. 










I'm trying to think of a way to place the Ryuoh stones on a support beam, I don't want them "moving" if I bump into them while trimming. How do people place their stones? Just on the Aquasoil?


----------



## Kai808

Nice tank! I've been wanting a 60p for my next tank and hopefully with my birthday, Father's Day, and my wedding anniversary this year I'll get one. lol 

Now for your stone support issues... I think the problem you are running into is having too little substrate to hold up the stones. It looks like you have 1/2 inch in the front and 2 inches in the back. I think you can add some more to support it, maybe end up with 2 inches in front and 4 or 5 inches in the back. After that push the stones into position and add more AS around it for more support. Sometimes when I don't want to waste the AS, I add other stones underneath the AS to boost it up. Other people put bags of inert rock under the substrate to raise the slope. Basically do whatever it takes as long as the final support is hidden and doesn't affect the water parameters.

I hope this helps and Happy Scaping!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Kai808 said:


> Nice tank! I've been wanting a 60p for my next tank and hopefully with my birthday, Father's Day, and my wedding anniversary this year I'll get one. lol


 Hopefully you do get one, with so many occasions you might end up with 90P instead. 

Thanks for the advice, I got another tub full of Aquasoil. The 9L Size was a lot more than I expected for the 60 P.


I have a huge centre rock that I want to lend to one size but I'm scared it will fall over and then BANG..... water everywhere!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Added the rocks minus the HUGE rock that I'm scared will tip over. For instance, once wet, how can Aqua Soil support such a massive Ryuoh rock? I want it on an angle like what Amano does but I'm not sure how? Does he just will it into place with a stern look, follow by the equivalent of "rocks do not move" in japanese? 










I'm also a bit worried that the middle rock will contrast once wet, it was a bit dark under the water. I got all the rocks (minus the big one) from the same source. 










I also got some clear tubing for the Eheim 2215 but can't bare to use their Out/In pipes. Green must be a mighty popular colour in Germany. Speaking of Germany quality made products, the Eheim are made in China. When did this happen? Regardless of the fact, the filter felt extremely well crafted. Maybe they just sent a bunch of Germans to Chinese factories.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Time for planting.


----------



## drewsuf82

I can't wait to see this fill in


----------



## shift

Good start! I cant wait to see it planted


----------



## FlyingHellFish

To Dry Start or Not to Dry Start, that is the question.


----------



## Couesfanatic

lets see the huge rock, I think those rocks are too small.


----------



## synaethetic

Rocks are small, combine them all closer or use larger ones.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

The rock in the middle is the big rock I was talking about.....how big do you guys usually go?


----------



## Mantis992

FlyingHellFish said:


> The rock in the middle is the big rock I was talking about.....how big do you guys usually go?


Go big or go home


----------



## hydrophyte

That looks like a great start! You do need bigger stones, but maybe you should just go ahead and plant it. For your version 2.0 maybe you can get more hardscape with bigger rocks.


----------



## Archstone

Good looks at a reasonable price. I like how you can see all your high tech equipment without opening the door. I hope the lights are enough for whatever you're planning to grow? Where did you get them?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I got the lights at Ikea for 10 dollars each, I'm trying to grow some HC Cuba carpet and maybe DHG too. I filled the tank with water already so I'll snap some shots of the rocks again. It's not that small, in my opinion, you get a sense of a larger of scape with smaller rocks. Besides, any bigger and I'm scared my clumsy hands made tip it over.



I left the Co2 running at around 3 - 4 bps near the output, some of the HC is pearling but at a slow pace. I got a mix of top grown and submerged HC, going to test which gives me a better result if Co2 is not limiting.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Couldn't help it, the asian side of me had to throw some neon lights in the stand.










Plant selection is almost non existence right now so I'm waiting to pick up some better plants when they come in. Going to grab some clear out/in pipes too.


----------



## CPDzeke

Haha! I'm loving it, great scape, very clean!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I need some suggestions for lights, fellas. T5HO 2 or 4 ? LEDs?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Took a chance on the Aquatic Life T5HO 2X24W, I must say, totally disappointed. Great box, terrible build quality. 


















Everything was great at the start, you take them out, then you turn on the light and... hmmm not so great. 

Like... this.... 










And these screws that were broken at the end.... come'on.... 










But hold on a second FHF, it's the inside that counts right? Well, that depends, you got 6500K and a red tube that gives you this - 










No thanks. It looks really red and yeah I dig the colour red but not this much. Returned with no hassle, so big up to BigAl's. May he enjoy many more years of eating whatever makes him big.

But for now... it's IKEA lights until I find some good fixtures. All pics are done with my iPhone 4, I'm poor, I don't have a camera. 









====








====








====








====








====


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Devilish of a plant this thing is. It's growing in purple and I think it might be some kind of algae or maybe I'm going colour blind.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Trying to find more red plants, let me know some good colour plants.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Getting a Finnex Ray 2 , price was just too good to past up. But, I think these CFL cheap lights output a ton of light. You can raise it up, down, point it to parts of the tank. I'll do a comparison when I get the Finnex but man, these things are pretty bright.










====

The iPhone 4 has a weird way of reducing ambient lighting, way brighter in real life.










Glossy glass....everyone likes glossy anything.


----------



## shift

*ADA 60P - Purple Monkey Dishwasher*

I just got a finex fugeray for the chi tank. Awesome little light. You will like it


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Did you get the finex Ray 2? If so, where did you get it? There a distributor in Ontario, is there one in BC too?


----------



## shift

I got the finnex fugeray 10"  They are in ontario, but it showed up in a day or two.. was pretty good


----------



## FlyingHellFish

So after nearly a month.... 










Ammonium and Ammonia is a solid Green. Kind of want to start adding Fish but can't until this ADA AquaSoil leeches out.


----------



## oldpunk78

More water changes.


----------



## sumer

Its been 4 months since my 60-P has water in it and I still do WC every 3rd day. Dont let your tank sit with less plants. Algae can find its way.
The best practice is to enter with as many plants as you can. 
Lets us know how did you find the new seachem line.


----------



## Soup12

for an ada tank - get a finnex led for a clean look or the ada aquasky.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Got the Alternanthera Reineckii "Pink" to literary pump o2 bubbles from it's stems and leaves (leafs, whatever) so I'm thinking lighting is ok. Did a video of it yesterday but it's horrible quality. Decease or increase the volume, depending on how cool you are. I'm not sure if embedded youtube video is allow, I guess I'll find out.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

More plants you say? MOAR!














































I should of thought this out before hand, adding plants to Aquasoil kicks up a lot of dust. By the way, how do you fix curling leaves?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

May 21:








May 28:









Did some trimming and replanting of a few of the plants. The main ones I chop were the Alternathera and Blyxa japonica. The Blyxa japonica was shedding all it's leaves, I was warned about this from the seller. It's now growing new ones and adapting very nicely. The Alternathera Reineckii is a monster! Every day it would have new roots and new stems, I chop off a few and replanted them. It hates me now with a passion now. 










I added a UVB, full spectrum, something something from a free turtle kit. I'm experimenting with different light spectrum before I make the jump to LED's. 

Oh and I added 3 lamp eye babies from my Fluval Edge to the tank. It took me forever to catch these guys.


----------



## thelub

Looks great! I don't see why that stand won't do the trick especially with that center support there. Ikea furniture is actually pretty sturdy for flat box furniture.

IME It takes a pretty serious 'bang' to break aquarium glass. I've had concrete paver bricks fall over and knock the glass with a corner with no incident. Putting a mesh bag of pebbles under a large rock is a pretty good idea. I have to say I'm quite jealous of that epic carpet you had going there.

*edit*
SO I posted this without noticing there were 2 more pages. Those aren't 'broken' screws. They're self taping screws. The end acts like a drill bit so it will bite and screw itself in.


----------



## KenRC51

What is that you plug in you co2 tubing as a diffuse?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Cig filter... works just as good as atomzier. Filter is made of cellulose.


----------



## difrent7

Silly question for your FlyingHellFish but how do you have the tertial lamps mounted to that stand? Doesn't look like it has a proper lip on it for you to tighten the lamps and looks like you dont have it screwed in either.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

There is a lip in the back.


----------



## difrent7

Ah tricked me. I am finding a way to attach mine without needing to drill into my stand since it doesn't have a proper lip.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

There are pre drill holes you can use, did you get the same lights too? Can't go wrong for 10 dollars a pop,  

By the way, don't get anything higher than 23 - 26 watt bulb. Anything higher and the bulb sticks out and it looks awful.


----------



## difrent7

Yeah I have had the same light for a while, my tank is next to my bed I have it on my headboard for now but looks awful and the desk that my tank is on doesn't have a lip to attached it to. I might just get a piece of wood and shove it behind the stand and drill into it but not sure yet. I have a 13 watt bulb in it and works great as additional lighting on my Fluval Spec V especially for the price it looks great as is very functional!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Finally got the Ammonia to go down, all it took was 2 solid months. Added 3 former skinny Otos cat, they are now sporting beer bellies. Also had to move one dwarf puffer, he was getting bully by the vastly smaller puffer.


----------



## John Simpson

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Cig filter... works just as good as atomzier. Filter is made of cellulose.


really?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Try it out and thank me after


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Otos Cat still alive and getting fat, the 3 fry lamp eye killi are getting bigger, dwarf puffer still won't eat blood worms but is fat for some reason. 










They all hate the camera.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

An Otos died, no idea what happen. Could be an overdose of KNo3, likely dosed too much after the water change. Water Parameters are a bit strange compare to my Fluval Edges. ADA AquaSoil stop leaking Ammonia, dosed more KNo3 resulted in a dead Otos the next day. 

My Nitrate went from 40ppm, down to 5ppm in one night. No Ammonia, no Nitrite was detected. Fixed my curling leaves by raising the lights and adding more SeaChem Envy (trace + micro) , will monitor conditions more closely. 

Dwarf puffer has grown since being in the tank, no idea what he is eating but he is no longer small. 

3 Killi fish fry have grown much larger despite not eating crushed flakes, maybe they prefer Co2 bubbles as a diet. 

Blue Green Algae has shown it's ugly face on the carpet, been cutting off portions of HC Cuba to slow the growth. No longer will raise KNo3 to 40ppm, will raise it to 10 ppm and monitor again tomorrow. 

Old leaves on stem plants were cut to promote new growth, new leaves look healthy, will continue this process.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

:bounce:









===








===








===








===


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Added Purgien to the filter, 100ml in a bag. 

Alternanthera Reineckii "Pink" roseafolia is giving me weird colours. It is no longer the bright green with purple underside hues, it's now a wine red and purple rain - The Artist formerly known as Prince - purple.










I want the old colour back, not this crazy neon purple.

UhHhHhh


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Another plant went purple too..

















HC Carpet is looking worse, I used Hydrogen Peroxide while brushing the stems and it was a totally bad idea. I end up melting some of them and breaking the stems of the other. Growth is still good, just got to deal with some weird string brown algae.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I should start a plant deficiency blog, because I think at one point I got all of them. I wanted brighter colours and bigger leaves but my plants look really unhealthy. 










Q's

1.Is KH 6 too high of a value? 
2.How does one know when to use RO water? 
3.Why are roots growing at the stem and growing OUT of the ADA AquaSoil? Is this because of shallow substrate?


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

If you did an h202 flash on the tank, some plants might melt a little bit, this will often show in the first week after. It looks like you have a lack of c02(old leaves falling off), remember as your tank grows in, and your plant mass increases, so to does the c02 demand. often when I first set up a tank, I find myself slowly increasing the c02 once a week to make sure im meeting the c02 demand of the plants as the demand increases. This is a good reason to wait for livestock, its easy at this point to over do the c02, but even easier to under dose. 

Kh of 6 is fine, if you want to lower it then you can mix 50/50 ro and tap to bring it down.

Whats the gh? it helps to get a city water report, you may have a good gh count, with plenty of calcium, but lacking magnesium, you can try dosing mgs04 for a week and see if things improve. Just remember to do one thing at a time. try increasing the c02, give the tank a week or 2 to respond, and go from there. make sure your dosing good amounts of npk and micros and that should rule out most nutrient issues.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I was messing around with fertilizers and here are the results, my conclusion is at the end. 











5 days ago, Narcosis of the leaf blade, curling of the leaves. 










Today, Narcosis is still present, curling has improved.










Various stages of "older" leaves I trimmed, all from different stems. 










Curling was fixed, no idea how.










Start of photo period.










One hour into photo period.










Smaller and compact growth of leaves, compare to longer and wider leaves.











Conclusion - No idea.


PH - 6.6
KH - 6
GH - 9 - 10 
KNO3 - 10 ppm 

The AquaSoil is 2 months old so I'm covered for the Nitrogen, I believe my problem is a shortage of trace and minerals. I don't think they are enough for the photo-period. Pearling is constant and drop checker is lime green, I can up the Co2 but I firmly believe I'm pumping a lot already. I looked at my city's water and it has a good Ca and Mg ratio. It also has nitrate a low mg/l with no phosphate. The thing that it lacks are trace. It has zero baron among other trace minerals. I have been upping my Envy dosage (trace+micro) but I see far better result from Flourish, I also use flourish in my other tanks. Thing is, I'm afraid to dose too much Flourish because it contains a bunch of other things I already have, like Iron. 

Q's

1. Can higher KH cause plants to not absorb some nutrients? Or does this lay more so with high PH?
2. I see a lot of new roots growing at the node of stems plants, what could be the cause of this?
3. White roots are starting to creep up from the substrate, did I damage the root system when I planted? Is it because my substrate is too low?
4. If high KH is not a problem, how come people use R/O and aim for lower KH? 
5. What are plants lacking if their leaves aim downwards?

6. Is there such a thing as light "blenching" where as the light source is too close to the plant?


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Maybe i missed it but whats your dosing regime? Also what lighting?

starving your plants for nutrients is sort of redundant if your already having issues with growth, if your lacking one nutrient, then reducing others wont give us the missing culprit. 

never assume co2 is correct because the drop checker is green. There are to many variables that come to play, is there enough c02 at lights on? hows the c02 distribution, do some plants grow better in one side of the tank but poorly on another side? surface scum can trap c02 in and keep oxygen out and has a huge effect on growth.

Do some research on kh, check out barrreport as there are many threads on the topic. In my applied practice with kh, keeping a stable kh is far more important than anything, as you lower or raise kh, this effects ph as well as c02, so it is important, but more important to be stable.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Doing Seachem's Aquavitro line with dry P dosing. Basically a lean EI dosing, the thing is, I change 10 - 20% water every 3 days because of this stupid Blue green algae. My HC Cuba grows fine, I'm just constantly cutting off the pieces with BGA or nuking (not doing that again) patches of the carpet with peroxide. 

If AquaSoil has a steady supply of Nitrogen, and I have 5 ppm of it, how come I'm always short the next day. I can try bumping it up to 10 - 20 ppm but what the point of buying AquaSoil if I'm dosing the nutrients anyways. 


I started looking at other things like KH, maybe GH. Co2 is high, trust me on this. I got two diffuser with a fine mist comparable to atomizer (actually think it's better), I got a 2215 ehiem that rockets my lamp eye killi fry across the tank if they dare venture too far up in the stream (they love the current!), so I got no idea. 

There no stun growth, I get growth, I get a huge amount of growth. It's just the colour and structure of the plants that is not normal. It's almost like I'm pushing them too hard.


Liquid Fertilizers a-la Aquavitro
N ratio is 1:5 a-la Aquavitro's recommended values. 
KH:6
GH:9 - 10
PH:6.6 -6.8

It looks like a snow storm in my tank with all the Co2 mist flying around. Maybe the fertilizers are binding together and blocking re-uptake.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=========








=========








=========

BGA is tough.... going to go the medication route.


----------



## MyMonkey

Looking great there. Nice setup.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks Monkey, I like your User name, it goes well with the name of my tank. Does anyone even know where Purple Monkey Dishwasher came from?


----------



## 0live

Simpsons.


----------



## plantbrain

I've yet to disprove that curling leaves= CO2 issue.
Light/ferts are there it seems to me.
Your HC is a good indicator also.
The higher KH is not helping matters.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

HC Cuba : 

I have a really bad case of BGA, it was spreading under the HC carpet so I did what any sane person would do. I up my nitrate level and spot treated it with Peroxide. Nope. I added too much and melt a few patches of HC. Then I realize how bad the tubing and filter was. I remove the entire tubing and clean the filter. 

I'm doing the EM treatment and added extra flow. BGA stop spreading my rocks, all of the slime is gone but there are few HC Cuba leaves with BGA. 

Do I have to cut off the infected part? What I notice is the way the plants react with BGA. The infected part melts and the top floats off, I guess due to lack of light. 


How do I remove BGA when it is under the HC Cuba carpet? 









=====








=====











=============
Here a side shot of the tank. The Carpet is growing great, I just had to continually cut off the BGA infected parts. I'm hoping the EM treatment will work.









=====









=============
Growth difference

This is the result of changing difference levels of doses. In my quest to battle BGA, I pretty much went all over the spectrum of "fertilizing". This pretty much sum up the mistake of "chasing" a particular deficiency. 


Notice the insanely large size of the leaf as compared to the much smaller size. I have to look back on my notebook for the fertilizing dosage, I believe it was higher KNO3. 








=======










Again: Chasing the numbers.... 

6 days ago:









Tonight: 









Has anyone never try to induce deficiencies for aqua-scaping? Bigger leaf vs smaller vs compact vs spread. Twisted growth around a tree. It's one thing to grow plants well, completely another to actually control it's appearance. 




FTS: 








========


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======


----------



## FlyingHellFish

0live said:


> Simpsons.


Yes it came from the Simpsons, but where did my name come from?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Check out what I caught my Otos catfish doing.... the look on his/her face says it all.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

How you get the clean single stem look? Do you replant the cut stems? I can't get the height to even out. 








=======








=======









BGA has not return since the EM treatment, *knock on wood. I decide to keep the Aqueon HOB for the added flow. Originally bundle with a 20 gallon long tank that is no longer in use, the Aqueon has a very powerful flow. It's actually a bit too much, I had to install the plastic overflow. And no, there is no out-gasing of Co2, I keep the water level higher than the plastic add on. 

Q's - 

1. How do you properly trim DHG without melting the blades? I notice that the trim blades usually always yellow and die. 

2. How do you get the green colour back in "red" stem plants? I want some of the leafs of my Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink' Roseafolia.

Check this out, the Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides is trying to reach the HC Cuba. 

Pic July 9th








=====
Pic July 11th


----------



## FlyingHellFish

A few days back I picked up three cherry shrimp for algae, I rarely saw all three of them together so I thought one of them died. Until today.... 

Like a Jerry Springer show, she turned up today along with a few baby shrimps. I can't catch them and I can't rehouse my lone dwarf puffer, so this is going to be interesting. 

Without further a-do


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======








=======








=======








=======








=======









The iphone4 camera has a very strange light setting. I notice that the colours are either wash out or fully saturated. The HC Cuba is growing in nicely but I wish the growth was more compact. My Flourite Black tank has very compact growth but poor roots. The opposite is seen in my ADA tank, must be something I'm missing or having too much of. 

Still looking for a decent lighting fixture, not a fan of the T5HO, I want LEDS.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I removed that weird growing plant at the side... but anyways, got a joke for you guys.

What do you get when you cross an owl and a bungie chord?

Here a full tank shot,


----------



## Bserve

My... er.... behind.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Nope, that not the answer, it's not your behind, it's Mine .... er... behind.


----------



## sumer

Looks neat


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks man, I want to change up the right side or at least make it work with the scape. I'm running into a problem where some of the plants grow too fast while other ones seem to lag behind.

Glosso barely grows, Bacopa grows like a weed. The Red plant grows various leaf sizes ranging from large to steroid bugling large. The four leaf clover plant keeps trying to invade the surrounding. 

What determines leaf size and compact growth?


----------



## chew

Your tank is filling in nice. Do you ever change the cig filter diffusers? And since no one answered your question about DHG a week ago, best results for me are to trim it maybe 1/2" above the substrate. The first time I trimmed them half of them yellowed but after that now they just shoot back up in a week


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks! I wish I had a camera to record the bubbles, the iphone 4 doesn't capture the size properly. I change them out every 2 weeks, the longest I went was a month. 

DHG always yellow when I trim them, is this normal? Do the cut grass blade continue to grow for you or do you have to wait for new ones to pop up?


----------



## chew

Mine just regrow from where I cut them and send off more runners. Sometimes of they aren't rooted enough in the substrate they'll yellow but I add a little more macro the day before a trim and it seems to help


----------



## KenRC51

FlyingHellFish said:


> A few days back I picked up three cherry shrimp for algae, I rarely saw all three of them together so I thought one of them died. Until today....
> 
> Like a Jerry Springer show, she turned up today along with a few baby shrimps. I can't catch them and I can't rehouse my lone dwarf puffer, so this is going to be interesting.
> 
> Without further a-do


Does Cherry really clean up algae? I have a bunch of Supreme Red but they don't eat any algae. Supreme Red are Cherry but more red.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ I don't know, maybe. I just google Supreme Red, those are Cherry shrimp no? I thought it was Cherry Shrimp -> Painted Fire Red. I guess they have names for each grade now. 

Do you use RO water for your CBS? I really want to pick up some CBS, but had no luck with them. I picked up 3 and 2 died while I gave the last one away. They were SSS grade too!


----------



## KenRC51

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ I don't know, maybe. I just google Supreme Red, those are Cherry shrimp no? I thought it was Cherry Shrimp -> Painted Fire Red. I guess they have names for each grade now.
> 
> Do you use RO water for your CBS? I really want to pick up some CBS, but had no luck with them. I picked up 3 and 2 died while I gave the last one away. They were SSS grade too!


Yeah, I keep my CBS/CRS in pure RO. From my experiance they don't do well in new established tank. They do best in a established tank probably 6mo old.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Then how does one keep them in heavy fertz, high Co2, high light, high everything tanks? I really want some CBS/CRS.









=======
Check out the pearling action of these guys. They grow so fast, I forgot what they're called.








=======
Loving the red hue these guys give.








=======
If only I did this scape in a smaller tank, I think it looks great.








=======
They grow up so fast! Middle of the picture, eating some plant clippings I trim.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Two dried out Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink' Roseafolia leafs in the upper left corner - 









Updates: I broke my drop checker because it was poorly made and couldn't withstand the extreme force of being gently place on a table. This was the second time 
it happen and I'm completely done with these 10 dollar knock-offs of knock-offs. Does Co2 make glass fragile? I'm pretty sure it doesn't considering we're pumping 
Co2 in a glass tank. It was just such a pain to clean up the tiny shreds of glass on a towel, I end up throwing the towel away.

So I'm doing Co2 measurement the old fashion way, looking at the plants and fish. Strange thing is, the fish don't mind, the cherry shrimps don't mind, 
my otos cat does mind. I'm going have to raise the Co2 to compensate for plant growth but my otos catfish hates it. They swim in circles when the Co2 starts up, 
they only go back to acting like fish at the end of the photo period. I might have to rehouse them to the other tank. I thought I was crazy having 3 tanks, some 
of you have entire rooms dedicated to fish.

I also brought this Rotala Wallichii that is doing poorly, hopefully it gets use to my tank soon.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Update: I gave up on the Rotala Wall-doesn't grow-chii, never again! 








=======








=======









Anyone know how to get a dwarf puffer fish to eat blood worms and not live food, it's getting really annoying buying live brine shrimp.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Any ideas on what determine leaf size and growth? How does one get more compact growth? 

Higher P?
Longer photo-peroid?
Higher Lights?
Spectrum of lights?

Distribution of Co2?


----------



## synaethetic

Based on the lushness of your HC, i'd say the dual cfl lights are providing enough light. 10-11 hours a day is ideal. I dose a lot of potassium, phosphate, csm+b and excel on my tank. Whenever I dose nitrates regularly I get a GDA problem on the glass. Less nitrates, not as much GDA on the glass. I dose just a dash of KNO3 maybe twice a week, where as the other essentials (K,P and traces) are dosed every other day of the week, and excel daily. 

C02 should be high enough that the plants visibly pearl. If you don't get visible pearling within a few hours of the photoperiod, then you need to crank it up. Distribution in a tank like yours shouldnt be much of an issue.

Staying consistent with daily c02 levels, dosing and regular water changes seems to be the best method of achieving ideal plant growth.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'm on a similar routine, KNO3 is dose but very little, the rest is from the Aquavitro line. I'll see what raising the P gives me.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'm on a similar routine, KNO3 is dose but very little, the rest is from the Aquavitro line. I'll see what raising the P gives me.


if you have low phosphates, the tank will respond pretty quickly to adding more, usually within an hour if its to low you will see increased pearling after dosing.


----------



## gus6464

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> this is it
> http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00134052/#/50102157
> 
> the tank is the mr aqua 17.7 gallon, same dimensions as the 60p if im not mistaken
> theres a ps3 on the other side.. lol but it never gets used


Did you add the door to that? From the link it looks like it doesn't come with a front door.


----------



## Phil Edwards

I've got to ask, how did you come up with the name Purple Monkey Dishwasher? Have you been spending too much time at Reef Central reading the absurd names for the corals?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> if you have low phosphates, the tank will respond pretty quickly to adding more, usually within an hour if its to low you will see increased pearling after dosing.


Pearling is unchanged from the addition of phosphate. I been having the tank run as if it was under boiling water, I think I'm going try to slow down the rate.



gus6464 said:


> Did you add the door to that? From the link it looks like it doesn't come with a front door.


You buy the doors and choose the colour, the doors were on sale but they only had red. It was 40 dollars for both doors. 



Phil Edwards said:


> I've got to ask, how did you come up with the name Purple Monkey Dishwasher? Have you been spending too much time at Reef Central reading the absurd names for the corals?


Those Reef guys are crazy, they have the best equipment and money is like toilet paper to them, I wish I was a reef guy.


----------



## Phil Edwards

Yeah, they are a bit crazy. With the way the world economy's going toilet paper may end up being worth more than paper currency.  


Now for the fun. It's time for everyone to name their tanks! 

1- Your favorite color

2- Your favorite animal

3- Your favorite home appliance


Mine- Black Cat Gas Range


----------



## tropicalmackdaddy

Phil Edwards said:


> Yeah, they are a bit crazy. With the way the world economy's going toilet paper may end up being worth more than paper currency.
> 
> 
> Now for the fun. It's time for everyone to name their tanks!
> 
> 1- Your favorite color
> 
> 2- Your favorite animal
> 
> 3- Your favorite home appliance
> 
> 
> Mine- Black Cat Gas Range


Green Snow owl expresso machine


----------



## Psychedelic

Green lion keurig 

Sent from my GS3 using old binoculars


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Name of the tank is from the Simpsons. ------~☆


----------



## KenRC51

Blue Panda Espresso!!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======









Still getting this uniform leaf size in my HC Cuba, I hit the sweet spot once and now I'm getting mix result. Again, what determines leaf size and short internodes?


----------



## THE V

Just read through this entire thread. Real nice looking little tank. 

Purple leaves is caused by one of two things - P or B deficiency. Boron in some area's in the water is so high that it causes toxicity. In other area's it's really lacking. Are you adding in B?

Short internodes and leaves is generally caused by Zinc deficiency but it could be a number of others as well. 

The fun thing about aquatic plants is they really show the deficiency signs well. I've got an old plant physiology book from college that I dredge up occasionally.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thank you,  

How much Boron do you think is too much? My tap water has 0.023 mg/L and I dose Flourish 3x a week. 

The Zinc theory sounds plausible, my tap has zero zinc, I'll cut down on the Flourish and see what happens. The higher P didn't do anything, higher Co2 gave me bigger leafs and faster growth though. 

I'm also trying a higher level intensity on one side compare to the other, one of the few benefits of desk top lamps. During the last 3 days, the side of higher light had BIGGER leafs and HIGHER growth, weird. Lower light + High 

Co2 = compact growth? Can't be?


----------



## Bserve

Phil Edwards said:


> Yeah, they are a bit crazy. With the way the world economy's going toilet paper may end up being worth more than paper currency.
> 
> 
> Now for the fun. It's time for everyone to name their tanks!
> 
> 1- Your favorite color
> 
> 2- Your favorite animal
> 
> 3- Your favorite home appliance
> 
> 
> Mine- Black Cat Gas Range


 Blue Fish Refrigerator


----------



## THE V

If your seeing deficiencies you don't want to cut down on your fert's but perhaps increase them. One of the problems with using pre-mix is that you can't adjust it for certain issues depending upon your specific tank. 

As for the leaf size fluctuating depending upon light concentration this is completely normal. When the light levels is lower plants grow fewer, larger leaves to capture as much light as possible. The stems also are more elongated as the plant reaches for more light. Under higher light the stems are shorter and the leaves are smaller. 

In nature if a plant is in too shady of a place it elongates toward the light. Once it reaches the light levels it wants, it shortens down and grows happily.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ I'm getting completely different results. The shaded areas have smaller HC Cuba and the sides where I increase the light has bigger leafs and stem. 

I'm trying to get a stunned yet healthy look, I did it before in another tank. I'll continue with the same routine of high light on one side compare to lower light, a few more days and it'll be noticeable. 

For now, in my older pictures, the middle has the most dense growth compare to the sides which is growing HC like they were on steroids (big big leaf size) not a great look at all.


----------



## hunterlook

I still can't get past the fact that your carpet is growing so well with CFL's. 

Idk if you're still considering the jump to LED's but when I did it in my 40B, it was outrageous. I know everyone says that but after personally experiencing it, it was well worth it. My tank turned into a freakin madhouse jungle in literally a month. A lot more maintenance required but great end results if you go that route.

Unfortunately, life happened and I neglected the tank for a month and it completely fell apart. Had to toss half my plants and ultimately ditched the tank altogether.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

hunterlook said:


> I still can't get past the fact that your carpet is growing so well with CFL's.
> 
> Idk if you're still considering the jump to LED's but when I did it in my 40B, it was outrageous. I know everyone says that but after personally experiencing it, it was well worth it. My tank turned into a freakin madhouse jungle in literally a month. A lot more maintenance required but great end results if you go that route.
> 
> Unfortunately, life happened and I neglected the tank for a month and it completely fell apart. Had to toss half my plants and ultimately ditched the tank altogether.



I did my first scape with LED's, I find them more vibrant with extra-pop compared to CFLs. 

Lighting is a weird issue for me, I been trying to find the right spectrum, intensity and photo-peroid with no luck. My plants truly did not care, my water parameters had a bigger effect.

I believe you can grow plants in a wide number of spectrums as long as the intensity is right. You make up for the lack of spectrum (red or blue) with having a higher intensity of light. 

It's like having a light that looks dim to the eyes but peaks in spectrum area that plants can use most. I'm also starting to think that maybe the 'blue' range is "where it's at". 

I'm thinking higher kelvins and a peak in blue (400 - 450 nm) with a modest level of red (600 nm) could be the sweet spot. 

On a side note, a while back I went out and brought full spectrum CFL made for seasonal depression (does that even exist?) and it had no noticeable effect. I had some BGA but I think it came with the new plants, BGA disappear with EM treatment but I also went back to old house-hold CFL, so I don't know. 

Aquatic Plants are weird, high light is great if you can control it, I'm going try going low light with high co2/lean fertilizers. 

High light/High Co2/High Fertilizers works, I tired it and yes it works, but I'm going to see with the other side can offer.

Everything in this scape is done with the same bulbs you use in your kitchen and lamps.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Green bottom, Red top, apple bottom jeans....








=======








=======










How do they create the ball of stem plants? My growth is all over the place?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Carpet.... Carpet.... Carpet..... need mowing.


----------



## Bserve

^
So True​


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I mowed the lawn, I just hate how I can never get a uniform look like the pros. It's as if every part of the lawn is in a different phase, from growing - to half trim.


----------



## Bserve

I was talking about Forrest Gump


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

FlyingHellFish said:


> I mowed the lawn, I just hate how I can never get a uniform look like the pros. It's as if every part of the lawn is in a different phase, from growing - to half trim.


let it all overgrow then cut it down evenly across, and it will grow back at the same rate. you can also do things like use a wide putty knife to gently press the front edge of the h.c down to give it a more even look against the glass. i personally dont like it pressing up against the glass, it looks cool to trim the front 1" away, then tuck the front edge down into the gravel with a putty knife.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ What does trimming it 1inch from the glass do? You mean making it into a mountain or something? 

I trim the entire carpet at the same time but it still grows in different rates and shape. I'm either messing around with the fertilizing doses too much, or my lights are not giving an even spread. 


Some weird results - 

1. Shaded glosso is growing side ways. 
2. Glosso with tall stems continues to grow upwards until trim, then grows side ways.
3. Shaded HC Cuba is more compact with unhealthy growth.
4. HC Cuba exposed to light has bigger leafs.
5. HC Cuba exposed to low light with high Co2 has more compact growth.
6. Lack of Zinc results in a shorter internode with more leafs.


Just my experience ...


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

could be lack of flow, could be low spots of co2 in the tank, or uneven lighting. 

First the lighting, i would re position the two lights so they are on the sides pointing more or less straight down, this will be much more even spread and equal par, and thus rule this out/fix any lighting issues.

inadequate flow has a large impact on co2 distribution, as well as nutrients, so maybe the rocks are blocking flow and slowing it down in those areas, maybe flow is fine but co2 isnt reaching it very well. co2 isnt always equal throughout the tank, just cause the drop checker is green, doesnt mean there is 30ppm of co2 around the substrate, it could be much lower. my suggestion would be to ditch your current co2 injection method, and spend the $10 on a proper diffuser(your running pressurized co2 i think?) this will give a much better mist, and place it opposite your hob. every other week or how ever often you feel, you can swap which side your hob is on, this often helps kick up mulm that gets trapped as well, and can change co2 flow in case there are low areas.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Could very well be, you got any good diffuser in mind? Maybe a reactor would help, I seen some of ADA's gallery 60P and they have less bubbles than what I have. I dare to say, I even have smaller bubbles. But their tank is a million times better, what in the world do they do?


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

i would get a 50mm one from greenleafaquariums, or most high pressure ceramic ones work well.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

It's all crazy! 









=======


----------



## I3raven

Interesting name, healthy plants, and a colorful stand... I like it!


----------



## mgdmirage

Looks beautiful to me but we all have problems!


----------



## ipkiss

Hi FlyingHellFish, 

Great tank and I've been following somewhat! I love how simply desk lamps work for you and that you thought of an uber clean way to incorporate them. But I'm curious when did you add the HOB and why? 

thanks.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks fellas, 

I just realized my bottles of fertilizers cost more than my lights, it should be the other way around. 

The HOB is an old Aqueon 30 that wasn't being used. I just added it for more flow, I believe I added it a month ago. No noticeable difference to be honest. 

HC Cuba trim verus not trim. One of the down side to HC is waiting for the trim carpet to grow, it's all yellow and ugly. 











Check out my wabi-kusa attempt, it's a easy way to grow HC Cuba.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Update: Sept 7

HC Cuba carpet








=======








=======








=======









Nosey little guy isn't he?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Some kind of weird bubble keeps showing up on my plants.


----------



## CPDzeke

How did you make the wabi-kusa thing?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ I just toss my clippings in a bowl and trim as it grew.

:bounce:


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Major Trim, went a bit overboard here.
















To:

















Update: So my repens got over taken by DHG and HC, I just removed all of them. The HC Cuba carpet literary fill the void in 3 days. Also, Glosso decided it wanted to creep into the front of the tank. I just left it as it's growing really well now for some reason. It took over a month but I guess it finally got used to my water.


----------



## exv152

Awesome HC carpet you got going there flyinghellfish! Any tips to getting a nice full rug?


----------



## synaethetic

I suggest trimming your carpet down. When it gets thick like yours it has the tendency to die off on the bottom. I used to let mine get to about 1.5 inches . ... nowa days half an inch max.

Great update!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

exv152 said:


> Awesome HC carpet you got going there flyinghellfish! Any tips to getting a nice full rug?


Thanks, I believe it was a tip from Frank Xavier that got my HC looking good. It was extra K and Iron with good Co2 and light of course. Works with my tap water anyways,  




synaethetic said:


> I suggest trimming your carpet down. When it gets thick like yours it has the tendency to die off on the bottom. I used to let mine get to about 1.5 inches . ... nowa days half an inch max.
> 
> Great update!


Speaking of uprooting, check out this guy's HC carpet, I wonder what he doing now. 











Update: :icon_eek:








=======









Glosso is spreading, DHG is spreading, HC Cuba is spreading, the only carpet plant that didn't was the s.repens. With HC on the left and DHG on the right, the repens never stood a chance. I tried pulling some of it out and the rest is slowly disappearing. The battle rages on for the remaining carpeting plants.


----------



## exv152

FlyingHellFish said:


> Thanks, I believe it was a tip from Frank Xavier that got my HC looking good. It was extra K and Iron with good Co2 and light of course. Works with my tap water anyways,


Thanks for the tip. I'm gonna try that. Our water parameters are almost identical here. It must be the K and Fe.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Tanks looking real good!
Not sure what your w.c schedule is, when you do a large trim with stem plants like that, its sometimes good to do a wid-week water change, you cut back a big portion of the nutrient uptake in the tank by trimming in small tanks. The extra water change helps to keep things from building up to much that first week. 
Once the the stems begin to fill back in, maybe 2-3 weeks i would trim the h.c, if it grows to dense on top of itself the lower portion begins to die.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Thanks! I'm new to these stem plants and I can't get the Rotala Rotundifolia to grow into a ball. 

Recent shot, iOS7 is giving me some weird pictures lighting now.... argh.










As you can see, the ball is more of a mess than a ball. On a brighter note, my carpet is still chugging along. It seem I only have luck with HC Cuba and nothing else.


----------



## Luminescent

That is a gorgeous tank.


----------



## Landmines

Holy HC Carpet! lol love the healthy and lush growth.


----------



## Fat Guy

I've really enjoyed reading your journal thus far. big ups to ikea too...man they make some great stands. great job.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Fat Guy said:


> I've really enjoyed reading your journal thus far. big ups to ikea too...man they make some great stands. great job.


Hey, thank you! That actually means a lot coming from you, I remember reading your Fluval Edge 6 gallon and being a big fan of that tank. You had those LED and the CFL, it was so good! Man, that was a while ago hahah. 

I use to rock the colour gravel and the fake plants. 










This is the first plant I ever got, an Anbias Nana.









=======


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Wow what an evolution... I remember when I used to plant anubias and java fern in gravel, thinking it was cool. You beat me on that gravel selection though...mine was plain black! Lol

Anyway, I hope I can get my HC as super green as yours in the 60p. I'd like to know more about how much K and Fe you were pumping in there. I'll probably work on my hardscape this Sunday.. your tank is definitely one of the inspirational ones in the 60p club


----------



## Fat Guy

FlyingHellFish said:


> Hey, thank you! That actually means a lot coming from you, I remember reading your Fluval Edge 6 gallon and being a big fan of that tank. You had those LED and the CFL, it was so good! Man, that was a while ago hahah.
> 
> I use to rock the colour gravel and the fake plants.


thanks!! my edge is now just river rocks and java fern. low maintenance and pretty serene now. for me the tank is so hard to maintain with anything else because of the top entry. You have to hairy houdini your arms to get stuff in and out of there. not to mention how crazy it was to catch an amano shrimp...you could spend hours trying to accomplish that task.

alright blue gravel!! my first planted tank...over a decade ago...was blue gravel, a lotus plant, an amazon sword and a goldfish (in a 10g). everything grew really well.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Glosso growing on top of HC Cuba, yeah, on top of it. It didn't sprung from the bottom, it literary creep on top of my carpet and sent down roots that hasn't yet reach the substrate. And since we're on the topic of weird things happening, the Glosso that I planted is doing worst then the creeping Glosso. 









Also, I'm trying out a new technique on trimming HC Cuba. It involves light trimming and forcibly patting down on the carpet. I got the idea from Mark Evans, my favourite AquaScaper.


----------



## concepts88

How do you keep your glosso and dhg in check. My stuff gets into everything.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ I didn't know if my CFL lighting was enough for HC, so I planted DHG just in case. It turn out that two 23watt CFL were more than enough and the HC took off. Then for some reason Glosso decided to grow on top of the HC, so I'm sort of stuck with 3 carpeting plants growing over each other. I'll try to take a picture of the HC Cuba creeping INTO the DHG, it's like a hostile take over.


----------



## aquacalm500

I kind of like that "mixed salad" look when the foreground is mat of different plants.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Thanks, completely unintentional, though I do like the way it looks. 


My cherry shrimps population is exploding, a swarm of little babies jump out of the DHG when I tried to trim it.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

the original glosso you planted will melt off, just wait till the new runners are rooted in well, and hack the old stuff. You have to decide pretty fast if you want a mixed carpet, but i say go for it!


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> My cherry shrimps population is exploding, a swarm of little babies jump out of the DHG when I tried to trim it.


That's nice! What are the conditions that these RCS are thriving in? I want to put some in my other tanks that use co2 and tap... but I'm worried my TDS and all that are not preferable. I don't feel like lugging jugs of RO from the store too much.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Hey Brian, 

Cherry Shrimps are really easy to breed, it's the crystal red shrimps that are more difficult, I never had much luck with them anyways. I think my tap water comes out at 200 according to the report. 

Hmm.. 

GH 8 - 9 
KH - 6
PH - 6.6 to 6.8 


Oh, I forgot to mention the problem with Cherry Shrimps, they breed like rabbits. Trimming and cleaning takes a bit longer because you have to avoid all those babies.


----------



## parrottbay

How did you get that 60P club logo?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Pearl baby.... pearl.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Bored with the scape, I want to go Iwagumi next. Can you reuse ADA AquaSoil? There is a layer of mum on the bottom and it's so ugly, if I were to deep vac, wouldn't I crush the soil balls? 










Boringgggggggggggggg


----------



## Psiorian

FlyingHellFish said:


> Bored with the scape, I want to go Iwagumi next. Can you reuse ADA AquaSoil? There is a layer of mum on the bottom and it's so ugly, if I were to deep vac, wouldn't I crush the soil balls?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Boringgggggggggggggg


I'm pretty sure you can reuse the aquasoil. How long have you had it? I've heard of people drying it out either outside in trays or low temp in the oven. So it's easier to store and scape with. 

Only thing is I'm not sure if they rinse/wash it first or not.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Been about 7 months since this tank been up. I'm thinking of adding another layer of AS Powder form on top. 

Anyone know how to make a ball shape of Rotala? I think my tank is too short to form one.


----------



## ThatGuyWithTheFish

FlyingHellFish said:


> Been about 7 months since this tank been up. I'm thinking of adding another layer of AS Powder form on top.
> 
> Anyone know how to make a ball shape of Rotala? I think my tank is too short to form one.


Rigorous and skilled trimming


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I lack both of those requirements.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Uhmmm?









=======








=======









Those plants are fake right?*walks over to tank, THEY"RE REAL!


----------



## HSA1255

That carpet is incredible! Love the tank. Understand you want change. Would you simply reduce plant species and change the rock placement for the Iwagumi style? Would this make tank maintenance a lot easier or no? If you have shrimp in there doing well you could add some small schoolers to enjoy right? I look at those pictures and see myself watching the tank like I do my own and it just seems fish add so much, but I understand if it's not your thing. Perhaps your dosing/CO2 would bother them? I do not have CO2 in any tanks. However, seeing the results of this carpet and several other impressive tanks on this forum have me planning for a high tech tank in the future. Enjoyed reading this thread, my high tech/plant knowledge is growing... as is my kung pow humor. 
-yellow horse nespresso


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks for the kind words! 

I currently have 2 otos cat and one lone killifish. I would like to add in fish, was thinking of something small like rasbora green. My shrimp population is getting out of control, I can't seem to trim unless a swam of shrimps jump on my arm. I was bitten once by a large female, it felt like a ant bite. 

 As for your tank, add Co2 and it will open a world of possibilities. You can dose high Co2 while having fish, I have a lot of water movement on top of my tank.


----------



## tetra10

FlyingHellFish said:


> Thanks for the kind words!
> 
> I currently have 2 otos cat and one lone killifish. I would like to add in fish, was thinking of something small like rasbora green. My shrimp population is getting out of control, I can't seem to trim unless a swam of shrimps jump on my arm. I was bitten once by a large female, it felt like a ant bite.
> 
> As for your tank, add Co2 and it will open a world of possibilities. You can dose high Co2 while having fish, I have a lot of water movement on top of my tank.


i have never heard of a shrimp biting someone


----------



## FlyingHellFish

These cherry shrimps are constantly breeding, it's a love fest in here. How old do shrimps have to be before you can ship them or sell them?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

How do you get thin long leaves? Why are my Rotala so fat?


----------



## HSA1255

Breeders often sell and ship the younger ones because they handle stress better. So you can sell a mix of young and old right now. I would personally do more of the young ones for better survival or ask buyers to specify which they prefer.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> How do you get thin long leaves? Why are my Rotala so fat?


What rotala species is that? R. Rotundifolia? I noticed mine has rounder leaves whereas R. Colorata has longer slender ones.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

HSA1255 said:


> Breeders often sell and ship the younger ones because they handle stress better. .


I might have to RAOK these locally, winter is coming on. 


@ Brian, 

Yeah, its round but I had some stems that were long. Not quite sure how to recreate the look.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I should rename my tank, the cherry shrimp love shack. I haven't been trimming because they swarm on your arms. 









=======








=======








=======








=======









^ Glosso growing on top of HC Cuba growing on top of itself, - INCEPTION! - we must go deeper.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

3 Weeks ago, forgot to upload. This is my best attempt at a "ball of rotala".









=======
Behold, the Rotala Rotundifolia that doesn't look like a Rotala. What did I buy?








Why is my Rotala so fat?
=======
All good things, must come to an end.








Baby got back.....


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> I should rename my tank, the cherry shrimp love shack. I haven't been trimming because they swarm on your arms.


LOL that was a problem with my neons but i only have 4 now so they're really timid.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ A couple more weeks and I can catch these guys with a net, then it's free shrimp for all! 

Oh and good news, she pass the test! Got my 5lb refilled today, it had a nice layer of frost on it. 









Those JBJ bubble counters are a hassle, which is even worse when I have knock offs of a bad design. One of the counter is leaking and I temporary fix the problem with extra teflon tape. It might need new o-rings in the top and bottom pieces. It looks great, just doesn't perform at all.


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ A couple more weeks and I can catch these guys with a net, then it's free shrimp for all!


Free? I sense a RAOK...


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I gave my rock an Afro...


----------



## Bserve

flyinghellfish said:


> i gave my rock an afro...


lmao


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Pictures update, plus I randomly press down on some keys but nobody reads that.

After googling some nikon and canon DSR cameras, I decided not to go that route. Here a bunch of iphone 4 shots.









=======








=======








=======
I'm not racist, but white roots are more healthy.








=======
Glosso is mixing really well with the HC Cuba. I like the way it creeps and I like the ease of pulling it up. Notice the seamless way it grows with the HC. It's root system is not as tangle as DHG, you can pull it up without taking any neighbouring plants. Notice how white the root of the Glosso plant is, that a healthy root system. I disregard any roots that are browning, you get faster growth with healthy plants. 

Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink' Roseafolia was removed for replanting. The bottom leafs were growing against the tank, it had a funny look to it. 

Blyxa Japonica is growing really well after I removed the bapcoa. There is a nice bronze tint to the Blyxa leafs that are directly under the light while the lower leafs are green.

I don't think I should of went with AquaSoil, I can't really see myself rescaping with the mud. I would have to either remove the crushed balls of dirt or recap with a new layer. I can't imagine how they rescape with powersand and AquaSoil.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Cherry shrimps like to party too. Here a shrimp just enjoying himself with Co2.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Cherry shrimps like to party too. Here a shrimp just enjoying himself with Co2.
> 
> Shrimp and Co2 - YouTube


Haha... that's awesome! RCS there just got CO2 wasted!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

He does a little dance afterwards hahahah


----------



## Bserve

I'll take your rotala trimmings!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Bserve said:


> I'll take your rotala trimmings!


I'll try to find out the cost to ship, if it's cheap, you will get more than rotala trimmings. 

There going to be a nice surprise in a few days,:bounce:

Here a shot of Glosso's snow white roots. I advise against Glosso mixing with HC Cuba. It's near impossible to trim around Glosso and it blocks out the light for the HC. I'm trying to concentrate the growth in a line around the rocks, so far it's not that great of an effect.


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'll try to find out the cost to ship, if it's cheap, you will get more than rotala trimmings.


Ok I'll gladly pay the shipping  
What's the "more"? If it's snails, I've got enough already!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Hahah, absolutely no snails. This ADA 60P is pest free, I hate snails and scuds. What it does have is a cherry shrimp infestation. 

I was going to toss in clippings of all kind and have the recipient tell me which one did best. I know Rotala Round does well in a bucket, I also tested out Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink' and Glosso, both did very well.

The Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink' was red in my tank, the leaves turn green in a bucket with room lighting. I think they have a large reservoir of nutrients. 

HC Cuba doesn't do very well unfortunately.

I need to figure out the cost and shipping time, plus I think can I bag the plants in a foam box. Not accepting any money, it will be free. Seachem sending me a care package, I'll try to forward that kindness.

Oh and just for funzie, look how stupid this looks. I was actually going to leave it like that.


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


>


For a second there I thought you ripped everything out.
*Phew!*



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## FlyingHellFish

My Seachem care package came in, thank you Seachem! 

The shipping was super fast, it came in 2 days when I got word from them. I never knew they were based out of Madison, Georgia. 










*The included items are* :

AquaVitro Propel (Iron)
NutriDiet Tropical Flakes 
Seachem Magents x2
Seachem Large Decal
Seachem Small Decal x2
AquaVitro Decal
Seachem's Untitled product.


















































Thanks Seachem! 

=======

*Seachem's Mystery product*. 

One of the coolest thing in this package, beside the decals (where would you buy these?) is a new product they're testing. It came in a normal bottle and has a printed label on it. They have been using it in their office tank, which is gorgeous by the way, and are getting great results. I get to test this out, along with some other hobbyists. 

Here is the mystery item. 








The name on the bottle is not the final name, or it might be, I don't know, I can't show you it. 

=======

And for anyone who has to deal with these bubble counters, you can understand this picture.










=======

Also, check out this post body I did. This has to be one of the smallest post body to a regulator you can make. It uses a similar needle valve to ADA's Co2 system.


----------



## Psiorian

Ooo nice!

Mystery product!!!

Excited to see how you like it.


----------



## ThatGuyWithTheFish

Did seachem change their fert line? Are they better now?


----------



## Bserve

Sweet! So the new product is like an all-in-one?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks guys! 

Not sure if they will introduce this to the AquaVitro line or Flourish. I only got the words to dose daily and it can be added into my schedule. 

To gauge the item properly, I should set up a new tank. I'm not going go over the 3 tank rule I promise the nag machine, so maybe the Edge tank? My 6 gallon Edge does need a restart.


----------



## Phil Edwards

That's awesome! How'd you get hooked up with Seachem? Are you selling/representing them now?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah... tell them I'm for hire, too! Haha

Naw, seriously... nice come-up! Are you going to put those decals on your car?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Phil Edwards said:


> That's awesome! How'd you get hooked up with Seachem? Are you selling/representing them now?


I wish! I would love that!, but I don't think they do that kind of stuff. I just got a care package, the timing was right I guess. They also sent it out to other people. 

If they were to do a sponsorship, there is a lot of other people more qualify and have better tanks than me,  

By the way, how the monster tank doing? 





Brian_Cali77 said:


> Yeah... tell them I'm for hire, too! Haha
> 
> Naw, seriously... nice come-up! Are you going to put those decals on your car?


Brain, wasup buddy! I'm looking forward to the review of a certain product, maybe you could shed some "light" on it.

Oh and try out a bottle of their Iron, I'm positive you will like it. You can dose Iron without worry about upping your Ca or Mg,Mn. But then again, I feel a bit strange giving advice to someone with a better tank than me. 


=======

Does anyone know where I can get some tropica plant insert? I should of kept mine but forgot about this idea.

I wanted to have all the plants in the tank listed, sort of like a business card on the stand.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Brian, wasup buddy! I'm looking forward to the review of a certain product, maybe you could shed some "light" on it.
> 
> Oh and try out a bottle of their Iron, I'm positive you will like it. You can dose Iron without worry about upping your Ca or Mg,Mn. But then again, I feel a bit strange giving advice to someone with a better tank than me.


When lighting is concerned, you never know... I might just have a "bright" idea 

Yes... I want to try at least a bottle of that Fe. Me? Have a better tank than you? No way! Haha... your tank is better! It's all so inspiring!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Ppffttt, you know it's better than mine.  

I'm thinking of restarting it and actually having a set scape this time. This tank is more of a "maybe this will grow", style. Couple of Q's here:

1. If I add bigger stones, how do I keep it from scratching the bottom glass? Can I use styrofoam? 

2. I want to create a higher slope, can I add AquaSoil Powder type on top, or will it settle down?

3. Should I stick with HC Cuba as a carpet or do I dare try to have a glosso carpet? 

4. When you restart with AquaSoil, do you deep vac the bottom too? Will this crush the substrate even more?


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Ppffttt, you know it's better than mine.
> 
> I'm thinking of restarting it and actually having a set scape this time. This tank is more of a "maybe this will grow", style. Couple of Q's here:
> 
> 1. If I add bigger stones, how do I keep it from scratching the bottom glass? Can I use styrofoam?
> 
> 2. I want to create a higher slope, can I add AquaSoil Powder type on top, or will it settle down?
> 
> 3. Should I stick with HC Cuba as a carpet or do I dare try to have a glosso carpet?
> 
> 4. When you restart with AquaSoil, do you deep vac the bottom too? Will this crush the substrate even more?


I can only answer a few.

1. I would use the eggcrate stuff sold for light diffusion at hardware stores. Cheap, easy to trim and no chance it will float up. 

2. I never have done that but it's commonly done. I am going to say yes. 

3. How much do you like HC? I always find myself wanting something different but I realize every time I just love HC.

4. No idea.


----------



## Psiorian

I like eggcrate as talon suggested.

For the slope I would use those substrate supports/dividers like the green machine uses. Basically strips of plastic placed in the substrate. Watch one of his videos and you can see how he does it. Allows for steeper slopes that take longer to erode.


----------



## gnod

fo.llow.ing. 

subscribed!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Update: 

















































More text later, I forgot to upload these.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Update:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> More text later, I forgot to upload these.


LOL... why are they so small?


----------



## talontsiawd

Please resize pics.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

No idea, what happen. Probably, mostly, pretty much my fault. 











































Another project of mine.... 









And if ever Bettatail is reading this, shout out to him, he knows whats up. Thanks.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Testing out the iPhone 5S, just got it today.

Sadly disappointed in the camera, I expected more details for an 8mp camera. 









=======


----------



## volatile

FlyingHellFish said:


> To gauge the item properly, I should set up a new tank. I'm not going go over the 3 tank rule I promise the nag machine, so maybe the Edge tank? My 6 gallon Edge does need a restart.


Nag machine comment made me :icon_lol:


----------



## talontsiawd

Tank looks great. How do you like your inline post body? It looks really cool.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

talontsiawd said:


> Tank looks great. How do you like your inline post body? It looks really cool.


Thanks! I'm not liking the way my Blyxa Japonica is growing though. When I took out my Alternanthera Reineckii, the thing exploded with growth. I don't even know how to trim it. It grew over my carpet and sent roots down. The area under it is pretty bare with long roots. 

Ah, the inline post body. I think this only works with the Ikea Besta desk that we have. It's super small (probably the smallest), and can be hooked up to a cylinder that is further away. The only thing I lack is an actual regulator. 

Update: Nothing really to share, the tank is just growing and I'm just trimming. I want to rescape but I think I should come up with a scape first. I also need to find some ADA powder, so hard to find a local supplier of AS Soil. 

Instead of uploading the same boring picture of my boring tank, I thought I would do something different. 


This is my trimming trash can, made of glass and never emptied out. 









=======








=======








=======


On to the trash can.









=======








=======








=======








=======










Enjoi


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> Thanks! I'm not liking the way my Blyxa Japonica is growing though. When I took out my Alternanthera Reineckii, the thing exploded with growth. I don't even know how to trim it. It grew over my carpet and sent roots down. The area under it is pretty bare with long roots.


The recommended way is to pull it out and separate it. However, you can just hack it down, or hack the sides off. Unlike say, DHG, any piece that gets cut in half will not stay nice looking, it will rot, but the plant will grow back. I tend to cut it as it's not only much easier, it also prevents you from pulling up a ton of substrate. If you want to separate it or are planning to sell some, you would want to pull it up, separate it into clumps, and then replant a smaller piece.

Blyxa can be hard plant to deal with, especially in high tech. You may want to try other grasses not usually used for foreground since Blyxa can easily become a background plant anyway.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Oh I see, I guess that does work. I'm considering letting it grow because the shrimps seem to love hiding in the plant. 

On a sour note, I believe my HC Cuba carpet is uprooting itself. I'm afraid to trim it low because I think it's about to lift up any second. The top layer is pretty much the anchor holding it down. 

How long does a carpet last before you have to replant? It seem as if no matter what, one must replant HC.


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Oh I see, I guess that does work. I'm considering letting it grow because the shrimps seem to love hiding in the plant.
> 
> On a sour note, I believe my HC Cuba carpet is uprooting itself. I'm afraid to trim it low because I think it's about to lift up any second. The top layer is pretty much the anchor holding it down.
> 
> How long does a carpet last before you have to replant? It seem as if no matter what, one must replant HC.


I tend to trim it totally down to the substrate. I always keep it low so for that exact reason, so it does not pull up. Try a little spot and see before you hack it all.

Some just pull out little chunks instead but once you have a carpet that dense, you may struggle to only pull out a little bit.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Did you find any dead areas under the top layer? I have holes in the carpets that looks like swiss cheese. I'll try to snap some pictures tonight, maybe it's still saveable. 

I had this happen before where the carpeted lifted up, this time around, the carpet looks dead. 

Oi!


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Thats why you constantly trim it down, when h.c grows on top of itself and becomes a thick dense mat, the bottom side tends to die off and uproot, and the heavy top will want to float(like most plants). Constantly trimming it down will promote the growth to stay denser and pack tighter to the substrate. 

Blyxa is a very bushy stem plant, so like any stem you can trim it and it will send out new shoots. The biggest problem i have with blyxa is it has very extensive roots once its established, so trying to pull it up can sometimes bring a lot more with it(like your entire foreground),so trimming it back is much better for the time being. Heres an example of the roots, this was just one month's of growth.


----------



## talontsiawd

Agree with above post. The bottom most layer of HC can be a bit yellow to totally yellow as it is shaded out by the HC on top of it. In my experience, it grows back fine. If you want to be cautious, then trim a bit less. HC is pretty forgiving, IMO.

Also, agree with the Blyxa. The only reason I see to break it up is to have perfect pieces to sell. But, you may pay for it in a large hole in your substrate. I just trim, as I said in above post.


----------



## AquaAurora

What's that white thing that looks like a big wad of chewing gum on your hard-scape in the recent tank photo? You trying to give your ottos minty fresh breath? :icon_lol:
Also you could probably sell your "glass trashcan" as a 'lil sampler for other members, whats the tiny red stem in there?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Well...all good things.... must come to an end right? Maybe I can trim and try to replant.









=======








=======








=======








=======









@ Ach1Ll3sH33L

Could I trim the base of the plant and replant it, leaving the roots in the substrate? I can see a spider web of roots near the glass so I'm certain, fairly certain, I can't uproot it without taking the entire tank. How did you replant yours?

@ talontsiawd

Yeah man, I'm getting a lot of those yellow stems. Theres half yellow, half dead and half growing stems beneath a healthy top layer. I'll trim it and get a better view on how the carpet is, hopefully I can turn this around. By the way, did your ADA Soil turn into mud too? It's compacting so badly in some spots.





AquaAurora said:


> What's that white thing that looks like a big wad of chewing gum on your hard-scape in the recent tank photo? You trying to give your ottos minty fresh breath? :icon_lol:
> Also you could probably sell your "glass trashcan" as a 'lil sampler for other members, whats the tiny red stem in there?


Oh hey, wasup man! The white gum is just a stone with mesh, one has mini pella and the other has phoenix moss. I gave away some plants to a local member and he brought me a zip lock bag of them. I can't seem to grow them at all. 

I believe the red plant is a Altern. Reineckii, or however it is spelled.


----------



## mistuhmarc

I really love that HC carpet. Is there any trimmings for any of your plants left over?


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> @ talontsiawd
> 
> Yeah man, I'm getting a lot of those yellow stems. Theres half yellow, half dead and half growing stems beneath a healthy top layer. I'll trim it and get a better view on how the carpet is, hopefully I can turn this around. By the way, did your ADA Soil turn into mud too? It's compacting so badly in some spots.


My AS is just about the same as when I put it in. However, mine is only 3 months old. Probably almost to the day 3 months. 

That said, a very trusted member and friend of mine says he is really starting to hate the stuff. He is very frustrated how compact it is now and it's really almost like dirt. He told me, ever since it happened, he has had issues of all sorts. Not that he was the first to tell me but seeing it is differently. In some places, it's totally sediment, no resemblance to AS.

I am wondering if lava rock under AS would be a fix for it breaking down. Part of me thinks it will allow water to continue to flow under broken down AS, part of me thinks it will just get clogged up. I will likely try it on my next tank I am beginning to plan (will be awhile), which will have a crazy slope. I may just reuse black fluorite instead though.


----------



## keats

My AS is about 3 1/2 months old. I added some floramax I had laying around to the bottom to act as "powersand". Who knows if that plays a role, but my AS is in perfect condition. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Aquasoil does tend to break down a little more than most substrates, and releases quite a bit of mulm when you uproot things. The more uprooting you do does tend to break things down a little faster, whereas trimming frequently and aggressively will help some mulm from developing below your h.c carpet. Heres a pretty good example on how to trim..(not my video) you can trim lower, all the way down to the substrate and things will grow back nicely.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

mistuhmarc said:


> I really love that HC carpet. Is there any trimmings for any of your plants left over?


Yes there is, but I doubt you will want to pay shipping from Toronto Canada. 

We're getting pretty popular lately, thanks to Mr. Ford :bounce:


----------



## volatile

Wow that carpet is crazy. You can definitely hack it all the way down to the substrate and it will recover just fine, even if it is yellow. Yours is so thick you may even be able to cut out entire chunks/patches out it at once. Check out my thread to see what not to do when you trim HC and see what other people suggested. The first picture is after I already had removed 80% of the clippings float around. :icon_neut


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Good sir! I bow down to your HC Cuba carpet. That thing is a monster, I like the consistency of your growth, a problem I have yet to solve. 

How your AS Soil holding up? Did it turn into mud because mine is. I don't want to spend another 50 bucks for a bag when I end up suctioning out the crumbles. I'm positive I'm missing a good amount of soil. It's all compacted and crush in the front.


----------



## volatile

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Good sir! I bow down to your HC Cuba carpet. That thing is a monster, I like the consistency of your growth, a problem I have yet to solve.
> 
> How your AS Soil holding up? Did it turn into mud because mine is. I don't want to spend another 50 bucks for a bag when I end up suctioning out the crumbles. I'm positive I'm missing a good amount of soil. It's all compacted and crush in the front.


My HC carpet barely grew at all in 2-3 months with high light and CO2. But then I started dosing phosphorous and the growth took off like crazy.

I took down that tank years ago, but you can see here in a clearer picture that the top layer of my AS kinda dissolved/broke down.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ That exactly the type of stuff I tried sucking out, which eventually reduces the amount of soil in the tank. 

I'm not even a full year in and the stuff is already breaking down. 

Hey, you got any more pics of your carpet before you added P? Was it growing on top of each other rather than spreading?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I figured out why my iPhone 5S was taking bad pictures. I forgot to remove the back film. 

Here some test pictures of a wabi-kusa I'm testing. It's the North American version of a wabi-kusa. Enjoi 









=======








=======








=======








=======








=======








=======








=======








=======










The thing I hate about the new iPhone is the headphone jack. I use a aux plug for my car and I can't put the phone in the cup holder anymore. It just kind of flops around in there.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Nice pictures, Tony. Very modern sci-fi-ESK. How do you keep the humidity high for that HC?


----------



## Psiorian

For your phone you just need a holder with the aux jack at the bottom. Like the belkin tunebase. I had the same problem, but I didnt want to buy a base so I just put my phone upsidedown everywhere, or use a bluetooth receiver.

Anyways, what is that fancy container you have your wabi in?


----------



## design_desire

Psiorian said:


> Anyways, what is that fancy container you have your wabi in?


It looks like the bottom half of an Apple Magic Mouse container.


----------



## Psiorian

design_desire said:


> It looks like the bottom half of an Apple Magic Mouse container.


Hmm if this is true I may have an excuse to buy a new mouse haha.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I think it's safe to say that no one is ever really satisfy with their tank, myself included. I'm still deciding on wether I should break it down or try to maintain it. 

But what the point of maintaing a tank and having a journal? All my pictures end up the same, only the height of the plants are different. Where else can I go with this? 

As soon as I find a good home for these shrimps, the sooner I get to do design a scape. Speaking of shrimps, whatever is in that Seachem bottle has halted the breeding. I haven't seen a berried shrimp for a while now. I guess that's good news? One noticeable difference to the plants is a pink hue to my Rotala. They used to have a deep "ugly" red that doesn't show up on photos too well.









=======









Pearling like a boss.

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

Testing out the new pano-photo in iOS7, it works better with a tripod I'm told. 








=======










---------

Hahaha, you guys. Yes, that a magic mouse holder thingy. It's not as pretty with the top on, the moisture fogs it up. It only looks good in the morning. During the photo period, you can hardly tell whats inside. 

Whatever though, I'm just messing around with ideas here and there. I think I'm the only one dumb enough to try this.


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> I think it's safe to say that no one is ever really satisfy with their tank, myself included. I'm still deciding on wether I should break it down or try to maintain it.
> 
> But what the point of maintaing a tank and having a journal? All my pictures end up the same, only the height of the plants are different. Where else can I go with this?


I would just decide if you like what you have or feel like you can improve on it, or do something totally different. IMO, with a nature scape, though very attractive, they tend to get boring quickly as most of us think about new ideas. If you have a better one, then tear it down, restart. I like to do both long term scapes and short term, it allows me to learn both sides of the hobby (setup and long term maintenance). There is plenty you could do with this tank but I have a feeling you want to move to the next phase.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah I think he's itching to do a re-scape. There has been mention of it several times.  

I say, keep it going until the new year! Start fresh. My longest scape lasted about 1.5 years.



talontsiawd said:


> I like to do both long term scapes and short term...


Ahhh, yes! The beauty.... only made possible by MTS!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

talontsiawd said:


> imo, with a nature scape, though very attractive, they tend to get boring quickly as most of us think about new ideas.


yessssss!!!!! Exactly my thoughts!!!!!!



Brian_Cali77 said:


> I say, keep it going until the new year! Start fresh. My longest scape lasted about 1.5 years.


Now that is long!!! What happen in the end?


----------



## design_desire

I quite like the idea of using the Magic Mouse container for a wabi-kusa. It looks great and it's repurposing/recycling! =]


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Now that is long!!! What happen in the end?


Got bored... tore out everything and put it on the backburner with a simpler configuration to focus more on the 60P & F. 

It's a GLA tank, Mini-M dimensions. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=4345393#post4345393


----------



## FlyingHellFish

ADA's journal 2013 03 issue.

Q&A, 

I finally got around to reading the bucket load of ADA magazine journals I got. And beside the entire thing being one big ad, theres a few useful articles in at the back. 

On the subject of long term scapes, a reader sent in a question on how ADA maintains their 5+ year old scapes in their gallery. Of course I can't upload the page because it wouldn't be right giving out free information, you will have to find your own pirates sitting at the bay, but I will try to sum it up. 

The answer they gave to the reader was long but this is basically the point.









My scape is not even a year old but I find the bottom layer to be completely full of crushed soil. Has anyone else maintain the shape of their substrate with only ADA AquaSoil? Maybe I should of used their full line and have a layer of power sand in the bottom. 

The main thing I want to avoid is creating a scape with large slopes and having to replace more soil. It's not easy or cheap buying ADA soil around here and the amount they use in their scape is almost criminal. Imagine replacing the amount of soil they use in their large tanks. 

Maybe my bag was filled with a lot of dirt. :icon_eek:


----------



## Dantrasy

ADA soil breaks down pretty quick, especially if you're uprooting stems, cutting them in half and replanting the tops. I do this weekly with macrandra and a little less frequent with colorata. Been doing this for 6+ months now. It's never occurred to me to pour new soil over the old. You'll still have crushed soil underneath. But then I have a very heavily planted tank; any soil cave in will soon be filled in by plants. 

I reckon the trick is to have these types of stems behind a row of slower growers like AR mini that's never uprooted, only trimmed from the top. I've arranged my colorata this way. The base of the colorata is a big mess (sand and soil), but you can't see it because AR mini is in the way. I can't see what I'm planting into. As for the macrandra, I have it growing in a dw stump with hydrocotyle tripartita growing half way up the stems. Again the hydrocotyle obscures the mess caused by uprooting, trimming, replanting. Planting stems through hydrocotyle isn't as hard as it sounds, at least I've go used to it. 

'partially replaced with new aquasoil' sound like more advertising to me.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

*Update*: In the process of rescaping.

I'm going to try to rescape without having to break down the tank. I think it will be a great way to learn how to scape, try new things and generally see how plants react. If it doesn't work out, I can always do a full break down. 

I found an official ADA distributor that was local and got myself another 9L bag of AS, the price was actually very fair. Without shipping charges, the price is comparable to other brands. 

The Process: _Cutting mats of the carpet out - _









The carpet was so thick, you can slice 'n' dice it out. 








Lift her up gently, pull her gently, whisper that you love her. 








She floats!








For sale in cities with famous mayors only- Toronto










I'm also trying to trim out this beast.









I need to come up with a scape first, I'm thinking a Vietnamese hillside landscape.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Sounds like fun... can't wait to see what you come up with! BTW, what does it mean when your HC starts to grow tiny leaves? My HC is still green and healthy, but the leaves have started to get smaller.


----------



## Bserve

Can I have some trimmings? I'll pay for shipping


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Got of a picture of the HC? How small are they?

@Bserve, I think it's cheaper to buy HC at the store? Do you guys require custom forms for live plants? I'm not too sure on how to ship.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> Got of a picture of the HC? How small are they?
> (


Sorry for the crappy cellphone pics... the top pic is from the 60P and the bottom is from the 60F. The 60F HC looks much healthier. Is the HC in the 60P getting smaller leaves due to a deficiency or do I just need to mow it?

Had to ask since your HC is ALWAYS looking perfect! Must be a combination of AquaVitro and whispering sweet nothings to your HC. 










Edit: excuse the GSA in the top pic... I have yet to address that! LOL


----------



## John Simpson

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Had to ask since your HC is ALWAYS looking perfect! Must be a combination of AquaVitro and whispering sweet nothings to your HC.


haha lol


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I have a ton of GSA on my glass, it's hard to beat  

I think my HC Cuba is average, nothing special. Viktor lantos, George Farmer and Mark Evans have the best HC Cuba. 

Your HC looks healthy, and it's spreading so I'm not too sure. Does it hug the substrate or does it move in the current? 

Also, you forgot the bedtime stories I read to them! 

Bserve - Sorry bro, I think the plants would most likely die in transit. But you're growing some anyways right


----------



## Brian_Cali77

It hugs the substrate.... but don't the leaves in the top pic look significantly smaller than the leaves in the bottom pic? The HC started out normal like the bottom one then started to change. I'll give it a trim and see if that helps stimulate normal growth.


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> Bserve - Sorry bro, I think the plants would most likely die in transit. But you're growing some anyways right


Hopefully it's growing. If it doesn't, hydrocoytle always grows well,



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brian_Cali77 said:


> It hugs the substrate.... but don't the leaves in the top pic look significantly smaller than the leaves in the bottom pic? The HC started out normal like the bottom one then started to change. I'll give it a trim and see if that helps stimulate normal growth.


The only other thing I can think of is the light, I remember a few pages back when I was asking why some of my HC had different growth size. Most of the small growth was in the shade.

There is a difference between small compact and small misshapen growth. This is all based on my experience so I'm still learning, but take this with a grain of salt (who says things like that anymore?), I think it's the light.

One of the traits is higher internodes but also small leaf size. When you see it, you will know. The entire plants looks weak and starving sometimes with yellowing at the leaf margin. 

The bad news is, or good news is, I don't think your HC suffers from that.




Bserve said:


> Hopefully it's growing. If it doesn't, hydrocoytle always grows well,
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Have you ever seen a carpet of hydrocoytle sp. japan with large stones? It's beautiful, google search it, I think you will like it.


----------



## plantbrain

FlyingHellFish said:


> ADA's journal 2013 03 issue.
> 
> Q&A,
> 
> I finally got around to reading the bucket load of ADA magazine journals I got. And beside the entire thing being one big ad, theres a few useful articles in at the back.
> 
> On the subject of long term scapes, a reader sent in a question on how ADA maintains their 5+ year old scapes in their gallery. Of course I can't upload the page because it wouldn't be right giving out free information, you will have to find your own pirates sitting at the bay, but I will try to sum it up.
> 
> The answer they gave to the reader was long but this is basically the point.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My scape is not even a year old but I find the bottom layer to be completely full of crushed soil. Has anyone else maintain the shape of their substrate with only ADA AquaSoil? Maybe I should of used their full line and have a layer of power sand in the bottom.
> 
> The main thing I want to avoid is creating a scape with large slopes and having to replace more soil. It's not easy or cheap buying ADA soil around here and the amount they use in their scape is almost criminal. Imagine replacing the amount of soil they use in their large tanks.
> 
> Maybe my bag was filled with a lot of dirt. :icon_eek:


I recently did this but never really knew ADA suggested it, but make sense to me.

I did this on my 120 Gallon about 3 weeks ago. Going to do it on my 70 Gallon.

Given your criteria and goals, seems wood is the best option for creating a define scape without doing a lot of trimming. Small tanks with stem plants, or 3ft and smaller tanks are okay for awhile, but often time out many people.

This is an option though for that:

1. You like photography a lot, you own a LFS or company that sells the stuff, you chose specific plants that you can sell and that motivates you to trim them(one way I got myself to start back at doing this after a few years of not doing it), nagging spouse? Whatever motivate you.

Other options:

2.Wood offers a more malleable structure and can be altered and changed much easier, provides more room for fish and plants than stone. Using more ferns and mosses etc.

3. Use slower growing harder species or a mix of easy and hard plants that are less work. 

I have 4 tanks, a reef, easy.......a Buce tank, very easy, a mid to high light Card tank, easy/moderate work and then a PITA 120 Gallon Dutch tank. More than this is my limit. I do not want more.

Farm + scaping was the thing that got me back into it. Not an easy thing to tie together either, but possible and allows me to play with most new species of the month as they come down the pipe and then help other folks get in on it faster.

Your plants look healthy and nice.

I think you'd do best to remove about 1" of the Old ADA, remove the fish, rescape etc, Then replant, then change a lot of water(3-5 full water changes), then add the fish back. Fear not, addign 1' of ADA AS is not going to be that big of an issue.

All those plants, + healthy filter should mitigate and doing a few water changes every other day for 1-2 weeks will take care of the rest. Also, you can add all the ferts except N and this will drive uptake of all the NH4 in the water column.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thanks, Tony! Enough about me, it's all about you. So do you have some inspirational pictures that's swaying you to go the Vietnamese hills motif?


----------



## Darkblade48

FlyingHellFish said:


> Got of a picture of the HC? How small are they?
> 
> @Bserve, I think it's cheaper to buy HC at the store? Do you guys require custom forms for live plants? I'm not too sure on how to ship.


Please be aware that shipping plants across international borders requires a permit.

It is up to the buyer/seller to ensure they have the proper paperwork filled out prior to shipping.

Avoiding this paperwork can lead to fines and/or prosecution.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

@Tom

Thanks for the advice, I wish I could do farming and aquascaping in the same tank like you but it's truly one of the hardest type to maintain. Maybe one day I'll do dutch. 

Brian, bro, I wish I could find that picture again. It was a mountain hillside with thick green stones, I was going to try to mix it into a scape with a "HaLong Bay" feel. Come to think about it, that sounds pretty dumb actually. 
Maybe I'll just throw some stones in random places. I call it the FlyingHellFish method-scape method.


Check this out, Blyxa's root system. The higher stems on top started sending roots down into the substrate. It was planted on a slope with HC Cuba in front which blocked it to an extent. 









=======









Top view. 

Q's

What causes plants to form axillary buds at the side? Some of my Rotala green is doing this. Could it be old age?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Trying some ideas out.


----------



## gnod

Loving the scape! How do you like aquavitro? And what are ur dosing schedules like? I was curious since it was aesthetically pleasing but was wondering how it performed.


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> Trying some ideas out.


That's awesome. Are you just using your main light and have it on your stand? I am about to take down my bowl as it takes up too much space...well it's going to get replaced with something else I should say.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Same light yes, I don't think emerged plants require a lot of light. I notice something strange though, a few plants grow faster in my tank than on dirt. I even set up a container with dirt and a desktop lamp, the Staurogyne repens do poorly for me emerged. It seem higher light plants adapt better on dirt. 









=======









@gnod - Thanks you good sir! I like the line, it's been very stable for me so far.


----------



## gnod

FlyingHellFish said:


> @gnod - Thanks you good sir! I like the line, it's been very stable for me so far.


how's your dosing schedule like? i'm thinking about trying out the line myself.
are you using anything else?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I just follow the dosage on the bottle, I add more Iron and K though. I think AquaVitro is Seachem's answer to ADA's line, but with a North American twist.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Update: I'm trying to grow a carpet of Glosso. 

Fun Fact: Glosso can grow in the water column without having it's roots in the substrate. As long as there is an anchor such as, oh I don't know, a carpet of HC Cuba, the Glosso will refuse to uproot without it's buddy, HC. 

For Science!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

My package arrived today, it spent 4 days in custom and they didn't even charge me. Weird, must be the holidays.

It's a Concoa 312, very clean and I'm testing it out right now so *finger crossed. 

Size comparison with my Matheson 3122, it's smaller and way lighter. I had a bunch of fittings left over that I didn't want to go to waste. Even though I'm a bit sick, I still couldn't help but connect the fittings and test it out. 









=======








=======










The important thing is, I didn't blow myself up today. [✓]


----------



## FlyingHellFish

The Conoca 312 rebranded by Praxair works, both stages have pass but there is a bit of bad news. 

This inferno manual on/off ball valve, that I needed to work in order to do my "inline build", simply doesn't. 










I'm just going for a normal build then, without the above piece.


----------



## AquaAurora

What did you do with your rebel floating carpet? attempted replant?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ I had a ton of pm on my local forum, but I was a bit sick during this time and never met up with anybody.

The whole carpet is still in a bucket, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'm going to remove the DHG, and farm some HC Cuba, the glosso carpet going well but I doubt anyone likes glosso carpets.










































































If I can continue to sell off the HC, this hobby will be self sufficient. Everyone loves HC Cuba. 

Oh and the black algae on the rock started to clear off and I have no idea how I did it. I have never scrub those rocks, I clean my filter and a week later the algae was gone. *shrug shoulder


----------



## Bserve

Dat blyxa is crazy


Sent from my BRAIN


----------



## amphirion

i second the blyxa! well grown!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I went over to pick up gifts from my parents today, they got me a fake iPad.
I mean, it's not bad but I brought myself something else along the way. 

A 10 lb Aluminum red Co2 cylinder brand new and full. 









=======


----------



## Brian_Cali77

I personally like android better than ios... so in my eyes they made a wise choice. Merry Xmas, bro!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brian! Great to hear from you, hope everything is good. I'm growing some HC Cuba in dirt, if you ever need some, I got you covered. 

Of course free, I just need to learn how to do customs. And yeah, they totally will survive the trip, I'm experimenting with various set up.










The Samsung is sort of weird, feel like iOS but you got Google asking you to sign up instead of Apple. I like the glowing white buttons, very Star Trek like.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Thanks, Tony! I'll take some HC with ketchup chips if you don't mind! Haha... j/k

I actually saved a lot of plants from my disaster. They're sitting in temporary tanks waiting for my rescape in January. I'll get to rejoin the 60P club with contributions shortly.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I wonder if it's a crime if I don't declare the Ketchup chips? Forget about the invasive aquatic plants, I'm worry about the Ketchup chip landing me a fine  

In all serious, how come you guys don't have Ketchup chips? It's very good! It's like french fries with ketchup but in a chip. Yum!


----------



## Bserve

Brian, I have some ketchup chips down here, I can send you some 


Sent from my BRAIN


----------



## Brian_Cali77

That is mind boggling why we don't have ketchup chips? I mean, we do have crazy amounts of fast food burger joints with French fries and KETCHUP. Ketchup chips would only make sense. The only reason I discovered those bad boys is because my friend goes to Canada annually and brings some back. I was pretty shocked seeing and trying them for the first time. Since then, it's pretty much the first thing that pops into mind when I think of Canada... well besides your famous mayor and saying "ey".... ey? 

But seeing that pot of HC next to a bag of ketchup chips would seriously be like "planted tank" porn to me! Haha


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Hahah, that mayor thing blew up globally didn't it? If only Chris Farley was still alive to play him on SNL. 

I'll totally send you that pot of HC, it's grown in dirt (potting mix) and to my knowledge, quite similar to the commercial HC Cuba pots. Hook me up with a pdf of your customs fill or something. 

Also, for the custom build lovers, I recently learn the difference between nickel plated and chrome plated. One is shinny and the other is less shinny.


----------



## maxwellag

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I personally like android better than ios... so in my eyes they made a wise choice. Merry Xmas, bro!


Sorry to jump in this thread, but I TOTALLY agree. Android is much better from a functionality standpoint.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======









Glosso carpet is coming along nicely.


----------



## AquaAurora

*infant like grabby hands* i want your blyxa!


----------



## exv152

Flyinghellfish, Awesome thread. I especially like the glosso rooting in the HC carpet.


----------



## xmas_one

KETCHUP CHIPS!!!

How's the glosso carpet going? I for one like them better, keep it mowed and it will grow short and super dense.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

exv152 said:


> Flyinghellfish, Awesome thread. I especially like the glosso rooting in the HC carpet.


Thanks! I wish I took shots of the HC rooting into the Hair grass, I thought that was pretty cool. Usually it's the hair grass invading the HC. 



xmas_one said:


> KETCHUP CHIPS!!!
> 
> How's the glosso carpet going? I for one like them better, keep it mowed and it will grow short and super dense.


Okay I guess, I'm not sure why it prefer to send out runners instead of growing more dense. 









=======









Seachem's mystery product update:

Just a guess but I think their testing out a new nitrogen source. One that includes multiple sources of N, such as

urea
potassium nitrate
magnesium nitrate
calcium nitrate

It's all the rage in Europe right now.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Click on image, or full screen this beast and check out the red leaf of a Blyxa. 

Perhaps there is some truth to giving your plants higher red spectrum lights?


----------



## Fat Guy

everything looks great. I've had that happen to my hc many many times. It gives a nice "draw bridge" effect on the scape. I like the glosso carpet idea. maybe you should try some mini glosso as well. 

when you do your wabi-kusa do you add dirt to your aqua soil? thinking about doing a wabi-kusa with some e. acicularis that I pulled but not sure how it will fair or the best way to go about doing it. I pulled a bunch out of my tank and the roots are still attached to a large amount of aquasoil that came up with it. any suggestions? I like what you've done with the one you have pictured.


----------



## maxwellag

FlyingHellFish said:


> Click on image, or full screen this beast and check out the red leaf of a Blyxa.
> 
> Perhaps there is some truth to giving your plants higher red spectrum lights?


I don't know, I think it has something to do with iron and co2. I had japonica turn red like that under 10,000K bulbs.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

Seachems original Nitrogen fertilizer had Urea, my guess is its in a stronger dose, or its been replaced with ammonia nitrate. calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate are really only beneficial if you have low calcium or magnesium levels... there was a big discussion on ukaps about that a year or so ago about this. If you dose a gh booster then both are covered, i do think its beneficial to have magnesium in your weekly dosing however, plants use it up quicker than calcium.

Blyxa turns red when nitrogen levels are low.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Fat Guy said:


> you should try some mini glosso as well.
> 
> when you do your wabi-kusa do you add dirt to your aqua soil? thinking about doing a wabi-kusa with some e. acicularis that I pulled but not sure how it will fair or the best way to go about doing it. I pulled a bunch out of my tank and the roots are still attached to a large amount of aquasoil that came up with it. any suggestions? I like what you've done with the one you have pictured.


The hobby is not quite as strong here in Canada, some LFS don't even keep normal Glosso. I would love to try it out, it looks very nice.

Wabi-Kusa 
Which wabi-kusa were you referring to? I try to keep the roots with ADA Soil attach if possible. For HC Cuba trimmings, you could just sprinkle it over some dirt but for DHG, you have to plant the bulbs.

Try potting soil instead of dirt, I like the way it holds together in water. Expect some melting and some green algae, these problems will fix themselves in time. 

I keep the container super moist and cover it for a few days. 

@ Ach

Yeah, I was recently reading that thread. I wish I still had my testing kit. About the Blyxa, I have half the plant green and half pink-redish. The same thing is seen with my rotala, I haven't change my nitrogen dosing. 

I'll snap a picture tomorrow of the effect. It's quite weird to say the least. One bulb is a normal 23w 6500K while the other is a 23w Full Spectrum CFL.
I forgot to mention that I added the extra bulb a few weeks back. I now have 3x 23W bulbs on this tank with no noticeable algae increase. I haven't even scrap the glass of Green Dust Algae, so there might be some truth about the "leave it alone" method.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Full spectrum vs 6500K side by side , same tank, same fertilizers. I could get the red hue with the 6500K bulb but I would need to lower the height a lot. The Full spectrum archived this at the same height.


----------



## FlyingHellFish




----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

More light = more nutrients absorbed by the plants so nitrogen may be used up much quicker, and could be what you were seeing. Im experiencing this same thing in my 90p testing Happi's new fert mix, lower N levels overall has turned my new blyxa growth pink.
Tank looks good btw, hack back that blyxa so it doesn't shade out the glosso!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Hey you too? I dig the blyxa pink growth, sometimes it turn red at then end of the photo period and is pink in the morning. I been messing around with Happi's idea of several N source compare to just KNO3, a bit too early to see any real effects. I'll see if the blyxa goes even more red, with extra Urea. 

I'm not too sure on how to cut Blyxa, while keeping the overall "ball" look. I been trimming at the side and leaving the base alone which isn't really doing it at all.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Whenever I dose my fertilizers, I like to imagine my Blyxa going - 

"om nom nom nom nom nom"


----------



## Brian_Cali77

That blyxa bush would look cool on a chia pet head!

Edit:

Tony... in light of that post and my comment, I had a flash of inspiration. Your blyxa is talking to you! You can bust an Oliver Knott scape


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ ROFL hahaha 

Brian! That awesome, I like your choice of Comic Sans font on the text. Is it me or does that chic pet guy look like Obama?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Yeah it is... I just google-imaged chia pets... thought that one looked funny enough. LOL


----------



## FlyingHellFish

New scape idea, model head with aquatic plants for hair. 

Originator - Brian Cali 77 ,


----------



## Bserve

Haha that's a great idea


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Maybe Brian has the skills to pull that scape off, not me though. 


Also, I got a nice little surprise in the mail after picking up my Swagelok fittings. My new Parker H3 valve arrive from a fellow member here. Not sure if I should mention his name but it was a great transaction. He kept the price similar to the e|bay deal, and added a mountain of unnecessary bubble wrap.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I found some older pictures of the tank back in the day, check out the Blyxa and HC vs Blyxa and Glosso: 

Current: Glosso









Old: HC


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I got a treat in the mail today (FedEx allows Saturday pickup), so without further to do, here is my new LEDs lighting system. It's x2 MicMol Mini v2, built in timer with individual Red and Blue channels. 

I will have a formal review of these lights in a bit. 











These are the newer version of their AquaMini, with extra features that are gear towards the high end crowd. 

I have the "colour" version of the lights with Cree Leds along with a "wider" spectrum of light. 

Time for a new scape maybe?

Edit: I am confused.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Heck yeah, man! Those look cool. I really like there's blue and red channels + Cree chips. Sounds like they're going to be great. This is the first time I've heard of those. Can't wait to see your review and more eyecandy. Any idea of PAR numbers? Anyways, I do think a new scape is in order. Congrats on getting the hook-ups on vendor pricing as well.


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

is that just the shell to a mac mini? looks like it has the cd drive on the side still? lol pretty cool lights!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

It's going to be really hard to do a fair review as I have no other LED fixtures (not counting the fluval edge) to compare to. 

Hopefully I can remain neutral and judge these based on their merits and not their eye candy. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention the LCD screen and touch control on the unit. I know, I know, I'll be less bias. 

The Par data was given on their older Aqua Mini unit which is discounted. I remember looking at the graph and seeing 140 par at my tank's height but I'm not completely sure. I'll ask for some Par data and see what they say. 

It shares a lot of things in common with one particular fruit company. Here what's inside the box, it's a very nicely package box, again, reminds me of a fruit company. After taking out the light fixture, this is what you get:


=======

Hello to you too MicMol! 










Pull on the white ribbon you say? Sure. 










An array of plastic accessories? Nope.










Metal. 










Close up of the accessories. 










Hanging kit included, metal fixtures as well. I won't be able to hang this though. 










Manual of the lights states that it includes 3 brackets for 3 mm, 2mm and 1 mm tanks.










I'll set one up later, and write a detail review on the lights. I haven't even taken the protective plastic wrap off the lights, which is the best part of buying anything new. The "cd tray" is where the air is cooled with the built in fan. And yeah, storm effect and separate channels levels and timer are there.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Mini Update:









=======









Early impression of the light - Marine light? It gives off the impression of a reef light and its really bright. Glancing at the LEDs will leave you with flying stars in your eyes, it was a lesson I should of learned from that ADA girl looking into the ADA LEDs on youtube- WAHHH! 

Normal full spec (all channels on)









=======

Cree Green boost, Orsam Red boost, Orsam Green boost











===

It's super bright, you can turn each colour from 0 - 100% and you have a timer built in. All of this surely adds up right? Well, here why it might not be a "planted light" fixture. 

There is only 3 white LED, while others are a mix of blue, green and red. The marine version includes several different types of blue, 400 - 500 nm spectrum, the kind or spectrum reef keepers love. So what about the planted scene? You can definitely make this work, but I recommend a smaller tank. Even a small deep tank would work. 

Besides the blinding light from this fixture, what I don't see is how 3 white LED can power my tank. This light reminds me of the AquaticLife T5HO fixture I brought and return a while back. It gives off this violet hue, sort of like the kind of light people use for showing off fish. 

I'll see if this light can make my plants pearl, I doubt it though.


----------



## parrottbay

Interested to see how this turns out.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Perhaps my reasoning is not justify. After all, these are the Aqua "Mini" and not the larger "Pro" version. Maybe I'm trying to get this fixture to do something it wasn't made for. 

One of the issue with this light, or maybe a feature, is the simmer effect. If you ever seen a reef tank with LEDs, you will notice the random beams of light bouncing off of everything. I for one, can't stand the simmer. My entire tank turns into a disco ball with these. Supposedly Cree Leds and Orsam Leds are top of the line so you can imagine how much simmer there is. 

One things for sure, this light would be perfect for a mini reef where "brightness" is not the point, it's the wave length. Reefers wants the things inside their tanks to "glow", planted tank guys want their plants to "grow".


----------



## talontsiawd

My friend has something very similar on his reef tank. It looks very similar to what he has. I have to say, if it is the same thing, these lights are incredibly dope. I don't know if it will be as cool on a planted tank but it's a whole different level than the common LED lights for freshwater. I really hope these work out for you because they make your tank so much more interactive and there can be so much more "movement" throughout the day.


----------



## FlyingHellFish




----------



## Down_Shift

o man, those led fixtures look like apple tv's LOL.

They will look ultra sexy ceiling mounted.


----------



## Bserve

Is that color banding or the blyxa's true colors?


----------



## Couesfanatic

nice looking blyxa, let us know how the growth is with the new light.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

More later, but for now.









=======








=======


----------



## Bserve

That's so...
Coloricious!!


----------



## The Trigger

This tank is awesome. I've never seen light like that before!!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Thanks! 

I got some comprasion shots between the "colour" leds and plain "white" leds. What this light reminds me of is the Finnex's LEDs made to showcase fish. The light fixture did make my plants pearl, which I was thinking it wouldn't. The glosso and HC were pearling a bit more than usual.

_Here some shots._

*Low white, high blue, high colours:*










*Medium white, low blue, low colour:*









*Full white, low blue, no colour:*









The disco ball effect that plagues my living room:
High White, no blue, no colour









If you set everything to max, and turn off the room lights, I kid you not, it's a laser show.


----------



## Bserve

Awesome!!! Disco Partayyy!
Haha, but where did the right side go?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Sup bro, 

I'm trying to think up of a scape, it's hard with all the new awesome tanks on here lately. I sold the right side, DHG was just crazy invasive. 

Know any good landscape photos? Send them here!

Edit: Forgot to add, the blyxa colour shows up under the LEDs with the higher spectrum (RGB) setting. Maybe that why some photos online have really red plants, but then again I seen some really nice red with normal lighting. Tom's tank has plants that are red under several different lighting. My blyxa blades are pinkish under 6500K and deep red under LEDs in photo and real life. It's confusing right?


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> Sup bro,
> 
> I'm trying to think up of a scape, it's hard with all the new awesome tanks on here lately. I sold the right side, DHG was just crazy invasive.
> 
> Know any good landscape photos? Send them here!
> 
> Edit: Forgot to add, the blyxa colour shows up under the LEDs with the higher spectrum (RGB) setting. Maybe that why some photos online have really red plants, but then again I seen some really nice red with normal lighting. Tom's tank has plants that are red under several different lighting. My blyxa blades are pinkish under 6500K and deep red under LEDs in photo and real life. It's confusing right?


Ah, I see. So that's how Tom does it! Haha.

Here are some (maybe) inspirational photos I took (and with some, edited) with my phone.
























































Just look at everyday life for inspiration, you never know what you'll find.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Naw, Tom's tank has red plants under any light ahahah, I don't know how he does it. Tell us your secret! 

Are those your pictures? Very nice photography, I can see why you got into this hobby. The third pictures is awesome, what is that?


----------



## Bserve

*ADA 60P| New LED Lights review | PurpleMonkeyDishwasher*



FlyingHellFish said:


> Naw, Tom's tank has red plants under any light ahahah, I don't know how he does it.
> 
> Are those your pictures? Very nice photography, I can see why you got into this hobby. The third pictures is awesome, what is that?


Haha agreed.

Thanks! Yeah these are my pics. I tried to pick ones that would be helpful to you, most of my shots are much nicer IMO, like this:









That one, as well as the other lake panorama was at a lake by my house (Yeah I know, weird, right? A lake in the middle of LA? Nope!)


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Now that is NICE, imagine a scape that is green in the back and rocks in the front. That would be perfect for a smaller tank. I really don't want to buy a ton of rocks. 

I'm thinking of having an island in the middle surrounded by HC or UG while the corners are covered in rocks. Something like that I guess...


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ Now that is NICE, imagine a scape that is green in the back and rocks in the front. That would be perfect for a smaller tank. I really don't want to buy a ton of rocks.
> 
> I'm thinking of having an island in the middle surrounded by HC or UG while the corners are covered in rocks. Something like that I guess...


Thanks! But the strange kind of sense of depth I think would be far from possible in a tank, albeit a small one. 
So you're thinking like an island layout but instead of sand HC/UG, and in the front corners rock piles to create depth?


----------



## Bserve

Like this?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Hhaha I appreciate the drawing!!! Thanks! 

Something like that, with like a mountain of plants in the middle. 

I got some love from Swagelok today, freebies! 









=======









LED: Getting some pearling with the lights, more so than the CFL. I got high hopes! I found a nice mixture of colours that is easy on the eyes. The overwhelming purple was caused by the blue led, there was two "blue" leds which confused me on why I was seeing a marine look on my tank. 

Sadly, the plants pearl more with the blue ramp high than low. It could be just my eyes seeing more bubbles because of the blue. I'm digging the new mixture but it's too early to tell on growth.

I'll have the full review up soon instead of these mini updates.


----------



## Bserve




----------



## FlyingHellFish

My blyxa flowered! I'm selling a batch of my blyxa to a local buyer and found out as I was packing it. There were two stems that flowered, pretty nice don't you think?











As the day draws to an end, the sun-set effect the LEDs has looks pretty neat on my tank. 










I forgot I had those two rocks to the left, they were always covered by the blyxa.


----------



## lamiskool

haha thats awesome that it flowered, ive never seen any of mine do that


----------



## Bserve

So that's what those things on my blyxa are...


----------



## Phil Edwards

Looking really nice! Swagelok swag(e), sweet!


----------



## gnod

wait did you rip out that gorgeous blyxa?! i wish i could've seen how big it was...

twss.


----------



## devilduck

This thread make me want those micmols bad.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

gnod said:


> wait did you rip out that gorgeous blyxa?! i wish i could've seen how big it was...
> 
> twss.


This is one of those large zip lock bags, I had 4 big bags full. I sold two locally. It's a beast! :bounce:


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Hello to all the subscribers.....









=======








=======








=======








=======
My wabi-kusa-not-really vase










Name me some really red plants, I want to try some out with these lights.


Oh and forgot to add, check these out, I guess I'm going for v3?

V1








V2








V3?


----------



## The Trigger

Beautiful tank. Very natural looking!


----------



## Phil Edwards

Gorgeous as always. roud:


----------



## gnod

one of my favorite tanks! and love the vase. it's a lot bigger than i thought. i was looking at a stemless wine glass but maybe ill try something bigger.

what's that red plant in your vase??


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks Sam and Phil! 




gnod said:


> one of my favorite tanks! and love the vase. it's a lot bigger than i thought. i was looking at a stemless wine glass but maybe ill try something bigger.
> 
> what's that red plant in your vase??


Thanks bro, hopefully my next scape will be just as good. The plant is Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink', it's a slow grower in air.


----------



## Bserve

Hey, I was just wondering, since you're the master of LED disco/color, do you know of how I could add more red/green to my light? It's the Marineland reef capable, so it's really blue :/


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Haha, not even close to Master of LEDs but I can try.

Could you turn down the blues on those units? I'm afraid there not much you can do if if the unit doesn't allow you to adjust the intensity. 

You have to turn down those blues, adding in a red or green led or light source will just make it all weird. 

I think what you're looking for is white, 6500 - 8000K, like the Cree XP-E 8000k LED. I'm not sure how you can add those in a Marineland light fixture.

The best is to get a light fixture with the right colour temp, like an 6500 - 8000K with the added bonus of a red or blue light, so you get a wider spectrum. 

What about the ADA AquaSkys 602?


----------



## Bserve

FlyingHellFish said:


> Haha, not even close to Master of LEDs but I can try.
> 
> Could you turn down the blues on those units? I'm afraid there not much you can do if if the unit doesn't allow you to adjust the intensity.
> 
> You have to turn down those blues, adding in a red or green led or light source will just make it all weird.
> 
> I think what you're looking for is white, 6500 - 8000K, like the Cree XP-E 8000k LED. I'm not sure how you can add those in a Marineland light fixture.
> 
> The best is to get a light fixture with the right colour temp, like an 6500 - 8000K with the added bonus of a red or blue light, so you get a wider spectrum.
> 
> What about the ADA AquaSkys 602?


No, there are 3 settings on the light: off, blues only, and white and blue. Right now I have tape over the blue because whenever I have it on, algae grows.








And I'm no master of wiring or anything, not even close, so replacement wouldn't be very good :/

And the Aquasky 602 is SEXY, but I'm not just letting my light go, it's pretty much better at everything except ADA-ness and light coloration


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Sorry Benji, I'm not sure how you can get a purer white if you can't turn down the blue. You are right about algae liking the blue range, but there are also algae that absorb the same spectrum of plants.

Does Marine make a plant version of that light? Could you possibly return it and switch to that? 

Here what my light looks like at a medium blue, with 25% "Colour" LEDs.










This is what my tank looks like at with the same setting but with the added white, it really offset the blue. The tank and plants still receive the higher blue spectrum but now it's pleasing to the human eye.










So maybe, you could add more white light, though you have to up your fertz and Co2. 

I get massive pearling if I supply my plants a higher blue and red range, but I have to add more white so it won't look all weird and funky. And yes, if I add the white alone, there isn't as much pearling compare to white and funky blue/red. 

It's confusing I know, I'm trying figure out this whole light aspect too.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Almost done the Glosso carpet, I'm just waiting for it to completely cover the foreground so I can check off Glosso on my list.









=======








=======








=======








=======








=======


----------



## Bserve

Sweet


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Thanks, 

I guess people like my older scape, I think I might go back to HC Cuba in the new scape. 

I'm waiting for glosso to completely cover the tank so I can tear this down and go with something new. 

It's ironic, when I started this, the name Purple Monkey Dishwasher was just a joke title. I didn't have an ounce of purple in this tank and now check this out......










I can ramp up the purple really high.....
=======
A friend of mine gave me some free stems, I'm bringing them back to life.... whatever this plant is, I like it! It's in the middle, some kind of weird slim rotala.


----------



## Bserve

Those are rotala rotundifolia.

Maybe for the next scape, use river stones instead of the ruyoh rocks (or however they're spelled) and sand instead of a carpet.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Looking good dude... It's like a self fulfilling prophecy. 

When's the tentative schedule for the full rescape?


----------



## ua hua

Those lights look rather cool in a funky way. By the way I'm pretty sure the plant your talking about is Rotala Singapore or Rotala macrandra narrow leaf.


----------



## gnod

hey man, i say instead of h.c. you should try u.g. 
it's been on my mind as im nearly done with my h.c. and once that's done.. i wanted to try u.g.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> A friend of mine gave me some free stems, I'm bringing them back to life.... whatever this plant is, I like it! It's in the middle, some kind of weird slim rotala.


I believe Rotala 'narrow leaf' Macrandra is also known as Rotala Magenta. 

But, if it's not that... to me it looks like one of these very similar looking narrow leaf plants:


----------



## ua hua

Brian_Cali77 said:


> I believe Rotala 'narrow leaf' Macrandra is also known as Rotala Magenta.
> 
> But, if it's not that... to me it looks like one of these very similar looking narrow leaf plants:


You could be right it might be L. Brevipes also. It's not didiplis diandra because the leaf structure on D. Diandra forms a cross. Tinanti would be the one to ask to get the proper id.


----------



## jimmyjam

thats brevipes for sure. And I like the new lights.. awesome man


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Oh and for a carpet option, how about elatine triandra or Micranthemum
'Monte Carlo' (aka: Elatine hydropiper)? Or, UG (as what was suggested).


----------



## FlyingHellFish

You guys were right about the plant, thank you. 

In the spirit of the olympics, check this out. We have glosso, hc cuba in a race to cover the right side. Staurogyne Repen was left in the dust. It's barely noticable in the picture, but trust, they're there.


----------



## Centromochlus

Wow those lights are insane. Looks like the plants really like the spectrum. 
Where did you purchase them from?


----------



## Ach1Ll3sH33L

i wouldn't recommend monte carlo for your tank size, h.c looks much better for the scale. monte carlo also grows densely on top of itself and seems to choke off the lower leaves requiring constant trimming or replanting..it does looks good for a few moths before it grows over itself though. 

challenge yourself with a more intricate hardscape


----------



## FlyingHellFish

@ Centromochlus, 

Some people wanted me to test it out, so far so good. What fish is that in your picture? I haven't brought any fish beside the Otos for this tank. I can't seem to find a good shrimp safe fish, beside Otos  

@ Ach1L,

Did you find that monte carlo grew faster than HC or was it about the same rate of growth? I'm starting to like the Glosso's coverage. Runners are always creeping along the substrate. The monte carlo would be nice, it's just so rare around here. I'm fairly certain I have to source it here. Problem is, not many people ship to Canada. 

@ Brian, 

Your UG growth is really nice, do you go lean on the water column? I'm not sure if I told you guys, but I tried UG a long time ago. It fail miserably for me. Also, for some reason, moss doesn't grow in my tank either. Weird. 


I did my first Glosso trim today and notice how strong Glosso is compare to HC. I could hardly cut the thing with Big Al's cheapo scissors. The stems would bend during the first attempt, then finally crush off with the second. 

I need new scissors. 

A few days ago, I forgot when exactly:









Tonight:


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> @ Brian,
> 
> Your UG growth is really nice, do you go lean on the water column? I'm not sure if I told you guys, but I tried UG a long time ago. It fail miserably for me. Also, for some reason, moss doesn't grow in my tank either. Weird.


Yeah I just dose PPS-Pro... which is lean overall. I do dose extra on the macros from the standard directions. I thought I was going to fail as well given that I have liquid rock for tap. I recall reading somewhere that it likes soft water... anyways, it's doing quite well. I wonder why the UG and (especially) moss don't work out for you... that's really strange. 

Anyway, nice tank shot!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I was thinking the same, everyone tells me to get soft water for UG. Then I see Tom Barr's UG and it confuses me. 

I think I might try it again, I would love a UG carpet! How do you guys trim it though? Do you just replant? How many pots of UG did you buy for your tank, Brian?


----------



## Bserve

Tom Barr is a magician, don't let him confuse you, haha. Nice FTS!


----------



## The Trigger

Bserve said:


> Tom Barr is a magician, don't let him confuse you, haha. Nice FTS!


I agree. Man might actually be a real wizard


----------



## Brian_Cali77

FlyingHellFish said:


> I was thinking the same, everyone tells me to get soft water for UG. Then I see Tom Barr's UG and it confuses me.
> 
> I think I might try it again, I would love a UG carpet! How do you guys trim it though? Do you just replant? How many pots of UG did you buy for your tank, Brian?


I started out with a 2x2 portion. It grew out a good amount in my first scape. Obviously, I had plenty more to work with for the re-scape (which was relatively not long after the first). I've yet to trim UG. We'll see...


----------



## Centromochlus

FlyingHellFish said:


> @ Centromochlus,
> 
> Some people wanted me to test it out, so far so good. What fish is that in your picture? I haven't brought any fish beside the Otos for this tank. I can't seem to find a good shrimp safe fish, beside Otos


_Centromochlus perugiae_, also known as honeycomb catfish. Absolutely wonderful fish!

I have never kept them with shrimp before. They are extremely peaceful and kind of mind their own business… but they love bloodworms, so i'd imagine that they'd make a quick snack out of cherry shrimp.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Brought a new guitar today, it goes well with the stand and tank.










=======


----------



## Brian_Cali77

The guitar playing will go well with the disco lighting over the tank, too  I think you need to make a YouTube music video!


----------



## keats

That's a nice strat! Which kind is it? I have a Fender Japanese model from the 80s laying around that I occasionally play John Mayer stuff on. I have an Epiphone 335 that I mostly play. 

Anyway, nice FTS!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ That a nice guitar, I hear good things about the MIJ and the MIM. This is actually a basic standard strat fmt

My affinity neck got all warp.

Shhh.. it's a squier.


----------



## kevreh

Bserve said:


> Hey, I was just wondering, since you're the master of LED disco/color, do you know of how I could add more red/green to my light? It's the Marineland reef capable, so it's really blue :/


Bserve,

Why dont you look into a diy solution? The you could add however many color leds you want. Plus you wouldn't need a very large power supply. Ledgroupbuy.com has everything you need, amongst other places. HTH


----------



## Bserve

kevreh said:


> Bserve,
> 
> 
> 
> Why dont you look into a diy solution? The you could add however many color leds you want. Plus you wouldn't need a very large power supply. Ledgroupbuy.com has everything you need, amongst other places. HTH



I am TERRIBLE at wiring though, haha. And I've run out of electrical outlets


----------



## gnod

i just totally spent my friday morning reading through this again.. haha the progress is impressive man.

how are you liking the new lights? i checked a us seller and apparently there are 2 versions a "color" and non color version apparently. i'm assuming you got the color version yea?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ Thanks Gnod, glad you like it. I'm sort of on cruise control right now, just letting it do it's thing.


I got two of the colour version and I turn the blue down quite a bit. Pearling is more intense with the blue but that probably just because there is more light.

Results of the Race: Winner Glosso








=======








The glosso in the back were planted trimmings, glosso doesn't grow that fast. 


About the LEDs:
A pet peeve of mine is the different colours when taking a picture. Unless you take a picture at the same time each day (no one does that) you will get different intensity. I have the ramp up and down at certain times with a "high light" period. 

A good example is this picture, with higher white it looks like this, 









The LEDs should be in the States, I think you guys have two distributors but I'm not sure if it's the older version. I'm actually trying to get a fellow member here some of these units, I think he can really showcase the lights.


----------



## nate_werdy

Where did you get the 23 watt cfl lights?? I'm looking to do the same thing in a 60p I'm starting up soon.


----------



## Down_Shift

Man those lights look so bad ass


----------



## FlyingHellFish

nate_werdy said:


> Where did you get the 23 watt cfl lights?? I'm looking to do the same thing in a 60p I'm starting up soon.


Ikea, 10 bucks a pop. Don't use anything bigger than a 23watt, the light fixture will stick out of the reflector. Try to get the 6500K, or day time light as they call it.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======








=======








=======









I'm in need of a trim.


----------



## talontsiawd

Wow, that is insanity right there


----------



## Bserve

You should totally make a rotala jungle with a tiny bit of glosso in the front center


----------



## FlyingHellFish

That actually sound pretty cool, if only I could somehow get glosso not to twist when it grows in the water column, I'll do it! 

If anyone looking to grow a glosso carpet, do it! It's fast, easy to grow, and roots well.


----------



## mistuhmarc

At first, I thought that the glosso had attempted to climb up the rotala. Hahaha


----------



## synaethetic

Your overgrown glosso drives me nuts! I'll trim it for you for free haha. If you do have plans to trim it, do so by clipping it close to the substrate leaving only it's runners. I like glosso for the fact that it can overgrow and still maintain health at substrate level, where as with HC you need to trim it low, and frequently, in order to avoid die off underneath. However, glosso grows too fast for my preference whereas HC is somewhat slower in moderate light. Glosso grows everywhere and infests the tank, HC is easier to control.


----------



## chris.rivera3

How do you like the lights?? Any reviews??

@Brian_Cali --> Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' and Elatine Hydropiper are two completely different plants....they are also the exact opposite in size on the spectrum ('Monte Carlo' grows larger while elatine hydropiper/mini glosso is known as one of the smallest, if not the smallest, foreground plants)



Brian_Cali77 said:


> Oh and for a carpet option, how about elatine triandra or Micranthemum
> 'Monte Carlo' (aka: Elatine hydropiper)? Or, UG (as what was suggested).


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ It's great, I been meaning to do this infograph and realize I lost the write up I did. Not to worry, I'll just write it again. 

Here some progression pictures.









=======








=======








=======








=======








=======









You have the option of ramping up and down the light intensity, while also controlling which "channels" are affected. I prefer to have a higher colour(RGB) compare to the blue(sub 400nm) spectrum. This is just my personal preference as I like the "pop" of the colour. Keep in mind, these Cree white LEDs are rated with a high CRI (Colour Rendering Index) so you are getting a close representation of the plant's colour. What I like to do is to up the colour (Osram LEDs) with a hint of blue to bring out the reds.

This is my recommendation to MicMol, I am trying to give them advice on producing a new fixture with a better focus on planted tanks.

Non-Offical - Mock Design by me. 











I believe this fixture will be better suited to utilizing the full potential of the lights. The green and deep blue LEDs are not needed in my opinion as a higher number of white leds can full fill that part of the spectrum. 

Here an interesting chart from the Aqua Journal Dec 11 issue. It explains how blue is used more than red, and how ADA is more focused on a "blue" hue in their lights. All rights belong to ADA and I am using this for educational purposes. Please don't sue.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

What a reasonable price to pay for a good set of trimming tools? Might as well get an entire set rather than buying them one at a time.

Any ideas where I can get a full set? 

The carpet is getting higher while still compact. If I let HC Cuba like this, it would of up rooted a long time ago.










Even the ludwigia brevipes is creeping, this stem was toss in the middle and I thought it would surely die. Nope, it just sent roots down and growing sideways.


----------



## talontsiawd

Tools...If you are like me and don't mind Aquarium specific stuff or a matched set, I use medical tweezers, some medical scissors. I also always look for cosmetic scissors at discount stores like TJ Maxx and Marshals. 

The medical stuff is free, just ask for it the next time you get stitches. It's great because it reminds you to not do stupid things. If you don't want to go that route, go on ebay or you may have a store near you (need to check one out down the street). 

I recommend the second route.

Honestly, I feel all the aquarium stuff is overpriced and I have had issues with rust. Some use the wrong grade of SS, others are fine but the screw will rust. I am sure some are great, I haven't had the greatest experience but I buy cheap (and free minus copay)


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Sup Matt! 

I hear ya about the tools, the aquarium tools look exactly like the types you find in discount stores. The guy was telling how they're "medical grade" stainless steel and how they're made for cutting plants. 

But, how do you treat metal to cut plants only? I mean, sure the shape and size are unique but other than that, they look exactly the same.

I actually never got stitches before, it sound like you got a story to tell. What happen?


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> Sup Matt!
> 
> I hear ya about the tools, the aquarium tools look exactly like the types you find in discount stores. The guy was telling how they're "medical grade" stainless steel and how they're made for cutting plants.
> 
> But, how do you treat metal to cut plants only? I mean, sure the shape and size are unique but other than that, they look exactly the same.
> 
> I actually never got stitches before, it sound like you got a story to tell. What happen?


The medical stuff doesn't need to be treated. They are just high grade SS. They may be cleaned in something you have to rinse off but I don't know. I had to rinse mine for other reasons. The medical stuff is super good quality SS, they are very sharp, and all that. 

I am not sure in the medical field if they are one time use or not. When you are at the Hospital, they pull out a sealed packet. They didn't have any problem given thing away to me, other than they thought it was odd. My tweeters are the best because they actually grip the plants. All my medical stuff has help up for many years.


No insane story here and I hope nobody gets woozy from this. I have a fear of blood myself, just not my own. I just work with my hands a lot and should probably wear gloves as you make mistakes. Never had more than like 6 stitches, nothing crazy. 


I may not be totally correct here and I know more than a few on the board work in the medical field. My friend is a nurse, I can call him if you have concerns. As far as I know, it's just high quality stainless stuff for way less money. I would just rinse them at most.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Ouch, 6 snitches. Chicks dig scars though, and if they ask just say you were fighting a bear.


----------



## Chris_Produces

Subscribed. Great info here and awesome setup! roud:


----------



## JoeandCarrie

When you get used medical equipment, typically they will steam it for you so that they are not liable for any pathogens on the tools, but if they don't you should boil them for 4-5 minutes at a rapid boil. Personally, I use alcohol after the boil and then dry them with a clean towel and put them in a bag with rice to make sure they are good and dry. Once that is done, you just toss em on a hook under the cabinet and treat like any other scissors/knifes.

Hope that helps a little.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======








=======








=======








=======








=======








=======


----------



## freph

Love the purple hue and plant health you have going on in here. Looks great. roud:

Got any PAR data for the fixture?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Chris_Produces said:


> Subscribed. Great info here and awesome setup! roud:


Thanks, I hope you enjoy the journal. I'm glad you find it informative, I'm learning along with you guys too. :bounce:



freph said:


> Love the purple hue and plant health you have going on in here. Looks great. roud:
> 
> Got any PAR data for the fixture?


There is, or *was as the PAR values were taken for the older generation 1 fixtures. I wish I had a Par meter to measure the reading but I been told PUR is a better representation of useable light. Glosso has taken off so much that I think it's choking the Blyxa on the right side. 

Late night shot

Here is a shot of the tank with *_only_ the *_white LEDs_ on, it's bright but I wouldn't say extremely over the top bright. I turn off the colour/blue leds to give a better impression since the majority of us are accustom to white. 










*Glosso Carpet impressions*

When people ask how they can get a compact look on their carpets, the common answer is to "trim" and "train" the Glosso to carpet. In my experience, I find that if you grow it in a condition where it naturally creeps, it will give you that thick compact look.

_How does this apply to your tank? _

If you're glosso carpet is growing straight up, and all you do is trim it, you might be able to train it to creep. It's a lot easier in my opinion to create an environment where it naturally wants to creep. 









=======








=======











I finally got that ball of rotala shape, kind of, mostly, not really.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

=======








=======








=======









Added a Erios Parkeri to the tank today. It had the whitest root and the nicest shade of green. Totally a fan of now, I never thought they looked very good but in person, the beauty is striking. 

In order to plant the Erios, I had to cut away some glosso in the back of the tank. It was such a deep hole, there was a good 4cm of glosso growth that was removed. I can't wait for this Erios to grow out.


----------



## talontsiawd

Looking good. What's that plant in the glosso that is redish/pink. I remember having something similar way back and never knew what it was.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Thanks Matt! I feel as if the scape is getting stale, I'm not getting much attention with this anymore. I guess that how the cookie crumbles sometimes, I would love to get some opinions on how to "jazz" up the tank. 

I'm torn between creating a scape that appeals to everyone versus creating a tank that I personally like. Should I follow these "rules" set out in ADA's magazines, or do you guys think it's better if I blaze my own trail? 

The plant in the middle of the carpet is ludwigia brevipes. It's creeping along with the glosso with side growth producing new terminal buds. Try it out Matt, I think you will like it!


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> Thanks Matt! I feel as if the scape is getting stale, I'm not getting much attention with this anymore. I guess that how the cookie crumbles sometimes, I would love to get some opinions on how to "jazz" up the tank.
> 
> I'm torn between creating a scape that appeals to everyone versus creating a tank that I personally like. Should I follow these "rules" set out in ADA's magazines, or do you guys think it's better if I blaze my own trail?
> 
> The plant in the middle of the carpet is ludwigia brevipes. It's creeping along with the glosso with side growth producing new terminal buds. Try it out Matt, I think you will like it!


As much as I love nature aquariums, honestly, I get sick of them for a time, then fall back in love with it.

If I were you, I would just do whatever. A lot of use realize we like all sorts of plants and that starts to make ADA style/Nature style pretty hard. 

To me, this hobby is a lot like creating music. When you start, you want to really be like someone else. By the time you really understand how to make that type of music, something inevitably draws you to something else. So will start a whole new style of music, others will put a slight twist where it's really not obvious, and some will be in between. That's developing your own style.

I am not that far is this hobby, even though I have been doing it for awhile but I live vicariously through others. I love when someone starts with an Iwagumi style tank, for example, and then ends up with a mountain of Rotala. Or, Iwagumi wasn't good enough so they made a really convincing mounting scape. Or, foreground plants got boring so they use a red stem for the carpet. This could go for any style but I am just saying, those are the tanks that really impress me, and it seems like the people have a lot more fun. 

To me, I would go what every way is entertaining you at any given time, be it an imitation of another tank, influenced by a bunch of tanks, or just going whatever direction the plants direct you in, even if you never have seen it. I kind of think you may fit into the third category from watching some of your scape's direction.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

^ That is exactly what I'm going through, very nicely written. I can see how the hobby can get stale after a while. It's as if the initial excitement is only temporary then you hit some sort of a wall. 










Grape juice flavour aquarium!


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> ^ That is exactly what I'm going through, very nicely written. I can see how the hobby can get stale after a while. It's as if the initial excitement is only temporary then you hit some sort of a wall.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grape juice flavour aquarium!


I actually found it ironic that you named the journal randomly and now you have the ability to do a nice purple light spectrum.

Honestly, when I started, which is right around my join date, aquascaping like it is now wasn't really a "thing". I mean, people had really nice tanks but the whole Japanese influence wasn't there yet. The coolest tanks on here where heavily planted, "jungley" discus tanks. The nano became a phenomenon over night. Then the ADA influence hit hard.


The irony about the whole thing is that the people who enjoy the hobby most are the ones with a reasonable investment, a reasonable expectation, and really just do what they want to do (again, reminds me of music).

For me, I really tried my best at Iwagumi (which I still can't spell of the top of my head but is now popular enough to autocomplete in a Google search).

Before I was given a very generous gift of the 60P I have now, for my wedding, I was saving for a Mr. Aqua 48, or a 90P if I could afford it. Now I am glad I got the 60P as all my equipment carried over but my whole goal with the 90P, and then my 60P was to do a traditional dutch tank.

Well, you saw how that happened. Every time I set a goal, it seems to not only have it's "hang ups", it also makes me loose interest when it doesn't work out perfectly. I started doing this ish for fun and made many cool tanks. I don't compete with others in this hobby, or most, but when I started getting self competitive, started wanting to out do myself, I always had a block (again, insert music metaphor haha).

Just taking some little restrictions off got me right back in. I don't need high light. I don't need a perfect dutch tank (that is way smaller than it should be). I don't need some exotic fish, I love my new guppies I paid $3.25 for 4. 

I don't know, you have a knack for this and I think it's time to experiment. My mentor, member OVT, grows some of the nicest plants I have seen. He has some of the highest level of equipment (120P, TEK or ATI 6 bulb, Eheim such and such) but he also has big tanks, small tanks, and in between, with a lot less, some with a lot more. He loves growing plants, I am pretty sure he hates aquascaping but he still does it. The less he does with the tank, the more I seem to like it because I know his style and I know why it looks best for his personal style.


----A note from someone who wanted to quit the whole hobby until he said "F-It", I have a plan I know will work, done it before, had fun with it, and jumped head first back into it.

Sorry if it comes off too serious, my point is....Have some fun and  when you look at your tank, gain inspiration from others but don't  your personal choices.


----------



## talontsiawd

Also, love your grape tank.


----------



## ua hua

Very well said Matt. 

FlyingHellFish the tank looks really good.

The L. Brevipes is a very cool looking plant and I have someone that will be sending me some in the next week or so. Those fixtures put off a nice color combo. I'm still not completely sold on LEDs for planted tanks yet but after seeing yours I'm slowly starting to be persuaded. Maybe sometime down the road I will make the leap and give LEDs a shot on my tank.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

@talontsiawd, 

I like your insight, it's a refreshing read from ADA's Aqua Journal where you're basically given a list of "don't". I'm trying to read up on all of their rules but it's so utterly boring. 

@ua_hua

Thanks! I had doubts about LEDs at the start too. I figure if ADA releases an LED fixture, it could work.









=======








=======









Axel Rose - "Where do we go? Where do we go now?"


----------



## talontsiawd

That looks sick my dude. Love it. 

As per ADA/Nature aquarium rules. For fun, look up Dutch rules. IMO, they are far stricter yet 90% of tanks I consider a true Dutch tank break more than a few critical ones. Almost every tank that people call "dutch" break almost all. It's weird how we allow for personal freedom/expression in anything Western culture but are really strict when it comes to Eastern. Just a thought I had.

Those LED's are sick. I saw a demonstration on them the other day when my friend was wanting to debate if his AI Sol's were still up to par (he got them less than a year ago). Just out of curiosity, is running through color spectrum over long periods of time look good on plants? I know it looks amazing on corals but I have always wondered what the effect is on a planted tank.


----------



## Down_Shift

man those stems look good!!


----------



## Crazy4discus

Very nice setups you have!!


----------



## Chris_Produces

I have to say this is one of the tanks I must look at every day. Forum says I'm an algae grower, but if you ask my girlfriend, I'm definitely obsessed.


----------



## kwheeler91

you grow some nice plants 

as far as getting bored with it, there is but one cure: change it up! I change my scape probably once a year. not because there was anything wrong with the last one, but I get new ideas and enjoy exercising the artistic parts of my brain through my aquascapes. Go find some wood to use or rocks. get some new plants or fish. its like anything else in life if you do the same thing over and over and over and over... your going to get bored. 

Personally I love fishing more than fish tanks. I can do it all day everyday. but I cant fish for the same thing in the same place with the same lure etc etc everyday.

So scrap it/hack it and do something different. it doesn't matter what other people think about it as long as you enjoy it. I mean you didn't spend all that time and money for strangers on a forum right? Whether it be ada style or biotope or whatever, there aren't rules to this stuff, its art and personal expression using a natural aquatic medium. All those "rules" can be used as guidelines to achieve something YOU enjoy looking at, but they shouldn't be the authority on what to do with YOUR aquascape. I cant even stand to look at the AGA entries most of the time because of people like some of the judges (judges with tanks I cant seem to find a picture of in most cases) that bash someone's honest attempt at an aquascape.

You can obviously grow nice plants so if you have an idea just go for it man, im sure it will turn out great. In fact im sure it will be better, by your standards of course 

Good luck and enjoy your tanks. If you decide to hack that glosso in the near future, let me know I would be glad to take it off your hands


----------



## FlyingHellFish

talontsiawd said:


> That looks sick my dude. Love it.
> 
> Those LED's are sick. I saw a demonstration on them the other day when my friend was wanting to debate if his AI Sol's were still up to par (he got them less than a year ago). Just out of curiosity, is running through color spectrum over long periods of time look good on plants? I know it looks amazing on corals but I have always wondered what the effect is on a planted tank.


Thanks Matt! The Nano AI fixture is awesome! It has 10 LED compare to 9 on my fixture. I think they are better than mine, but if you're looking for the best, take a look at Elos' planted pro LED fixtures. It's a 1000 dollars and you can upgrade it. Those lights alone cost the same as my entire set up. 




Down_Shift said:


> man those stems look good!!


Thanks man, I dig your 60P too. Try out Glosso if you're looking for an easy to carpet plant, it's as easy as hair grass. 



Crazy4discus said:


> Very nice setups you have!!


Thanks! 



Chris_Produces said:


> I have to say this is one of the tanks I must look at every day. Forum says I'm an algae grower, but if you ask my girlfriend, I'm definitely obsessed.


Hahah, there a few other people in the 60P Club that in my opinion have better tanks. Get a 60P and join the club, Chris. It's really the perfect size for a starter planted tank. 



kwheeler91 said:


> you grow some nice plants
> I cant even stand to look at the AGA entries most of the time because of people like some of the judges (judges with tanks I cant seem to find a picture of in most cases) that bash someone's honest attempt at an aquascape.


 Appreciate the kind words. There a list of things the judges look for in those contests and I can't seem to create a scape with all the categories in mind. Especially the name, I mean, how much points can "Purple Monkey Dishwasher" get? If I put a generic name like "Whispers of the Wind on cold autumn shoulders", bang! 10 points! 

To really show that I understand the fundamental logic behind ADA's planted tanks, I think I have to crater to their ideas. I need to create a scape that so ADA generic, it can pass off as a tank in their magazine. Then after that, I can really start experimenting with ideas.


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> Thanks Matt! The Nano AI fixture is awesome! It has 10 LED compare to 9 on my fixture. I think they are better than mine, but if you're looking for the best, take a look at Elos' planted pro LED fixtures. It's a 1000 dollars and you can upgrade it. Those lights alone cost the same as my entire set up.


That Elos is crazy. 120 watts of LED in a 24in fixture. 3 ways to connect wirelessly too. 

I am actually considering going LED on my 60P but nothing like what you got. I want to see what Current/Ecoxotic's new fixture is all about.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I know right!?! The Elos fixture is the best Led light made for plants, well, at the very least, the most expensive fixture for plants.

I'm really liking where this hobby is going, these new fixtures are crazy expensive but I like the craftsmanship for the Elos. There is a few fixtures in the market that has "modular" leds, which means you can replace them anytime.

I'm pumped to see what Ecoxotic is coming up with. They are supposedly pretty good in the reef department. 

Here a shot I forgot to include, I forget which level I have the colour leds at but the white ones are always close to 90 - 100%


----------



## talontsiawd

Looks really cool with the purple on what appear to be purple plants.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Doing a huge overhaul in the next couple of days, I was starting to like the emmersed growth out of the water.

Rotala Brevipes and Rotala Round are really hardy plants,


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Dang.. that emersed growth looks cool! Interested to see what you have going on in this overhaul.


----------



## ConfidentBlue

Absolutely love this tank. I have to say yours along with another members (I won't say but see member above) have always been my favorite go to tanks for inspiration. 

Excited to see what the future holds!


----------



## exv152

Purple rotala eh? Cool tank flyinghellfish! and you've put elos on my radar.


----------



## Chris_Produces

exv152 said:


> Purple rotala eh? Cool tank flyinghellfish! and you've put elos on my radar.


Did he switch? I thought this setup was running Micmol LED's.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

First, I would like to give a huge thanks you to Brian, I too got these LED fixtures from aquascapedepot, great company to deal with.










More pictures later on, but my first impression was how slim and bright this fixture is. I'll try to get it on my tank tonight and make some comparison shots, hmm should I keep this thread or just make a new one?


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Nice!! I just got mine delivered too.. I feel rejuvenated and excited with a new light. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the E-Series!


----------



## talontsiawd

Now I have 2 beta testers haha. Can't wait to see opinions on the light but more to see where you go with the changes with the tank.


----------



## daworldisblack

Can't wait to see it up and running!


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'm thinking about doing a ADA 60F (the shallow tank) and having it on there. I haven't decided on what I should do, the light is good, don't get me wrong, I just think a shallow tank will accentuate the slim profile even more.

I don't know what I should do.











































And omg, the remote, why hasn't anyone made one for their lights.


----------



## daworldisblack

PORN! Did you pay duties getting it shipped to Canada? Did they have a USPS option? And a 60F or a 12Gal Long would be sexy! Not sure which model you ended up getting but shallow tanks are pretty awesome.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'm sure if you email them, they will accommodate you. Aquascapedepot ship it to me with FedEx, you can choose other methods I believe. 

For the 60P and similar size tanks, the "E-60" is the model with the same length, and yes its bright for just one row of LEDs. 

You guys got a ADA dealership in Ottawa? Do they have 60F in stock?


----------



## mistuhmarc

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'm thinking about doing a ADA 60F (the shallow tank) and having it on there. I haven't decided on what I should do, the light is good, don't get me wrong, I just think a shallow tank will accentuate the slim profile even more.
> 
> I don't know what I should do.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And omg, the remote, why hasn't anyone made one for their lights.


Oh my god, that light. I can't wait to see it set up. I want to see how it looks :bounce:


----------



## daworldisblack

FlyingHellFish said:


> You guys got a ADA dealership in Ottawa? Do they have 60F in stock?


Lol Dealership? Hahaha.. the amount it costs, you really should be able to drive it away  Yes we go have a authorized seller here now! Not sure if he has that sized tank in stock but am sure it can be ordered in. Then again, i guess you could do the same down there so you're looking for now - in which case, you can call and ask I guess. David @ gotfish?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

If someone can pull off a "dual carpet" on a tank, that be pretty nice. Imagine a carpet on top and on the substrate.

Stay tune for the tear down, but first, check this out. Crazy growth out of the tank.


----------



## Brian_Cali77

Amazing growth! How does it look underneath all that?


----------



## ConfidentBlue

HOLY Moses that's a ton of growth. How is any light penetrating that forest?!!! [emoji12]

I'd like to see what it looks like underneath as well[emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## talontsiawd

Wow, haha, no need for an aquarium, just do a bog.


----------



## kwheeler91

Dude. I dont know if I should be impressed or feel bad for whatever is underneath that haha


----------



## FlyingHellFish

The plants under water been starving, I haven't dose (why waste the fertilizer right?) but my shrimp colony and Otos Cats are loving the algae, plus I still feed them wafers.

I'm trying to get some Hydropiper and UG but no such luck, I'm kind of stuck here. Oh and the grey rocks I brought a while back are all different colours under water. Argh man, like how do you guys know if they will change colours? 

I'm thinking of just buying the ADA label rocks, even though they super expensive, at least I know what they are.


----------



## sumer

This is a phenomenal tank.
Just too good.
Those two lamps look like two robotic arms guarding your tank. haha.. 
Such tanks make me think about starting a planted soon.


----------



## talontsiawd

FlyingHellFish said:


> I'm thinking of just buying the ADA label rocks, even though they super expensive, at least I know what they are.


Do you have a good Bonsai shop around. They can have very nice stuff that looks like (or is) Seiryu Stone. There is actually a Bonsai shop right by AFA and I have gone to both to compare. I don't know, I can't bring myself to pay ADA prices and I can actually pick out my stone, I don't know if you have to order or not but I just can't imagine paying $4 minimum a pound for rocks you can get elsewhere, especially sight unseen. 

Bserve got a ton of stone for like $2/lb or something, looks really nice. I think it was just on eBay. Maybe the ship up North.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

sumer said:


> This is a phenomenal tank.
> Just too good.
> Those two lamps look like two robotic arms guarding your tank. haha..
> Such tanks make me think about starting a planted soon.


Ooohh no way, its sumer! I was drooling over your 60P a long time ago. You got those awesome pictures of killi fish, I'm glad you like my tank, the feeling is mutual! 



talontsiawd said:


> Do you have a good Bonsai shop around. They can have very nice stuff that looks like (or is) Seiryu Stone. There is actually a Bonsai shop right by AFA and I have gone to both to compare. I don't know, I can't bring myself to pay ADA prices and I can actually pick out my stone, I don't know if you have to order or not but I just can't imagine paying $4 minimum a pound for rocks you can get elsewhere, especially sight unseen.
> 
> Bserve got a ton of stone for like $2/lb or something, looks really nice. I think it was just on eBay. Maybe the ship up North.


Hey Matt, we do have a Bonsai shop but it's super expensive. I can't remember the names but it some fancy japanese brand. I think I'm just go with the Ryuoh stones at Big Al, or what looks to be Ryuoh stones.


----------



## AquaAurora

Did/are you selling or replanting the emersed grown tops of your plants?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

AquaAurora said:


> Did/are you selling or replanting the emersed grown tops of your plants?


I didn't know people wanted the emmersed growth, pm me for them. I usually just toss them in the trash. 


I'm going to miss the emmersed carpet of plants, I was falling in love with it. And apologies for the lack of updates, I have to find some genuine ADD stones or at the very *least* stones labelled correctly. 

Edit* Alright, going to do a iwagumi update soon, loving the remote...ohhh goodness.


----------



## talontsiawd

Where is this tank at these days?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

No Co2, No water change, No fertilizers, just algae wafer for Otos and Shrimps....


It's thriving....

The stems that pop out of the water, are healthy all the way down BUT, some of the lower leafs are missing because of the lack of light. The Cherry shrimps are still breeding, the Otos are still fat, and I'm way behind in redoing this tank.









=======








=======










I'm beta-testing another fixture, well two fixtures to be exact, an Aqua Pro and an Aqua Mini. They liked what I did with the reef lights and are thinking of venturing into the planted hobby. The two lights are basically the same reef lights but with a led array that is more ideal for plants. 

I wanted to release this info exclusively to the 60P club but I'm not sure if I'm going to put this on a the 60P.


----------



## AnotherHobby

Maybe time for a trim?


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Way overdue for a trim, but I'm getting such nice emmersed growth for my wabi-kusa that I want to wait till I get a new tank and some more wabi-kusa pots. I'm getting faster growth from my tank than the soil planted containers. 

I think some aquatic plants do best in half/half, I never get the same type of growth with pure soil compare to water/soil (AquaSoil), I'm going to try to experiment a bit more. 









=======








=======









PS - They made me the LED array I thought was best for plants but I should of removed the purple LED, it's really strong even when there is only one. Of course you can just turn down the purple channel, c'est la vie!


----------



## Hendy8888

That's awesome you get to test run these fixtures. Your box of plants made me laugh when I saw the picture of it overflowing. Great job all around.


----------



## AquaAurora

If it wasn't summer right now I'd ask you to sell em some of your leftover emersed clippings, but I worry the weather would make them arrive as mush.. must wait till fall :c
lovely growth btw.


----------



## talontsiawd

Your last picture makes it look like you learned about planted tanks from fellow member OVT haha. That's cool you to test out those LEDs. I think more cluster type LED's need to make it into the freshwater world. They do look like they are made by Apple though. The vase/wine glass is awesome.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

I'll totally ship these! I toss them in the trash anyways because the growth is mind blowing. Rotala Round grows twice as fast in air, at least in my experience. The Lugwiga Brevip or whatever it is, grows only green in air, it's beautiful regardless. 

Heres the tank before the big tear down, I got more pics on the process but for now, feast yer eyes on thee Rotala (Lugwiga) Brevip. 










=======









I honestly thought no fertilizers and no Co2 in the tank would turn it into complete trash and I would have to redo the tank faster. It's just chugging along, I been harvesting the top growth and placing them in bins with soil. I ran out of bins.

*Here a quick video on the growth, *

YT- My YouTube vid - click here 


And a request for the close up of the MicMol Led - 









Aqua Illumination 26 vs --------------------------------- EcoTech vs --------------------------------- MicMol AquaPro - Plant










It's the same Cree XT, Orsam LEDs found in other high end LED fixtures. LED fixtures are a lot like LCD,LED Tv, there is only a handful of "panel" markers yet there are several brands. 

To compare the actual product, you don't say "Samsung" vs "Sony" or "LED" vs "LCD", you compare the panel - 

IPS
PVA
VA

Each will have their own pros and cons for their respective markets such as movies, graphic design, gaming.

You can do the same for light fixtures, such as 

CFL
T5HO
LED (Surface mount vs single)
HID

So when someone says, "yo this fixture be the best dwag" 

Show me a tank, don't show me a graph. 
There no magical special spectrum, if you have a light that does full spectrum with the ability to control each channel, you got whatever spectrum the other guy has.

"yo dwag, tank needs more blue spectrum"
Raise the blue 
"yo dwag, tank be needing more red spectrum:
Raise the red

Ask yourself, how were people ever able to grow lust tanks before LEDs? Don't get me wrong, I love full spectrum because it's great, but my kitchen Phillips 23W CFL were pretty damn great too. 

An easy way to determine a general idea of how good the fixture will perform, is to search for tanks using the light and seeing the results for yourself.


----------



## talontsiawd

Yo, dawg, I feels you on the spectrum ish. I was telling this fool that I have been growing plants with normal CFL's, never paying more than like $2 for them. 

LED's can be a bit different in the fact the spectrum of a single color LED may be much narrower, but in general, I still believe that output effects color at a much higher level than anything else. I think spectrum should be viewed as something to improve the appearance of coloration within plants, rather than something to improve the coloration of the plants. 

I do look forward to hearing your reviews. I do now have two LED fixtures but you are one of the few using multiple types of LED fixtures that have the features I would need to replace/upgrade any non LED fixture (only one now). Most LED fixtures people are using are good, I just bought a Sat + for a _new_ fixture on a new tank and it's cool, but what you are using (and you have more LED experience than most) may actually be what I need to really embrace the technology on a higher level.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

talontsiawd said:


> I do look forward to hearing your reviews. I do now have two LED fixtures but you are one of the few using multiple types of LED fixtures that have the features I would need to replace/upgrade any non LED fixture (only one now). Most LED fixtures people are using are good, I just bought a Sat + for a _new_ fixture on a new tank and it's cool, but what you are using (and you have more LED experience than most) may actually be what I need to really embrace the technology on a higher level.


That is a good choice, I'm loving where LED technology is heading and I feel the merit of the fixture should be place on other things beside "full spectrum", such as 










How cool would it be to control our light fixture from the net? 

How cool would it be to add a "increase red spectrum during x minutes" once our tank has mature?

What about a higher red spectrum on the left side for your Rotala and a higher blue for your HC Cuba? 

The hobby has already proven you don't need LEDs to grow plants but I'm sure thinking LEDs would make it much simpler. 

Embrace change! ADA has their AquaSky out for a while, I'm certain that they will release another model, a full(er) spectrum model with something better than on/off control.


----------



## Xzavier247

This tank is amazing!


----------



## mistuhmarc

To be able to control the LEDs from your computer or phone would be great. I'm sure it'd be expensive for software like that, but heck, it'd be pretty creative and useful.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Videos I found, should of recorded more 

Old youtube video of me trimming the carpet.

=======

ADA 60P overview


----------



## Joost

Hey,

First of all I have to say that you´ve had great succes with the 23 Watt CFL´s. Your aquarium really looks good. 

A friend of mine is about to start an aquarium that holds 54 litres. The dimensions are 60 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm. He also owns two IKEA TERTIAL desk lamps and is wondering how many watts he should use. He will be using pressurized CO2, ADA aqua soil and fertilization according to the EI method. Would you recommend to use 23 Watt CFL´s as well? Or perhaps less? The reason he would like to use CFL's is because they're extremely cheap and seem to work well according to this thread. I'd love to help him out with this.

I look forward to your response.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Joost said:


> Hey,
> 
> First of all I have to say that you´ve had great succes with the 23 Watt CFL´s. Your aquarium really looks good.
> 
> A friend of mine is about to start an aquarium that holds 54 litres. The dimensions are 60 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm. He also owns two IKEA TERTIAL desk lamps and is wondering how many watts he should use. He will be using pressurized CO2, ADA aqua soil and fertilization according to the EI method. Would you recommend to use 23 Watt CFL´s as well? Or perhaps less? The reason he would like to use CFL's is because they're extremely cheap and seem to work well according to this thread. I'd love to help him out with this.
> 
> I look forward to your response.



Thanks Joost! 

The height is around 15inch from the substrate and I use (2) 23W 6500K bulbs. Tell him to use bulbs that doesn't stick out of the dome reflectors, there are 42w that fit but I think that is too much. You can decrease the height of the light if you need more light. 

I used EI in the past, it should work for him. I'm using Seachem's AquaVitro for all my tanks now though. 








-







-

Here is some old pictures I found. If he can save up and use leds, I think it would be a lot better. I went with MicMol's AquaMini and it's much better than CFL. Oh and thanks for posting, I found an old video of the tank that I thought I lost. It's a video of the tank with CFL, I been looking forever for it. 








-







-







-







-


----------



## Kayen

Man I should really jump on the opportunity for some of that Rotala. Looking for something to grow out of the back of my tank. 

Loved this tank and how you made it work with CFL's. No need for fancy LED's.


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Kayen said:


> Man I should really jump on the opportunity for some of that Rotala. Looking for something to grow out of the back of my tank.
> 
> Loved this tank and how you made it work with CFL's. No need for fancy LED's.


How the weather like in Alberta? It's freezing cold here in Toronto, maybe when the weather is warmer, you can have the stems for free. It's a super fast grower, great plant under any condition.

Thanks to Joost, I found these two clips of the tank way way way back in the day. 

How does one embed youtube clips? 

ADA 60P MicMol AquaMini

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0QE6MF6Id84

ADA 60P HC Cuba carpet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR46138obH8


----------



## Kayen

FlyingHellFish said:


> How the weather like in Alberta? It's freezing cold here in Toronto, maybe when the weather is warmer, you can have the stems for free. It's a super fast grower, great plant under any condition.
> 
> Thanks to Joost, I found these two clips of the tank way way way back in the day.
> 
> How does one embed youtube clips?
> 
> ADA 60P MicMol AquaMini
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/embed/0QE6MF6Id84
> 
> ADA 60P HC Cuba carpet
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR46138obH8


Great videos! 

Weather varies, it was freezing a couple days ago (-20 ish?), but today it's roughly around 0. 

I appreciate the offer man, that'd be awesome!


----------



## Mitashade

That tank looks beautiful! Looks insanely healthy, nicely done. I also really like the desk lamps. Makes me want to paint my clip lamp lights matte black. 

I'm up in Sudbury, could I snag a couple stems? Would add some nice variety to my tank. I only have a 10g (tall), so wouldn't want too many (3-4?).  I'd pay for any shipping, somehow.


----------



## fish_fasinated

A definite inspiration, beautiful tank! I am currently planning a 20L, no filter, probably no heater, pressurized CO2 and two 27W CFLs. I came looking for answers if this would work and i certainly found it!

EDIT: I also forgot to mention I'm planning to do a dirted substrate, fingers crossed I don't get too cross with the mess i hear it makes sometimes


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Kayen said:


> Great videos!
> 
> I appreciate the offer man, that'd be awesome!





Mitashade said:


> I'm up in Sudbury, could I snag a couple stems? Would add some nice variety to my tank. I only have a 10g (tall), so wouldn't want too many (3-4?).  I'd pay for any shipping, somehow.





fish_fasinated said:


> A definite inspiration, beautiful tank! I am currently planning a 20L, no filter, probably no heater, pressurized CO2 and two 27W CFLs. I came looking for answers if this would work and i certainly found it!
> 
> EDIT: I also forgot to mention I'm planning to do a dirted substrate, fingers crossed I don't get too cross with the mess i hear it makes sometimes


Yes to the Rotala stems, I'll ROAK it. Do you guys have a high tech set up? I can toss in some other plants, just plant them in dirt if you don't have a high light tank. 

@fish_fasinated: I hear HC Cuba enjoys cooler water, let me know how the no heater works out. I'm going try to cut back the heat, what temperature are you getting in your tank?


----------



## fish_fasinated

I haven't set this tank up yet, but I think my 5.5 is roughly 70. My house stays fairly consistant temp wise.


----------



## jsarrow

Has Bob been dong any scaping on the purple monkey?



FlyingHellFish said:


> Hi, this is my new ADA 60P. I call the scape, Purple Monkey Dishwasher
> 
> 
> 
> 3rd look 4 months ago
> Bob Ross approves of the tank


----------

