# New ADA 30-C and 60-P Journal



## Jessica (Mar 1, 2007)

Ohhh this is like candy to my eyes. Two? Wonderful!

Are you going to aquascape and plant them to compliment each other or do something completely different in both?


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## VITARTE (Jan 28, 2005)

You gotta love the look and feel of a brand new ADA tank


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

Cool!

The stand looks a bit flimsy since it's so tall with a small foot print, is it?

With the AS/Eco thing I think AS is 100x better! this after using both back to back.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Jessica - yes I do plan on different aquascapes for both tanks. I'm still researching what would work for a beginner such as myself.

eklikewhoa - the stand itself is very sturdy but because it has a narrow base and a high profile it is not as stable as a standard cabinet. The stand sits at 36" tall - a bit taller than those nano-cube stands but much more solid in terms of how it was built. I have kids so I may have to add a wider base or anchor it into a wall to prevent the accidental tipping incident.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Update on progress.

Added larger base to stand to improve stability. Made DIY foam base for tank (aquamat). The Eheim piping will eventually be replaced with clear plastic returns that I plan on making as well. The Eheim 2224 and Hydor and metal halide ballast are mounted inside the cabinet as well as a power strip in the upper section.

Updated setup with door closed.









Door open









Still need to hook up the CO2 system and decide on an aquascape.


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## Jessica (Mar 1, 2007)

I can't wait to see how it all starts coming together


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## Color Me Blue (Nov 10, 2005)

It's too bad Eheim doesn't have clear uptake/outtake tubes. I can't wait to see how you are going to aquascape these 2 tanks!


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Thanks - I was tempted to buy the ADA lily tubes for this tank but I'm going to try to make some tubes from 1/2" rigid acrylic tubing first. 

I'm still struggling with a good layout for this cube. Originally I thought 12x12 would be plenty of room but I put the aquasoil in tonight and two rocks and its looking a bit cramped. I did a graduated substrate, thin in the front rising to about 3 inches or so in the back. I'm planning a fairly large area for HC starting from the front and going up to the rocks which are arranged in a slightly staggered fashion. Some B.Japonica around the back of the rocks, and a small branchy wood that I have on order Aquaforest. And the background filled in with Rotala and other stems. I also wanted to plant some Eleocharis acicularis on the sides of the tank as a transition from the foreground to mid/back. Any suggestions on better use of space or plants?


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## PeteyPob (Apr 26, 2004)

These ADA tanks are so neat! These will be my next purchase when Im ready for a small tank.

I cant wait to see these tank up and running. What kind of stand is that for the little cube>?


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Thanks - I'm kind of stuck on the layout for this tank. I'll post up what I've done so far. Basically a gradiant of aquasoil with two rocks that will be at the border of a denser growth of stems. The area in front of the rocks will be a large open space of HC and I might place some riccia rocks around the transition. The basic idea is a meadow which you will follow up between the rocks and into a denser forest like growth. There are a few problems - one is that I have so much flow in the tank - I might not be able to keep the stems in a neat arrangement on the right hand side of the tank. And the soil grade prevents any deep rooting plants from being on the front section plus the current in the front section is quite high as well. If I turn down the flow on the Eheim too much (on the outlet side) I get leaks 

Peteypop, the stand for the 30-C cube I built myself - inspired by the nice work DIY work that others have done on here for their ADA setups. The stand cost me around $50 to make and a few hours of my time.

Here is a pic of the tank as it stands with the AS and rocks.


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

I think having the smaller rock more towards the front would look better.


With the flow on your eheim you could just pack it full of media/floss to slow it down. I just fired up a 2211 I just got and was a bit worried about the flow for my MINI-M but after a day it slowed down to a perfect rate.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Update - flow in the tank seems to be ok now that I have planted some stems in the back. I planted some HC in the front and Rotala/Cabomba in the back and some B.Japonica by the rocks. I'll probably replace the Cabomba with something else once the tank has grown in a bit. Still need to plant a few more things when I get some time. I'll see how the rock looks once its grown in a bit, it should not be as prominent.


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## PeteyPob (Apr 26, 2004)

Looks good! Can we get a front view pic


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I like the Cabomba, it's not frequently used in aquascapes, not sure why.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Looks really nice, You're deffinatly getting back into the hobby and doing it right! Those tanks look very nice! 

I like the layout you have now, I would give it some time to mature. The only thing I might change in the future is a finer leaved stem, I like cabomba but I think something finer and a bit lighter would look better in there... Maybe rotala walachii(Spelling?) which is a very fine leaved light yello-red plant.

What is going to go into the tank as far as fauna?

Welcome to the forum!

-Andrew

PS, mind sharing some pictures of your reefs? they look really nice!


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Thanks  - I took an updated front pic today. My Brighty K Step 1 came in today so I'm going to start to use that. The tank is going through the cycle now and the associated algae bloom appears to be in full force. The HC and rest of the plants are pearling still despite the brown algae (diatoms?). I've done a few water changes but I still have the brown algae - should I raise my pendant and/or reduce my 8 hr photoperiod? I also switched to RO/DI water - when I first started this tank I used tap water with prime. The TDS on that measured out around 55 or so.

I need to take some pics of the other tanks one of these days. My camera skills are terrible.

I agree on the fine leaved plants, I plan on getting some more delicate plants once the tank is established. As for livestock, probably just snails and some cherry shrimp and maybe an otto. I don't want to stock the tank until I get things settled with growth and the algae problem.

Front shot









Algae on HC


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Tank update:

The HC is starting to grow in now - I need to trim and replant the middle. So far I'm liking the Aquasoil over Eco. Once the cycle is complete the AS is stable I plan on looking for some fine leaf plants so I can replant the middle.










Fish Newb, I was able to snap some photos of the 2.5g reef nanos. I moved the cylinder tank and replaced it with another one of my 2.5g nano tanks to complete the trio.

Three 2.5g nanos sharing a common sump. 










Nano 1









Nano 2









Nano 3


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## FelixAvery (Jan 11, 2007)

WOW u are a serious fishkeeper!
love the reefs! i would be in heaven there (when can i move in)

the new nano looks really nice, i bought the same tank and scaped it a grassland style!
my suggestions for the larger one... check page 54 of the style of ada catalouge! do it like that! just buy a job lot of mixed crypts and a few stems and stuff!

just incase your wondering 








thats what i did with mine

keep it up! good luck with the scapes, and thoose lovely reefs!


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Felix, thanks your tank looks good I added in another rock into my scape to get a little more height. I like the height in your central rock formation. I'm going to try and grow out my foreground more and replant some smaller stems in the back again. The stems I had in there were growing too fast and shading themselves and the HC foreground. I'm hoping that on smaller / finer leafed plants this will be less of an issue. I don't want to be trimming this tank constantly 

Tank update: Looks like the cycle is complete. The rotala rotundifolia and cabomba were a bit too large for the scale of this tank so I transferred them to my shrimp tank. They were shading the HC foreground so I decided to remove them and look for a better stem(s) for the back. I also added in another rock to give a little more structural height to the middle. I temporarily replanted the hairgrass around the back to grow out a bit more. Planted a small hygro in the back to see how fast it grows - will pull it once I get the other stems in. I also put a black background on the tank.

I'm going to start building the stand for my ADA 60-P tank soon and I want to order all my plants at once from Aquaspotworld. For the cube I'm planning on ordering the following plants.

All of these stems are either really small or fine leaves - any other suggestions I should look at?

Microcarpaea minima
Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan'
Myriophyllum mattogrossense


For the 60-P I plan on adding in a few more Rotala and pulling some other plants from my shrimp tank. I'm plan on a HC foreground there as well, I just like the way HC looks compared to glosso.


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## FelixAvery (Jan 11, 2007)

that looking good
a nice background plant is cyperus helferi
or hemianthus micranthemoides


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## Finch_man (Mar 21, 2006)

I think you should remove the clown fish in one of your 2.5 gallon tank... Clown fish should be house in 20 gallon or bigger..


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Finch, thanks for the advice on the clownfish. Long term I agree - this is a temporary tank for all the fish in my 2.5g's. The clown is going into a 140g in my foyer. The other damsels are going into my 150g sump when they get larger. The total water volume on these nanos is closer to 20g since its plumbed into a sump running a Deltec MCE600 skimmer and other equipment.


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## Finch_man (Mar 21, 2006)

Did you drill the 2.5 gallon tank for an overflow?


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## SPL-311 (Aug 7, 2006)

Looks awsome - could we get some closer shots of the tank on the stand? Did you build the stand or buy it?


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Hi,

Finchman, yes I drilled all 3 2.5g tanks for a 1" bulkhead fitting. They share a 12g sump with a Deltec MCE600 skimmer, Phosban reactor, a Azoo Chiller, each 2.5g has a mini Tunze pump hooked up a Red Sea Pro wave maker that provides a little more random motion than the returns do.

SPL-311, sure I'll try and take some pics of the stand/tank tomorrow. I made it myself using 3/4" MDF.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Pic of the stand










Any ideas on what type of snail this is? Want to know if I should remove it.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Tank update: Placed plant order with Aquaspotworld for the stems for this tank and some for the 60P. Added some floaters and raised the pendant due to hair algae appearing on my rocks. These rocks were covered in hair algae several years ago when I had a cichlid tank. I did not bleach them - I'm going to pull them and bleach the rocks. Not sure if the algae came in from the stems I had before or were dormant on the rock. In any case better to be safe.


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## Yoshi (Apr 5, 2007)

The HC looks like it's filled in quite well in the past 2 weeks! Looks like you got a bunch of snails all over, are you going to remove them?


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Those look like common pond snails, they wont hurt anything, but as you can see they reproduce like rabbits X10!


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

yoshi, bigstick120, yes I have tons and tons of snails. I feel bad about killing them. They don't appear to bother the plants and seem to cruise around all day looking for food. The only algae I really have is on those rocks and a small patch of algae around the intake. The bleach really cleans things up, I used it to clean my CO2 diffusor and its like new. I'm thinking the rocks should have been cleaned up before I put them in the tank.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

Find a puffer owner close by and you can donate the snails to him/her.:thumbsup:


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## VITARTE (Jan 28, 2005)

Cool tanks Melbourne.
Those saltwater nanos are really nice too.
I got some frags from you last weekend at the M.R. coral frag swap in Pratt college. I just remembered your ID name and location. Ididn't know you were into planted freshwater aquariums also.
Glad to see you here.
Rafo


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

sayn3ver, puffer food  I'm sure I'll overcome my aversion to snail culling in time.

vitarte, good to see you here also. That frag swap was fun. Yes, trying out freshwater planted again - some of the work I've seen on here is inspirational.

Update: I pulled all the rocks from the tank and I'm giving them a good bleach bath in anticipation of the arrival of my Aquaspotworld order.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Tank Update: My Aquaspotworld order arrived  I basically pulled all the rocks and gave them a thorough cleaning using a bleach solution, plenty of water changes and prime over the period of a week or so. Hopefully the rocks are clean and safe for the tank.

About my Aquaspotworld order - everything was well packed and labeled. Out of all the plants I ordered only one batch was melted and may not recover. Everything else looks good.

Here is what I ordered - some of this will go in my 60-P once I get around the building the stand. 
I have a lot of extras that I'm storing in 2.5g buckets of water next to one of my reef grow out tubs, 150 HQI Lumenmax system spillover light should be enough to keep them for a few weeks or more.

Bacopa Myriophylloides (not in the cube tank)
Cladophora Aegagropila (not in the cube tank - very nice size BTW)
Hemianthus callitrichoides (decent portions - a bit dry, I only used a small portion to plant the bare spots in the front)
Hydrotriche hottoniiflora (looks like all the leaves melted, stems still there - may pull through) - not in tank.
Myriophyllum mattogrossense (planted a small grouping in the bank right)
Myriophyllum tuberculatum (not in tank)
Rotala sp 'Nanjenshan' (planted a good 8-10 stems on the left side of tank)
Rotala rotundifolia 'Green' (planted 2-3 stems on right side)
Rotala wallichii (planted right side of tank 6-8 stems)

Basically I pulled all the dwarf hairgrass and the glosso since it was just there to grow out. I still have bits of gloss around the edges and some that grew into the HC mat that will be hard to remove. I leveled out the soil a bit and redid the rock formation to give a more standard layout as well as increasing the foreground a bit.

On to the pics

Tank was prepped for the stem order shipment for sometime. Basically a huge grouping of floaters for nutrient uptake. Rocks
removed to be bleached. Here is the tank before I started the replant.










Tank after dwarf hair grass and glosso and other misc. plants removed










Aquaspotworld order - everything well packed and labeled










Bleached rocks









New rock layout



























Replanted front









Corner shot









I'm a bit concerned I did not have enough stems in this tank due to the large HC lawn. So I left in a few floaters and I'll see how things progress.


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## FelixAvery (Jan 11, 2007)

aww take thoose stems out, make a dramatic iwagumi with just hc


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

I really like the R. wallachii in the back myself. Especially if you can keep them short like they are now. Tank is going to look great!


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Felix - maybe on my next tank. The wife and kids like the stems so they are staying 

Betowess - I like the contrast of the R.Wallachi also. Seems to grow a bit slower than the other stems I had in there before.

Tank Update: Not much to report. I need to find some Amano shrimp, I have some clado growing in my HC bed. I think it came in with some of the stems I had planted earlier. Beyond manually cleaning up the HC bed and filter intake every few days I'm just waiting for things to fill in a bit more. I stopped dosing Brighty K step 1 as it seems the clado grew faster when I added that. I'm doing a bit of Excel in addition to the CO2 to help keep the clado under control until I get the shrimp.

I started on building my 60-P stand, same style as the cube stand. 










60-P stand cut out waiting to be screwed together / bondo'ed / primed / painted.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Tank Update: Not much to report, haven't finished stand. Placed a few Cherry shrimp in cube, cleaned up HC lawn a bit.


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## FelixAvery (Jan 11, 2007)

the hc is looking really nice!
i would reccomend some blyxa japonica for midground, but also move the rocks forward to the line of the hc and plant the blyxa around and behind them

cant wait to see the 60p


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Felix, thanks - the HC will eventually fill in that bare spot. I had some blyxa in there earlier but I took it out, I'm going to let the tank grow in a bit more and decide if I want to add a center piece plant. I was able to make some progress on the 60-P stand. So hopefully in a few weeks I'll be ready to do the hardscape on the 60-P.


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## nornicle (Dec 29, 2003)

lovely, you obviously value a nice looking tank


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## NoObLet (Apr 23, 2007)

is that little co2 tank a paint ball co2 tank...? and if it is can u just get those filled up like at a sports store.. and will it work just fine..?


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

nornicle, nooblet - thanks. Yes the CO2 is via a paintball 20oz tank. Using a Redsea regulator with solenoid tied to the light timer. I thought about using the ADA system but it requires constant refills, the paintball system is not ideal but its small in size and can fit in the custom stand.


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## pittiepride (Feb 13, 2007)

I really like it, obviously well thought out and a great job. For me personally the line between foreground and rocks/background seems really sharp and flat. Maybe consider creating a line with some curves between the two sections. Although it could just be the pictures.

Can't wait to see the 60.

kara


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## Jessica (Mar 1, 2007)

Vibrant health! I like to see your positive words for Aquaspot World... that's where I'll be placing my next order.

Have you considered adding a mid-ground to tie the HC and pretty stems together?


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## fishymatty (Feb 25, 2007)

hey what kind of set up do you have for those 3 nano cubes. I want to do something like that in my front entry way but with fresh water planted tanks. What kind of tanks are they with what kind of tops. how do you have the filter set up? 
I want to do an ADA style landscape but split between 3 tanks.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

pittiepride, thanks - I need to figure out a transition but it doesn't look as sharp in person. I'll try taking some better pictures to give you an idea of the area I have to work with.
jessica, thanks - I have thought about it, Felix had suggested blyxa japonica. I have a bunch on my other shrimp tank. Space is at a premium and blyxa would really take up a good amount of space in this tank. I'm open to suggestions however. 
fishymatty, the 3 saltwater reefs are standard AGA 2.5g tanks that I drilled. I had the 3 canopy/base combination made by Hog's Hoods down in Florida. I'm not sure if he is still doing hoods but he does a great job - highly recommended. They share a common 12g sump and they use a single Deltec MCE600 protein skimmer and a Phosban reactor along with a external Azoo heater/chiller. Circulation in tank is provided by 3 Tunze mini pumps controlled by a Red Sea Pro wavemaker. If you wanted to do a planted setup you could do the same type of thing but remove the mini pumps and skimmer and phosban reactor and add a internal filter in the sump.


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## melbourne (Sep 20, 2004)

Tank Update: Received my Amano shrimp today from Wilma (oombacat) thanks! and they look great. They seem to cruise around the tank in a small pack of 3-4 scaring away any feeding Cherry shrimp. I tried to snap a photo of the group cruising around. Other than the shrimp addition I haven't done anything on the stand or done the trimming yet. I currently have at least 20 cherry shrimp in this tank, maybe more I see them everywhere and babies as well. And I just added in 6 Amano shrimp - not sure if I'm overstocked yet but I do weekly water changes and I have a Eheim Pro 2224 filter which is fairly large for a tank this size. Do you think my tank could handle/support a small Corydoras panda without frequent feeding? No other fish planned just shrimp for now.

Pics:

Amano's









Front looking a bit unkempt









Top view


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## nornicle (Dec 29, 2003)

really nice.. move the co2


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## FelixAvery (Jan 11, 2007)

get some midground


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## CmLaracy (Jan 7, 2007)

hey, whats the news on the 60P?


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