# ADA 60-F Iwagumi



## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

I am going straight to the specs:

ADA 60F
ADA Amazonia 2 (recycled & sifted)
Hydor Prime 10 + Hydor K Nano (if needed, not sure yet.)
ADA 13mm mini V1 & mini P2 lily pipes

5LB CO2, inline CO2 diffusor (ebay kind, for 13mm hose)

Ikea cabinet
DIY light bar made out of conduit pipes and 90º elbows
fishneedit 70w MH 8K

rocks that I picked up from a canyon 2 miles away from my house then dipped in muriatic acid till all the fizzing was gone.

plants: just HC

still figuring out how to do dry ferts... i have a month to do a dry start to get everything and figure out my routine.

here are pics of the current hardscape:

Front View









Back









Top









What do you think?


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

beautiful. reminds me of the local mountain, Mt. Diablo.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

makes me want to go get a 60f...

nicely done, looks great from the front and back...


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## chris.rivera3 (Apr 15, 2008)

the scape looks really nice...don't change it one bit...can't wait to see it filled with HC and maybe a few micro rasboras swimming at the top!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Excellent scape! Looks like it's straight out of an aquajournal. One of the best I've seen in a while. Love it. Looks just like a real mountain. Both the front and back look fantastic.
Nothing but praise from me :thumbsup:


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

those shallow tanks are real nice, great scape!


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## slicebo123 (Jan 4, 2010)

well scaped. do you plan on looking at this from multiple angles? I ask because of the back tank shot.. don't see that very often. what do you plan on stocking it with?


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

Thanks everyone. 60F is a nice tank. I really like the shallowness of it. I also like how some aquascapers utilize the rock to blend into the substrate in a way that they don't stick out too much like the usual iwagumi scapes.

anyhow... here are some images i took inspiration from:



















I am trying to find one of takashi amano's scape using an ADA 120H... can't find it in google anymore... ill post it here once i find it.


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

All I can do is echo what everyone else has said. Well done.roud: 
It's not often that you see a layout that looks good from every angle, or at least every angle you have posted.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

slicebo123 said:


> well scaped. do you plan on looking at this from multiple angles? I ask because of the back tank shot.. don't see that very often. what do you plan on stocking it with?


yeah, i plan on viewing this from all sides as much as possible. Currently it is in the middle of my basement acting as a room divider between my rimless tank gallery and my home theater.

here's another shot with the other tanks in view:


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

as for stocking, i might just put 20 cardinal tetras in there and 5 amano shrimp... maybe an otto or two.

again, thanks for the kind comments.


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

it looks the most natural when the subsrate is blended into the rocks.


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## jcardona1 (Jun 27, 2008)

the rockwork is amazing!!!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Whoa, mh on this thing? You're one brave soul :hihi:


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## FastTimes (Oct 16, 2008)

great scape.


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## seds (Jan 30, 2009)

How tiny is that tank?

Nonetheless I am intrigued by the hardscape... Good luck!


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## VadimShevchuk (Sep 19, 2009)

very nice!


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## niptek (Nov 9, 2008)

i like the layout. good work.


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## FDNY911 (Dec 6, 2009)

My type of scape!!! Really nice! SUBSCRIBED! Wanna sell some of those stones if you ever get more? Looks really good. About how many gallons is that?


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

fishman9809 said:


> beautiful. reminds me of the local mountain, Mt. Diablo.


Looks like I will be calling this scape mt diablo from now on. Thanks!


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

chris.rivera3 said:


> the scape looks really nice...don't change it one bit...can't wait to see it filled with HC and maybe a few micro rasboras swimming at the top!


I like the microrasbora idea. Thanks.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

FDNY911 said:


> My type of scape!!! Really nice! SUBSCRIBED! Wanna sell some of those stones if you ever get more? Looks really good. About how many gallons is that?


I might head up there again this weekend. I'll post pics of what I find.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

I will try to pick up some HC today and begin the DSM tonight. stay tuned for more pictures.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

looks awesome. that is A LOT of light for a shallow tank but it seems like you have it hanging pretty high up. 

Real interested in seeing this one go along.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> looks awesome. that is A LOT of light for a shallow tank but it seems like you have it hanging pretty high up.
> 
> Real interested in seeing this one go along.


I've used this height with another setup and had the timer set up to 4 hrs on 2hrs off and another 4 hrs on. I haven't really had any algae problems with this height. Although I would love to try a less brighter light.


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## Kyclops (Jun 14, 2010)

Love what you've got so far!


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

Nice scape. Nice tank. I love 60F. I had a 150w MH 2ft over mine and I had to fert and tune the co2. After a while I just gave up on the MH. I really did love the shimmering effect of the MH. FWIW I think 20 cards is a bit overkill. I have 30+ boraras brigittae in mine and it looks overstock.


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## thief (Jan 12, 2008)

I have a 60-F and LOVE it. I think it should be a necessity for all aquascapers! You can do SO much with it. jowchie- your scape is really well made. The fact that you can view it from three sides and still make it look good shows a lot!


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## spunjin (Apr 7, 2009)

It really is a great looking design. The rock is wonderful. Are you going to put Hair Grass in the background or leave it viewable from both sides?


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

Kyclops said:


> Love what you've got so far!


 Thanks. It looks good right now that it is still dry. I hope it will look as good once HC fills in.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

boon said:


> Nice scape. Nice tank. I love 60F. I had a 150w MH 2ft over mine and I had to fert and tune the co2. After a while I just gave up on the MH. I really did love the shimmering effect of the MH. FWIW I think 20 cards is a bit overkill. I have 30+ boraras brigittae in mine and it looks overstock.


Thanks. Yeah, I think I will be trading my cardinals to a local aquarist for some manzanita driftwood for my shrimp rack. Boraras Brigittae sounds good as well. I had a few of them and I really love how active they were.

Wow 150w over a 60F is indeed quite a lot. even my 70W is too much. I am still looking for a better option as well for lighting. I'll probably give it a month after flooding and see where I will go from there.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

thief said:


> I have a 60-F and LOVE it. I think it should be a necessity for all aquascapers! You can do SO much with it. jowchie- your scape is really well made. The fact that you can view it from three sides and still make it look good shows a lot!


Sorry, just figured out this multi quote thing... did you know that there is a 120F? I found it at some asian ADA store somewhere. I forgot. Yeah since this was pretty much the centerpiece of my basement it was a challenge to make it look interesting from 3 sides. Thanks! 



spunjin said:


> It really is a great looking design. The rock is wonderful. Are you going to put Hair Grass in the background or leave it viewable from both sides?


Thanks! I might be staying away from hair grass on this scape because it will offset the proportions of the look that I am going for. But if I were to use hairgrass I would probably mix it in with the HC in strategic spots around the rocks. I can't really put the hairgrass behind the rocks because this will be viewed from all sides.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

BTW, here's an update:

I started planting the HC. total of 4 pots:


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## teah (Jul 25, 2010)

BEAUTIFUL! both the tank and the photo. What camera are u using?


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

teah said:


> BEAUTIFUL! both the tank and the photo. What camera are u using?


Thanks!

on the better looking ones I have a 5D Mark II with a Yashinon 50mm f1.4 adapted to EOS mount.

for quickie shots I use an iphone 4, upload to flickr, then paste the images here.


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## nelson-uk (May 8, 2010)

thats fantastic hardscape roud:.
an inspiration.


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## deleted_user_6 (Jun 19, 2010)

These pics are a bad influence. How am I supposed to explain to my wife why I just had to have an ADA 60-F? Beautiful hardscape. Anxiously awaiting HC to fill in. :biggrin:


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

onefang said:


> How am I supposed to explain to my wife why I just had to have an ADA 60-F?


By showing her the above pictures :icon_mrgr


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

Just won a set of ADA nano pipes from eBay. Both are 13mm in diameter. I also emailed Orlando from GLA if they were making 13mm/10mm combos of the cal aqua lily pipes for eheim 2211's. He said he will ask his contacts if they will consider it.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

Congrats on the Ada pipes!

I love the hardscape of the tank.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

got my ADA nano pipes today:


















still can't wait for this tank to fill in.


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## albirdy (Jul 16, 2008)

nice. definitely giving me some good ideas for my 45-f (except i'll be going to low-tech--that's where CL becomes inspiration). keep us posted.


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## slicebo123 (Jan 4, 2010)

good stuff. are you going to try and keep a unified look in this scape? for some reason i want to see some other plant poking through the rocks in the center... i can't think of anything though. pennywort? eriacaulon? just a thought.

then again its so sweet. maybe you should just leave it be.


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## 4f1hmi (Apr 22, 2009)

Awesome rock work! You really are an artist. I agree with *slicebo123* to get something between the rocks. You can try some sturogyne tropica 049 as these guys hold on good to rock crevices . Nah just my 2 cents. :icon_smil


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

looks like the images have been removed... ugh... I'll try to edit my posts and link to the live images... in the mean time, here is an update:

*DAY 1*









*DAY 30*









I probably should buy a few more pots of HC and fill in some more spots to speed things up a bit.


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## FlSHRFun (Jun 26, 2010)

This is coming along beautifully!


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

Cellphone update:


Untitled by Kim Guanzon, on Flickr

I will be tearing this tank down.... something is off with the rock aquasoil combination. 

I have 3 wabi kusa balls being shipped from japan as we speak. Hopefully I will set this tank up as a wabi kusa tank with decorative sand.

as for the rocks and the HC, I might end up using them in my mini-s setups.

I will try to get some proper slr shots tonight and post an update asap.


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## AaronT (Apr 11, 2004)

> I will be tearing this tank down.... something is off with the rock aquasoil combination.


If the rocks were fizzing in muriatic acid as you indicated in your first post then they are likely leaching quite a bit of hardness into your water column and buffering the pH. The Aquasoil will overcome this at first, but not indefinitely. 

Try to find rocks that don't fizz when muriatic acid comes in contact with them. 

It's too bad because it's nice looking stone.


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## Matty (Dec 4, 2009)

Too bad, very cool rocks.


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## jowchie (Jul 14, 2009)

i saw a few japanese planted tank bloggers treat shale with muriatic acid for a few days till all the white quartz streaks are totally dissolved... may take a few gallons total of muriatic acid to completely dissolve most of the quartz present.

my amazonia is old. I just got shipment of 3 "mixed variety" wabi kusa plant balls from Japan. I can't wait to tear this down and just put wabi kusa's on this 60F.

pictures coming soon.


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