# [Multiple Tank Builds] Hello... It's Been 10+ Years Since My Last Login



## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

*BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY starting from 11-29-2016*

Hey guys, so it's been 10+ years since my last login in..... I had to use the Forgot My Password option lol. Long story short, I stopped my planted tank hobby cause I graduated, lived abroad, bought a few cars, got into photography and cars, got a girl friend, and bought a house. In fact, I wasn't planning on even getting back into the hobby even though I had saved everything I didn't sell in storage. However, recently I was left in charge of a Betta fish so that got me itchy, and as a result I went and spend $$$$ on 3 new tanks (48g, 3g, 2g). Now that I have all that out of the way...

BIG SHOUTOUT TO CK Fish World in West Covina!

Here's my previous tanks for 10+ years ago in case ya'll were curious...

40g









10g

























1g









Will post my girl and I's new setups soon as I get them set up one by one....

*Beginning of our 90p ~50g tank*
- Mr.Aqua 90p (CK Fish World)
- ADA style black cabinet (CK Fish World)
- Twinstar LED (Aqua Forest Aquarium)
- Hydor 200w
- ?lb CO2 tank + Azoo regulator (only equipment I had from back in the day)
- ADA lily pipes
- ADA CO2 diffuser
- ADA Bubble Counter
- 200lbs BLACK MOUNTAIN SEIRYU STONE (CK Fish World)
- ADA escaping tools (left over from back in the day)

In the mail:
- Eheim 2117
- ADA Clear Hose set (aquatic-garden)
- ADA Amazonia and Power Sand (aquatic-garden)
- ADA soil additives
- ADA fert line up
- Chihiros Doctor
- ADA handing thermometer
- ADA Filter media
- ELEOCHARIS BELEM

Plans are 50 tetras, Amano shrimps, Ottos, HC Cuba. Full ADA fert line up regiment. 

















*Beginning of our 20q ~2g tank*
- 20q Ultim Nature Ultra Clear Tank (BucePlant)
- Dragon Stone (BucePlant)
- AquaTop 15w nano heater
- Azoo Mignon 60 (BucePlant)
- Up Aqua Pro LED 3C 7" LED (BucePlant)
- Micranthemum Monte Carlo (CK Fish World)
- Fissidens Mini
- HYDROCOTYLE TRIPARTITA (not sure if MINI variant)
- ELEOCHARIS BELEM
- Betta fish (CK Fish World)
- Aquavitro aqua solum (CK Fish World)
- ADA Gain Green (Aqua Forest Aquarium)

Planning to add a couple more plants in the future with CO2 and lighting upgrade. Crystal shrimps too.

Week 1









Week 2 - Added ELEOCHARIS BELEM, HYDROCOTYLE TRIPARTITA and Fissidens Mini









*Beginning of our 3n ~3g tank*
- 3n Ultim Nature Ultra Clear Tank (CK Fish World)
- AquaTop 25w nano heater
- Fissidens Mini
- Fissidens Fontnus (CK Fish World)
- Betta fish (CK Fish World)
- 3 Pygmy Corys (CK Fish World)
- White sand (CK Fish World)
- Seiryu Stone (CK Fish World)
- ADA Gain Green (Aqua Forest Aquarium)
- Azoo Mignon 150 (CK Fish World)
- Up Aqua Pro LED 3C 10" LED (CK Fish World)

Week 1









Week 2 - Added both mosses. Fissidens Fontnus in the background and Fissidens Mini in the foreground and rock cracks









Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-03-2016*

*Beginning of our 90p ~50g tank*
- Mr.Aqua 90p (CK Fish World)
- ADA style black cabinet (CK Fish World)
- Twinstar LED (Aqua Forest Aquarium)
- Hydor 200w
- ?lb CO2 tank + Azoo regulator (only equipment I had from back in the day)
- ADA lily pipes
- ADA CO2 diffuser
- ADA Bubble Counter
- 200lbs BLACK MOUNTAIN SEIRYU STONE (CK Fish World)
- ADA escaping tools (left over from back in the day)

In the mail:
- Eheim 2117
- ADA Clear Hose set (aquatic-garden)
- ADA Amazonia and Power Sand (aquatic-garden)
- ADA soil additives
- ADA fert line up
- Chihiros Doctor
- ADA handing thermometer
- ADA Filter media

Plans are 50 tetras, Amano shrimps, Ottos, HC Cuba. Full ADA fert line up regiment. 

















*Beginning of our 20q ~2g tank*
- 20q Ultim Nature Ultra Clear Tank (BucePlant)
- Dragon Stone (BucePlant)
- AquaTop 15w nano heater
- Azoo Mignon 60 (BucePlant)
- Up Aqua Pro LED 3C 7" LED (BucePlant)
- Micranthemum Monte Carlo (CK Fish World)
- Fissidens Mini
- Betta fish (CK Fish World)
- Aquavitro aqua solum (CK Fish World)
- ADA Gain Green (Aqua Forest Aquarium)

In the mail:
- Dwarf hair grass 'mini'

Planning to add a couple more plants in the future with CO2 and lighting upgrade. Crystal shrimps too.









*Beginning of our 3n ~3g tank*
- 3n Ultim Nature Ultra Clear Tank (CK Fish World)
- AquaTop 25w nano heater
- Fissidens Mini
- Fissidens Fontnus (CK Fish World)
- Betta fish (CK Fish World)
- 3 Pygmy Corys (CK Fish World)
- White sand (CK Fish World)
- Seiryu Stone (CK Fish World)
- ADA Gain Green (Aqua Forest Aquarium)
- Azoo Mignon 150 (CK Fish World)
- Up Aqua Pro LED 3C 10" LED (CK Fish World)

Photos coming soon

Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-07-2016 to 12-09-2016*

Just picked up a few crystal reds to see how they'll do in the 2g...










*UPDATES: *
- CRS in the 2q tank might be hiding or eaten by Betta which means a new nano tank just for shrimp is looming lol
- Monte Carlo in the 2q is growing slowly but at least its growing ferts are just ADA Gain Green and ECA for now until the actual ferts get here
- Planted ELEOCHARIS BELEM in the 3n as a mid ground plant and ordered some Eleocharis acicularis as a background plant and because the 3n is sand only as a 'substrate' I also ordered some ADA Multi Bottom sticks to serve as a in substrate fert.
- Might switch out the Mr. Aqua 90p we have now for an actual ADA one










*In other news, I ordered: *
- ADA Vuppa-1 as a surface skimmer since the 3n has been building some nasty oil top layer
- Chihiros Doctor Mini for the 90p (basically the twinstar replica) not sure if it'll even prevent an algae growth, but willing to experiment
- Decided it was best to do it right and replace my 10 year old Azoo Co2 regulator with an Alan Le custom, can't wait to see and use it

As i kinda expected or hoped not to have happened, the shrimp have be an expensive meal for the 2g tank betta. So to replace them, we got some ember tetras that can actually outrun the betta for the tank. Might just move the betta to another tank alone as it's way too aggressive (more so than the 3n tank betta). Then fill the 2g tank back up with shrimp that won't be food. 

Happy embers (these used to be so rare, now they're only $1.99 and readily available)









A few strands of hair grass mini planted in the foreground of the 3n. Might do a heavier planting once the background hair grass comes in









While waiting for things for the 90p (which we decided to replace with an actual ADA 90p) we decided to take apart the ADA style cabinet and paint match it to our TV stand...


















Here's the TV stand for reference...










Now have a total of 5 ember tetras and 3 replacement CRS in the 2q and added eleocharis acicularis to the background of the 3n. 

In other news... Got yet another dining table 2q so that the 2q's are right next to each other AND another betta LOL. Photo updates to come soon. Follow @glassaqua on IG for more.

Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-13-2016 to 12-16-2016*
A HUGE order of all things ADA that was ordered on Cyber Monday FINALLY came in today, looks like the holidays came early this year...


















Alan Le custom regulator is a BEAST!!! SUPER QUICK turn around and processing too!









Among the sorting of ADA things... we had setup yet another 2g... 


















Now we have a dual dining table setup with the same exact equipment... ADA cabinet photos to come soon.










3g at week 3. Moss is growing in nicely and a longer hair grass in the rear for more depth...


















Finished and newly painted

Our bodies aren't ready... It's time. 

Still a few ADA things in the mail but we can start the hardscaping tonight!


















Here's our first go at the hardscape, not finalized but at least y'all have an idea of how the rocks look in relation to the tank size.










Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-17-2016*

Spent the morning of our Saturday chiseling rocks lol..










Second pass at arranging the iwagumi setup with the newly chiseled rocks...










Clearer photo of our dining table twins...


















More ADA shipment, still awaiting one last one...










Cleaned up the cabinet and modified the inside, still missing motion sensing LED to be shipped and installed inside...










Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-19-2016*

So.... We seriously have a problem (well... I think it's the gf that does LOL). We picked up YET ANOTHER Ultum Nature tank. This time it was a 5n which is ~5g...










Using left over rocks from our 90p










Full ADA regiment...


















ADA La Plata sand is one of my personal faves. It's just so natural looking and not too fine...


















This tank is on our night stand. The pleasant flow of the filter will help us sleep at night especially when we're going broke thanks to this hobby.










*Plant list for this tank are:*
- Monte carlo
- Hairgrass
- Hairgrass mini

*Future plans:*
- Light upgrade
- Heater upgrade
- Filter upgrade
- Fish and shrimp (deciding between tetras and micro rasboras and king kong shrimp) as long as gf doesn't show up with yet another betta LOL

Oh also caught all 3 of the tank mates in the 3g...










Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-22-2016*

Cabinet mods while waiting for plants....










FINALLY the plants arrived overnight. Long story short, it was supposed to be delivered to me by 10:30am next day air yesterday but somehow Fedex somehow managed to F$*# up and the driver got lazy and didn't even attempt delivery even thought it had PRIORITY OVERNIGHT taped all over the package. I found out 30mins after 4 hour long calls with Fedex customer service that it was back at my local station 30mins before they were closing so I rushed to the station in 25mins and got the plants myself. If it was moss or anubias, I wouldn't have cared, but it was 5 10x10" of HC Cuba which doesn't ship well in the first place. So needless to say I was SUPER PISSED. Anyway, got the plants at 8pm and started prepping and planting. Filling started at 12am this morning and finalized the full setup with filter, co2, heater, wires, etc by 4am.....










Just like prepping a michelin star salad...










4am startup. FINALLY!!!!!!!!










*Shoutout to:*

- CK Fishworld (Stand, 100lbs+ of rock and random accessories)
- Amazon for Prime
- Aqua Forest Aquarium for ADA whoring
- Home Depot (hardware accessories)
- AquariumPlants.com (all plants)

Now back to figuring out a way to pin down floating HC Cuba sigh. More photos to come!

Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 12-27-2016*









Day 3 update on thE ADA 90p - been messing with the CO2 bps. We're doing daily 50% water changes with the addition of Green Bacter in order to speed up the process. Also floating HC Cuba is slightly frustrating. Sadly broke a Lily Pipe during the second water change... Otos and Amanos by this week, can't wait! Anyone know how long it usually takes HC to bounce back after planting?









Week 1 update on the Ultum nature systems 5n - Plants are growing in crazy for no CO2 injection during the first 5 days. The hairgrass grew about half a CM overnight! Been dosing ADA Brighty K, Green Bacter, and Seachem Excel daily along with 50% water changes. We just added 10 Chili Rasboras and 7 blue shrimp last night thanks to CK Fish World. This week, we're cutting back the water changes to every other day. While the Monte Carlo new growth is starting to show itself.









Week 2 update on this Ultum nature systems 2c - added more plants throughout to complete the layout along with CO2. Might add a few more tankmates to the Betta.

Bump: *BACK DATING THIS THREAD SLIGHTLY 1-2-2017*

*Updates updates updates!*

*Ultum Nature 3n:* Tank is still pretty slow in growth since this is our lowest tech setup. The betta is getting huge and his fins are changing colors for the better. If you compare the very first photo of this tank until now, (about 5 weeks), you can see his change. Also decided to get a single Amano for clean up duty since since algae dust is apparent.










*Ultum Nature 5n:* Plants are growing pretty fast in my opinion with the monte carlo carpeting and hair grass sp. sending out runners. Normal hair grass grows faster than hair grass belem apparently. This is the second week of the tank, now full cycled and running on CO2 injection via paintball for a little over a week. 


















Finally got a shot of one of the Ultum Nature 2c tank Bettas AKA Sesame. He's very elusive and coloring up very nicely!










*ADA 90p:* Finally the tank is clear so we got some green neon Tetras from Bob's Tropical LA who was able to give us the best price special ordered all the way from Florida overnight. Also on the next day, 5 Zebra Otos were overnighted, which are still very very rare after 10 years and hard to find. We paid a pretty penny for all of them but so worth it being able to finally afford and own them. Lots of character. The only thing missing are shrimp in this tank which we will add once the HC sends out more runners. As far as plants go, new grow and carpeting is starting to happen during the second week. The plants in this tank took a bigger hit than the one in the 5n maybe cause they were grown emersed. Slowly but surely...










50 Tetras (a few passed due to stressful transportation and travel but Bob's Tropical LA was kind enough to replace the doa for us!)









Zebra Otos acclimating - I want more!









Unfortunately one of the Otos probably got scratched on a rock or through transportation and got 'Cotton Wool' disease and now rushed into a hospital tank setup with API Pimafix and Melafix. We're hoping he pulls through since Otos are very sensitive fish. We're thinking the infection was passed onto him through one of the wild Tetras. He's still lively in his holding tank though but probably not happy at all...


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## sharambil (Nov 15, 2016)

Wow! Your tanks look absolutely gorgeous. What are the long And where did you purchase the HC Cuba from?


Also what are the long plants in this scape? Looks like an amano tank!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

sharambil said:


> Wow! Your tanks look absolutely gorgeous. What are the long And where did you purchase the HC Cuba from?
> 
> 
> Also what are the long plants in this scape? Looks like an amano tank!


Thanks! Purchased 5 20"x20" mats of HC from AquariumPlants.com but only used 2 to fill the ADA 90p (OPPS). 

As for that old 40g it was ranked 77th in the 2007 ADA contest  There were too many plants to remember what I had in there!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Woah these setups are awesome! You didn't just get back into the hobby, you went full in.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Opare said:


> Woah these setups are awesome! You didn't just get back into the hobby, you went full in.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


You can blame the lady for that :grin2::grin2::grin2:


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Cleaned up the tank tonight. It's almost 2 weeks now...


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## eferna (Oct 31, 2016)

nice setup. I really like the 90p. I was thinking about getting one at some point. I do also like the lily pipes. where did you end up getting your pipes from? I have a similar filter as you and would be nice to know how they fit and how easy it is to remove once they are on.


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## Tomatoandegg (Nov 8, 2016)

nice thread, love the quality ur working with


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

eferna said:


> nice setup. I really like the 90p. I was thinking about getting one at some point. I do also like the lily pipes. where did you end up getting your pipes from? I have a similar filter as you and would be nice to know how they fit and how easy it is to remove once they are on.


Aqua Forest. They are easy to remove once you have them on. All you need to do is pinch and pull the tubing. I've always used them. 


Tomatoandegg said:


> nice thread, love the quality ur working with


Thanks! Photographer by trade. :grin2:


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Decided to rescape the first 2g tank with Frodo Stone and transferred the 3g Betta in it while the Embers and CRS were switched over. This time we took the liberty of using the full ADA line up and the only plants that were used was UG.


























One Zebra Oto unfortunately passed due to a fungal infection that we tried really hard to treat. However we were lucky enough to find a single one that was for sale at a LFS!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Could we get a post just showing a FTS of every single tank, these scapes are awesome and its hard for me to keep up with all of them!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

The 2g finally cleared up and was able to get a photo of it...










Former 2g inhabitants now in the 3g along with 5 new CRS










Currently battling brown algae in the other 2g. Any tips on getting rid of it?


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## shhh (Jan 1, 2016)

Beautiful tanks! I love the synchronized otos! They're so adorable.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*[5 Tank Builds] Hello... It's Been 10+ Years Since My Last Login*

It's diatoms, you just have to sort of live with it till it goes away TBH. Part of the 'new tank syndrome'. You can do more water changes and prune away anything dying to get rid of any waste organics.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Thanks all!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Wow, scaping overload. I can't even. They're all really nice. I'm definitely subscribing.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

1 month update on the ADA 90p. Currently home to 70 green neon tetras, 5 amino shrimp, and 5 zebra ottos. Unfortunately, not sure why the older leaves are yellowing, but the plant is sending out lots of runners and long roots. Any thoughts?


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

These are all amazing. Props on all of your efforts. 

Btw how do you like the Twinstar light?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

turtlehead said:


> 1 month update on the ADA 90p. Currently home to 70 green neon tetras, 5 amino shrimp, and 5 zebra ottos. Unfortunately, not sure why the older leaves are yellowing, but the plant is sending out lots of runners and long roots. Any thoughts?


Are you fertilising? That would be my first go to. If not I recommend you do. PPS-Pro or any lean dosing method should work.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Brighty k and Step 1 10 pumps a day with 10 drops of ECA


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## shhh (Jan 1, 2016)

It looks great! I can't wait for summer so I finally have time to start my new tank and get green neons.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Hmmm that should be enough to be honest. Maybe increase it slightly cus the ADA Method is still quite a lean routine. Are you confident CO2 is high enough?
Maybe the old growth was emersed and is just dying off now. Give it a bit more time and see if it start going on to the new growth.


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## Buce (Nov 13, 2016)

Oh my goodnessssss, I aspire to one day have so many nice rimless tanks.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Another round of weekly updates.

3n is growing hair grass just fine with no CO2 just slow growth. This is now the only tank without CO2 in house: 










On the other hand, our 5n which has CO2... the hair grass has begun to grow into the foreground while planted in the background:










Next up is out dual dining table setup of 2c's with the left just replanted with hair grass belem cause for some reason out UG melt (???), weird but the hair grass is already sending roots after 3 days. Big shout out to SubstrateSource for fast and healthy delivery. On the right, we have crazy growth on the E. Tenellus and we had to cut and replant the whole background because out Betta would always hide out and uproot them like the devil he is. Also after replanting and a water change last we, I decided to fill the background with multiple species of Rotola and replace the E. Tenellus with Blood Vomit which is already order as of today:










Finally we have the ADA 90p which unfortunately was struck by a CRAZY out break of ich, we did what we could with the Tetras and lost 1 Oto, SO SO SAD  but in light of that we got 10 more Amanos to defend agains brown dust algae and a ADA hospital tank which will no doubt be scaped in the future some time. We've also been fighting against old growth yellowing which is screaming N deficiency so we bumped the CO2 and N dosing. We'll see how that turns out. The hair grass that we planted as a background plant has now creeped all the way up to the foreground so we'll be trimming for the first time soon while the fight continues...


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## Chocochip03 (Mar 15, 2016)

These scapes are beautiful!


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

Your hardscape skills [emoji91][emoji817][emoji108]


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Thanks guys!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

I would say this is around day 45-50 update on the ADA 90p. Still dealing with ich and now snail outbreak (not sure where they came from which sucks). It's the only tank with snails and in a tank this big it's hard to control them. We got a puffer in hopes it'll have a feast. We'll see. The plants are growing just great, the HC is recovering with higher CO2, better CO2 circulation and also more N dosing. Notice the crazy growth of hair grass belem from background all the way to foreground. No trimmings has been done yet and it looks like we might have to soon.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

So this is professional aquascaping, lol. Absolutely pulchritudinous tanks!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

BettaBettas said:


> So this is professional aquascaping, lol. Absolutely pulchritudinous tanks!


thanks!


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## SubstrateSource (Apr 20, 2011)

Great work, John!


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## danbayne (May 21, 2013)

WHOA! incredible tanks! You have inspired me to dust off my youngest daughters 3 gallon cube and start a planted tank for the first time ever....


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

BettaBettas said:


> So this is professional aquascaping, lol. Absolutely pulchritudinous tanks!


:grin2::grin2::grin2:


SubstrateSource said:


> Great work, John!


Thanks! Also thanks for the haigrass mini in our 2g, they came in quick and was healthy. No die off period and straight up started sending runners within the same week. Crazy! Never had an experience like that. 


danbayne said:


> WHOA! incredible tanks! You have inspired me to dust off my youngest daughters 3 gallon cube and start a planted tank for the first time ever....


You should


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## danbayne (May 21, 2013)

turtlehead said:


> You should


Indeed. I'm going to buddy up to BucePlants (lol) and get some more equipment and start a journal once I've researched everything to death, then research it again. Again, awesome tanks and it's sweet your GF is down too.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

danbayne said:


> Indeed. I'm going to buddy up to BucePlants (lol) and get some more equipment and start a journal once I've researched everything to death, then research it again. Again, awesome tanks and it's sweet your GF is down too.


Buce is great, I live 5mins away from them with traffic lol. I've been to their office multiple times which is why the main bulk of our tanks are Ultum Nature, they are the exclusive distributor for them. All their tanks are healthy so they know what they're doing. Don't hesitate! 

My gf is the one who actually got me back into this hobby and I don't regret it. She's also the reason why we have this many tanks LOL.


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## danbayne (May 21, 2013)

turtlehead said:


> Buce is great, I live 5mins away from them with traffic lol. I've been to their office multiple times which is why the main bulk of our tanks are Ultum Nature, they are the exclusive distributor for them. All their tanks are healthy so they know what they're doing. Don't hesitate!
> 
> My gf is the one who actually got me back into this hobby and I don't regret it. She's also the reason why we have this many tanks LOL.


Looking at their site, I can see they are really enthusiastic about the hobby and want newbies (like me, to plants, but not to aquariums) and seasoned vets, alike, to succeed at this. Once I have the youngest daughters 3g up and stable, I'll most likely purchase one of the larger UN tanks for my home office. 

I'll be checking in on this journal to gain some more knowledge before I'm up and running. Thanks for sharing.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

danbayne said:


> Looking at their site, I can see they are really enthusiastic about the hobby and want newbies (like me, to plants, but not to aquariums) and seasoned vets, alike, to succeed at this. Once I have the youngest daughters 3g up and stable, I'll most likely purchase one of the larger UN tanks for my home office.
> 
> I'll be checking in on this journal to gain some more knowledge before I'm up and running. Thanks for sharing.


Yes! No prob. Don't hesitate with Buce


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

*Dueling dining table setup updates:*
The one on the right has been experiencing crazy rapid hair grass growth for whatever reason, we have no clue what we did right but this is the first time we've had tissue culture plants grow so fast with barely an maintenance. On the left, it's now home to 6 different sp. of Rotala since it's one of my favorite stem plant sp. We've been adding ADA ECA (iron) more frequently in an effort to make the reds, oranges, magentas, yellow and hopefully pinks pop more.


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## Stevie Irawan (Feb 7, 2017)

I know how you feel. This hobby is like an itch that you must scratch sooner or later. Browsing forums or even looking pictures at facebook groups will trigger that itch. At least its what happened to me.

In your case though, I think it's a huge satisfaction to be able to go back into this hobby with a bang. Great tanks, great material, great hardscape arrangement. Looking forward to see the final result of these tanks.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Just got back from a 10day vacation in Hong Kong. I had my parents come over to our place everyday to take care of the fish with instructions written in Chinese for them LOL

*BEFORE TRIP:* 









*AFTER TRIP:* 


























Hair grass grew in like CRAZY in the left tank and the Rotala really filled the background up. However, unfortunately the CO2 ran out half way during our trip and algae took over the left tank, but nothing a tooth brush and a good scrub couldn't handle. First thing we did after a 19hr plane ride was come home for water changes and CO2 refill. The tanks are doing better with algae being closely monitored and lighting bumped down one level. Hoping the Rotala on the right tank doesn't suffer since it seems to not like change at all. The growth rate of the hair grass really took me by surprise. Side note is that I ordered some new CO2 equipment for better diffusion in these tanks. 



*BEFORE TRIP:* 









*AFTER TRIP:* 


















As you can see the slow HC Cuba grew in a bit more and the hair grass got even thicker. We had trimmed the hair grass before we left. We also bought a Dwarf Puffer and 6 Assassin Snails for snail control. Came back to a relatively cleaner tank (still have snails but not as much) and a super bloated Puffer. We suspect he preyed on the Assassins too. This ADA 90p will need a full trim in the coming week as the Aquasoil is completely covered now. Still messing with bumping the CO2 since we got our tap water tested and it's pretty hard so the bubble count and the CO2 drop check even at the right settings is still too low. We'll have to judge by the fish instead.


*HONG KONG* 

AquaHome - An ADA distributor in Hong Kong that only does planted tanks. Amazing tanks and for such limited space in Hong Kong, they had a couple 100g tanks along with 50g's on display. We bought as much ADA stuff here as we could. Super nice peeps. 

















AquaArt - Another ADA distributor owned by a scaper who has ranked super high in the previous ADA contests. Super cool tanks as well and a bit of Wabi-Kusa on display









This is how lots of fish, shrimp and plants are sold in Hong Kong due to space limitations


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## Stevie Irawan (Feb 7, 2017)

Thanks for sharing your trip. Fish in plastic bags is common in my country too espescially in ornamental fish market place like this. It's generally better in my opinion though, because they will have to change the water everyday. It's better for the fish rather than some seller that keep tanks with crowded fish and almost never change the water.

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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Our dueling dual Ultum Nature Systems 20c were hit by algae during our vacation so it's been a full week of care and attention. We think we're winning against algae. We even bought the new @Aqua_design_amano Pro Brush to help us clean it. And if you're wondering... it works amazingly. Also upgraded the CO2 diffusion a bit with the Do!aqua hanging glassware. Now it looks way simpler and better! The battle continues with more clean ups and brushing during the coming week.


















How our ADA 90p looks after our weekly water change and maintenance. We're starting to fill it back up with fish which include several more Zebra Otocinclus along the way and Neon Green/Yellow Rasboras. The Rasboras seem to be a lot more lively than the Neon Green Tetras we had previously. This tank is due for a serious major trim next weekend. We've been bumping the CO2 up even more so the plants are growing even faster now.










Bump: Our dueling dual Ultum Nature Systems 20c were hit by algae during our vacation so it's been a full week of care and attention. We think we're winning against algae. We even bought the new @aqua_design_amano Pro Brush to help us clean it. And if you're wondering... it works amazingly. Also upgraded the CO2 diffusion a bit with the Do!aqua hanging glassware. Now it looks way simpler and better! The battle continues with more clean ups and brushing during the coming week.


















How our ADA 90p looks after our weekly water change and maintenance. We're starting to fill it back up with fish which include several more Zebra Otocinclus along the way and Neon Green/Yellow Rasboras. The Rasboras seem to be a lot more lively than the Neon Green Tetras we had previously. This tank is due for a serious major trim next weekend. We've been bumping the CO2 up even more so the plants are growing even faster now.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

turtlehead said:


> Just got back from a 10day vacation in Hong Kong. I had my parents come over to our place everyday to take care of the fish with instructions written in Chinese for them LOL
> 
> *BEFORE TRIP:*
> 
> ...


that confined space is colorful though lol


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## zenche (Feb 9, 2011)

fantastic journal 

agree with the feedback - great hardscapes, very nice eq selections. nice photos too  in one photo with your tripod, was that your cell phone taped on it?


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

go pro for time-lapse


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Not much to report on the 5g nightstand nano other than the fact that we have a new and much much brighter LED on order. Plants aren't growing as fast as they should even with ferts and CO2.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Just got a new LED setup for the nightstand 5n and had it set up last night, now this tank won't need a dinky 3w LED anymore. Yes, the plants were growing that well with the dinky LED.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Weekly update on the 90p and 5n. 









Gave all the walls and rocks a good scraping. Next week will be time for a huge trimming and glassware cleaning process...









Monte Carlo is now growing quicker with the upgraded LED and we're not even using it at full power. Going to mess with the CO2 in this tank now that we have higher output LED. It's about to grow out of control.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Time for a weekly update....

We finally gave the ADA 90p a much much needed trim and needless to say... It still looks like it hasn't been trimmed FML LOL! there was a full bucket worth of hair grass and HC we trimmed I swear my arms were covered in it... Anyway, we'll see how the plants grow back. It's nice and thick right now. This week, we'll clean the pipes and add in a few more Neon Green Rasbora for a larger school.










Took a quick break between our weekly water changes and went reclaimed wood shopping. We must say, we're pretty handy when it comes to DIY stuff like this  spent a good minute thinking of how nice a reclaimed wood/industrial fish tank cabinet would look. 










Natural waxed reclaimed on the left vs raw on the right. Pretty nice right? 










Back to the dueling tank setups. The algae seems to be slowly going away on it's on. The plants are def growing so thats a real good thing.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Love the ATCQ vinyl  90P is looking spectacular as well. Love the little setups as well. The hardscape you have acquired, and your technique with it is fantastic.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

ooo, cant wait to see that build  Lovely tanks as well still going! 
Inspiration to us all!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Here's our weekly update. Didn't have much time for updates last week due to the fact that we adopted a mixed Terrier pup runt. He's @toyonotthetire on IG if you like puppies. And in case you were wondering.... here he is.... weighing in at 3.3lbs


















Now back to the tanks. The Ultum Nature Systems 5n is now overrun by plant growth thanks to the new LED setup. The former sandy path that leads to the back is now non-existant but we kinda actually like the sandy patch that's been left open. We'll be leaving it to grow more for the next week before we do a massive trim. 










As for the dueling dinning table setups the battle with algae is almost won. We've been spot overdosing with Flourish Excel for a few weeks now and it seems to be slowly working. 










And then comes a new setup. Not really a setup but a temporary hospital and plant holding tank as I've joined a scaping contest that's coming up very soon. We got this tank, co2 system and lighting by ADA all used for super cheap from multiple sources. And on top of that I found all my old ADA stuff at my parents so we put it to good use. The plant growth is doing extremely well given that it's only been a week. 










It's not much of a looker and you could say it looks dutch style but it does what it needs to do. Maybe we'll throw in some micro fish just for kicks to make it a bit more lively. In the near future this tank will be replacing one of the nanos that are currently running.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

beautiful, and astonishing


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

What a cute pupper! Tanks and photography on point as always.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

haha thanks! I am a photographer by trade.

Bump: So here's the weekly updates...

The ADA 90p is looking nice, green and full. I'm thinking a handful more rasboras and this tank is set. Took some time to give it a deeper cut than last time and it looks better. Even the older growth isn't yellow anymore. We can finally say we have a thick carpet of HC that only took 4 months and a lot of dosing/co2 changes to figure out. We just switched to ADA Step 2 for micros so the plants might take a hit. Trying to dose slightly less since Step 2 is more concentrated than Step 1. We'll see how this week goes cause in a high tech tank, algae can grow fast so we'll know if we're overdosing, if not then we'll slowly bump Step 2 up to where Step 1 is but in theory we shouldn't have to if you follow what I'm saying. 










Here's a clearer photo of the ADA 45f holding tank with 2 Amano shrimp for simple algae clean up. The plants are thriving and totally skipped the die off period that you would normally see. It's just barely two weeks from setup.










The Ultum Nature 5n is doing great. A major trim is due this weekend. We might be out of town for a day so it might have to wait, but look at that crazy hair grass. No more hair grass in future tanks cause it's a pretty invasive plant given just a little co2 and it will take off like crazy. We add a handful of pygmy cory cats in there. Very nice little fish. 










And finally the dueling dining table setup is looking clean. I usually trim the steam plants on the right tank every week just to shape it and so that we end up with a nice rounded bush. The tank on the left is due for a second trim soon too. 










Here's the CO2 setup for this tank in case y'all were wondering...










Whew... so many updates. @toyonotthetire is pooped!


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## biohazardQC (Sep 19, 2016)

dang that puppy is soooooooooo nice!
i have a 2 y-old corgi, a real hug beast!


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

Omg that dog is so adorable! I have a pure bred german shepard "puppy" who just turned one a week or so ago. When your dog grows up he'll be less adorable and more beautiful! or both lol! 
Lovely pics as well, may I ask what you use or is it just your phone? I ask people this question and the reason I guess its a phone, is because whenever I ask what they (they being a random person) are using to take pics of their tanks, they always reply "my phone" lol


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

biohazardQC said:


> dang that puppy is soooooooooo nice!
> i have a 2 y-old corgi, a real hug beast!


Hey just got bullied by a corgi pup this past weekend at puppy kindergarten LOL



BettaBettas said:


> Omg that dog is so adorable! I have a pure bred german shepard "puppy" who just turned one a week or so ago. When your dog grows up he'll be less adorable and more beautiful! or both lol!
> Lovely pics as well, may I ask what you use or is it just your phone? I ask people this question and the reason I guess its a phone, is because whenever I ask what they (they being a random person) are using to take pics of their tanks, they always reply "my phone" lol


Just my phone and sometimes its a SONY A7R2

Bump: Here are the weekly updates...

Decided to try something different and record a video of the ADA 90p this week just to show you all how it's like to watch this tank that sits in our dining room. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tQ5wCUm5eGk

Also, very upsetting news is the betta on the left tank has unfortunately made a leap of death while we we're out and here's the most recent photo of him before his death  He was our first fish together and went through a lot. RIP Toast the Betta... we might rehome another betta or turn it into a a shrimp tank. We'll see.....


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Maybe have a look at some of the more colourful (and expensive) C. cantonensis variants, like the Wine Red shrimp. They are really nice. Although it would be quite the investment.


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## hassan.nabeel (Feb 22, 2016)

Any updates on your beautiful tanks?


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

So here's a HUGE UPDATE for you all cause we've been super busy with the following: 

Here's how the Ultum Nature 5n looks on our nightstand and we switched it around after our ADA Super Jet 150 canister filter finally cycled




























Then recently we attended Pet Expo and entered into the aquascaping contest. It was our first live contest. We placed 3rd and were really happy with that. 

We were to scape a Fluval tank that is around 7g and taller in size that we were normally used to. The original idea was to go with our typical rock only hardscape however we noticed that as we were scaping the day before that we realized that we needed more height and the rocks just didn't do that so we had to scramble last minute to get spider wood, silicone glue and super glue. Notice the foam board model in the exact tank dimensions to ensure that our scape would fit and we could just literally lift it out of the foam model and place it into the contest tank the day of. 









While finalizing the scape, after the mad rush to local places for wood, and figuring out if the glue would hold the scape together, we marked off where we would plant certain plants









It all started to turn out to look like an elementary school project. Some wet moss was placed on places of wood to hide the glued scape and to see how it would look. In total, we glued together 3 wood pieces and 4 twigs to the rocks. We didn't even know if the glue would stick because 2 hours before the show, we decided to glue one more piece to the scape. 









After careful transporting for an hour, we got to show with only 4 hours to plant and setup the tank up. After filling with water, here's how the tank looked. It took us a total of 3 hours. Shoutout to FLUVAL.


















In the end we came in 3rd but was very proud of our accomplishment!









This was first place by BUCEPLANT.com









Remember that ADA 45-F we were using as a plant holding/hospital tank? Well, we were using that tank to grow out plants for this contest and just take a look at this monthlong progress!









The night before the contest, we took the plants out and cleared it out









The next day after the contest we drove back to transport the tank back and had to re-setup at home


















Just took this photo last night of the tank and 2 weeks later with a new Betta addition. We named this new blue betta, RED lol.









In other news, our full ADA 60p setup is now all here after parts collecting for a month.























































Hardscape test #1


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*[5 Tank Builds] Hello... It's Been 10+ Years Since My Last Login*

Wooo I'm really excited to see the new setup. Congratulations on the contest too, that scape should fill in nicely at home. 
Noticed that you do love your Supreme hahaha, is that the Supreme noodle bowl underneath the 60P too?


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Opare said:


> Wooo I'm really excited to see the new setup. Congratulations on the contest to, that scape should fill in nicely at home.
> Noticed that you do love your Supreme hahaha, is that the Supreme noodle bowl underneath the 60P too?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Supreme bowl yep haha.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Took apart the ADA 45F and are currently using it for another project and here are some of the plants it grew lol.


























Moved some things around in our bedroom and upgraded our night stand


















Please excuse the dirty lily pipes and dog lol










And here's the Fluval growing nicely


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

All looking really nice (including the pupper)! What are you doing with all the plants from the 45F? 


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

I have seen your posts and I think they are beautiful (all of them). 

1) Are you a photographer (job), because your pics look so good it's unreal.

2) I can't wait to see your next ADA build with the transparent cube garden stand. 

3) How do you like co2 arts dual stage regulator, mine is still in shipment.

4) My favorite tank of yours is still your UNS 20c left (the one that toast jumped out of ). So simple yet elegant

5) I am in the process of building not only my ADA dream tank (120-P) but also my house, so as soon as that's complete I can start my tank and I really hope it will look as good as yours.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Opare said:


> All looking really nice (including the pupper)! What are you doing with all the plants from the 45F?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


They were for sale but we're experimenting with the plants that didnt sell. More updates on that later 



SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> I have seen your posts and I think they are beautiful (all of them).
> 
> 1) Are you a photographer (job), because your pics look so good it's unreal.
> 
> ...


1) yes I am a freelance automotive photographer

2)   

3) Its really easy to use and control. Our second best regulator. 

4) Our only true one plant tank

5) good luck! a 120p is a BEAST!!!!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Updates on the Fluval. We're now on a weekly trim and replant schedule..... 










Soooo...... we decided to bring the ADA 45f back out and have it actually scaped this time. We're shutting down our dual dining table setup to make this happen since we're running out of room for tanks lol. 




























TIMELASPE VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/GOUwE40a7WI


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## electrofunky (Jun 3, 2017)

Absolutely stunning, you've got the artistic and creative eye that is so magnetic in this hobby. I just feel drawn to your aquarium works of art. Seriously, you're one to watch now you're back in the hobby with style! Bloody well done!


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

*[5 Tank Builds] Hello... It's Been 10+ Years Since My Last Login*

Oh my gosh, can you please stop posting so many mesmerizing scapes! I am starting to wonder if you are just hiring a bunch of Takashi amano's. Are you sure your not the owner of AFA, ADA, the green machine, tropica and maybe even the planted tank forum. You said that your brother is george farmer cousin is James Findley and your dad was takashi amano, <---- I believe it. Your hardscape skills are just creepy good. 

Continue on, thanks for the hours of reading and staring at beautiful scapes.


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## Ben Belton (Dec 12, 2008)

Loved the set up video. That was really well done. Hope you have a follow-up coming.


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## cadd (May 30, 2017)

Wow!! Amazing tanks and amazing photography skills!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

That 45F scape is really good, the main rock placement is just perfect.
Video was really good too, I really like the end shot hahaha.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

electrofunky said:


> Absolutely stunning, you've got the artistic and creative eye that is so magnetic in this hobby. I just feel drawn to your aquarium works of art. Seriously, you're one to watch now you're back in the hobby with style! Bloody well done!


Thanks! She went to art school and my main profession is photography. Funny enough, aquascaping is what got me into photography back in the day haha.



SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Oh my gosh, can you please stop posting so many mesmerizing scapes! I am starting to wonder if you are just hiring a bunch of Takashi amano's. Are you sure your not the owner of AFA, ADA, the green machine, tropica and maybe even the planted tank forum. You said that your brother is george farmer cousin is James Findley and your dad was takashi amano, <---- I believe it. Your hardscape skills are just creepy good.
> 
> Continue on, thanks for the hours of reading and staring at beautiful scapes.


Well... that would mean I would be a bastard child of aquascaping right? :surprise::surprise::surprise:



Ben Belton said:


> Loved the set up video. That was really well done. Hope you have a follow-up coming.


Will be making more videos soon. Thanks for the encouragement! 



cadd said:


> Wow!! Amazing tanks and amazing photography skills!


Thanks for the comments on Youtube too!



Opare said:


> That 45F scape is really good, the main rock placement is just perfect.
> Video was really good too, I really like the end shot hahaha.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks, more to come soon!!


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## tropicalmackdaddy (Mar 7, 2012)

:surprise::surprise::surprise: Awesome tanks. 

What light are you using on the 5N? An Aquasky?


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

tropicalmackdaddy said:


> :surprise::surprise::surprise: Awesome tanks.
> 
> What light are you using on the 5N? An Aquasky?


Thanks! Chirhios 

Bump: Hey all, sorry for the lack of updates, we've been sooooooo busy with life and taking care of tanks and whatnot that we haven't had the chance to properly update with good content. We also have had our 90p shut down and ready for a re-scape and setup another ADA 60h just to hold all the plants we don't use LOL. Anyway, we've been busy with our home office remodeling in which we tore out our whole office just to repaint and setup a new DIY desk. We decided it was time to bring out the old Dual setups again and re-scape them for the office. The tank on the left is mine and the tank on the right is hers which we each setup individually....










































]

















Sorry, just got behind the scenes of her scaping her own and I didn't have someone else to shoot my own until I was done. BUT here's a video we made of us both scaping our respective tanks: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mupA_s7-Pg


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## Tofuaqua (Oct 7, 2016)

Wow! I only love to read but your journal really spilled words out of my mouth. I have been collecting stuffs just to be able to keep a simple tank again after 5 years. Can not wait to see the next hardscape for your 90p ....


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Gorgeous as always, the rock work is so simple yet elegant on the left while the right looks like the hardscape is perfect for each other. The wood and rock interlock and fit perfectly. Nice tanks and I'm glad you set them back up, what's the stocking going to be like? Also if you ever want to do an RAOK I'm all ears. LOL 

It's funny though because I was really hoping you would do an update but didn't want to be that one guy who is interrupting people's busy lives.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Tofuaqua said:


> Wow! I only love to read but your journal really spilled words out of my mouth. I have been collecting stuffs just to be able to keep a simple tank again after 5 years. Can not wait to see the next hardscape for your 90p ....


We've been slowly collecting things for the 90p again. Stay tuned!



SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Gorgeous as always, the rock work is so simple yet elegant on the left while the right looks like the hardscape is perfect for each other. The wood and rock interlock and fit perfectly. Nice tanks and I'm glad you set them back up, what's the stocking going to be like? Also if you ever want to do an RAOK I'm all ears. LOL
> 
> It's funny though because I was really hoping you would do an update but didn't want to be that one guy who is interrupting people's busy lives.


Add us on IG: @glassaqua we do almost daily updates/posts! No worries about interrupting us, we work from home


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

This thread is amazing. I kinda want to make a social media account just to follow you, lol.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

AVN said:


> This thread is amazing. I kinda want to make a social media account just to follow you, lol.


hahaha give us a follow!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Got a few new photos shot with details of our newest setups.


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Started following you on IG [emoji106] beautiful pics on your page, I recognize a lot of them from this page.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Started following you on IG [emoji106] beautiful pics on your page, I recognize a lot of them from this page.


Thanks! Hope you enjoy the updates!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Here are a few weekly updates for ya'll!

The nightstand tank is looking thick and lush, might actually throw in more fish or shrimp in it now that it's full and thick with greenery. 










































The dry start setup on our ADA 45f is going well at 1.5 months. 3 more months and it should be all filled. Not sure at this point whether or not we even want to fill it with water. It looks so nice!










The kitchen counter Fluvial looking wild as ever with thick stems. Might be selling this whole setup soon.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

It took about 2 weeks but we cleared out the ADA 90p and rescaped it with a new hardscape layout that is wayyyy more aggressive than the last. This new main rock is HUGE!!! If we let it stand up straight with no tilt, it would stick out the top of the tank. The plans for now are just a low lawn of a mix of HC, Monte Carlo, and Elatine Hydropiper. We'll also be dry starting this tank since we've had great success with the ADA 45f. Plants will also be added before we fill the tank with water on the plateaus of the rocks to create a layered look thereby creating more depth to the scape itself. Might consider throwing in some e. tenellus micro to break up the rocks a bit when the lawn grows in... we just have to see. The hills in the back will be higher once we get to planting. 




























lol....


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Looks beautiful, Love the scape once again? LOL 

Can you just make one scape that looks like crap so I can feel better about mine!!!


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## viwwo (Jan 15, 2010)

"We"???? you still have a wife LOL
Really nice work!


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Tanks look great but I want to see more pictures of the Ballast Point Victory at Sea...such a great beer .


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

Fantabulous


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Looks beautiful, Love the scape once again? LOL
> 
> Can you just make one scape that looks like crap so I can feel better about mine!!!


We'll try LOL! Thanks!



viwwo said:


> "We"???? you still have a wife LOL
> Really nice work!


Well... she's the one who keeps buying the tanks we have hahahaha.



sdwindansea said:


> Tanks look great but I want to see more pictures of the Ballast Point Victory at Sea...such a great beer .


The lady's the drinker haha.



Tnalp said:


> Fantabulous
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks!


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## Brian Rodgers (Oct 15, 2016)

Thanks for sharing. I love the side by side Nano tank biulds.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Brian Rodgers said:


> Thanks for sharing. I love the side by side Nano tank biulds.


They will be revived in the future some time lol. :smile2:

Bump: We had some free time to do a Quick Scape in one of our empty tanks. Its about a 10g tank with 2 pieces of spider wood and 4 pieces of Ryuoh stone to hold the scape together. It looks really nice and can work for high tech stem plants or low light ferns and anubias/buce. Let us know what you think! the scape took about 20mins to put together. 

VIDEO HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSzNn0vWoOg





















Here's finally an update on our ADA 45f dry start that closing in on 3 months now. The UG is doing great and we added a second LED stripe thats not shown in the photos to speed up growth which also means more misting. Sorry for the lack of updates on this tank because you'll notice that it's been moved to our dining table where the duel nano used to be. So things like napkins get in the way of the tank for photos.


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

The tank is very sexy. Hard to believe it's a 4.6 Gallon tank only; looks a lot bigger in the photos.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Chizpa305 said:


> The tank is very sexy. Hard to believe it's a 4.6 Gallon tank only; looks a lot bigger in the photos.


Right??! Thats why we love this tank!


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

> Right??! Thats why we love this tank!


Yeah, although it is the scape that accomplishes that effect.


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## TheLordOfTheFish (Mar 11, 2017)

What kind of water are you using? Tap or RO?


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

TheLordOfTheFish said:


> What kind of water are you using? Tap or RO?




RO, I've seen his instagram posts 


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Chizpa305 said:


> The tank is very sexy. Hard to believe it's a 4.6 Gallon tank only; looks a lot bigger in the photos.





Tnalp said:


> RO, I've seen his instagram posts
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yep, RO for any tank smaller than 20g


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Hey guys, we're back at it again with another 36CM tank because the lady decided to buy yet another Betta which I don't mind at all. We decided to use all wood only and chose 4 Manzanita twigs which we pre-soaked and boiled for about 3 days and nights. 










We secured them together as one piece with metal ties so that it wouldn't fall apart during planting, maintenance or from the flow of the filters.


















Next we tied Taiwan Mini Moss along with Anubias Nana Pangolino to the wood to fill in the unnatural looking gaps and cuts. Pangolino is even smaller than Petite and was available in tissue culture!


















All the tissue culture plants we got which includes: LUDWIGIA REPENS 'SUPER RED' , ROTALA SP 'PINK' , MYRIOPHYLLUM SP MINI GUYANA, HYDROCOTYLE TRIPARTITA , ALTERANTHERA REINECKII "MINI" , ELEOCHARIS BELEM , MICRANTHEMUM UMBROSUM , and the Anubias










We set the wood and ADA substrate layers in place and decide how to plant around it










The background was planted first with LUDWIGIA REPENS 'SUPER RED' as the main background plant for... well, super red. 










Then the mid ground for reds and a splash of lighter green from HYDROCOTYLE TRIPARTITA and ALTERANTHERA REINECKII "MINI" as accent


















Finally the foreground of feathery ELEOCHARIS BELEM to soften the overall look of this planted nano tank. 










A little cloudy after we set it up along with the temporary filter. We'll have clear photos soon. 

















Here's the Betta it houses and his name is Butter. 


A preview of our next Quick Scape with Manzanita Wood and Ryuoh Stone










Stay Tuned!


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## viwwo (Jan 15, 2010)

Love it!!!
Last time I had that fish (a friend gave it to me) it would consistently fight his own reflection when the light was on... He didn't live long... 
What lens do you use? if I may ask


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

viwwo said:


> Love it!!!
> Last time I had that fish (a friend gave it to me) it would consistently fight his own reflection when the light was on... He didn't live long...
> What lens do you use? if I may ask


We shoot with the Sony FE 55mm, Batis 85mm, and 90mm Macro.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Good to see Ballast Point made another appearance in your photos . Great looking scape and betta. Looking forward to seeing how it fills in.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

sdwindansea said:


> Good to see Ballast Point made another appearance in your photos . Great looking scape and betta. Looking forward to seeing how it fills in.


Haha yea wifeys a craft beer girl. Super excited to see the growth too, the plants are perking up today!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Continuing on our updates... here's a few photos of the new TV stand nano tank. We added more plants to it yesterday and today but we'll have those to post for another day.


















Beautiful tissue culture Buce that was added to this tank:









And stem plant growth is doing great!

















After seeing our planted tanks, a good friend of ours asked us to scape one for her so we put together a nano 2g low tech.

































Plants include Bolbitus, Java Fern narrow leaf, Java Moss, Anubias Petite.

As a bonus, we used Alder Cones as part of the scape and also to lower the PH of her tap for her betta.


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

As always, GREAT STUFF!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Man, I wish I had a friend like that. The pine cones are a very cool idea. I have been wanting a small nano for quite some time, and if you keep cranking out these pics I fear my night stands gonna be accompanied by one nice lamp (AKA ADA Aquasky)


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

hahah thanks guys we'll be cranking out more!


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

turtlehead said:


>



May I ask what type of bonsai that is and maybe even where you got that pot? LOL, should have posted this on "The Planted Pot" forum.

Actually it won't let you see the picture but I don't think you have two bonsais, LOL. Or do you?


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## cadd (May 30, 2017)

Alder cones lower pH? That's great to know. I have hard water and high pH (9kh, 14gh and 8.2ph). Besides driftwood, I didn't know what else I can add in my scape to naturally lower the pH a little. Good to know! Do you mind me ask where you purchased the alder cones from? 

Any other ideas on what else I can add to soften and lower the pH a little more? 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> May I ask what type of bonsai that is and maybe even where you got that pot? LOL, should have posted this on "The Planted Pot" forum.
> 
> Actually it won't let you see the picture but I don't think you have two bonsais, LOL. Or do you?


It's from ikea, technically a ginseng plant.



cadd said:


> Alder cones lower pH? That's great to know. I have hard water and high pH (9kh, 14gh and 8.2ph). Besides driftwood, I didn't know what else I can add in my scape to naturally lower the pH a little. Good to know! Do you mind me ask where you purchased the alder cones from?
> 
> Any other ideas on what else I can add to soften and lower the pH a little more?
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


Yep they do slightly and they release tannins. We found them cheap on [Ebay Link Removed]

Bump: Continuing along our scaping spree, here's our friend's tank after doing maintenance on it...



























Also added more plants in our latest 5g TV stand setup during a water change...


















Happy plants


















Also just used the opportunity to rescape out living room console table too!










Quick Scape video here: https://youtu.be/yIeBwzSdZVI


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## Jerad Wilson (Jun 23, 2016)

Amazing job and great photos! Not sure if it was already answered, but what camera setup are you using? Thanks.

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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Jerad Wilson said:


> Amazing job and great photos! Not sure if it was already answered, but what camera setup are you using? Thanks.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


Thanks! Sony AR7II


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## cadd (May 30, 2017)

Crap, they didn't allow your ebay link =(

By the way, how on earth do you have so little subscribers on YouTube?! I see other channels that don't deliver the quality you do that have thousands of subscribers. You guys deserve way more! Give it some time. Keep up the beautiful work. I'll be sure to steal some ideas from you. 

PS - that simple gas pipe lamp is awesome! 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Just search it on eBay you'll have a lot of options. 

We just started our channel so its growing by the week. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement!


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## cadd (May 30, 2017)

By the way, I love your username. *wink wink*

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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

cadd said:


> By the way, I love your username. *wink wink*
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


Hahaha thanks its from years ago haha.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Sorry for the lack of updates, but we've been busy! Since I don't want to violate any forum rules, a simple Google search will let you all in on what even been up to for the past few months. A lot has changed and there's a lot to cover so here it goes.... 

We've been doing a lot more Quick Scapes as a proof of concept. Not only are they scape practice for us but they also serve as inspiration and "bigger picture" pieces as in they illustrate how tanks can look if incorporated into an interior design. We figured many people make the inside of their tanks look nice, but what about the overall home? Here are a few examples:

A simple 2 gallon Ultum Nature Systems 20C cube tank using Flat Bottom Seiryu Stone. The flat bottoms make it super easy to scape with

















Next up is a 20 gallon Ultum Nature Systems 60U standard tank using a really new and awesome rock to the hobby, Senso Stone. It's best described as an evolved version of the very common Dragon Stone. The stone comes super sharp with many layers of color from charcoal grey to rust red.























Another Ultum Nature Systems 20C cube tank with Manzanita Twig Wood and Ryuoh Stone. When soaked in water and in submerged in a tank, Manzanita has a red tint to it, unlike other common aquarium driftwoods.























Yet another Ultum Nature Systems 20C cube with Flat Bottom Seiryu Stones. It's just that easy!
















Then we upsized and scaped a 4 gallon Ultum Nature Systems 25C cube with Ryuoh Stone. Even for us, it's sometimes extremely difficult to tell the difference between Seiryu and Ryuoh. Ryuoh Stone is naturally darker than Seiryu and has very apparent white marbling. 























Finally, we scaped a 5 gallon Ultum Nature Systems 5N nano tank with the new Senso Stone along with Manzanita Twig Wood in order to go for that orange to red almost Arizona-looking scape. The great thing about Senso Stone is that some of the pieces come flat-top which makes it also a great base rock in nano size tanks. 























You can view all of these Quick Scapes being put together on our Youtube channel here (we update weekly): https://www.youtube.com/c/glassaqua

Bump: Somewhere in between all that scaping we ventured up north to visit Aqua Forest Aquarium in San Francisco. This is ADA heaven and lots has changed since the last time I visited nearly 12 years ago.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Here's an update on our nightstand Ultum Nature Systems 5N nano tank
























In addition to that 5N, here's our TV stand update now at a month in. The background plants have already been trimmed a handful of times and now it's just a waiting game for the hairgrass to fill in 100%. It's currently our newest tank and fastest growing tank in the house.

















We also planted 2 micro tanks that come in at 400ml and 600ml respectively. It's currently a dry start and we're hoping to fill them soon.










As soon as Game of Thrones season 7 ended my lady decided we did not even need a TV anymore so now the TV stand has both our 5N nanos sitting on it for 'entertainment' lol










Bump: And finally.... here's an Ultum Nature Systems 20C cube that we setup this past weekend for the lady's mom. It's super low maintenance and houses Anubias Petite, Marimo, and various Buce sp. The Betta's name is Klaus lol


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Perfect scapes, nice store and lovely youtube channel


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Nigel95 said:


> Perfect scapes, nice store and lovely youtube channel


Thanks thanks!!!


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

Nice page, thread and tanks. 
My wife just started following your account on IG I believe, we are active there as well. I like the photography too. Makes me want to pull out my Nikon. Thanks for sharing!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

KrypleBerry said:


> Nice page, thread and tanks.
> My wife just started following your account on IG I believe, we are active there as well. I like the photography too. Makes me want to pull out my Nikon. Thanks for sharing!


Small world haha thanks for the follow and yes you should bring out the Nikon


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

You have good scaping skills. How many tanks you have. I saw quite a few different ones.

Bump:


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Back for another round of updates!

Here's a 2 week update on the lady's mom's Betta Ultum Nature Systems 20C Cube Tank. No algae issues whatsoever after 2+ weeks. We gave her mom an Azoo 150 Mignon which is rated for tanks 2-3 times the size of this tank so it would compensate for us not being around every weekend to do a water change. We gave it, its first water change in 2 weeks and there was literally nothing to clean. The water was crystal clear! The plants are perking up and the Betta, Klaus is brightening up in color too. There's no CO2 injection and excel/ferts are only dosed once a week along with water topoffs. 










Next up we setup this very nice Ultum Nature Systems 60U 20.5G for her mom. Given her budget and free time we decided to go for yet another low tech setup for her. 

Tip : Save the lids that come with your tank. They’re super handy and we use them all the time, especially for pre-scaping. Let’s you play around as much as you want while making sure the scape will fit without scratching your tank.










We had over 30 Anubias Petite .5” bunches wrapped on small porous Lava Rocks that grew to 2” bunches in 5 months for this tank. Even the slowest growing plants benefit from CO2. Before placing them in this scape, we split and wrapped 4 golf ball portions of Java Moss to them to avoid the mismatching of rocks for a much more natural look.










Since N’s mom had given us a budget to stick to, most of the extraneous equipment/accessories that were used to setup this tank were from our personal stash or storage. This included: 

- Purigen 100ml with bag that’s doing a great job taking care of the tannins in the water from the heavy leeching Horn Wood
- Hikari mix of fish feed
- ADA Vitamix which will be good for stress relief and conditioning of new fish that we’re going to add
- ADA Multi-Bottom which are just like root tabs that will help the Crypt Lucens grow in this sand-only layout
- ADA Gain Green which helps new plants in tanks establish quickly - ADA Moss Cotton which we used to secure the Java Moss onto the wood and will dissolve on its own in about 2 months time
- Toothbrush
- UNS tools that will be released soon










Before slowly filling with RO water. We included a total of each of the following plants:

6 handfuls of Microsorium pteropus sp. Trident
1 pot of Cryptocoryne Lucens
30 bunches of Anubias 'Petite'
6 pots of Bolbitis ‘Mini’
12 golf ball portions of Java Moss
1 bulb of Nymphaea Nouchali










Adding additional bacteria and established water after a 50% water change on the second day. The tank specs are as follows:

UNS 60U Standard Tank
Current USA Satellite LED Plus
Eheim 2215/350 Classic Filter
Stainless Steel Inflow and Outflow Pipes
Eheim Jager 150w Heater
8 Horn Wood
30+ Ryuoh Stones
Full Seachem line of liquids


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## Williak (Jun 26, 2012)

Man you guys are crazy. So many scapes, so many designs. 

I really enjoy your design and photography. The minimalism and simplicity of your photography has made me want to declutter my house and change my renovation plans lol

Will keep checking for updates, looking great!


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Everyone should scape their homes too! 

Bump: So here's the final look of the tank on the last day we saw it










Tank Specifications:
TANK: Ultum Nature Systems 60U 20.5 Gallons
LIGHTING: Current USA Satellite LED Plus
FILTRATION: Eheim 2215 / 250 Classic with Stainless Steel Pipes and Seachem Purigen media
CO2: Seachem Flourish Excel
PLANTS: 6 handfuls of Microsorium pteropus sp. Trident, 1 pot of Cryptocoryne Lucens, 30 bunches of Anubias 'Petite', 6 pots of Bolbitis ‘Mini’
12 golf ball portions of Java Moss
1 bulb of Nymphaea Nouchali
SUBSTRATE: Natural Sand
FERTILIZATION: Seachem Flourish
HARDSCAPE: Ryuoh Stone and Horn Wood
LIVESTOCK: 21 Boehlkea fredcochui, 3 Otocinclus affinis, 6 Corydoras pygmaeus, 1 Crossocheilus siamensis

Here's a video of the tank during feeding time after they were added: https://youtu.be/xh2YpV7bvA0

Now that we're back home, here's how we tried to make cinder blocks look pretty lol with a Quick Scape


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

I’m awaiting the contest results [emoji106], that rock is simply beautiful


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Updates, updates, updates! Here's our newest TV stand Ultum Nature Systems 5N (4.6 gallon) nano tank at 2 months. It's been a battle to keep it balanced correctly since the Twinstar 360E LED we're using is A LOT of light for such a small tank. However, once it was balanced, there's been great growth. Right now we're concentrated on getting the background stems to get bushier by trimming at least twice a week and waiting for the hairgrass to fill 100%. Also, we've been working on dosing more Iron for deeper reds. Really surprised at how colorful this tank has turned out thus far. 










































Next we used classic Dragon Ohko Stones for a concave Quick Scape.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Back again with new updates!

It's been a while since we posted any updates on our longest running tank at almost 11 months. It seems now is the time for a rescape or at least a replant. We don't trim this tank anymore and are only performing water changes and fertilizer dosing. 


























We took a break from tanks and created another Quick Scape with Manzanita Twig Wood and the European exclusive, Frodo Stone


















Shortly afterwards, we visited a long time friend and helped her setup a new Betta Fish tank. The tank is an Ultum Nature Systems 2C cube that holds a little over 2 gallons. The only "plant" we used was a tennis ball sized Marimo Moss Ball that we split and attached to the Seiryu Stones with super glue. She has a hard time keeping any sort of plant alive so we made it as simple and low maintenance for her as possible.


















Her Betta, Reddington seems to love his new Beachside home 


















Next up we visited and did some maintenance on another Ultum Nature Systems 2C cube. This is an update on Klaus' tank that we setup nearly a month ago. All the plants are perking up nicely, even the slow-growing Buce! Even the Betta is getting bigger and more colorful by the day.


























Here's our newest Ultum Nature Systems 5N nano tank, approaching 3 months. All the plants are doing well and responding to consistent trimmings. We're going for that bushy looking as opposed to the long stringy stem plant look.


























































And finally, here's our 5 month long dry start method ADA 45-F tank. Looking back, we should ahve filled it at month 3 or 4 but due to our hectic scheduling it was left neglected and we decided to fill it anyway to see how it would grow out if it even does. We probably misted it 10 times during the 5 month period and forgot to even lift the wrap for CO2 exchange on occasion. Also the summer heat did kill so of the utricularia graminifolia off but it recovered on its own pretty nicely. All the equipment that is being used on this tank is just used equipment we had laying around so ignore the horrible frankenfilter setup. We just set this up temporarily since we didn't know if the UG would survive during this transitional phase since it's such a tricky plant. This was our 4th and most "successful" time with this plant. Fingers crossed for this one!


























Bump: Back again with new updates!

It's been a while since we posted any updates on our longest running tank at almost 11 months. It seems now is the time for a rescape or at least a replant. We don't trim this tank anymore and are only performing water changes and fertilizer dosing. 


























We took a break from tanks and created another Quick Scape with Manzanita Twig Wood and the European exclusive, Frodo Stone


















Shortly afterwards, we visited a long time friend and helped her setup a new Betta Fish tank. The tank is an Ultum Nature Systems 2C cube that holds a little over 2 gallons. The only "plant" we used was a tennis ball sized Marimo Moss Ball that we split and attached to the Seiryu Stones with super glue. She has a hard time keeping any sort of plant alive so we made it as simple and low maintenance for her as possible.


















Her Betta, Reddington seems to love his new Beachside home 


















Next up we visited and did some maintenance on another Ultum Nature Systems 2C cube. This is an update on Klaus' tank that we setup nearly a month ago. All the plants are perking up nicely, even the slow-growing Buce! Even the Betta is getting bigger and more colorful by the day.


























Here's our newest Ultum Nature Systems 5N nano tank, approaching 3 months. All the plants are doing well and responding to consistent trimmings. We're going for that bushy looking as opposed to the long stringy stem plant look.


























































And finally, here's our 5 month long dry start method ADA 45-F tank. Looking back, we should ahve filled it at month 3 or 4 but due to our hectic scheduling it was left neglected and we decided to fill it anyway to see how it would grow out if it even does. We probably misted it 10 times during the 5 month period and forgot to even lift the wrap for CO2 exchange on occasion. Also the summer heat did kill so of the utricularia graminifolia off but it recovered on its own pretty nicely. All the equipment that is being used on this tank is just used equipment we had laying around so ignore the horrible frankenfilter setup. We just set this up temporarily since we didn't know if the UG would survive during this transitional phase since it's such a tricky plant. This was our 4th and most "successful" time with this plant. Fingers crossed for this one!


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Dang, 4 months since an update. Business treating you well I treat it?


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## underH20garden (Dec 19, 2017)

wow I just read from page 1...
was gonna do a little update on my soon to be project but got side tracked here...now I dont even want to update my thread...haha 

love your style and tanks...

but the REAL question is hows the puppy doing??


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## swarley (Apr 12, 2018)

Wow. These scapes are gorgeous. I'm setting up a small 20C or 25C cube for a family friend's daughter and this just motivated and inspired me so much. Thanks for your beautiful work and photography!


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## swarley (Apr 12, 2018)

....wait are you the people behind Glass Aqua? Or am I seeing things.


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## walluby (Dec 3, 2007)

*Labor of Love*

Love all the work done here. Definitely have an artistic
mastery of composition. Professional AGA winning scapes.
I guess what you learned 10 years ago has been re-ignited
in your current endeavor. Do you set up the small nano tanks
and then sell them or is your house one big aquarium? 
I live in socal also. You should open up a small shop like
the one up in San Francisco and show off your tanks.

Photography and shoot set up is very nice.

Jeff


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## Schoolofdisabledguppies (Jun 9, 2018)

I live close to you lol


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

swarley said:


> ....wait are you the people behind Glass Aqua? Or am I seeing things.




To answer it for you, yes. These guys are the awesome creative minds behind glass aqua. They are so busy having a good business they can’t update their thread ):


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## swarley (Apr 12, 2018)

Lol. Yea. I realized this a while back. =P They're doing good work. Just brought in the ONF nano light.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

hahah hey everyone! Still around, but due to conflict of interest and not wanting to violate the rules of this forum, I decided it was best not to post since I can easily be misconstrued for blatant advertisement, but if ya'll wanted to find us, you already know where it seems


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## swarley (Apr 12, 2018)

turtlehead said:


> hahah hey everyone! Still around, but due to conflict of interest and not wanting to violate the rules of this forum, I decided it was best not to post since I can easily be misconstrued for blatant advertisement, but if ya'll wanted to find us, you already know where it seems


and yall have a blog! =P so people should just follow your IG and blog anyways =D


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