ADA Cube Garden 90P Build

[adavin]

Well the items arrived Wednesday on a pallet and I couldn't wait for the project to begin. Having recently moved from Marine I had a little bit of a learning curve, but had some ideas on what I wanted to achieve.

This was to create a minimalist affect less is more, clean cut look. I'm still on a learning curve with this type of setup and no doubt will make some mistakes but keeping things minimal will also help to keep mistakes to a minimum a well (theory at least)

Setup consists of:

ADA Cuba Garden 90P tank
ADA Garden Stand Steel Frame
ADA 600 Filter including Glasswork
Twinstar 900e (soon to be swapped out)
ISTA Co2 bottle 3 Ltr
Co2 Art Regulator

Twinstar Nano +

ADA Power Sand M x 1
ADA Soil Normal x 1
ADA Soil Powder x 2

Seiryo Stone 30 Kg



The stand.

Easy to assemble and really sturdy sort. Like the ease access and adjustment if required. This does add the issue of keeping things neat but have some ideas on this (hopefully)




ADA Cube Garden 90p
Well needed help from the misses on this one. Couldn't lift by myself, didn't even try. Checked for any marks or scratches and glad to say all good. This was placed with an ADA matt between the stand and the tank. These come a little larger than required so needed to trim to size.



Leveling Out:

Having adjustable legs at the bottom assists in getting the levels correct on the setup.



Filter and Bottle check:

Just placing the CO2 and Filter to see how it would all work and none of the grandchildren can knock anything over.



SCAPE!
OMG! It must have taken me 2 hours at least to get the pieces looking how I wanted from every angle.. The tank is in the top right of the room and we sit mainly in the back left so was trying to get this to be the best view.




Substrate:

Filling the tank with ADA Power Sand M x 1 and ADA Soil Normal x 1. Keeping the Powder sand away from the edges.




Rock Placement:

Copying the design over to the tank and backfilling with the fine soil.



Our View



Part Filled for Planting:

Filled the tank to cover the soil ready for planting..




Planted:
Well it's planted and may need some more but will see what comes out over the weeks.











DAY 6

 

[Wolf6]

Nice setup and nice rockwork! What are you replacing the light with?

 

[adavin]

Nice setup and nice rockwork! What are you replacing the light with?

Hi thanks for comment. I'm swapping this over for a One Flat One 90cm which has more control etc.

 

[FJK_12]

Nice garden stand, I've got the 60cm version which I found secondhand. Very jealous you've got the superjet filter to complement it, doesn't look nearly as good with a plastic filter underneath like I had.

 

[adavin]

Nice garden stand, I've got the 60cm version which I found secondhand. Very jealous you've got the superjet filter to complement it, doesn't look nearly as good with a plastic filter underneath like I had.

They are good stands but heard today ADA are discontinuing these... The filter is very quite but a bit of a nightmare to bleed.

 

[alto]

Stunning project - no one looks as good as ADA (complain about the price (and distribution system ) but cannot complain about the finish quality!)

Shame that ADA is discontinuing products recently (would be interesting to hear the rationale behind this)


Which ONF are you going with?

Scape and planting comments 😉
- I’d suggest draining the water, it’s actually much easier to plant with damp soil rather than “swimming” soil (which moves everytime you insert pinsettes and takes a bit more of a learning curve to become good at) - to drain more completely, just create a small (ditch) at a front corner and syphon away water, this will then often “fill” again as excess water drains from upper soil layers

- possibly too late and would need to be done with care as wet ADA soil is quite crushable, I’d sink the large RH stone slightly so that there is a more defined triangular line looking at the stone heights (from right to left)

- I’d also try lowering the substrate level at the front of the tank as you will likely get some movement in this direction anyway as the tank establishes - unless you plant as densely as Balazs from Green Aqua

I suspect you will want to add in a skimmer (ADA or the knockoff Filipe Oliveira has on his tanks) to increase water movement and CO2 distribution
I would not add any inline heaters, CO2 reactors on this filter

 

[adavin]

Stunning project - no one looks as good as ADA (complain about the price (and distribution system ) but cannot complain about the finish quality!)

Shame that ADA is discontinuing products recently (would be interesting to hear the rationale behind this)


Which ONF are you going with?

Scape and planting comments 😉
- I’d suggest draining the water, it’s actually much easier to plant with damp soil rather than “swimming” soil (which moves everytime you insert pinsettes and takes a bit more of a learning curve to become good at) - to drain more completely, just create a small (ditch) at a front corner and syphon away water, this will then often “fill” again as excess water drains from upper soil layers

- possibly too late and would need to be done with care as wet ADA soil is quite crushable, I’d sink the large RH stone slightly so that there is a more defined triangular line looking at the stone heights (from right to left)

- I’d also try lowering the substrate level at the front of the tank as you will likely get some movement in this direction anyway as the tank establishes - unless you plant as densely as Balazs from Green Aqua

I suspect you will want to add in a skimmer (ADA or the knockoff Filipe Oliveira has on his tanks) to increase water movement and CO2 distribution
I would not add any inline heaters, CO2 reactors on this filter

Thank you for you comments really appreciate and totally make sense, but I may have read them a little too late.. See new images added..

I was going to add an inline heater but its too bulky. Thinking of getting the flat Aguael type but didn't know if this would look to ugly in the tank?

 

[alto]

Great choice with the grass 🙂

Eleocharis acicularis 'mini'?

I’d suggest adding some fast growing auxiliary/supporting plant initially
https://tropica.com/en/guide/get-the-right-start/supporting-plants/

 

[alto]

Check CO2 bubble distribution/movement - you may find placing this below the lily outflow is more efficient

 

[adavin]

Day 6

 

[adavin]

Day 14 also. Adadded new One Light

 

[Nuno Gomes]

I like how those stands look, I'm actually getting a very similar one custom made by ILA Europa because my new tank is 90x60x45, so the ADA stand is too small. I just think your setup would look more minimalistic without that twinstar reactor and with a different light, the normal ONF flat one is very bulky on the sides where it sits on the tank, the pendant version is much sleeker.

Also what do you think of that filter? It's beautiful but it feels weird to me using something that weak for a 90P but that's what ADA recommends so it should be adequate.

 

[adavin]

I like how those stands look, I'm actually getting a very similar one custom made by ILA Europa because my new tank is 90x60x45, so the ADA stand is too small. I just think your setup would look more minimalistic without that twinstar reactor and with a different light, the normal ONF flat one is very bulky on the sides where it sits on the tank, the pendant version is much sleeker.

Also what do you think of that filter? It's beautiful but it feels weird to me using something that weak for a 90P but that's what ADA recommends so it should be adequate.

The twinstar Reactor will eventually be blocked by growth at some point once the tank matures... Agree the ONF One is wide but the tank is designed for where we sit therefore not really obstructing the view.
The ADA filter seems to be more than adiquate for the 90p and very quite so please with this also fully recommended.

I love the chemistry on these tanks as well so showing these adds additional interest and a conversational piece

 

[adavin]

Day 21

 

[Ady34]

Lovely set up.
It is a shame Ada have discontinued the stand, but at least you have got one to display the beautiful equipment below.
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[adavin]

DAY 29

Took me a while to get the ruby valve but at last setup. Need to make some tweeks with location.

Now getting ready for a water change filter media swap out for ADA Rio and mow the lawn 😁

 

[Andrew T]

Nice setup! Reckon an ADA light screen is in order to make this setup POP.🙂

 

[Deano3]

Tank looks great

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

 

[adavin]

Nice setup! Reckon an ADA light screen is in order to make this setup POP.🙂

Had thought about that one Andrew. But wasnt sure as not seen in real life.

 

[adavin]

Tank looks great

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

Thanks Deano