ADA 60p - A new beginning!

[Jens B]

Hi all... It's been about two years since I made my first post here. Shortly after that I had to take a break from aquascaping, since I moved a few times. I did always have an aquarium up and running, but that was mainly just to keep my livestock alive. Recently I moved to some place more permanent, so I can finally pick up my old hobby again!

The aquarium that I'm using is an ADA 60p with an Aquasky Moon light. I've had this stored away for almost 2 years, so I'm really excited I can finally use it! My filtration of choice is the Biomaster Thermo 350 from Oase. I chose this because of the built in heater. For Co2 I'm using a JBL inline diffuser and a 2kg Co2 bottle. I want to test what the result is of having this diffuser on the inlet instead of the outlet.

The cabinet is a DIY ada style one, from plans that I found here on the forum. My awesome uncle was kind enough to assemble it for me!

On to scaping!

I started by arranging two pieces of driftwood I had lying around. I placed them so that the part where they come together is at about 1/3 of the tank width. I also created a dip in the substrate at the other end that mimics the shape of the big piece of driftwood. I'm trying to get a sort of 'valley' effect.

By the way: I think the light is brighter than all the other lights in the room combined. That might be because we didn't install proper lights yet though... (Priorities, right?)

At first I just wanted to use the driftwood, but I thought it looked a bit bare, so I added some pieces of lava rock. I filled the aquarium to let the wood soak for a week before the plants arrived.

I went with HC Cuba and Eleocharis Mini as carpeting plants. In the darker areas near the wood I used Cryptocoryne parva.

For the the background I went with a mix of plants with a brown / reddish hue: Behind the driftwood I planted a mix of Rotala H'Ra, Hygrophila Araguaia and Ludwigia arcuata. In the right corner I just used some Hygrophila Araguaia.

To the driftwood and stone in the middle I attached Hygrophila pinnatifida. I also planted some Hydrocotyle tripartita here, which I hope will grow downwards.

A few hours after planting:

So that's it for now, but I'm still doubting about a few things:
- Put some moss on the wood?
- Bucephalandra instead of the Cryptocoryne?
- Which fish to put in?

Thanks for reading and all feedback is welcome!

Equipment
Tank: ADA 60p
Lighting: ADA Aquasky Moon 601 with mirror
Filtration: Oase BioMaster Thermo 350 with built-in heater
Glassware: gUSH oPipe & gPipe 13mm (with reducers)
Co2: JBL inline diffusor on inlet (might chance this if it makes too much noise)
Cabinet: diy ADA style, with plans from this forum (special thanks to my uncle)

Substrate
ADA Amazonia
ADA Power Sand Special S

Hardscape
2 pieces of wood (unsure of the type)
Lava rocks

Flora
Hemianthus callitrichoides "Cuba"
Eleocharis sp. 'Mini'
Cryptocoryne parva
Hydrocotyle cf. tripartita
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Ludwigia arcuata
Hygrophila lancea "Araguaia"
Rotala sp. "Gia Lai" / "H'Ra"

Fauna
Still deciding ~

 

[Ryan Thang To]

Hi
Nice one buddy. I got the same tank and light as your.
Looking good so far. If you change your mind about the diffuser tey the neo brand work really well and a lot of poeple are using it now.

Keep up the good work

Cheers
Ryan

 

[Jens B]

About time for an update!

This is what it looked like about a week after planting:

About a month after planting, after trimming the stem plants in the back. (I also replaced the inline diffusor with a neo diffuser and I'm really happy with the results. (Thanks for the suggestion Ryan!) I had some brown algae near the HC Cuba and the dwarf hair grass (I think I cut the plants badly before planting, which is why some parts died...). I also added some Espei Rasbora, Celestial Pearl Danios, Otos, Cherry Shrimps and 2 Honey Gouramis:

The Otos really liked munching on the algae and in two weeks time it was all gone! The stem plants were also growing like crazy!

Right after trimming almost all the plants and cleaning the glassware:

This is from last week:

And finally today:

As you can see I'm still having some issues with algae. This started after forgetting to give fertilisers for a few days, right after a water change (I was out of the country). I'm trying to combat it by trimming the bad leaves and spot dosing liquid carbon.

I think I will add some more stem plants in the empty space at the right side, I don't like the way it changes from fully planted to almost no plants so abruptly.

As always: feedback is more than welcome!

PS: I hope I'll be able to post more regularly in the future...