# ADA60P - Edge of the forest



## lazybones51 (30 Mar 2020)

I have been deliberating for a while about doing a journal for this. It's my first "proper" scape which I've learnt a lot from already. Some of the plants and livestock have changed from the early photos.

*Tank*: ADA 60P on a custom built cabinet

*Lighting*: Twinstar 600S

*Filtration*: Eheim Classic 600 (2217), glass skimmer inflow and glass Lily pipe outflow

*Heating*: Hydor ETH External heater 200w

*Substrate:* Tropica Soil Powder

*Fertilisation*: Estimative Index (Easy-Life Profito for Micros) + EasyCarbo

*CO2 Injection: *CO2Art PRO-SE Dual Stage regulator, Inline Diffuser + Fire Extinguisher

*Plant List (updated 30/03/2020):*

Eleocharis acicularis Mini
Staurogyne Repens
Fissidens fontanus
Bucephalandra wavy green

Bucephalandra Lamandau mini red 

Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala H'ra
Bolbitis heudelotii

Hygrophila pinnatifida
Blyxa Japonica (Limited Edition tissue culture)
Anibias Barteri Nana
*Livestock (updated 30/03/2020):*

Ember Tetras
Guppies (my children's choice)
Otocinclus
Amano Shrimp
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*Day 1 (29/11/2019) - Initial Setup
*
I took a day off work to make the drive to Aquarium Gardens. At this point I had finished building the stand, had accumulated most of the equipment and was ready to purchase the tank, hardscape and plants. I take my hat off to the guys at Aquarium Gardens, they took the time to understand the look I was going for, and helped me with the hardscape and plant selection. My aim was a triangular composition, a jungle of stems behind the wood opening up on to a carpet of hairgrass.







*Soil and hardscape in.. although I wish at this point I had used some form of adhesive, this mistake came back to haunt me...


 *

*Planting finished and the tank filled for the first time,


 

Full shot from that evening.


 *


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## Ryan Thang To (31 Mar 2020)

hi
welcome come to the 60p club. nice strong scape to start with. cabinet top work. love the grey colour. keep it up

cheers
ryan


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## Andrew T (31 Mar 2020)

Nice start!
Make sure you dim that 600S or raise it up; at least until plants really fill in...
Too much light for the 60P in my opinion that only leads to algae down the road at the first co2 instability . I have mine raised about 7 inches at the moment and it’s perfect. Plants grow well and pearling is on par.
There’s also plenty good cheap dimmers out there for it.
Good luck!


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## lazybones51 (31 Mar 2020)

Ryan Thang To said:


> hi
> welcome come to the 60p club. nice strong scape to start with. cabinet top work. love the grey colour. keep it up
> 
> cheers
> ryan


Thank you. I did take lots of photos from the build of the cabinet, I'll try and create a separate build thread. The paint was coloured matched to our existing furniture, B&Q did a really good job matching it.


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## lazybones51 (31 Mar 2020)

Andrew T said:


> Nice start!
> Make sure you dim that 600S or raise it up; at least until plants really fill in...
> Too much light for the 60P in my opinion that only leads to algae down the road at the first co2 instability . I have mine raised about 7 inches at the moment and it’s perfect. Plants grow well and pearling is on par.
> There’s also plenty good cheap dimmers out there for it.
> Good luck!


I started running the 600S at 50%, then every couple of weeks I increased the intensity by 10%. I was wary that a 600S might be too much for a 60P, but being able to dim from the beginning was a big help/


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## lazybones51 (31 Mar 2020)

*1 Week after planting - 05/12/2019
*
The tank had been setup and flooded for almost a week now. By this point I had done a couple of water changes and was dosing full EI and EasyCarbo to help battle any potential algae. The Twinstar 600S was running at 50% which the plants seemed happy with, as the stems had already started to show signs of growth. 
*
*


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## Jayefc1 (31 Mar 2020)

A thread on the cabinet build would be good I'd love to try it


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## Deano3 (31 Mar 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> A thread on the cabinet build would be good I'd love to try it


I did one years ago in the diy/hardware section thats had hundreds of comments and everyone else showing theres, also just did my 45p one 

Have a look for some ideas jay.
Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


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## Jayefc1 (31 Mar 2020)

@Deano3   Just nice to.see if it's done differently by others


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## lazybones51 (1 Apr 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> @Deano3   Just nice to.see if it's done differently by others


I have created a thread on how I built the stand in the DIY area now.


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## lazybones51 (1 Apr 2020)

Deano3 said:


> I did one years ago in the diy/hardware section thats had hundreds of comments and everyone else showing theres, also just did my 45p one
> 
> Have a look for some ideas jay.
> Dean
> ...


Your thread inspired me to attempt building one myself


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## Deano3 (1 Apr 2020)

lazybones51 said:


> Your thread inspired me to attempt to have a good at building one


Good to hear least i helped someone  year my fordt 60p thread took off  however i am now want a 60p and cant find the dimensions i used so will have to dig through thread see if i can find them.

Glad you did your own as works out much cheaper and looks great mate

Keep us updated
Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


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## lazybones51 (13 Apr 2020)

*4 Weeks - 27/12/2019
*
By now the stems had taken root and were growing well, the H'ra was starting to colour up nicely. I also added an Anubis which I wasn't 100% sure about...
Unfortunately I was now starting to get some green spot algae on the Bucephalandra and BGA was growing well in the carpet. The photo was taken after a clean up.


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## lazybones51 (13 Apr 2020)

*14/01/2020
*
Over the last couple of weeks I was loosing the battle with BGA in the carpet. A thorough vacuuming of the Eleocharis saw most of it sucked out the substrate. I also managed to kill most of the Bucephalandra with H202. I also disturbed the hardscape, which lead to me draining the tank and having a filter/super gluing session. It's not quite in the same position as before, but close enough.

Safe to say it was a trying period of time! I still wasn't happy with the Anubis haha.


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## lazybones51 (13 Apr 2020)

*11/02/2020
*
Since the last update I added a couple of 1-2 Grow pots of Eleocharis mini which seemed to be taking root nicely. I also added a Bucephalandra wavy green in the front left, Blyxa japonica at either side and moved the Anubis again... Some floating plants (Frogbit) were added to help stabilise the tank. It's perked up a lot over the last month.

The one remaining Tiger Barb was returned to the LFS, replacing it with a shoal of 6 Ember Tetra and a couple of Guppies that my children wanted.


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## lazybones51 (13 Apr 2020)

*30/03/2020
*
It had been over a month since my last update. By now the system seemed stable, the plants were all growing well with no real persistent algae. With the BGA I did resort to chemicals in the end as it wouldn't go away. I used _UltraLife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover _which worked perfectly and to this day the BGA hasn't returned. It won't be long before it's in need of a major trim, I'm just really not looking forward to cleaning up all of the Eleocharis trimminigs.



 

This is more of the angle I see the tank from when seated on the sofa.


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## lazybones51 (13 Apr 2020)

*13/04/2020
*
The big trim happened last night. Rather stupidly I didn't get a before photo showing how overgrown everything was! The Rotala stems were all growing right across the surface and the two "islands" of Hygrophila pinnatifida had combined, plunging everything beneath in to darkness. The hairgrass carpet was the longest I'd ever seen it as well. I now seem to have some filamentous algae to deal with, it had been growing among the dense Hygrophila pinnatifida and Fissidens unnoticed. The Fissidens will get a trim next time.


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## Alex Papp (13 Apr 2020)

Love the guppies! I think lots of us wouldn't get them because they're not an "aquascaping" fish but I think Amano himself used them in a 60-P? 
I had the same problem of hair algae at the top of my sumatra wood, where I had lots of Bucephalandra sp. deep purple and Taiwan moss. Maybe high light and flow are to blame? Mine went with the addition of the very hungry Hygroyza aristata floating grass which gives some shade as well.
Hope this helps and I'm sure many others will have their advice to give on the subject they might know more than me.

thanks Alex


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## lazybones51 (14 Apr 2020)

Alex Papp said:


> Love the guppies! I think lots of us wouldn't get them because they're not an "aquascaping" fish but I think Amano himself used them in a 60-P?
> I had the same problem of hair algae at the top of my sumatra wood, where I had lots of Bucephalandra sp. deep purple and Taiwan moss. Maybe high light and flow are to blame? Mine went with the addition of the very hungry Hygroyza aristata floating grass which gives some shade as well.
> Hope this helps and I'm sure many others will have their advice to give on the subject they might know more than me.
> 
> thanks Alex


I agree the Guppies are a nice fish. I managed to convince my daughter to get a male like her brother had chosen, as I didn't really want a tank load of fry.

I think you're right about the filamentous algae, it's being blasted with light which I expect is the cause.


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## Jayefc1 (14 Apr 2020)

Looks good moss really needs a good trim now though  get it nice and tight to those branches will tidy it up a treat 

Good job


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## lazybones51 (14 Apr 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> Looks good moss really needs a good trim now though  get it nice and tight to those branches will tidy it up a treat
> 
> Good job


Yes the moss has got very long and is detaching from the wood slightly. A trim and a couple of drop of super glue should sort it.


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## Jayefc1 (14 Apr 2020)

I prefer to.tie moss takes more effort but results always seem better


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## lazybones51 (14 Apr 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> I prefer to.tie moss takes more effort but results always seem better


I haven't tried this method. Do you use sewing thread?


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## lazybones51 (27 Sep 2021)

Nearly a year and a half has past since the last update! The aquarium has moved house during this period and unfortunately some of the wood was disturbed, changing the appearance of the scape some what. It's also now viewed from a different perspective, so I set about removing the Rotala as the lower branches never looked particularly attractive in view. In it's place I've added more Blyxa Japonica (I had an abundance, as it grows/multiplies so quickly!)

I have contemplated tearing it down and starting afresh, however it's nice and mature with a healthy community of inhabitants, so it seems a shame to disrupt that. Livestock wise it now houses two pairs of Scarlett Badis, which will hopefully breed. Along with the existing eight or nine Ember Tetras, three Ottos, about eight Amano Shrimp and what seems like hundreds of cherry and wild type shrimp.


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