# My first scape - ADA 60P - Jurassic Gorge



## Daniel (12 Feb 2014)

Hi everyone,

This is my first scape since getting in to planted tanks and it has been a very steep learning curve to say the least and I've only just begun!! I must admit I have been pretty useless at collating pics of the build of the cabinet, hardscape, etc, but from now on in I promise I will keep you all more up to date.

The tank is now a week in, and I have had a lot of problems with floaters, perhaps where I hadn't planted before I cut the roots too short! However, most plants seem to of taken hold now. A couple of landslides despite substrate supports have made a bit of a mess of the valley area but I will get round to tidying it up. I also didn't anticipate just how many plants I would need, hence a couple of areas of bare substrate. More plants to follow this weekend...

Tank: ADA 60P (60x30x36)
Cabinet: Diy ADA style in white with DIY lighting fixture
Hardscape: Mini Landscape Rock
Co2: TMC canister, inline UP atomiser
Lighting: GroBeam 1500 tile x1 suspended 30cm from water surface
Filtration: JBL CristalProfi e700, Hong Kong lily pipe and inlet (replacing with nano Gush pipes shortly)
Heating: Hydor 200W External heater
Substrate: ADA Amazonia & ADA Amazonia Powder
Ferts: Tropica Plant Growth Premium and Specialised
Critters: Red Cherry Shrimp, 6x Amanos

Plants:
Hemianthus Callitrichoides 'Cuba'
Pogostemon Helferi
Riccia Fluitans
Eleocharis sp Mini
Hemianthus Micranthemoides
Riccardia Chamedryfolia
Fissidens Fontanus
Fissidens sp Dwarf
Vesicularia montagnei ‘Christmas’

All seems to be going well now, additional plants will be going this weekend to fill the gaps. Shrimp went in after 4 days and all seem settled. Forgive my photography, the planted shot was taken on my iPhone. I will get round to 'attempting' some better shots...










Welcome aboard


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## EdwinK (12 Feb 2014)

Very good layout and plant selection. Keep up the good work. Subscribed.


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## darren636 (12 Feb 2014)

That rockwork is exquisite


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## Wallace (12 Feb 2014)

Daniel said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> This is my first scape since getting in to planted tanks



and I bet you are good at everything aren't you? 




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## LondonDragon (12 Feb 2014)

Nice rocks  will look great when filled in! shame the 60P is a tall tank, would suite better something shallow!


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## aliclarke86 (12 Feb 2014)

Fantastic layout mate! Can see you have done your homework!! Following this one for sure!!

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## Rob P (12 Feb 2014)

That is amazing rock work! Bravo!!


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## Arne (12 Feb 2014)

Looks great! I'm waiting on all the supplies to get here but then I'll making a wood/nature scape in a tank like this one.
Also curious do you you remember what seller these hong kong lily pipes came from, and why are you replacing them?


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## Stu Worrall (12 Feb 2014)

reall nice work there   looking forward to seeing it fully grown in.


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## tim (12 Feb 2014)

Very nice rock work mate, very nice indeed. Maybe lacking a little height on the right hand side but to be quite truthful I'd be well happy to have that sat in my place, top quality work mate


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## Deano3 (12 Feb 2014)

excellent rockwork and nice planting I am currently building cabinet for my 60p any  pics of stand and tank from distance and how lighting rigged up etc

Dean


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## Alastair (13 Feb 2014)

I agree too very nice hardscape layout. Looks very similar to stu worrals stunner


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## Daniel (13 Feb 2014)

Thanks guys for all your kind words.



Wallace said:


> and I bet you are good at everything aren't you?


Ha ha I wish that was the case!!!



Arne said:


> Looks great! I'm waiting on all the supplies to get here but then I'll making a wood/nature scape in a tank like this one. Also curious do you you remember what seller these hong kong lily pipes came from, and why are you replacing them?


Nice, can't wait to see it. There is nothing wrong with the pipes, it's just my personal preference that I'd like smaller pipes. They just came from fleabay, there's plenty of sellers on there offering them from Hong Kong/Taiwan .




Deano3 said:


> excellent rockwork and nice planting I am currently building cabinet for my 60p any pics of stand and tank from distance and how lighting rigged up etc


I will try and get some pics up for you to see in the next day or so. The lighting fixture I used wardrobe hanging rail from Wickes, like a few other members have done. The cabinet didn't quite go to plan, as it was the first one I've built. But overall I'm happy with it for the time being. Good luck with your build.


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## Daniel (13 Feb 2014)

OK so I had a bit of a disaster last night. When I got home I realised my CO2 solenoid timer has been running 12 hours out, overnight instead of in the day. The last 5 days instead of coming on around the same time as the lights it's been coming on 12 hours later. Complete school boy error that I hadn't set the 24 hour clock correctly. All is fixed now, however I did notice that I have a couple of small areas that appear to be melting! Now that my CO2 should be running at the right times and I've upped dosing to 2 BPS and lighting to 7 hours rather than 6, 50% daily water changes should I hopefully be able to recover the HC cuba?





Also I noticed last night on some of the hardscape there is tiny little cylindrical shaped dark brown bits. It's hard to see in the below pic but it looks like the substrate has been shaped by the shrimp, or could it be something else? It may be in more places but it's too hard to tell apart from where it stands out against the grey rock. Any ideas, this is completely new to me


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## pariahrob (13 Feb 2014)

Agree with what's been said. The hard scape is lovely. Once your plants grow in that will look so good. Nice to see another new tank with pogo too. I love that plant.


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## Daniel (13 Feb 2014)

pariahrob said:


> Nice to see another new tank with pogo too. I love that plant.


 
Me too! I was worried it might be too big for this style of tank but I think if it is placed in the right position it can work very well.


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## Arne (13 Feb 2014)

Daniel said:


> Also I noticed last night on some of the hardscape there is tiny little cylindrical shaped dark brown bits. It's hard to see in the below pic but it looks like the substrate has been shaped by the shrimp, or could it be something else? It may be in more places but it's too hard to tell apart from where it stands out against the grey rock. Any ideas, this is completely new to me


 
that would be shrimp poo mate, don't panic 

I was just asking about the seller of the hong kong pipes cause there seem to be a few different versions around. They are about a 5th-8th of anything I can get local, but I don't want to get something that down't even look like the photo's they used...


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## Daniel (13 Feb 2014)

Haha I thought it might be something like that! So many things to learn!!!

Yeah agreed, I've seen some pretty bad cheap lily pipe sets with poor glass quality and sharp edges on the inlets etc. Mine are by no means ADA standard but still pretty good for the price. If you're looking for some mine will be going on sale in the next month or so


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## Arne (13 Feb 2014)

shame shipping from Hong Kong will be cheaper then from where you are


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## Lindy (13 Feb 2014)

What size of rail did you get from wickes? I see they do 19 and 25mm but unsure which is best...

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## Daniel (13 Feb 2014)

I went for the 19mm tubing because I figured it would keep in proportion with the tank size. If I had a larger tank I'd be inclined to use the 25mm.

Just took a couple of shots with the iPad, quality isn't great but you'll get the idea of what I've done. With the suspension kit I used a tap and dye set to bore out holes in the tubing that the ceiling bracket could thread in to. That way I have no messy loops hanging around the bar to hold up the hanging cables. I still need to figure out what to do with the power cable as it is just held in place with cable ties at the moment. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's cables on show! I WILL figure out a way of hiding it  I may also drop the height of the rail too, for now I just left them at the stock length they came from the shop. I think it's a little too high though IMO.










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## Arne (14 Feb 2014)

Is it an option to drill an extra hole in the rail and run the power cable inside it?
Take into consideration structural integrity and sharp edges. You don't want your power cable to be cut by the rail en turn the whole thing into an electric fence


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## darren636 (14 Feb 2014)

Impressive candle set-up


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## Daniel (14 Feb 2014)

darren636 said:


> Impressive candle set-up


Ha ha! We have more candles in our house than a bird has feathers!! 




Arne said:


> Is it an option to drill an extra hole in the rail and run the power cable inside it? Take into consideration structural integrity and sharp edges. You don't want your power cable to be cut by the rail en turn the whole thing into an electric fence


I have considered this as an option. I think you would probably be ok if you used a small rubber grommet on the hole.


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## Lindy (14 Feb 2014)

The hole would have to be quite big though as the connector will have to fit through. I may just pull the cable to the back of the hanging frame so it can't be seen.


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## darren636 (14 Feb 2014)

This rail is made up of components sold separately?


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## Lindy (14 Feb 2014)

Yes, in brushed nickel or chrome effect. 

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## Daniel (17 Feb 2014)

I went for the chrome purely because they don't seem to do the elbow joints in brushed effect. Annoying really, because I would chose brushed over chrome every day. Here's all the parts I used if it's of any help:

Chrome 19mm tube
Centre bracket x2
End bracket x2
Elbow x2


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## aliclarke86 (17 Feb 2014)

How many tubes did you use?

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## Daniel (17 Feb 2014)

I used 2 x 1.8m and 1 x 1m lengths to do the 2 sides and crossbar. I just left the sides at the length they came at but I feel it is a bit too high so I'm going to drop the height a bit later on this evening.


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## aliclarke86 (17 Feb 2014)

OK mate reason I asked is it seemed like a lot of money. Go to Toolstation if you have a chance pack of 5 1800 are £22 only thing we don't sell is the elbows but its all cheaper and same supplier (we are Travis Perkins too)  future proof then  have enough for 2  kits

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## Antoni (17 Feb 2014)

Wow, that is awesome rockwork! Congrats!


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## Daniel (17 Feb 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> OK mate reason I asked is it seemed like a lot of money. Go to Toolstation if you have a chance pack of 5 1800 are £22 only thing we don't sell is the elbows but its all cheaper and same supplier (we are Travis Perkins too)  future proof then  have enough for 2  kits



Wow that is a good deal. There is a tool station not too far from me too. I shall have to check it out.



Antoni said:


> Wow, that is awesome rockwork! Congrats!



Thanks Antoni


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## Daniel (17 Feb 2014)

So a quick update this evening...

I came home from work this evening to find my drop checked rather on the wrong side of lime green and 2 of my cherry shrimp dead  I haven't adjusted the reg and the last few days it's been showing a dark green. The one thing I have done is extend the photo period from 6 to 7 hours and the co2 to match. Could the extra hour really made that much difference?





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## Daniel (17 Feb 2014)

I also noticed the plants look a bit messy and don't appear to be taking hold in the soil and in some places the roots are out in the water. Any thoughts? As a newbie I thought I'd done my homework but it doesn't prepare you for the actual experience lol.







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## darren636 (18 Feb 2014)

Anything going wrong with plants at this stage will be co2 related.  As I have found,- knowing the path and walking the path are two different things. . Getting flow spot on is the issue.


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## Daniel (18 Feb 2014)

Yeah I did wonder if that would be the problem. I don't think the flow from my JBL CristalProfi e700 is terribly great. I should be getting around 10x circulation per hour but the flow just seems a bit weak. Would a jet pipe instead of a large lily pipe help do you think? I have an old hydor powerhead from my marine tank but that would probably be too much and blow all the plants away!!


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## tim (18 Feb 2014)

Try pressing down gently on the plants you'll push the roots down eventually, as Darren states though co2 related deficiency, the e900 would probably be more suitable with a lily pipe, the gush jet pipe from apfuk is worth looking into as an alternative with the e700.


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## Alastair (20 Feb 2014)

Daniel said:


> I also noticed the plants look a bit messy and don't appear to be taking hold in the soil and in some places the roots are out in the water. Any thoughts? As a newbie I thought I'd done my homework but it doesn't prepare you for the actual experience lol.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Love the second photo daniel. Very nice.


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## Daniel (20 Feb 2014)

Alastair said:


> Love the second photo daniel. Very nice.


Thanks Alastair. I've just given the plants their first trim and starting to get a little bit of a brown film/algae on the left glass panel and surface. I had reduced 40% water changes to every other 2 days but I might increase the frequency again. Is there anything else I can help to nip it in the bud before it gets viral on me?! I had also increased my lighting hours from 6, to 7 to 8 hours, perhaps I should pull back too?


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## aliclarke86 (20 Feb 2014)

Do you have any shrimp or anything in yet?

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## Daniel (20 Feb 2014)

I've got 15 Cherries and 5 Amanos. All seem in good shape, a couple of the Cherries are carrying eggs too


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## aliclarke86 (21 Feb 2014)

An good stuff  I would scale the light back a bit to try battle the algae then mate

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## Daniel (21 Feb 2014)

Yup. I've pulled back on the light now and I'm going to get myself a couple more Amanos tomorrow  I'll get some pics up over the weekend...


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## Deano3 (22 Feb 2014)

hi dan hows the tank going ? you got gush lily pipes yet? I am in same boat well will be as have a eheim filter with 700lph turnover and a 60p hope its enough with some media removed etc, also have the gush nano inlet but interested to see how the outlet and inlet look on ur tank, looking forward to update pics


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## Daniel (24 Feb 2014)

Hey, sorry for the lack of updates, it was a busy weekend and I do have a bit of a confession... I've put purchasing the nano pipes on hold until next week as I went a bit crazy on bits for my other passion.... Corals!!! Yes I know shoot me now, I am also a bit of a sucker for marine tanks too.

I will try and get round to taking some pics tonight. However, I am finding the filter is not producing enough flow, there is a couple of dead spots in the corners but the plants seem to be ok for the most part at the moment.


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## Deano3 (24 Feb 2014)

Want to see how they look on the tank thanks mate yeah I am a little concerned if 700lph will do it


Thanks Dean


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## Daniel (24 Feb 2014)

I think it depends on the layout of your hardscape also. I've got a deep valley and I struggle to get much flow in there. Also every day I get issues with floaters, not just one or two plants but several. Then there is always loads of small bits of the plants floating each day too. I clean the tank and within 24hours is packed again, like in the pic below. Could it be the shrimp causing it?







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## Deano3 (24 Feb 2014)

Yeah shrimp do uproot plants a lot, yeah the valley will make it hard for the flow, the only thing I wasn't sure about with the nano gush inlet that I have it will draw water from high up in tank and not from the bottom you think that matters much ?


Thanks Dean


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## TallDragon (25 Feb 2014)

Dan, why did you go with a 200W heater? Isn't it overkill for a tank this size? What temperature do you have it set to? 

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## Daniel (25 Feb 2014)

I went for 200w purely because I wanted an inline heater and they only come in 200w or 300w, I also need the 12mm fitting which left me with one option... 200w 12mm Hydor inline heater. I currently have it set to 24c and it holds the temperature very well. I don't really think its too much of an overkill, it just means that because it is 200w it can heat up to the desired temperature a lot quicker than a 50w heater can. Lots of guys on here are running them with no issues.


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## pariahrob (25 Feb 2014)

Yep, I've used the hydor inlines on a few set ups. They are great. Solid, reliable and accurate.

As for your floaters I'd not be surprised if it was the amanos doing it. I know they used to uproot newly planted plants in my 300L. That said once the roots had taken it wasn't a problem.


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## Deano3 (3 Mar 2014)

How's this one going mate ? Any update pics


Thanks Dean


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## Daniel (3 Mar 2014)

Things have been going well thanks mate, apologies for the lack of updates. However I'm afraid I have some sad/good news. No sooner have I started I am going to have to break the tank down to sell!!! I've just bought a new house and I've got to sell the tank and most of my other bits!!!


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## Deano3 (3 Mar 2014)

nnnoooooooo shame mate looked great hope you stay on here mate


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## Maxlaf (18 May 2014)

Such a sad news… I loved that tank so much


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