JB - 60P

[J-Bonham]

Hi all! My name is John and i've been lurking here for a while now, I've learnt a ton from the site and have had heaps of inspiration from others journals so its about time I shared my own Journey.

The tank is about 18 months old now and Its had various changes to both planting and hardscape layout.

This has been a learning exercise really, I had my eyes set on a 90cm setup but wanted to try the hobby out with a smaller and substantially cheaper setup to start with and learn from. At least mistakes wouldn't be so costly and I could back out if the hobby wasn't for me after a while. Safe to say I'm still very much enjoying aquascaping!

Here is my long overdue journal entry of my ADA 60P...

Tank - ADA 60P
Light - Twinstar 600S
Filter - Oase biomaster 350
Co2 - GLA Reg + 2 kg FE
Substrate - Ada base layer and Amazonia

 

[J-Bonham]

I'm a little foggy on the Initial Planting so please feel free to correct me if you spot something else

*Java fern
- Microsorum Pteropus Mini Petite
- Microsorum pteropus 'Trident'
*Various crypts
-Wendtii
- Walkeri
-Willisii
*Various Buce
- Kedagang
-Wavey green
*Variouse Anubias
-Mini / Petite
*Fissidens fontanus
*Alternanthera reineckii pink

 

[Tankless]

Looks really good 👍🏾

 

[J-Bonham]

Filling in nicely at around 8 weeks in.

 

[J-Bonham]

Scroll forward to month 3
Few new plants showing up by now

* Staurogyne reopens
*Helanthium tenellum 'Green'
*Hydrocotyle verticillata
*Nymphea lotus red
*Hygrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis 53B

 

[J-Bonham]

Month 4

All plants are doing very well, the ferns are in dire need of a hard trim and i'm about ready to try some new background plants.

Ferts at this time are Tropica Specialised at around 6ml a day
Light is 100% for 8 hours
CO2 is on 2-1/2 hours before light on and off at light off

 

[J-Bonham]

53b planted all the way along the back no for an overdose of greens in the tank.

Thoroughly enjoying aquascaping by now and the tank is a dream to look after...
Maintenance is 1 or 2 weekly water changes @ roughly 1/3 as that's the size of my bucket i use. Algae at this point is pretty much non existent, little bit of GSA on the glass and clean that off with a little melamine sponge (Magic eraser). The only PITA is the hard water lines on the tank top as the water in Norfolk is pretty hard, I use some white vinegar on that same sponge to clear that up without too much trouble.

 

[Wolf6]

Looks great! Somehow missed this up till now! The bare wood makes me think of a dead facehugger or insect on its back. Now that its grown in I dont see that anymore 😆

 

[J-Bonham]

Looks great! Somehow missed this up till now! The bare wood makes me think of a dead facehugger or insect on its back. Now that its grown in I dont see that anymore 😆

haha yeah you're right! Can't un see that now. The tank is so different now it feels an age since it was in the guise. Slowly working through pictures to try document this one.

 

[J-Bonham]

Updates, Roughly Nov 2020 I was a few weeks away from moving home so I needed a new cabinet as the current stand is a built in alcove unit.

I really enjoy carpentry and this stand was built using 18mm birch ply, rebated/ dado joints, finished with a clear poly varnish ( In hindsight I should have given it a few more layers as the front door is showing a little staining from water damage and that's pretty inevitable with a n aquarium!)




Time for some new plants! Trying out some Rotala H'ra in both rear corners. These were tropica in vitro plants.

 

[J-Bonham]

3 1/2 weeks and the Rotala H'ra has started filling in, no trim yet.



By this point I've been slowly thinning out the java fern but clearly not enough as its properly taking over.



I pulled some out in a moment of madness and ended up just ripping the lot out in the end.



This prompted me for a change and i bought a couple new plants to have a play with.
*Rotala H'ra was chopped right back and cuttings planted the full length of the background
*Micranthemum Micranthemoides was planted centre midground
*Soil added to foreground and Elatine Hydropiper planted full length (This proved to be a PITA with amano shrimp yanking it up pretty frequently)

 

[JacksonL]

Love all the different looks

 

[J-Bonham]

Moving on

• Elatine Hydropiper carpet is coming on nicely.
• Rotala H'ra is looking really healthy and filling out well, (at this point i was trying to decide what shape to give it with its first proper trim)
• I've added some Monte Carlo as an epiphyte just wedged in the rocks.
• Micranthemum Micranthemoides is still in there just seems to be a real slow grower

I've also noticed new clumps of fissidens moss popping up all over the place.

CO2, ferts and maintenance have stayed the same throughout. I did add some complete substrate tabs from neo when i did the replant

 

[J-Bonham]

I missed the sand

Rotala takeover, Macranthimum has made an appearance! and the Hydropiper has been chopped back hard to try keep it dense and low.

 

[Tankless]

How has the growth been for the monte carlo as an epiphyte?

 

[Karmicnull]

I'm with you on the sand. Works much better. Respect for your ability to take something beautiful and experiment ruthlessly with it!

 

[J-Bonham]

How has the growth been for the monte carlo as an epiphyte?

lots of melt to start, I wasn't even sure if any would make it... turns out it just took quite a while to adapt to its conditions.

I'm with you on the sand. Works much better. Respect for your ability to take something beautiful and experiment ruthlessly with it!

Thanks, I keep in the front of my mind that this tank is for experimenting and learning the ropes.

Its so interesting to see plants grow! especially from an in vitro pot as they look so different to the final specimen.

 

[J-Bonham]

Rotala takover.




I let it go a bit far by this point and subsequently suffered with some BBA on the left hand side of the rotala... Mostly in the base of the stems, thinking where the C02 bubbles were getting directed. Nothing a through trim can't sort out.

 

[J-Bonham]

About a month later after a solid trim.

Hydropiper has been replaced for sand again. Feeling good about that move, fun to show I can grow a carpet of sort. But I feel the scape benefits from an all sand front.

Also upgraded the inlet & outlet to some ADA items along with my all time favourite purchase to date, An ADA Vuppa 2. Note: since the beginning i have struggled with the intake / skimmer combo as getting the balance right was a royal pain and would only last a few days at best for me. As with plenty of people on here you either have it bobbing up/down or not doing anything at all. Vuppa is a dream.

 

[J-Bonham]

Shot of a wild type shrimp. This tank started out with a mixed bunch of cherry shrimp from an eBay seller. Some have retained the red/ orange but most have reverted back to a more wild brown type. I think they look great!

Photo taken with an iPhone 13.