ADA Cube Garden - 60P - 11-29-07 update

[Zezmo]

This is the start of my journal about the set up, and eventual maintenance of my office tank.

So Far:
ADA Cubegarden 60P Mist
2l Powersand M
12l ADA Aquasoil Amazonia (only used about 10l so far)
Current USA Nova Extreme Light - 2x 24w HO T5 (48w total)
STC Needle Valve
10lb CO2 Tank
ADA Glass Diffusor/Bubble Counter
Smith CO2/Argon Regulator
ADA Garden Mat - pad under aquarium

Here are a few initial shots:

Next, I started to play with my rocks. After reading up on some rock arrangement techniques and looking at some aquariums I like. The plan is to go with a simple triangular layout. I like this one, but something still seems to be missing. Maybe another rock sticking up on the right?

Oh, I also moved the tank a little to the left on the table, to center it more to the stuff on the wall behind it. I will play with teh rock layout some, while I make my final decisions on filtration, plants, and animals.

 

[rich311k]

Nice looking tank. Someday I am going to get a trimless tank.

This is going to be a fun thread I can just tell, especially considering your acuascaping skills.

 

[greenfish]

Did you get this stuff from Aqua Forest? I was there for the first time the other day. Very impressive store. You mention rocks, are you thinking about Iwagumi?

Edit: Oh. I see you have added rock pics to your first post. Looks good!

 

[Jchillin]

Looks like your off to a great start. I know I can expect to see some amazing things happening in this one.

Not sure about placement of rock on right, it may create an imbalance in viewing.

 

[newfound77951]

And i think with these type layouts usually an odd number of rocks looks best. I think you're off to a great start!

 

[rkilling1]

Are you going after something like this: (this is what popped in my head when I saw your layout)

 

[Zezmo]

Thank you for the kind words, and the votes of confidence.

I bough the ADA stuff at Aquaforest. I went up to SF with my wife a few weeks back to hear Luis Navarro speak at the SFAS. A fellow SFBAAPS member had him over to his house before the presentation, which gave us a nice opportunity to meet one on one and talk about aquascaping with rocks. The inspiration for this layout came from those talks. I also completely reddid my main tank and nano tank that weekend.

After playing with the rocks some. Here is what I have for now.

 

[triazole]

inspiration from amano!

 

[Purrbox]

I think the new rock placement is working wonderfully! Looking forward to new pictures.

 

[Glenc]

Going to be another beautiful tank, looking forward to watching it progress.

 

[rkilling1]

A fellow SFBAAPS member had him over to his house before the presentation, which gave us a nice opportunity to meet one on one and talk about aquascaping with rocks.

And just the other day I had Karen Randall over for dinner and we just talked about plants. (I wish)

Can't wait for the scape to come together. I can't wait for more pics.

 

[Zezmo]

And just the other day I had Karen Randall over for dinner and we just talked about plants.

She is a very nice lady, we had a chance to talk last year at the AGA convention. With her knowledge and experience in our hobby, she offers some very keen insight into what makes a "good" scape. She, along with Ole Pedersen and Dorothy Reimer, were the judges at the Iron Aquascaping contest.

Thanks for all the input on the rocks. They arrangement is pretty much settled in, with only maybe some minor adjustments. The other pictures were taken with my cell phone. Not bad for a phone, but I decided to take my real camera to work Friday and snap a few shots.

Front:

Above:

Here are some detail shots of each Rock. I really like the colors on these stones.
Front Rock: This one has a nice green crystal formation.

Left Rock: This one has some very colorful nodes all over it.

Main rock (right): This one just has a lot of character.

The filter is one the way, it is going to be a Eheim Ecco Comfort Canister Filter- 2234, with a Hydor ETH 200 In-Line Heater-200 W for the heater.
I have also started to plan the plant scape, the hard part, as always is limiting myself to only a couple plant types instead of stuffing it with every plant I like.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Very, very nice.

 

[newfound77951]

Looks great, now get some water in that thing and get planting!

The rock in the back left almost looks like a dinosaur skull, very cool.

 

[WaterPond]

OMGosh! Dorothy Reimer! what an amazing lady. She is actually the founder of my aquarium club.

Good luck with the scape, i cant wait to see some green

 

[Zezmo]

Well It took me the better part of two months to finish this tank. But it is finally all together. Since I planned it to be low maintenance, it will prolly tanke a good 3-5 months for it all to fill in.

These were taken with my cell phone, I will bring my camera to work in a couple weeks when things begin to fill in.
After planting:

Left:

Rocks Closeup:

I got the last of my plants in yesterday. Here is the finished tank.
Office Lights off:

Office lights on:

Plants:
Crytpocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne retrospiralis
Lobelia cardinalis "Small form"
Pogostemon helferi "Downoi"

I also have some red rooted floater (Phylanthis fluitans) in there temporarily, just to hold off algae until the other plants settle in.

Hardware:
ADA 60p "mist"
Nova Extreme T-5 Fixture 24" Freshwater (48w)
Aqua Soil - Amazonia (12 liters) - Normal
Power Sand Special-S (2 liters)
Natural "local" Volcanic Rocks
Hydor ETH 201 In-Line Heater-200 W
Eheim Ecco Comfort Canister Filter- 2234
Smith CO2/Argon regulator
5lb CO2 Bottle
STC Needle Valve
Generic Glass Diffusor w/ built in bubble counter
Digital Timer

 

[rich311k]

Nice, that is going to be a great tank.

 

[Jchillin]

Nice, I see the finished product already. Keep the updates coming.

 

[travis simonson]

You're off to an excellent start C. parva and P. helferi will certainly make for a low-maintenance aquascape. I've been considering C. parva for a foreground because it is such a slow-grower but I've never seen a good example of it used this way (until now ). I'm anxious to see how your tank looks after things grow in.

And the iwagumi rock placement looks perfect to me - off center, three rocks, largest in the rear, tilted just right - very natural. Nice work Zezmo

 

[Zezmo]

This tank is really filling in nicely. I replaced the Nova Extreme T-5, with a Satellite Dual 2x 65w CF. It has the stock Current lights, a dual daylight bulb, and a dual actinic. The actinic is mostly for after hours viewing.

I also build a light box on the back. It is lit with 60 blue LED's, a strand of x-mas lights. They are in a 3x20 pattern at the bottom.