# roybot73. 20L & ADA 60-P



## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

I lurk here from time to time, so I thought I'd share my tanks.

20L has been set up for ~3 1/2 months. 
ADA ASII + Power Sand Special S, Tourmaline BC, XP1, Hydor 200w inline, JBJ reg, Flo Lily out, "Powermen" intake, 2-2x18w Coralife T5 w/ 3 6700k & 1 colormax. The tank gets dosed with the pFertz lineup with ADA's ECA, Green Gain, Green Bacter and Phyton Git.

Plants include: Eleocharis Acicularis, Lilaeopsis Brasilensis, Flame moss, Hemianthus Micranthemoides, Crypt Wenditii 'Green', Ludwigia arcuata, Limnophila aromatica, Lysimachia nummularia, Anubias 'petite' & 'nana'.

Fauna include Threadfin Rainbows, Amano shrimp, Cherry shrimp, Olive Nerites, and a few Otos.




























The 60-P has only been set up for about a month.
Original ADA Aquasoil + Power Sand Special S, ADA Nile Sand, Bacter 100, Tourmaline BC, Eheim 2215, JBJ reg, ADA Lily Pipes P2 & V3, Drop Checker, Pollen Glass diffuser & Bubble counter, 200w Hydor inline, Aqua Medic 70w HQI metal halide with stock 12k bulb. Dosing is done with Green Brighty step 1, Brighty K, Green Brighty Special Shade plus ECA, Green Gain, Green Bacter and Phyton Git.

Plants include: Peacock moss, Willow moss, Echinodorus tenellus 'narrow', Cyperus helferi, Bolbitis heudelotti, Needle leaf Java fern, Crypts 'petchii', 'tropica', 'lucens', 'wenditii' green & red, Limnophila aromatica, Rotala indica, Myriophyllum mattogrossense.

Fauna include Neon, Rummynose, and Green Fire tetras with Amano shrimp, cherry shrimp, Olive Nerites, and a few Otos.




























Thanks for looking!

Cheers!


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Roybot73:

Very nice tanks! I like them both at lot:clap2:

In my previous setup, I found that a dense planting led to a lot of dead space when water does not circulate well (yet I have a Ehiem 2234 for 60P) no matter how I positioned the lily pipes. This led to a bout of green water which resolved after daily water changes.

Do you have a straight frontal shot of the 60P?


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## Ivanmx (Jun 4, 2008)

very nice layouts but sincerely i like more the 60p!!


cheers from mexico


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## jasonc (May 2, 2008)

I like both tank...good job


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## Ulan (Oct 2, 2006)

Very nice tanks . I have to try something like your 20L one day.


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks for the comments!



Bunbuku said:


> Roybot73:
> 
> Very nice tanks! I like them both at lot:clap2:
> 
> ...


Here's your straight frontal shot, even though it's very similar to the one that's already posted... 
Circulation seems to be very good in both tanks.


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Very nice!

You got some very nice branchy wood. Is it ADA old black?

The only thing I would say is that the focal point is in your the ADA tank is not clear unlike your first tank. Otherwise plants look lovely. I like to moss border up front


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## lonepeace (May 1, 2007)

WOw, Wow.....  love both tanks!!!!


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Back to the 8K bulb...
-Pulled the Myriophyllum. It just wasn't quite what I had in mind, and was growing leggy for some reason. 
-Added more Rotala.

pics.









Sorry about the glare, but the fish are lined up nice


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## natural_expect (Jan 4, 2008)

great work
but the two left drifwood r just nice in the bird eyes view. it's not relevant to the right wood inside


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## cezar (Aug 23, 2005)

60-P is very nice piece of artwork 
But looking at the sand at the last image I can see you have started to have problem w/ algae. How high is your HQI lamp over the tank?


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

cezar said:


> 60-P is very nice piece of artwork
> But looking at the sand at the last image I can see you have started to have problem w/ algae. How high is your HQI lamp over the tank?


Thank you for the compliment!

The HQI lamp is on for 6 hours a day, and is approxomately 12" from the tank rim. It may appear as though there is algae on the sand, but I can assure you there is not! I think what you are seeing is shadows and some of the moss (which could use a trim) The 8000k bulb I'm using has a very green cast to it as well. If you notice in the earlier pics (10000K bulb in use), the sand does not appear to be quite so green.

Cheers!


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## Gilles (Oct 12, 2007)

Nice one, do you see increased growth when using HQI?


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Gilles said:


> Nice one, do you see increased growth when using HQI?


Thanks!
I would say yes. The tank is really still settling in, and some of the lower, slower plants (Crypts, Ferns) are just starting to grow in. The stems love it!

This tank doesn't pearl quite like the 20L does, but again, I attribute that to the young age of the tank.


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 12, 2006)

Beautiful tanks! Do you run all 4 of your 18 wt t-5's throughout the photo period? How many hours do you run them?


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

waterfaller1 said:


> Beautiful tanks! Do you run all 4 of your 18 wt t-5's throughout the photo period? How many hours do you run them?


Thanks waterfaller!

Photoperiod is 8 hours with all 4 bulbs a-blazin'...


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## cezar (Aug 23, 2005)

roybot73 said:


> The HQI lamp is on for 6 hours a day, and is approxomately 12" from the tank rim.


Thanks for the answer! It's good to hear you have not problem with any algae  In near future I will run similar tank so it's nice to know about your HQI setup.

Cheers and good luck!


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

20L.
Blyxa needs to be thinned out - it's touching the glass in front!


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

I week's growth of Lim Aro...


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## jsenske (Mar 15, 2004)

I like the loose and wild/natural feeling of the 60cm. Very nice direction overall.


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

jsenske said:


> I like the loose and wild/natural feeling of the 60cm. Very nice direction overall.


Thanks Jeff! That 'loose and wild/natural feeling' was really the focus I had when setting this up. Just kind of loosely 'scape it, and then let "The Mother Nature" do the rest over time...

I've trimmed the Lim Aro right back to let some light get to the Rotala, Didplis and Lysimachia. Hopefully they'll start to bush out a bit more, as they've been trimmed several times now...


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## manojprabakar (Mar 20, 2008)

All of 'em are wonderful looking tanks. It's simply gorgeous.


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Just a few pics after the Lim trim...
I think the 8K bulb has finally "burned in" to it's color. I like it  I hadn't really noticed much pearling, so I extended the photoperiod to 8 hours -- now she pearls. Upped the Neons to 12, Green Fire number is down to 2 (out of 14 -- all jumpers), and I lost an Oto due to jumpage if you can believe it.
Getting ready to switch to Green Brighty Step 2...














































Thanks for looking!


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## thief (Feb 20, 2008)

I really like the loose feeling of you tank. The plant choice is great. To bad you didn't enter this tank in the ADA 2008.


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## krisw (Jan 31, 2005)

Really nice looking scape! You managed to mix together a number of different species in the same scape with it looking contrived. Congrats!


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## ericpop27 (May 13, 2008)

Amazing stuff! Your water and the aquarium glass are so clear, I am envious! The green richness of your plants is astounding. This looks contest worthy for sure.

They are so nice they actually look like paintings rather than pictures.


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks for the comments!

I've switched back to the 12K bulb that came with the fixture. What a difference in color rendition, not to mention growth rates! I've also started dosing Green Brighty step 2, which really seems to help boost the reds in my Crypts, Rotala, and Lim Aro (even though it's not visible in these pics taken a few weeks ago...)





































On a side note, the 20L is undergoing a minor rescape. Due to outrageous growth rates, all stem plants (including the Blyxa) became one big mass and had to be removed as such. Pics coming soon...


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## St3v3 (Mar 5, 2008)

I love the natural look of the 60P. Very cool. I plan on doing a moss and sand foreground as well.


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Just a couple quick & crappy pics of how the new scape is filling in. I'm going to try to trim it all back by this weekend. I might also move some of the Hygro 'compacta' to the rear of the tank.




























60-P is still chuggin' along...
Might be time to thin out some Tenellus soon, Cyperus too -- seems to inhibit flow a bit. Stems need trimming too I like keeping it 'wild' though...


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## krisw (Jan 31, 2005)

Looks great! I particularly like the last picture!


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

Still waiting for the patch of Hairgrass/Lilaeopsis to fill in on the right foreground. Everything else is growing just fine...

That guppy is the Shrimplet Hunter -- it's a good thing there are 1,000,000 Cherry Shrimplets in there!


















Thanks for looking--


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## krisw (Jan 31, 2005)

Looks really nice. I'd love to see a shot for a higher angle looking down so you can really see the scape. I love hairgrass foregrounds!


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

krisw said:


> Looks really nice. I'd love to see a shot for a higher angle looking down so you can really see the scape. I love hairgrass foregrounds!


Thanks!


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

I'll be the very first to admit that this layout is indeed wholly unoriginal, but it's what came together as I rescaped. I went in with a loose plan, and sometimes things just find they're own way of working together. Call it 'paint-by-number' if you will, but I enjoy looking at it

The first thing you'll notice is the lack of a sand foreground. *Never Again*. Lesson learned. It looks good for a day, and then the shrimp just destroy it. I asked Jeff S. about adding that small amount of Aquisoil™ into an existing setup. He said he'd recently done the same thing and to just go for it. Worked out just fine. I actually had enough HC buried in the jungle to get this much planted. LFS should be getting some in in Thursday, so I'll supplement the planting then.

"Look Ma, No Stems!"

That's not entirely true though. I have some Hygro 'kompacta' and Micranthemum umbrosum in there, but _no_ background stem plants. I'd like to have some "overhead" space left in the composition, and I had some flow issues with the last layout. Lots of Crypts in there should fill the space in a cool way.




























Thanks for looking!


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## ChrisGray (Feb 23, 2006)

they both look great very clean looking layouts


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## xavierj123 (Aug 24, 2008)

I am interested in the wood too so if you don't mind elaborating a little bit more in that direction, I'de appreciate it. How do you prepare your wood? I am setting up a 55 gallon tank and it is undergoing a water test right now with a rather large piece of driftwood floating on top until it sinks. The wood was prepared by pouring several gallons of boiling water on it.


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## roybot73 (Feb 5, 2008)

xavierj123 said:


> I am interested in the wood too so if you don't mind elaborating a little bit more in that direction, I'de appreciate it. How do you prepare your wood? I am setting up a 55 gallon tank and it is undergoing a water test right now with a rather large piece of driftwood floating on top until it sinks. The wood was prepared by pouring several gallons of boiling water on it.


All wood was boiled for several hours.

Quick update...

Well, it's filling in slowly but surely! The Rams picked out ALL of the HC, so I planted some Crypt parva and Downoi to fill in the foreground -- both are growing well. Pfertz root tabs have been added under the other Crypt species, the Blyxa, hygro kompacta and in the foreground under the Downoi. We'll see how they perform


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

That's tremendous growth in just a month and a half. It's looking good!


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