# Start of 60-P; FINALLY!



## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

After about 2 months, I finally got around to setting up the hard scape on my 60-P. The plants have been ordered and I'm waiting for them to come in.

All in all, I think the hard scape turned out really well. It will look very nice when the plants (and water) get in there. 

Tank: ADA 60-P

Stand: DIY ADA knockoff

Substrate: ADA Powersand Special, ADA Aquasoil Amazonia II regular and powder

Hard scape: Fossil Stone from Jeff at ADG

Light: Giesemann Midday 6000K T5 HO 2 x 24W mounted in a Catalina Aquarium Solar shell. These are hanging 8cm above the tank from custom bent 1/2" EMT (PITA - I went through about 6 sticks of EMT until I got it right)

Filter: Eheim 2215

Heater: Hydor ETH200

Glassware: All ADA

CO2: Pressurized 5lb tank

Plants (on the way): _Hemianthus callitrichoides, Eleocharis parvulus, Eleocharis acicularis, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, _and _Echinodorus tenellus_

Fauna: To far off to decide - most likely some type of microrasbora?

One cool little feature I did was install a halogen under cabinet light on a door switch. This way when you open the door, the light comes on. Will make it easy to check the gages, wires, filter, etc without having to find the light switch.

Pics of stand and hard scape:












Brian


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## Terra Incognita (Jun 12, 2007)

Everything looks great, and that door/light feature is pretty neat. However, I think the "dip" in the largest middle rock is pretty distracting.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Nice setup.

I think the positioning is a bit to symmetrical with the main rock being almost dead center and an equal number of rocks on either side. Just my opinion, otherwise very nice.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

I think it's doable. The right side rock should be positioned to something less violant than a sharp point sticking straight up though-- it's a bit unnatural looking. Other than that, I think this scape can be nice.

However, I think to make it work you're going to want a tall grassy plant in the back because the rocks are somewhat defficiant in size-- well, you seem to know that already given how much substrate has been included in the aquarium.


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## MARIMOBALL (Jun 20, 2007)

Everything looks good and good choice in lighting. I use 4 T5's for my 60P but 2 bulbs should be enough. 
IMO the chain holding the fixture is too big. I would used thin steel braided cable. Also the large rock is too centered and the rock on the right has a different angle. I think the rocks on the left should be clustered closer together, to make it appear as if they broke off the larger rock. JUst my 2 cents, but Im no expert.


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## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

You've certainly spent some time researching your equipment. Those Giesemann Midday tubes are outstanding. 

I'm not much of an iwagumi expert so I won't comment on rock placement, but I think you can use that pocket/dip in the large rock to grow something in so that it doesn't distract. I've had success growing a surprising variety of plants epiphytically: Crypts, Glosso, HC, along with the usual Anubias, et al. I'm anxious to see how things look planted.


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## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

*New hardscape and plants this week!*

It's been to long, and I couldn't edit the OP.

I took some advice from everyone here and redid the hardscape. Stone setting is really hard. I would look at it for a day and think it was OK, then next day it looked bad to me. I finally came up with one that I've had for about a week now and I still like it. I got rid of the sharp pointy stone and kept it at an odd number of stones. I tried to make it look like all the stones had broken off of the larger stone. Some of them even seem to come up and look like they could be one stone under the substrate.

My plants are coming this week. I should get it planted this weekend. I'll be getting _Echinodorus angustifolius_, _Echinodorus tenellus_, and _Rotala wallichii _for accent plants; _Eleocharis parvula_ and _Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' _for the "main" ground cover plants. I'm probably going to try and place some _Fissidens fontanus _on a couple of the stones just to accent them a little (I'm still undecided on this one though - have to wait until I get it planted).

On to the updated pics. Let me know what you think while I can still move them!

Front view


Top view


Side views




Thanks everyone for all the help and advice,
Brian


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## tcy81 (Sep 12, 2004)

very nice equipments.
i think you should use a clear tube for your Co2.


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## MARIMOBALL (Jun 20, 2007)

The rock placement looks alot better. I say keep it. Good plant choice.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Brian,

I like that alot more. Maybe the center rock should be nudged more off-center to the left, but otherwise very nice. I think I should tell you Echinodorus angustifolius is extremely invasive and it will quickly overwhelm your 60P. I had it for a while in my 46G Aquasoil-based Iwagumi and it took over in no time sending runners everywhere. It also develops a heavy root-system so you'll be constantly yanking it out and distrubing the AS.

- Jeff


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## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

Looking forward to the softscape, looks good so far.


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