# CmLaracy's 75cm ADA



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Hello everyone, this is my newly set-up aquascape, some of you may know me from The Planted tank. I've been planning this for a year or two and it has all come together in this. Enjoy!

let us begin...

The specs are as follows

ADA 75P - 75cmx45cmx45cm
166w of PC and T5
Filtar xP3 (pimp numba 117)
Pressurized CO2 w/ the works...
18L ASA II
3L ASA II Powder
2L PS Special S
500mL Brighty K (dosings below)
500mL Brighty Step 1
Lily Pipes
Custom built ADA style stand (pm for pricings and sizings, NJ and surrounding states only)
90cmx45cm Garden Mat
Lots of Manzanita (pm for leftovers)
35lbs Zebra stone (pm for leftovers)

Flora: Cyperus Helferi
Hemianthus Callitrichoides (lots) 
Eleocharis Vivipara
Echinodorus Tenellus
Narrow Leaf Java Fern

Fauna: 3x SAE's/ Otto's, cant decide
20+ Amano Shrimp

Heres a shot of the tank, followed by the ADA merch



















Powersand -



















Rockscape -










Manzanita Scape -










Combo Scape - 









Hardscape with powder ASA-










Hardscape with HC planted-










From above-










Right side-










E. Tenellus from above-










Low Water-










Directly After Setup










One day later, FINAL-










Edit: Dosings: 
Dosing Per Day
1mL = 1 Pump

(Maxi) 
8mL Potassium 
6mL Trace Elements

(Normi)
6mL Potassium
4mL Trace Elements

(Mini)
4mL Potassium
2mL Trace Elements

(Nano)
2mL Potassium
1mL Trace Elements


----------



## andrecardoso (Aug 5, 2007)

Perfect start!


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

awesome setup cant wait to see how it fills in! It shall mature into a thing of beauty!

off to another thread............

regards


kakkoii


----------



## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

Very nice! And if you're going to advertise the stand, you should at least post pics of them...


----------



## Fiki (Apr 16, 2006)

Hope to see soon how it will develop... Keep us informed.


Rgds,


Filip


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

kakkoii said:


> awesome setup cant wait to see how it fills in! It shall mature into a thing of beauty!
> 
> off to another thread............
> 
> ...


Thanks, I hope so!!

And I'm not really advertising the stand, cause they're a lot of work, but if anyone really wanted one and was willing to pay a decent amount, I'd consider making one. It looks exactly like the ADA stands.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

my parameters are pretty good right now for an un-cycled tank. I'm not dosing any nitrogen or phosphorus btw... just potassium and trace. So now I basically have to wait for the huge Amonia spike that hopefully won't be so bad because of the plant load. 

pH: 6.2
NO3/Nitrate: 10.0ppm 
NO2/Nitrite: 0.0ppm 
NH4-/NH3/Ammonia/Ammonium: 1.0ppm :shock: 
CO2: 40.0ppm 

I've been blasting my CO2 at around 6bps because I dont have anything in the tank but plants... They're probably loving it.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Here's an updated shot, the water has cleared up significantly










Water Parameters:

Date NH4+	NO3- NO2-	pH
19-Jan	1.0ppm	10.0ppm	0.0ppm	6.2
20-Jan	1.5ppm	15.0ppm	.50ppm	6.4


----------



## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Looks like your off to an amazing start here!!! I can't wait to see it in a couple weeks when that HC starts to fill in. I do have a feeling though that the rear left rock will vanish very quickly and just take up space, it may be best used in the place of the smaller rock in front of it, just a thought. Excellent scape!!!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

redstrat said:


> Looks like your off to an amazing start here!!! I can't wait to see it in a couple weeks when that HC starts to fill in. I do have a feeling though that the rear left rock will vanish very quickly and just take up space, it may be best used in the place of the smaller rock in front of it, just a thought. Excellent scape!!!


Thanks!! It's only been two days and I can already notice HC growth!! I guess high light and high CO2 is the way to go with HC. I'm running like 4.8 wpg of light, and 6bps of CO2 at about 40ppms cause I dont have any fish or inverts in the tank, just plants. This is actually my first scape!


----------



## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

This is looking wonderful! 

Can you give us some more information on the rock you used?


----------



## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

I'm pretty sure those rocks are zebra rocks, but not 100% though.


----------



## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

CmLaracy said:


> Thanks!! It's only been two days and I can already notice HC growth!! I guess high light and high CO2 is the way to go with HC. I'm running like 4.8 wpg of light, and 6bps of CO2 at about 40ppms cause I dont have any fish or inverts in the tank, just plants. This is actually my first scape!


Way to go! Yeah, you can grow HC in any condition BUT for lush and beautiful growth, you definitely will need high carbon and light and fert input. Looks like there will be a nice carpet of HC in no time


----------



## BlackTop_Kings (Jan 17, 2007)

Wow that looks great...nice set up for the tank as well, cant wait to see it once grown in


----------



## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

CmLaracy said:


> I dont have any fish or inverts in the tank, just plants. This is actually my first scape!


I can attest to high light and CO2 being the best for HC!! wow I was shocked with my current scape.

no fish or inverts is also the best thing you can do when starting a tank with HC, they tend to uproot HC before it gets a chance to firmly root, which delays growth and is a headache to replant constantly. whenever possible I'd start this way when using HC :-D


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

redstrat said:


> I can attest to high light and CO2 being the best for HC!! wow I was shocked with my current scape.
> 
> no fish or inverts is also the best thing you can do when starting a tank with HC, they tend to uproot HC before it gets a chance to firmly root, which delays growth and is a headache to replant constantly. whenever possible I'd start this way when using HC :-D


I have found all of this to be quite true and time saving!


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

updates?????????? pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

UPDATE!!

This was one or two plants when I planted it



















Whirlpool



























Full









I've had to trim the Eleocharis vivipara MANY times already to keep it that low, now I'm going to let it reach the surface.

100% algae free after 1.5 weeks


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks for posting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kakkoii


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Very well done, when this grows out it will look award winning.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Thanks kakkoii!! 



orlando said:


> Very well done, when this grows out it will look award winning.


I sure hope so, that'd be pretty cool!


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

updates!!!!!!!!! pics!!!!!!!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

I just got a 150w Metal Halide, and I'll update with some pics once everything has adjusted. The HC is almost completely filled in!


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

sound great!!!!!!!! keep us posted!!!!!!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Here ya go! My camera and photo taking abilities are both equally terrible, and don't mind my hideous wallpaper...:icon_roll also, right now I have a 13000K bulb in my Metal Halide so it doesnt look right...























































It's still got some growing in to do, and I really need someone with a nice camera to come over and take some pictures for me!


----------



## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

can we get some close up photos? Thanks


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

IT is amazing!


----------



## fishman9809 (Feb 4, 2008)

You should give it to me!!!!!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

kakkoii said:


> IT is amazing!


Thanks! and fishman, ITS MINE!!! HAHAHAHAHA (Evil laugh)


----------



## Jervis (Feb 22, 2008)

Are those HC? Very nice overall effect... you got my vote


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Here's a couple of photos for you guys with a little bit of editing in iPhoto! :thumbsup:


















































































I hope you enjoy them! :thumbsup:


----------



## Jervis (Feb 22, 2008)

Amazing HC growth there... and iPhoto rocks!!!


----------



## skinns (Apr 8, 2004)

Beautiful! The tank is just beautiful, however, I'm not a big fan of stripped wallpaper. But the TANK is just beautiful. I love seeing how these tanks sit in peoples homes. Thanks.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

skinns said:


> Beautiful! The tank is just beautiful, however, I'm not a big fan of stripped wallpaper. But the TANK is just beautiful. I love seeing how these tanks sit in peoples homes. Thanks.


Oh yes, I made a previous comment about the wallpaper, I HATE IT! And my parents won't let me take it down... uggghhh


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

When I started this journal I said I'd show the good and the bad, and here's the bad... :icon_sad: For starters, I destroyed all my stems while attempting to trim them, the E. tenellus is going crazy and I need to replace it with some UG real quick, and my glassware is either grossly dirty or absent. Still no algae whatsoever, so I can't complain too much.... Here you go


















































































there ya go, I promise it will look better next update! Thats a solid promise!!! :hihi:


----------



## thief (Feb 20, 2008)

Wow that looks awsome!!! What moss is that on the driftwood? Christmas?

The HC looks really nice and it looks be be like 90% full. Awsome job and great journel.


----------



## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

looks very nice!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

thief said:


> Wow that looks awsome!!! What moss is that on the driftwood? Christmas?
> 
> The HC looks really nice and it looks be be like 90% full. Awsome job and great journel.


Thanks! The moss is Taiwan moss. The HC is almost done!

I'm ripping out all of my E. tenellus and replacing it with Utricularia Graminifolia, and doing this with my Eleocharis vivipara...


----------



## bombastus (Apr 1, 2007)

Plants are nice and pretty but fish (red heads) doesn't looks healthy and happy (red color is kind of faint) and that is bad symptom.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

bombastus said:


> Plants are nice and pretty but fish (red heads) doesn't looks healthy and happy (red color is kind of faint) and that is bad symptom.


They're actually super healthy and active. they eat liek 4 times a day, ravenously each time. It's just that when my MH turns on they get really pissed off, they dart for cover like its the apocalypse. And for about an hour or so afterwards they're colors are bad. But when the light is off, or has been on for over two hours, their colors are amazingly red and defined. I ordered 22 and didn't lose one through the acclimation process. They are extremely healthy despite what's depicted in the pictures.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Jon Edward said:


> If Mom only knew what you were doing with her bakeware


hahaha she knows, at first she questioned it but then she got over it lol

This is what the tank looked like after I ripped out all the E. tenellus. And of course the Eleocharis vivipara wouldn't normally be so bent like that but I had the filter on full blast. Next time I'll remember to turn it down before the photo shoot.










This is after adding 4 pots of UG from Aquaspotworld that came nicely packed and fully alive and healthy!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Here's some shots with the brand new ADA 8000K Bulb. I turned my exposure down a bit so you could see the details of the plants.


----------



## djarmstrong (Feb 12, 2008)

That is really really nice .


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

Looks Great!


----------



## Jervis (Feb 22, 2008)

Your tank is ready for this year


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Well, as of right now, the entire tank is on auto-pilot. I haven't done a thing to it for 5 days but dose and feed the fish. Right now I'm merely enjoying the fruits of my labors per-say. lol. Here's a "quicky photo update" for ya

This is more of a teaser shot than anything else... I took a hint from some of Amano's photographical styles here, though I know nothing about photography lol. Personally I like how the editing turned out... tell me what you think


----------



## fishman9809 (Feb 4, 2008)

nice job Cm, I still got 6 more days in the "timeout ". This tank looks awesome. What are the fish again? Do yuo have any otos?


----------



## krisw (Jan 31, 2005)

Very nice looking tank! You ought to enter it in one of the contests later this year. The only suggestion I'd have would be to rip out some of the Eleocharis vivipara so that it doesn't extend to the as far to the right of the rocks. Really nice scape!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

*The Re-do!*

Enjoy the show...




























TONS OF PLANTS!








CLEAN TANK!


















Powersand Special S



















AS I, Notice any particular slope affect?









Preliminary rock scape, 20LBS of Yamaya


















Add some Old Black Wood

















































Planting will be done today and tomorrow! :thumbsup: :icon_cool


----------



## bacod253 (Feb 1, 2008)

That's going to look amazing! ><


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

bacod253 said:


> That's going to look amazing! ><


That's what I'm going for!


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

I love it already!!!!!!!!!!!!1


----------



## thief (Feb 20, 2008)

WOW nice looking hard scape CmLaracy!!!


----------



## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

subscribed! did you sell, or are you still selling those plants?


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

wow im so excited to see this tank when you get done planting!!!


----------



## panpanpan (Apr 14, 2008)

It's a start of a long weekend, any update?


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

panpanpan said:


> It's a start of a long weekend, any update?


You guys will have an update sometime next week!


----------



## rountreesj (Aug 14, 2007)

> You guys will have an update sometime next week!


WE BETTER!!!!!!!


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

***NOTE, this tank has no stems in it yet, and is still missing a lot of plants, about 200 stems of rotala green and colorata that will be going in the back. It's only HALF PLANTED, and has been growing for a mere 4 days.





































In terms of algae control, I'm just going to try and do what I did with the last scape, but be a little bit more on top of it. This time around I don't have as much uptake in terms of the plants and how much nutrients they use. Until those stems arrive I'm going to have to watch it like a hound, cause I have no idea what my uptake is right now. On the old setup, everything in there just hogged up all the nutrients, and I new I could just start my dosing fresh the next morning because I new almost everything in the water had been sucked up by the end of the photoperiod. With these Anubias, Ferns, and Crypts I really don't have any idea of exactly what my tank uses per photoperiod, so these last couple days have been a bit stressful as I try to find a sweet spot. Right now I'm dosing about 1.5ppms PO₄ (keep GSA off my petites), 4ppms NO₃, 8mL Micros + Fe, and a whole bunch o' K. It's been changing on a day to day basis. I started low, dosing .5ppms of PO₄ each day, then noticed some GSA popping up on my anubias and rocks, upped it to 1.0, still wasn't enough, now I'm doing 1.5ppms a day; I was also dosing 2ppms of NO₃ each day, but saw some BGA coming (teeny teeny amounts), so now I'm up to 4ppms per day. I'm positive that the GSA is not a result of low CO₂ as I've killed a few shrimp from too much CO₂, and I'm positive that the BGA is not from low flow as it's in an area thats getting a lot of flow. So you could say I'm still working on my dosing . It's really tough without a bunch of stems to just suck everything up real fast so you know your at 0 everything the next day. I have a feeling that each day there's a bit of left over nutrients and that it could cause me troubles... thus I'm doing a 10% wc everyday. So confusing, high light + low light plants = dosing nightmare!

The plants in the foreground are Glosso, I'm going for a nice carpet that I'm going to let grow up on to the rocks and everywhere. I'm gonna let it go crazy.

I also ordered a set of Cal Aqua Fluxus pipes and their double check drop checker.


----------



## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

This is beautiful already. It's gonna be gorgeous when you get the stems in there!


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

As usual..Awesome, off to a great start..


----------



## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

awesome job! what kind of light is that?


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Thanks for the compliments everyone! Orlando, you continue to flatter me every time I post a pic! lol 

The stems will be here in a week or so and they will really bring things together.

The light is an Aquamedic Ocean Light 150w Metal Halide HQI Pendant. WHAT A MOUTHFUL! lol And to top it all off I have a Double-Ended ADA 8000K HQI Metal Halide bulb in there! Why do they make these things so long?


----------



## MARIMOBALL (Jun 20, 2007)

The glosso foreground will look great. I think you will like it more than the HC. HC tends to lift up in patches if left untrimmed. Seeing glosso in an ADA tank kinda reminds me of the first time I set my eyes on Amanos Nature world books. Great work very clean looking tank both in and out.


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

Thanks! Next update I'll get you the picture of that stand you wanted


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

here's another photo shoot, still no stems, about 3/4 planted now.

Here's a nice photo update, everything is growing nicely. Still no stems...

Only half planted STILL


----------



## Chuppy (Aug 5, 2007)

Looks great even without the stemmies!


----------



## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Looking good! I dont know what your plans are for stems, but I would leave the middle open, that fern is going to fill in nicely and plant the right side with stems


----------



## CmLaracy (Apr 28, 2007)

bigstick120 said:


> Looking good! I dont know what your plans are for stems, but I would leave the middle open, that fern is going to fill in nicely and plant the right side with stems


I'm actually not too sure how that Bolbitis is doing, I think some of the leaves may have died in quarantine, so they're kinda just sitting there not growing. Some are still alive and growing, but I'd say not many. Some new leaves are coming off of the rhizome, but I have no idea how long it'll take them to grow from 2" to 12", but it's right under the halide so it shouldn't take TOO long. I'm really kinda pissed that I don't have a nice healthy one, it's kinda the centerpiece. I'm hoping for the best, if not I'll order some from AquaSpotWorld. It's really a pain though, their shipping is pricey. How long will it take the bolbitis to grow say 10"?

If anyone's got any NICE bolbitis lying around, I'm willing to pay top dollar. Just shoot me a pm


----------

