OVAS

What shall I say. Unexpectedly I won the the highest bid on the 48 gallon starphire tank that many of you will remember from our January meeting. I can't say that I am unhappy about it. The tank is very nice. It's just that I haven't planned for it at all!

So expect this build to come along very slowly, in an ˈɛpɪk way, while I am trying to figure out where and how to set it up. Mind you that there are other other (http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=52806.0) projects in the making that I should probably finish before getting fully started with this. Well, don't worry, my track record on doing things on by one isn't the best ... :)

We actually have already an idea and place in mind. It's most likely going to be a shrimp tank, maybe tetras, very much Iwagumi like, probably not using as many rocks as the AI did, most likely it will be carpeting and low-grow plants only, trying to set a limit on plant species as well. But we all know how that usually goes. Either way, that ADA dirt should keep thing uncomplicated for a while. I am quite eager to try it out!

Rimless. That tank will be kept open. Need to find a clean looking cabinet, white most likely. Background is going to be white, white everything, but the tank. The tank may go to the opposite wall of the discus tank, which is all dark, so that may give some good contrast.

CO2. Is all set. A dual rig is feeding one planted tank at the moment, I can just take one outlet and connect it to the new tank. Maybe get a new Fluval dispenser, like the one I got.

Light. I am undecided what to do about that. I probably won't use the fixture I got with the setup. I am sure it works just fine, but it's black and won't fit with the theme. Yes, you may call me fuzzy. :) I am thinking about metal halides, but I haven been able to find anything that looks nice enough. LED is going to be too costly. Will see ...

Filtration. I have a 2215 that I could use. Maybe add that fluidized sandbed I got at the auction as well. That should be more than sufficient.

Heater. There won't be one. I find them unnecessary in planted tanks. Room temperature works fine.

Maybe I add a DIY controller if I ever get around to build one. Yes, too many projects, but that's half the fun!

Well, stay tuned!
It's going to be an interesting year ...

;D

I can't wait to see this one progress  ;D

Congrats on getting that tank!   :)

Have fun with the build. 

Congratulations on your win.  It will be gorgeous when it is all set up  :)

subscribed :)
With Robert`s dedication,aquscaping vision & patience + the kit =stunning
Errol

I like the idea of MH, have you considered a pendant fixture?  I think that would look good on the rimless, I especially like the way pendants allow a full view of the top of the tank, adds a nice dimension to rimless tanks.

Looking forward to the development of this thread!

It'll be nice to follow this along  :)

For the fixture, I haven't taken a close look at the fixture that was in the kit but if it's all metal, maybe you can spray paint it white to go with your theme? A nice high quality paint would do a fine job and it would look sweet suspended on top of the rimless.

My 2 cents.

Thanks everyone. That's a lot of praise in advance, let's hope I can satisfy the high exceptions. :)

Quote from: exv152 on March 06, 2012, 10:02:39 AM
I like the idea of MH, have you considered a pendant fixture?   

I wouldn't mind it. Problem is that I don't like the look of any pendant I have seen so far, all of them were rather big and bulky and I think that this may distract from the tank. Maybe I have to retrofit something ...

Quote from: bizfromqc on March 06, 2012, 11:34:51 AM
For the fixture, I haven't taken a close look at the fixture that was in the kit but if it's all metal, maybe you can spray paint it white to go with your theme?

Yea, it looks like metal. Thought about painting as well. It's certainly an option. There is the concern to pick the right paint that can tolerate the heat. And maybe it's just time to try something new, I have been using T5HO for the past five years now.

Quote from: fischkopp on March 06, 2012, 11:47:08 PM

Yea, it looks like metal. Thought about painting as well. It's certainly an option. There is the concern to pick the right paint that can tolerate the heat. And maybe it's just time to try something new, I have been using T5HO for the past five years now.

How about white powder coat? Most likely will be quite pricey to spray a single unit!  ;)

Quote from: fischkopp on March 06, 2012, 11:47:08 PMI wouldn't mind it. Problem is that I don't like the look of any pendant I have seen so far, all of them were rather big and bulky and I think that this may distract from the tank. Maybe I have to retrofit something ...

If money's not an object, there's the quebec ada dealer just a 3 hour drive from ottawa, and they sell stylish amano pendant lights...http://adaquebec.blogspot.com/p/eclairage.html (http://adaquebec.blogspot.com/p/eclairage.html)

Quote from: jetstream on March 07, 2012, 01:00:23 AM
How about white powder coat? Most likely will be quite pricey to spray a single unit!  ;)

If you want to go the route of powder coat, talk to me off line ;)Alternativelyy, Tremcald makes high heat enamel & there is some others @CDN Tire for engine manifolds etc.
The manf. of those lights also have hanging kits available.
Errol

Power coating, ehh. Not a bad idea, but I don't think I want to go that far. ;)

Quote from: exv152 on March 07, 2012, 07:27:44 AM
If money's not an object, there's the quebec ada dealer just a 3 hour drive from ottawa, and they sell stylish amano pendant lights...http://adaquebec.blogspot.com/p/eclairage.html (http://adaquebec.blogspot.com/p/eclairage.html)

Do you have any idea what this fixture sells for? It might be an option. Looks big on the picture, but the dimensions aren't all that bad.

Quote from: fischkopp on March 07, 2012, 09:00:48 AM
Power coating, ehh. Not a bad idea, but I don't think I want to go that far. ;)


Do you have any idea what this fixture sells for? It might be an option. Looks big on the picture, but the dimensions aren't all that bad.

these are similar & i`ll guess cheaper
http://www.aquainspiration.com/productdetail.asp?PIN=LS&PNAME=AI&PSIZE=SL&PTYPE=Lights

Quote from: charlie on March 07, 2012, 09:07:13 AM
these are similar & i`ll guess cheaper
http://www.aquainspiration.com/productdetail.asp?PIN=LS&PNAME=AI&PSIZE=SL&PTYPE=Lights

Those are some sweet looking lights (the ADA ones) but holy light fixture Batman, it ain't cheap  :o

Good find. To my eye, both lamps look identical. Wonder if it is the same manufacturer, or a knock-off. Certainly this might be the better option, might need to pick up a few things from AI anyway.

Quote from: fischkopp on March 07, 2012, 10:24:05 AM
Good find. To my eye, both lamps look identical. Wonder if it is the same manufacturer, or a knock-off. Certainly this might be the better option, might need to pick up a few things from AI anyway.

Well i knew of them but did not post it since i think they are more watts that your stated requirement  ;).
Check their gallery out , they are some pics of them over tanks.
Errol

They do have a nice store now, really should make some time and go there. I think I see the light there above the same size tank. It isn't huge, but it isn't small either. Will see. Good thing is that they seem to get some good result with a single light.

Yeah, I am looking into lower wattage ones because I hope they might be smaller. I would be using 2+ lights then, which may also spread the light more evenly across the tank.

Quote from: fischkopp on March 07, 2012, 01:21:27 PMThey do have a nice store now, really should make some time and go there. I think I see the light there above the same size tank. It isn't huge, but it isn't small either. Will see. Good thing is that they seem to get some good result with a single light.

Yeah, I am looking into lower wattage ones because I hope they might be smaller. I would be using 2+ lights then, which may also spread the light more evenly across the tank.

The ADA lights are not the same as the AI lights, the AI ones are a chinese knock-off product but they still come at a premium as you can see. The good thing is they're both MH like you stated you were looking for. Or you can do a DIY lamp that looks like the ADA sytle fixture. Maybe even go with some T5s or leds. Check this thread out, ironically the guy did his own light and also used it for a 48g tank. That's if you like DIY jobs.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/128706-my-diy-36-led-ada-fixture.html (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/128706-my-diy-36-led-ada-fixture.html)

Thanks for the idea, it's a good build. LED is great, but not cheap either. Not sure I want to do it for this setup. [teaser] I do love it on that other tank though. [/teaser]

Progress has been slow. One could say there is none. But I went out to Ikea today with the mission to find a stand for this tank that would look somewhat modern. I had a kids office desk in mind that looked ok on the picture, but it turned out to flimsy for the weight of a 48gal  in reality. Most cabinets of matching size have drawers only, but I prefer doors. So I came home empty handed. Does anyone have an idea where I could find some interesting furniture, fitting a 90x45cm tank?

haha, thats awesome.  I was at Ikea as well today hunting for a tank stand as well.  All drawers and no doors for what interested me :( 

Good luck on the hunt!

Try a diy build? Can be cheap if u have a tablesaw already or are handy with a circular saw couple 2x6 some screw a bit of pl adhesive. You can Use the leftover plywood for doors. And a peice of styrofoam to avoid, pin points or, pressure spots. You can close it up anyway you wish. Interlocking paneling, plywood, ceramics, drapery etc. mine cost about 50$ for a 4foot tank.

These are sold in separate modules, not sure if it`s your taste pallet though , i was looking at these recently
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/storage-cabinet/922709

Quote from: fischkopp on April 28, 2012, 08:38:53 PM
Progress has been slow. One could say there is none. But I went out to Ikea today with the mission to find a stand for this tank that would look somewhat modern. I had a kids office desk in mind that looked ok on the picture, but it turned out to flimsy for the weight of a 48gal  in reality. Most cabinets of matching size have drawers only, but I prefer doors. So I came home empty handed. Does anyone have an idea where I could find some interesting furniture, fitting a 90x45cm tank?

If you know how to swing a power tool, you might be able to make one http://www.aquascapingworld.com/magazine/Magazine/Tips-Creating-a-DIY-ADA-Stand.html (http://www.aquascapingworld.com/magazine/Magazine/Tips-Creating-a-DIY-ADA-Stand.html).

Or get the stand that was made for it...http://www.aquainspiration.com/nproductdetail.asp?PIN=AS&PNAME=AI&PSIZE=904575 (http://www.aquainspiration.com/nproductdetail.asp?PIN=AS&PNAME=AI&PSIZE=904575)

I always build my own stands.  ;D

Nothing in the stores seems to be built strong enough. I always use 2x4's for the frames and cover them with the finished look that I want.

http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=53288.0

Thanks everyone for your ideas!

I was really hoping to save myself some time by getting something that will just work. Will check out AI next week, but I don't think I like the style too much. So I am slowly starting to think about my own stand/cabinet built, but I still have some unfinished business on the other epic project ....

Eric, I like the DIY ADA build, although it looks like a lot of work. Can we get laminate somewhere in Ottawa?

Quote from: fischkopp on April 29, 2012, 03:33:43 PM
Thanks everyone for your ideas!
I was really hoping to save myself some time by getting something that will just work. Will check out AI next week, but I don't think I like the style too much. So I am slowly starting to think about my own stand/cabinet built, but I still have some unfinished business on the other epic project ....

Eric, I like the DIY ADA build, although it looks like a lot of work. Can we get laminate somewhere in Ottawa?

Robert, I've had a first hand look at AI's cabinets and even though you will get the exact dimensions you need, I also didn't like the quality of the cabinet itself, for the price. I  then toyed around with the idea of making my own after seeing this video and the article http://www.projectaquarium.com/plantedAquariumArticles_ADAAquariumStand.aspx (http://www.projectaquarium.com/plantedAquariumArticles_ADAAquariumStand.aspx), but the laminate was the thing that convinced me to just make the stand out of nice wood finish, and stain it. I wasn't able to find anyone local who does laminate.

I know a pro wood worker. Steven labelle. Hes more of a kitchen bathroom guy but he has a full woodshop. You can see if he has some time for ya :-)  he also teaches a wood shop at algonquin. What you want is what you will get. Hees not an aquarium guy so make sure u know your clearences.(sump wise and all) or insert the sump the put the tank support surface (sheet of plywood) back and cover with styrofoam. Make sure there a lip coming up a bit higher to cover this. There a beautoful selectiion of hinges and spring loaded door clips handles etc at home depot depending on the look you like. Materials will be about 80-1oo$ .... Thats material wise how much i spent on mnine. For a 4'x18". The stand is i think 36 tall and sump is 3" off bottom. The styrofoam comes out 2" from border of tank. Depending on what is used to finish it stain it all your favorite color and voila. A beautiful 1000$ stand for peanuts lol

I promised you I slow build, didn't I?  ;)

Well, not so much happened over the summer. The tank has been sitting in its box at the designated spot, waiting to get out. But I didn't let it since there was no place to put it. I had picked up a stand during the summer, a bathroom sink cabinet. It didn't have the right dimensions, was smaller than the tank, so I got never really started on it. Then, two weekends ago, another trip to Ikea with the mission to find a counter top that would fit the tank. And while we find a nice top, there was an even nicer cabinet that would work perfect for the tank - for less than the counter top. An easy pick. Anybody need a bathroom cabinet?  :)

The new cabinet used to be a display and already went through some major Ikea hacking, mainly adding decorative panels, a counter and handles to a kitchen grade cabinet, best particle board. Width and hight was perfect, it was only a little too deep for us as it is going to sit in a hallway. So I would have to take it apart, cut some of it away, and then put it all back together. I also added a bit more extra wood to handle the weight. And the flimsy board in the back is replaced by another particle board for more stability. The cabinet came with ugly plastic feet. These may work well in kitchens, but I didn't trust them with the weight of the aquarium. Instead we got some stylish metal feet, which cost as much as the cabinet itself. Well, the cabinet was a steal ...  :)

Here are some pics. Enjoy.


The light is next. Stay tuned.

Beyond Epic. ;D
Subscribed.

Very nice, and thanks for showing the ikea hacking... it is giving me ideas for my same sized tank.

Love the shot with the reflection too, very cool.  8)

Whaaaat! This is awesome! I hope the next post doesn't take as long :p

Quote from: daworldisblack on October 30, 2012, 10:14:13 AM
Whaaaat! This is awesome! I hope the next post doesn't take as long :p

What he said... Can't wait to see the rest!

Looks very nice in deed. Did you drill that hole in the top panel for hoses & wires or did it come like that ?

Thanks guys! I was hoping to get it running within the next 4 weeks. It's mainly just figuring out how to install the lights. the rest is gonna be aqua-scaping fun ...

The hole was already there, but that end got cut off, so it's gone now. I will be drilling a few smaller holes later for tubes and pipes.

Does anybody know where I can find a not too thick mat-something to put between tank and cabinet? I currently use 1/2' thick Styrofoam (found at Lowe), which works well, but is maybe a little too thick and not as pretty to look at from the side. Polyethylen maybe, but where to find it? Anything in white/gray/black would work.

Quote from: fischkopp on October 30, 2012, 02:28:06 PM

Does anybody know where I can find a not too thick mat-something to put between tank and cabinet? I currently use 1/2' thick Styrofoam (found at Lowe), which works well, but is maybe a little too thick and not as pretty to look at from the side. Polyethylen maybe, but where to find it? Anything in white/gray/black would work.

What about those foam boards from Staples, Zellers etc. Same area where you find bristol boards but these are thinner foam boards. I'm using a couple of these for my tanks and they seem to do the job and are inconspicuous. They comes in black and white options I think. Black is my vote. Maybe get 3-4 layers.

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=&webid=916648&affixedcode=WW

Might be on the pricier side for a bigger dimension but I think Zellers has 'em cheaper.

Quote from: fischkopp on October 30, 2012, 02:28:06 PMDoes anybody know where I can find a not too thick mat-something to put between tank and cabinet? I currently use 1/2' thick Styrofoam (found at Lowe), which works well, but is maybe a little too thick and not as pretty to look at from the side. Polyethylen maybe, but where to find it? Anything in white/gray/black would work.

I got a $6 rubber drawer liner from Canadian Tire for my rimless starfire, it's not the one with holes in it, but a solid piece of rubber. It works great and it provides just the right thickness that you get with the ADA liners.

For my 10 gallon i used black carpet underpad that was thrown out, very very cheap :P
alternatively Princess auto have various black rubber sheets, not sure on thickness or prices.
Errol

Looking great already!  can't wait to see what's next.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and kind comments!

The project is slowly progressing. I found some time to finish the work on the stand and get started on the lights. The stand is dimensioned large enough to be flush with the wall behind it, in order to keep a clean look of the setup. Any equipment such as tubing for filtration, CO2, or the odd wire will have to come though the top at the back edge of the stand. I opted for 3/4" holes, four of them, two for filtration, one for the light, and one for CO2 and others. I also added a new backboard for stability of the stand. Holes and board are aligned so that a tube coming though the hole can be mounted flush to the back. All cut edges and holes are either covered with Melamine or fast drying wood glue to prevent them from water damage. Done with the stand.

The next big item is the light. I switched the original T5HO fixture for a 150W metal halide system, mainly because I like the look of it, and because I always wanted to try out this type of light. And since the fixture is quite small, I wanted it suspending. I opted for a rail made of 3/4" eloxated aluminium tube to stick with the look, one single piece, which had to be bend twice. Bending itself isn't all that hard using a pipe bender (Gardner), but it's quite a science to measure both bends if you have never done it before and don't really want to mess up the first piece. The first bend went quite well, the second was too tight so that I couldn't bend it completely. But after all I am quite happy with the final result. The rail-tube is mounted though one of the holes to the back of the stand. An advantage of this design is that the light can swing to the side to easy maintenance.

Fitting the light to the rail brought up the next problem: 3/4" wasn't rigid enough to hold the weight of the light. But a lottle bit of free-hand bending in the other direction solved that problem. The test-hanging of the light also revealed two eye-sores: the suspending wires and the black cable. So I drilled holes to drop the hanging wires from the inside of the tube. The black cable had to go and is being replaced with clear silver cable, which blends in nicely. The cable itself runs inside the tube-rail as well. It was a bit of a pain the fiddle the cables through holes drilled tightly. But hey, no pain, no gain.

That's were I stopped. Here are some pictures:



What's next? Power up the lights. Getting the filter in place. Stay tuned ... :)

Awesome update! giddy with excitement!

awesome x2,  take your time & hurry up  ;)

Man, that is going to be NICE.

The rimless look is hands-down my favourite. The project looks awesome, can't wait to see you add the finishing touches.

I agree, this is looking sliiiick!!!

WOW.. This is going to be amazing. I am green with envy !!    :P

Thanks everyone! I am glad to see that you enjoy this build as much as I do.

I am kinda excited myself to see how it turns out. The real fun starts when I begin to fill that magic box ...  ;D

This build is definitely professional and the patience you"re showing :).

Quote from: fischkopp on November 13, 2012, 11:12:19 PM


I am kinda excited myself to see how it turns out. The real fun starts when I begin to fill that magic box ...  ;D

Can't wait either to see what you're up to.

Robert, your patience and attention to detail is amazing. I can't wait to see what else you have planned and I'm looking forward to the finished product.

Good things take time, so they say. :)  

Well, a lot has happened in the past months, so this project was on hold. I have since moved and had to find a new place for this setup: my living room. Yeah!

I was able to spend some time on this project over xmas and got it to a point where I would only need to add water. The tank and stand are levelled in its new location. The light is fully wired up. I got my hands on an 150W ADA metal halide bulb at 8000K. I must say that this color temperature is quite something. I am a big fan of Giesemann's Aquaflora, but this may be my new favourite. But I better wait until I got some plants growing underneath before making the call on that.

The hardscape is pretty much done as well. Even though I thought initially that there would be too much rock, we ended up using all of it. It took us maybe an hour or so until we came up with a formation and placement that is pleasing, but also shows the texture of the rock. We try to consider two viewing angles here: head on and from the side that we would see from the sofa. We are happy with it, though it may need some tweaking once plants are added. Do you know what kind of rock that is?

On the technical side everything is ready to go now. Hoses for the 2215 are in place. I also broke my first piece of glassware for the filter intake - great, that thing hasn't even seen water. Luckily I got two sets of glassware. I will also need to do something about that CO2 bottle: unfortunately it doesn't fit into the cabinet. The big red bottle on the side is a bit of an eyesore. I might build something to cover it up, or I might switch it to aluminium as this bottle is empty and needs pressure testing anyway.

Other than that it's just a matter of finding all the the plants that I would like to add, but don't have anymore. And then the real fun starts ...

:D

Woah! Can't wait to see this one progress! :) You never fail to impress :)

Looks awesome so far, gonna pay attention to this build

Looking good! What plants are you thinking of going with?

Looking good Robert, hope it`s not much longer for the grand reveal ;)

The suspense is killing me :), can't wait to see this beauty all decked out.

Thank you all for your faith! Since the setup is in my living room I have no choice but to make it somewhat neat looking. :)

As for plants, I will be going for a lot of the smaller ones as I don't want to cover up too much of the rock. I was thinking of something Iwagumi inspired, with a dutch twist. But I also lean towards the nature aquarium style, whatever it may mean. So you can expect that I will not be able to limit myself to one or two plants, but try a few different ones. I don't have a detailed picture in mind; it will all depend on what I can source and how it grows in.

Does anyone know what type of rock I am using?

No idea what kind of rock it is?
Almost looks like something that you made personally?
Whatever it is it looks great and positioned nicely.

If you see some wood grain alike structure on the rock surface. High chance they are petrified wood stone which is very popular in the state.

Looking forward to see the finished picture!  ;)

Looking good so far Robert! Some eye popping little creature would look great in the tank. Maybe some orange shrimp or better yet buff up the ph and everything else turn it into a Cardinal paradise ;)


Shawn

Thanks folks! The plan is to plant it this weekend. I was thinking of some little shrimpies for this tank, but not Cardinals. I will leave that to someone who can actually keep them alive. :)

Plant it! Plant it!

It's time for an update. I obviously I didn't get to plant the tank that weekend in January, but got at it early February. Thanks to some good friends in town I was able to source a couple of plants that I had in mind for this setup. The first two, three weeks were quite uneventful. I actually felt things were going to slow. At that time I had the lights going for 5 hours, so I increased that to 7 hours, and added a few scoops of fertilizer, just what I thought might helps to speed up things. Well, it did speed things up, unfortunately in a bad way.

Within a couple of days I had BBA and all sorts of other slimy stuff growing everywhere. Well, not so good. Maybe I should have done a water change at this point, but it seemed like a lot of work. So I opted for a clean up crew, starting with oto cats. These poor guys had a rough time, due to high CO2 and low temperature their numbers got decimated. This forced me to add a heater to keep the tank at least above 20deg. Then came a batch of neocaridina shrimp. They did ok but didn't quite make the impact I was hoping for. So finally, after 4-5 weeks, I did my first water change, 90%.

A bit annoyed with all that unwanted algae growth I started adding Excel (25ml). At the same time I also started doing iron and traces. Plants responded immediately, within 2-3 there was healthy new growth, at the same time algae spread was stalled. Yeah! I continued dosing Excel (5-10ml) and iron/traces (1-2ml) daily - or every second day when I forgot.

Next came a group of japonica shrimps, and these guys have been quite good at cleaning the rocklands. Unfortunately all of them passed when I did a second water change. Beside Excel/iron/traces I also added CaSO4 and NaHCO3 because plant growth was slowing just before the WC. Not sure which of these additions the japonica didn't like. My guess would be the slightly increased dose of Excel. But I can't say for sure.

Thanks to a good friend I got hold of the best cleaning crew so far: a bunch of baby bushynose. They have been polishing most surfaces in the tank tirelessly for the past few days, making the tank look much more enjoyable. Meanwhile the plants are starting to take off in a way that I can slowly move from just planting it to beginning to scape it. There are some plants which I don't like in their current setting, and others that just don't work at all, but are in the tank right now because I wanted to know how they would do in this setup. All tweaking is still early though. I will continue to experiment with this tank in t1he next little while.

Sorry, no pictures this time, I will see to take some soon. Meanwhile I will try to stay on top of those water changes. :P

A quick picture. It's nothing spectacular, more work in progress. Algae is pretty much under control, but BBA is still present. That stuff doesn't really go away on it's own as you may know, or only under some quite rare mysterious circumstances, but at least it's not spreading. Interestingly, ADA soil itself appear to be a pretty good base for BBA, this is where most of the BBA remains for me at the moment.

It's pretty wild looking fat the moment! What I like is the placement of the crypts. The center is way too dense though. It's mainly blyxa japonica, whoch is a little hard to see because it's surrounded by the the odd Hemianthus micranthemoides, Tonina belem and Didiplis diandra. Most of these will go to the sides.

There is a bunch of Pogostemon helferi on the left side that will go as well. The Utricularia graminifolia seems to do well, and I will split up the patch and plant is along the whole front. Ahh, the front: apparently it is desirable to have a straight and level line of gravel in the front. I will see if I can fix that. :)

That ugly bush of Lysimachia nummularia in front of the 'god' rock is gona as I type this. And so is the odd Echinodorus tenellus because it's runners are just a pain. The latter one is newly called HELANTHIUM TENELLUM, but who knows that really.

Stay tuned for some more updates down the road.

*drooling* too dazed to type anything else :p

I think it looks great , can't wait to see this tank evolve.

Looks great, nice and clean.

In my experience BBA loves ada aquasoil, but nothing a bit of H2O2 won't fix.

How are you diffusing the CO2?

Thanks! I can't wait to see it evolve either! I find my self sitting in front of it a few minutes every day wondering what has changed and what to do next ... :)

I am using one of these little Fluval CO2 diffusers. They are great, much better than the Rhinox diffusers, which I have as well. The Fluval sits below the return on the right. Eventually I am going to move it into an inline reactor to increase efficiency a little. But as said, it's doing a pretty good job already. I am currently running at ~1bps - but take this with a grain of salt since bubble counters aren't all the same. The drop checker says green, and so do the plants, and the fish. That's what I go by.

;D

Maybe one thing: I noticed that the crypts come out a little pale, green at the veins, but much lighter coloured towards the edges. The are Cryptocoryne parva and Cryptocoryne retrospiralis in the tank, both showing similar deficiency symptoms.  Did anyone else notice this with ADA dirt?