[jazzlvr123]

hello its been almost 2 months since i moved out to Massachusetts and ive been aquarium-less ever since.

tonight i took the initiative and ordered a 60 gallon cube sapphire glass aquarium from glasscages.com
the dimensions of the tank i ordered are 24"x24"x25" so almost a perfect cube some of my favorite tanks are cube gardens so i decided to go that route.

my belief is that depth plays a very crucial role in the presentation of a successful aquascape, I have set up many tanks in my day and have made many mistakes, however i learn from every mistake i have made.

i plan on making this new scape my best yet, by buying the right equipment the first time and doing things correctly right from the get go. Tom barr has showed me that the better flow your tank has the healthier your plants will be via adequate nutrient distribution though the entire tank even in the areas of high plant density which is whyI have already ordered a 5 ply jebo cannister filter which has a flow of 396 gallons per hour giving the 60 cube 6.6 complete turnovers per hour.

I have also ordered a 24" 380W Metal Halide HQI and dual power compact VHO light fixture which will give my tank 6.3 watts per gallon.

my substrate choice will be ADA amazonian 1 powder form I plan to do an iwagami style rock formation using rocks collected from a local river with a very heavily sloped substrate so the back of the tank will be much higher than the front giving the tank a sense of depth.

total damage- about $650 dollars

my hard scape is going to be the biggest challenge as i want to make it very balanced yet subsequently very dynamic. I still have a lot of thinking and planning to do but i will post pics of my tank when it arrives in about a week or so. until then all I will be doing is collecting rocks and planning the best possible rock hard scape I can. any suggestions on how to improve my setup will be greatly appreciated Regards, Kyle

 

[jazzlvr123]

Can't wait to see it. I've been wondering how long we'd have to wait before your feet where wet again!

lol It wasn't going to be too long I was starting to get aquarium withdrawals

As well as your light fixture, Im sure you have some cool DIY mounting for it. No?

thanks for the kind words guys

as a matter of fact I do have a DIY plan for mounting this light, its what ive done on a couple of my tanks in the past, its kind of an ADA DIY ripoff.

I basically get two 3/4" poles bent at 90*, attach them to the back of the stand and suspend the fixture from the poles. you can see what I'm talking about in this picture.

its an old CRS tank of mine which i did the same thing to:

 

[jazzlvr123]

thanks for the comments everyone I have done some serious thinking and I found a local tank builder to make me a 24" cube instead of glasscages this guys a real pro he showed me some of his tanks and the trim and edge work and it is flawless. he has a way of bonding the tanks glass panels to make them look like there is no silicone at all.

I also decided to go extra fancy and use starphire glass panels on all 3 sides except for the back panel

I will be paying significantly more for a 24" cube from this guy than from glasscages ($800 rather than $300 from GC) but i think the end product will be well worth it. I also have decided to ditch the cannister filter and install an ocean clear module filter hooked up to a 1/8 horsepower pump giving my tank about 13 turnovers per hour, significantly more than my original plan.

I asked the guy i found to drill a hole in the bottom of the tank which serve and the ocean clears intake however the output will still be going over the edge via glass lilly pipe (im still concerned however if that fragile glass pipe can handle that much flow)

as far as the light is concerned i don't even plan to use the CFLs that come with the light all i really want to use is the 250w HQI but i couldn't find one that cheap that is HQI alone. so now after.

after my revisions it looks like my initial cost of setup (tank, light, stand, co2, filter, pump, plumbing etc) is now about $1300

funny how my vision of the "perfect" setup is also the perfect money trap

 

[jazzlvr123]

just got a call and my tank is ready for pickup tomorrow afternoon
*drool*
all this anticipation I cant wait to set my new tank up
my filter and light have been collecting dust for a month now lol

the longer i go without discus the more I want them again (heck i used to breed em) so im thinking of mAaking this a planted discus tank

 

[jazzlvr123]

just finished setting up the stand, lights, plumbing/filtration, Co2 and aquasoil This weekend.

I decided to go with an 380 watt fixture which includes a 250 watt HQI and two 65 watt compact florescent bulbs on either side of the metal halide. I hung the lights using a DIY ADA light fixture style setup Tom showed me using two 3/4" metal bars bent at 90* to hold the light up which connect to the back side of the stand looks really clean

I decided to run a 950 gph mag drive pump which sends the water though a tee which directs it in two different directions: one leads to an ocean clear 340 cannister filter and inline heater with a ball valve (to adjust pressure) and the other leads to a mazzei 384x injector for co2 which bypasses the cannister filter they then both reconnect and flow out of the bulkhead on the other side of the tank.

I remember tom talking about adding something to the mazzei to have it inject O2 when the co2 and lights are off but I have to go back and read up on it. so basically I'm looking at a fully setup 60 cube with nothing but aquasoil in it ATM.

I'm a bit surprised with myself as this is the cleanest looking setup I've ever done. now to work on the best part........ The Scape!! pic's coming soon

 

[jazzlvr123]

This is going to be great! I'm glad to hear you went for the OC's and hidden equipment on this tank. You will enjoy looking at plants and fish much more than heaters, filter outputs, CO2 equip. etc! I'm glad I did it on my 75.

I'm also glad you didn't order your tank from glass cages. I ordered my rimless 75 from them, there customer service is some of the worst I have seen and the silicone work was far from even par. Even with all that said, I would still buy from them soley because of their low prices...I really hate to say this. Also, I don't have any local tank builders here...in fact I don't think there is any in the midwest even.

I'm most excited to see this tank because I just had an itch the other day (more like a dream) to get a cube about this size. I can't wait to see it set up!

In case you haven't run across it, here is a thread I started about mazzeis and inline systems on TPT. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/72007-selecting-mazzei-co2-closed-loop-filtration.html
Also see my sig.
Matt

Actually I have I go under the name Kyle H on the planted tank and have been replying and asking questions on that thread.

I have a 284 x mazzei plumbed with my ocean clear on a bypass line already along with a 950 gallon per hour mag drive pump shooting water through I have yet to see it in action though. Ill keep yall updated. thanks for the comments

 

[jazzlvr123]

ill get some up this weekend! tanks for reading

 

[jazzlvr123]

well the tank is already plumbed, assembled and running I'm just waiting for plants. but heres some teaser shots of everything before it Was set up:
The tank

the stand I built myself:

the light

the other crap:

 

[jazzlvr123]

update: heres some pictures of the plumbing and door

 

[jazzlvr123]

four months and two thousand dollars after my first post the tank is FINALLY ready for planting:

the tank got three bags of ADA aquasoil

heres a couple updates I took put the little giant pump because of poor flow rate and replaced it with a Mag Drive 9.5 (950 gph) you can also see I split the co2 line on the mazzei so that one goes to co2 while the other goes to O2. this way when lights and Co2 are off the O2 gets injected into the tank helping the fish

the amount of Co2 misting in the Tank now is RIDICULOUS I was blown away to see my entire tank filled with tiny co2 bubbles. with the mazzei setup, inadequate co2 levels are now a thing of the past you can see the fine co2 mist in the pictures:

I have a wholesale order of plants coming from florida aquatic nurseries tomorrow morning so after four months of preparation Ill be planting this sucker in less than 8 hours

 

[jazzlvr123]

plants arrived and the tank is all planted now:

its not the final scape by any stretch of the imagination but its a start. Ill be swapping out and moving out some of the plants as the scape grows out the background plants need to grow out and I want to swap one of the species out with tonina belem once i can find some

comments welcome as always