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ADA Mini M-Shut down and for sale

54K views 214 replies 48 participants last post by  Couesfanatic 
#1 · (Edited)
This will be a picture journal and learning process with my ADA Mini M. Feel free to give advice, even if it is stubbornly not taken! I will appreciate it. This is my first time with a Dry Start and a first time with CO2. I have been doing a dry start with 2 square inches of UG and two months later decided to add a bit more. So this is a 3 month dry start, if you want to call it that. I am using 50% RO and 50% Tap. The Tap water is very hard, with a 7.8 ph. I will be dosing EI dry ferts daily.

Supplies:
ADA Mini M tank
ADA Solar Mini Light
ADA Aquasoil 1 Powder
Eheim 2213
GLA Paintball Regulator
GLA Atomic inline diffuser
Cal Aqua 13mm nano lily pipes
Rumford Aquatic Tools
Hydor Inline Heater
GLA Dry Ferts
Yamaya Stone

Flora:
UG
Possibly Rotala Indica or Rotala Butterfly later on

Fauna:
Currently-1 Zebra Danio
Future Residents are:
Danio Erythromicron (Emerald Dwarf Rasbora) 4-6 of them
1 Amano Shrimp

Dry Start with supplies that have all arrived:



Filled:





Gotta Love ADA:



And also thanks to ADA, here is my Mountain Dew Water, caused by tannins. The water is very clear, but has the tea or Mountain Dew Color to it. It has been very clear the whole time but within a few hours of filling it started to turn yellow. I'm doing 50% water changes daily to hopefully beat this tannin garbage. I plan on picking up some Purigen. Not sure if that will help though:



I'm not sure when to start dosing EI. I think I am going to wait a bit and see what this water does. UG doesn't require a lot of ferts and I do have aquasoil.
 
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#30 ·
Yep, UG will always uproot and replanting is next to impossible. I've found this out the hard way and had to rip out my entire carpet. It's a beautiful plant initially, but not intended for long-term (no one on the internet has managed to for more than a couple of months). I think the shine has about worn off this plant.

Belem or HC will look great in this.
 
#36 ·
I'm not sure what you mean, but..

Its yamaya stone. I got it at aquatouch. They sell it for 4 dollars a pound I think. But I paid nothing.

I like the rocks and think they are nice. I personally can't stand the rocks with lots of big holes on them. Doesn't look natural to me.
 
#38 ·
A little bit of an update. I gave away the bumblebee goby when I picked up a scarlet badis. I finally found this little fish at a LFS. I'm still looking for a female badis. All my shrimp jumped, so I only have the otto and the scarlet badis. I probably need more cover for the shrimp to feel comfortable.

The Belem is growing in well, most all the algae is gone, just getting a little bit of hair algae. I let the water go a little low for the last week, which I think lowered my co2 level which started the tiny bit of hair algae. I'll be keeping the water higher up now. Tank pics:





Scarlet Badis pics:



 
#40 ·
What I thought was the beginning of hair algae, was just GDA. I'm trying the three weeks of waiting method. I haven't scraped the glass for two weeks. (And its killing me) The hairgrass is still growing good but has GDA on it. One more week and I can clean the glass. If that doesn't do it then I will be trying adding Mg, Epsom Salt.

Badis is eating frozen brine shrimp and little worms I have in the substrate.
 
#41 ·
update time. All is well and things are growing in. All I have in the tank is the scarlet badis. E Belem and regular hairgrass. All from 2 peices of grass. From the last pics on here it went to this:



And this is how it is now. I'm pretty happy with the way things are going. I have a problem with green water, which fades in the evening about 30 minutes before the co2 goes off, strange. Im gunna pick up a uv sterilizer. Things are growing in. Should I trim or let it keep going?:





 
#43 ·
Finally got out and got a uv sterilizer. Killed the green water and came home to a clear tank again. Some serious cleaning will be underway soon. Lily pipes and tubing will be cleaned, along with the eheim. I will be pulling the rocks out for a deep cleaning and putting them back in. I'm thinking about pulling out the regular hairgrass in the background. Anyone want it? I can't decide if I want to keep it or not. I want the E. Belem to grow in nice and thick.

 
#49 ·
Little update. I pulled the regular hairgrass and sold it. I'm moving soon so I pulled the rocks and let the Belem grow. Sold the belem and now its getting torn out and the tank will be coming down for a few weeks and a move. I will be setting it up in a few weeks with the new Aquasoil. Thinking about doing new rocks(Unzan Stone) and CPD's.





 
#55 ·
Well, here are some terrible pics, just a preview. Heres the new mini s. Just threw some rocks in there, not placed quite yet. I want to do lots of moss. I want to cover the rocks similar to something like this:
http://www.barrreport.com/showthrea...-Aqua-Forest-and-nice-low-PAr-values-who-knew

I wish I could find some stainless lily pipes for this tank.


The mini M is second. Still dealing with yellow stained tannin water from the Aqusoil. Blyxa and E. Belem in there. Still trying to decide if I want to do all moss in the Mini S or if I want to try the belem in there. Also thinking about throwing a black background on the S.
 

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#58 ·
I love your tank, but what made you decide to start over? Is the Mini M just such a small canvas to work with that it's easy to get bored with the landscape, or is it more about perfecting the process (i.e., less algae, faster growth, etc.)? I ask because I've recently started a Mini M, and I've seen members like you and Fat Guy achieve beautiful results only to decide to tear your tanks down and start over. I guess what I'm wondering is whether there's more to the story, or if it's really just about moving on.
 
#59 ·
I tore the tank down because I moved across the country. But I have seen what you are talking about. I think its difficult to leave the tank alone. Its just part of the hobby that we enjoy to move things around and always be tinkering with things in the tank.

Part of it may be just mastering certain plants or styles. Its also nice to rescape when you make money off the plants.
 
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