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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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#8 ·
This is my first CO2 system so i'm a little unexperienced but I think its great. It holds the bubble rate very consistent. I have no complaints. It was easy to set up and it is working well. I've hear from a few others who have had it a while and they really like it.

really nice set up, this thing is gona thrive!
Thanks, I hope it grows in pretty good.
 
#10 ·
No pictures but still an update. I added some purigen and the yellow water is fading. It is almost back to the first pics I posted. Added two Amano shrimp tonight.

The water is testing 0,0,5. Going to let the tank settle with the danio and the amanos for a little bit before adding the real fish.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I'm going through a bad diatom new tank syndrome issue right now. Diatoms are hitting me good, but the two spots of BGA are gone now. Besides that I'm just patiently waiting for the UG to transition to submersed. It is starting to grow a bit. The danio jumped. Going to put in a single otto to help with the diatoms.

Still throwing around ideas for fish. I'm thinking Scarlet Badis, Emerald Dwarf Rasbora or Bumblebee goby. I want a fish with some personality and brains. I'd go for the badis but i'm not sure I want to deal with feeding. I do have frozen bloodworms though.
 
#18 ·
A lot has happened. The UG started to transition and grow pretty good. Then I went on vacation for 9 days. I left a family member in charge and it didn't turn out so well. The UG had lots of diatoms on it and was dying off. I'm not sure what it was that it was wanting. Every day I was finding more and more pieces on top of the water. That gold old fast so I tore the ultra sensitive UG out. I realized that I didn't take enough pics, but here are the two I did have when it was starting to go well. Sorry about the cup, these are the only pics I have. And the glass needed scraped badly also.





So now the tank is the same minus the UG. It looks pretty bare. I have been growing some Eleocharis Belem emersed so I threw a few pieces in to see if they would transition well. I'd really like to get a belem carpet in this tank, especially with no trimming. I also like the grassy, wild look of it. It grows well for me emersed, hopefully it does good in the tank. I'm also throwing around ideas of blyxa in the back or a super bright stem like rotala butterfly. This is a photo from manini on here, when he was selling it on here.



Currently I have a bumblebee goby in there, an otto and one fire red male. Still looking for a scarlet badis locally. Its too hot to risk shipping right now. Yes, Ben my female jumped ship along with my amanos while I was on vacation. I need to get another female from you. Not sure what caused that, something went wrong, maybe too much co2. My drop checker was running bright yellow all day long. My fish would be spinning circles in the evening barely hanging on. I recently turned down the co2 a bit and now its yellow/green at the beginning of the photoperiod and bright yellow at the end of the photoperiod. As you can see in the pics, I'm getting some GDA, not sure how to deal with that.

Oh and my other gripe. My water is still going yellow fast from the aquasoil. Its clear after a waterchange but within a day its back to the yellow tint. I can tell that it takes longer to turn yellow each week after waterchanges.

Any advise on the GDA? I think I will try the wait it out for 10-20 day thing, if it keeps coming back. Anyone had success with E. Belem? I will post udated pics tomorrow.
 
#20 ·
Sometimes a clean, blank slate is nice:



Along with a little Eleocharis Belem and some dirty lily pipes. The belem started to grow right away when I put it in submersed. I wonder if this plant is going to transition at all. I'm still contemplating blyxa or some rotala in the back.
 
#29 ·
Hey Dollface I know you are the UG Expert but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. I've been growing the UG that I purchased from you with just a 13w otto pc light and no co2 in my 3 gallon tank. Personally I find the only thing UG really likes/needs is cold water. If your water temp gets too warm it starts to melt. Just my observation take it for what its worth........nothing....lol

Couesfanatic I do think you'll be happier with the Belem. UG is beautiful but a pain to maintain and I find no matter what I do it always uproots it self and requires re-planting.

Good luck with the new scape!
 
#27 ·
Dollface, thanks. I think you are right. Hopefully the belem will carpet for me. The little bit I have right now is growing well.

Ben,
No more submersed UG for me. I just want to grow a carpet. This is my first time with pressurized and I want to grow something well. I do have emersed Belem also. Not much of it though. My UG is emersed.
 
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