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frrok's ADA MINI-M - A Slice of Nature --What has a Begininning must Have an End.

64K views 352 replies 40 participants last post by  frrok 
#1 · (Edited)
***Latest Update 11/13/2012*** ---(photo taken in late October)



I've broken down my 3.5 and set up this mini-m that I got for xmas. took me all day and was a lot of work. I didn't realize how many plants i had and with such thick roots! took out my fish and shrimp and placed them in a bucket with a heater and airstone. removed plants and substrate. I kept some of it for later. i was planning on re-using the tank but it broke while i was clean it out outside. its a cheapo acrylic tank from petco so that wasn't surprising. anyway, here are some pics of the set up stages in my tank. For substrate I layered, eco - complete on the very bottom, some of the old dirt and gravel mix from the old tank, then MGOCPM(dirt), filled it black beauty blasting sand then a light coating of fine black gravel or sand from substratesource.com. I really like this gravel as it has a nice dark color and is soft. easy to plant in. the black beauty has some brown mixed in. anyway, layed out my hardscape with Manzanita wood and black lava rock. then planted and filled. i am currently running a red sea nano filter but planning on swapping it out with a zoomed 501 with acyrilc lily pipes that are currently running on my 10g. i will get a powerhead for that tank soon. right now i have the tank filled and planted, i am going to test water today and if everything is cool i will add the fish and shrimp back to the tank. here are some pics of the process. thanks for looking and let me know what you think. any advice would be appreciated. Although, this is far from the final result i am happy with it how it looks. def planning on adding more crypts possibly. This tank will be lo-tech for now.

here is the list so far. ---updated 7/15
fauna
2 male black bar endlers
13 sakura grade red cherry shrimp
2 Amano shrimp

flora
Rotala rotundofolia
Ludwigia sp. 'red'
Bacopa caroliniana
Sagittaria subulata
Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java Moss)
mini xmas moss
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'red'
Cryptocoryne petchii
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'mi oya'
javern fern "needle leaf"
Mini-pellia
suberwassertang

Hardscape
Manzanita Wood
Black Lava Rock

Equipment
Zoomed 501
Tom's 13w perch light fixture with 6500k cfl bulb( may upgrade later)
archaea mini heater


break down

this is before i added the black sand on top. just bb, looks good.

substrate


hardscape

notice more subdued black sand coating

closeup hardscape


planting

all filled

full shot - next day

I also shot some video documenting the progress, check it out here, http://www.youtube.com/user/frrok1/feed
 
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#4 ·
I put all the fish and shrimp back in the tank along with some floating plants, frogbit,duckweed,salvinia and a bit of hornhirt to suck up an ammonia leaching from the soil. Still contemplating adding more crypts. My one crypt is already melting as I suspect it would have. shrimps have settled in nicely as you can see from the attached pic. :) let me know what you think. Any ideas on how I can extend this light to make it more centered ?
 

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#5 ·
Went on vacation and this tank sort of took a dive. Came home to a shutdown filter, low water level, diatoms everywhere,fungus on driftwood and dead and dying plants. :( Fish are ok. Probably lost a couple of shrimps but some seem to have grown bigger and redder. Still need to get in there and clean it up tho. Will post pics soon. Def not doing the ADA justice. Haha... Feels good to be back.
 
#6 ·
HEre is the latest on this tank. I did a bit of cleanup today. Change about 3/4 of the water and cleaned up as much gunk as I could. There is still some brown on the glass. Going to pick up an oto or two and a small Amano if I could find any. I also added a rock behind the wood. What do you guys think? Here is a before the rock and after rock below: My plan is to trim down the rotala and have it regrow bushy behind the rocks and wood. A lot of the sag melted off but there is new growth. There still is some dying plant matter and fungus. I will clean it out little by little. Shrimp seem to love chowing down on it tho. I will also eventually replace hob filter with my zoomed and lily pipes. And I'm hoping to hide the heater with more plant growth. Please let me know what you think.
 

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#12 · (Edited)
1/30 update. Tank is cleaning up slowly. Added three oto's and two died already :(. Got them from Chinatown and I knew something was up. A lot of them didn't look so great but I took a chance. I also grabbed an Amano shrimp. He is doing a great job cleaning up algae and fungus from the driftwood. Planning on adding some more crypts and needle leaf java fern. If anyone has any, please pm me. Can't find it anywhere. Tank still has a brown tinge but I'm confident I can take care of that with time. I ran some carbon for a few days and that def helped clean the water along with water changes. This is almost ready for a trim. Waiting on some stems to reach the surface. Here is the latest pic. Thanks for looking.


1/30 update
 
#15 ·
Thanks to inka4041 I now have some needle leaf! Looks awesome. Can't wait until it settles in. But its looking good already. He also hooked me up with some mini pellia(riccardia). As evidenced by the plastic mesh on the lava rock. I completely botched trying to stick in in the crevices of the lava rock. A lot of it floated off and spread throughout the tank. I know it grows slow so I am going to have to deal with looking at plastic on the rock for awhile until it covers it. Sorry for the crappy pic. We just got a new canon G12 so I will hopefully be posting better quality pics soon. Once I figure it out. ;)
 

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#20 ·
picked up some Ludwigia sp. 'red' from darkoon. this guy has got killer plants! beautiful red color with broad leaves. I've read that it does well in low tech so I am hoping it stays somewhat red. Let me know what you think about the addition of color? I put it next to the bacopa for contrast. slowly but surely this layout is coming together. I still want to add some crypts but funds are low so I have to do this slowly. Also, testing out some manual functions in my g12, this is somewhat of a dark shot but I think I am getting the hang of it.


ludwigia sp. 'red' added. by frroK, on Flickr
 
#25 ·
Completed a major trimming today. I cut back all my stems plants in order to promote more bushy growth. I added some potassium and trace to help give the plants a little boost. I am hoping the plants bounce back well and start producing offshoots in about a week or two. Since this is still low-tech it will probably tank that long. Posted before and after. check it>>>
Pre-trim

3/1/2012 by frroK, on Flickr
HAck!

3/2/2012 by frroK, on Flickr
 
#29 ·
Not the best shot but as you can see the crypt 'red' had started to take off. It is growing a little too high for my tastes. Do crypts grow more compact under high light and co2? Anyway, stems plants are slowly recovering from my massive trim. Can't wait to start with co2 on this thing but unfortunately I won't be able to get everything I need for a couple of months.
 

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#35 ·
4/1
Haven't had much time to do maintenance. Working a lot. Things are ok. Do see some hair algae. It's probably cuz my filter keeps clogging cuz of the sponge prefilter. The flow is reduced quickly and I have to clean it out every 3 days or so. Can't wait to get a canister. Quick iPhone shot.
 

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#36 ·
I'm slacking big time. My plants are growing but I seriously need to wipe the glass and do a water change. I have noticed a dead shrimp here and there. A bit worried that I have too many fish in this tank. Currently have 5 endlers and an Otto. Plus the shrimpies. My GF and are moving into a bigger place soon so hopefully when I get settled there I will set up my paintball C02 and get this tank going proper. To do list
-paintball Co2 canister
-diffuser
-drop checker
-co2 tubing
-GLA paintball regulator with solenoid. $$ I know but I need to put the co2 on a timer.
-plants: crypt petchii, stauro repens and mini micro sword.
-new stand (cheapo target special)

Should be a half day of work for me tomorrow so I'm looking forward to getting some maintenance done and getting a good shot. ...unless there are waves then I'll be going surfing. But I live in nY and its usually notoriously flat. Not that any of you really care. Hahaha. Well maybe fat guy.
 
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