ADA Mini M: Iwagumi (56K)

[ad3hybrid]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum so let me introduce a little bit about me. Well, I from Malaysia but currently studying in a college here in United States (Rochester, NY). This is not my first time setting up a nano tank. Before this I've made 3-4 layouts and I learned new things each time. But I'm still far away to become an expert though.

So, here is the tank before I put in all the plants, HC and Hairgrass:





At first, the color of the stones looked about the same, but after I filled in the water, they showed their 'true colors', which was kinda disappointing.. but nevermind, I don't have much choices though.





After 6 weeks of waiting, the tank looks like this:





I trimmed the plants twice during the interval. There are no serious algae problem except some GSA on the glass. And this is how the tank currently looks like (18/12/11):





And other photos that I would like to share :














Specs:

- ADA Mini M (approx 5.5 US gallons)
- Archae 27W lighting (I used another 20W CFL lighting for rapid growth, now removed))
- Finnex PX-360 canister filter
- Fluval CO2 88g kit
- ADA Amazonia New (Powder type)
- plants: Hemianthus callitrichoides, Eleocharis acicularis
- Fauna: Cherry shrimps, 4 young guppies

[Couesfanatic]

Nice Job! Looks very clean and healthy. Be ready for that hairgrass to take over.

[Fat Guy]

welcome to the forum. Looks very cool. plants look very healthy. that's a crazy co2 diffuser setup you've got going there.

[TrueAdrian]

great job, love it.

[sayurasem]

nice hc! mine just dont want to grow lol.

[jkan0228]

Wow! Very nice.

[Optix]

/expert

[Tanman19az]

How do you have your Fluval CO2 setup? I may want to do that with mine so hopefully you can give me some pointers. TIA

[ad3hybrid]

Thank you for the nice words

I'm well aware about the hairgrass. I could put some plastic barrier to control its growth but I prefer this way because it look more natural. At the moment, I just snip off any hairgrass growing at unwanted spots. Lets see how long it will take until it become uncontrollable..hmm

@Tanman19az, this is my first time using pressurized CO2 setup, so I'm not sure if I can give you much information with my limited experience. Before this I used DIY CO2 setup until I realized that it is difficult to control CO2 supply in tank using DIY setup. So I switched to this Fluval CO2 and it turned out pretty well. This kit uses manual regulator, so if you might find it difficult to turn it on and off on time. The regulator knob is easy to adjust and the CO2 bottle also last quite long. I have not change the bottle since I use it and that is about 4weeks now. I adjust the rate to about 1 bubble per 2 seconds for 6hours when I turn it on and that is between after an hour the light on and an hour before light off. I also add 1ml of Seachem Flourish Excel everyday. I don't know if this method is enough but my drop checker does not turn yellow and my HC are pearling everyday and grow pretty fast so I assume it is enough. You also might want to use other diffuser and bubble counter because the one that come with the kit is ugly, in my opinion.

[radioman]

I like it. Someday I will take the time to scape my tanks.

[h4n]

Nice and simple!! Love it

[shrimpnmoss]

Classic. So simple and so nice.

[jamesdson]

wow that's one of the best iwagumi i've seen in mini m

[donbeezy]

awesome, looking to do something similiar to that. im new to this.. whats the bubble thing inside the tank on the left side near the filtration system?

[mcqueenesq]

Great job! I love it.