Peter's Low-Tech Mini-M HC & Glosso DSM

[PeterN1986]

After 3 weeks:


After 4 weeks:


I cheated a little and bought a small pot of HC for $6 at my LFS on Sunday. I broke it up in small clumps and planted the gaps so that it will carpet faster. I'm going to give it a week or two to set up its roots, then flood.


The glosso is sending out runners OVER my HC. I had to pick a couple of them out and move them to the side. I can see the this being an issue down the line, but for now I'm going to let it slide.

When I flood, should I flood with tank water I siphon out of my 20g, or use straight up tap? I have the Aquaclear 20 running on my 20g for about 2 weeks now, so that should have established mulm and bacteria. Would that be enough? I also plan on adding some cabomba, anacharis, and sunset hygro as fast growing stem plants to suck up any initial nitrates and ammonia, and maybe even some floaters.

[lamboozle]

I'm looking forward to seeing this tank flooded. I'm eyeing the same setup as you, but debating between the FugeRay or the Ray II.

[PeterN1986]

Originally Posted by lamboozle

I'm looking forward to seeing this tank flooded. I'm eyeing the same setup as you, but debating between the FugeRay or the Ray II.

I got a 24" Ray2 for my 20H non-CO2 tank and had to mount it up like 8" because I was getting algae issues. The Ray2 is definitely a lot of light, probably ideal if you are going to have CO2 to balance the light output with.

[Brian_Cali77]

Wow never thought of a Fugeray to carpet HC. I always thought it was good for just low to moderate light plants. I have the Ray 2 over my GLA 6g (mini m size) with HC but light is suspended. I wonder if the HC will still thrive with the Fugeray after you flood the tank? Subscribed.

[PeterN1986]

Week 5 update:






I added cuttings of like 10 stems of sunset hygro, some cabomba, pennywort, and anacharis. Will flood tomorrow and add floaters and the AC20. Then I will let it run, maybe do small water changes before the weekend. I'm going home to NYC this weekend and hopefully the LFS in Chinatown has the Sundadaino Axelrodi that I want. Right now, I have a good amount of those tiny white nematoad looking things wiggling around the glass and eco.

I plan on dosing Excel and Flourish once a week, as well as tiny amounts of KNO3 and KH2PO4.

[Fuze]

HC is looking great, nice tank!

If you're referring to Pacific in Chinatown, take a look at the Phoenix rasboras they have right now. They are tiny, and would look great in that tank.

Can't wait to see this flooded.

[PeterN1986]

Originally Posted by Fuze

HC is looking great, nice tank!

If you're referring to Pacific in Chinatown, take a look at the Phoenix rasboras they have right now. They are tiny, and would look great in that tank.

Can't wait to see this flooded.

Yeah, I am referring to Pacific on Delancey. My first time there was during the last swapmeet a month ago. Were you there too that day? Phoenix rasboras def do look nice!

[Couesfanatic]

It's been a few weeks, how is it going?

[PeterN1986]

So it has indeed been a few weeks now. I flooded the tank on Friday the 8th. BUT, I had to travel ALL of the following week for work, and it was urgent so I did not anticipate being away from the tank for a full week after flooding. Unfortunately, my co-workers did not know to top off my tank, so my water level evaporated to maybe half. Plus, I did not have the extension tube on the Aquaclear filter; just a sponge at the top of the inlet, so the filter was not taking any water in and thus the water was stagnant for probably 3-4 days . I got back in the office this past Monday the 18th to quite a mess. Lots of different types of algae. I went out and got two large snails, two otos, and managed to catch two RCS's from my 20g on Tuesday. They have been doing a great job so far clearing the algae. Not 100% yet, but definitely seeing a difference. The bellies of the otos look fat and round, which is great. One of the snails is very active, but the other one is a lazy p.o.s. I also started 1mL daily doses of Excel to combat the algae. Have not dosed any Flourish or KHsPO3 or KNO3 yet. I don't want to provide the algae with even more nutrients.

Also, my water is tea colored from the driftwood tannins. I have been changing out 1 gallon per day this week to hopefully eventually clear that out. I read the long thread by Frank W. about his Mini-M setup and he mentioned that bamboo charcoal would be the best thing to use, especially over carbon. There is a Container Store by me in Cherry Hill that sells these small bamboo charcoal packs that I will cut up this weekend and put in some mesh or panty hose into my filter and clear up the water.


As you can see, the HC looks pretty beat up from the algae. Hopefully it recovers at least somewhat.


One of the shrimps, and you can see all of the nasty algae types. They are just small-ish patches that should be able to be kept under control by the shrimp/snails/otos.


Glosso is doing pretty okay; not much algae on any of them, and I think they are even still spreading out.


I put in some sunset hygro cuttings since they are fast growing stem plants and I wanted them to out-compete the algae from the start. Plus, the red looks really nice. They don't turn anywhere close to this red in my 20g, and that is with a Ray2 suspended 8" above the top. Remember, this is just a 14" Fugeray.


Full tank shot. You can see the floaters at the top looking kind of ugly. They are there to suck up any ammonia in the water that maybe has outgassed form the soil, without competing for CO2 with the HC or glosso.

So yeah, this is after 8 weeks. Trying to do little changes, nothing drastic and will adjust accordingly. I think it will look good eventually.

[Couesfanatic]

Wow that moss is awesome. This will look fantastic once that carpet grows in. You should get a glass lid. I've left my tank with an ADA lid for 2 weeks. It evaporated down only an inch or two.

keep up it, theres a lot of potential here.

[acitydweller]

excellent progress here. nice work!

[PeterN1986]

Thanks for the comments guys

Couse, I agree, the moss is awesome. It's real lush and the RCS's love it. The driftwood sticks up and like 2" higher than the top of the tank, so a regular rectangle glass lid won't work; I'd have to have it cut out to accommodate the driftwood. I might be curious to see if any glass mfr.in Queens or Chinatown can cut it for me, since I do have the 4 metal lid clips that came with the tank. Albert, do you know any places that could custom-cut glass?

[kingjombeejoe]

The tank is looking real good, especially that moss. That is actually the first time I've ever seen or heard of sunset hygro. I'm definitely going to have to get my hands on some.

I don't know how set you are on glass for the lid but you can go to home depot and buy a piece of clear plastic and cut it yourself. Its pretty easy to do and cheaper than getting someone to cut a custom shaped hole in glass. If you would rather use glass you can also just use a diamond bit and drill a hole big enough for the wood to fit through.

[PeterN1986]

Nothing much new here...just an overall picture of the tank on my desk. I put in a sack of bamboo charcoal yesterday. I plan on just leaving it in there for a couple months, then recharging it in sunlight, then putting it back in, instead of the tiny ceramic blocks that came with my AC20. I'll also put my Purigen back in after I recharge it.

Shrimp and snail(s) and otos are doing their thing. The algae is still there, but on some clumps of HC. Will hold off on the daily water changes for now, since I have the bamboo charcoal in place, and since I have started daily Excel and alternating-days Flourish and KNO3-KH2PO4 ferts. The HC and glosso leaves are yellow, and some of the sunset hygro leaves have small holes. I'll be keeping a close eye on the leaves to see the effects of my dosing.


My boss kept asking me when I would be getting fish and he printed out all those goldfish and put it behind my tank to prank me.

I know the water is still a little brown. Is it good to have at least some tannins in the water?

[tropicalmackdaddy]

Wow! Very pretty! This is my favorite mini M yet
Im very surprised by how tidy you java is growing, especially in low tech! Or is it just because it is still in it's emersed form? Either way very beautiful!