ADA Mini M: Iwagumi (56K)

[ad3hybrid]

@donbeezy, it's a CO2 drop checker for monitoring CO2 level in my tank. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it really helps me controlling the CO2 level.

[jkan0228]

Originally Posted by ad3hybrid

@donbeezy, it's a CO2 drop checker for monitoring CO2 level in my tank. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it really helps me controlling the CO2 level.

It can only be used as a reference, pretty in accurate but gives you an estimate. The bad thing about it is that it takes a decent amount of time to change color. When something's gone wrong, such as an end of the tank dump, by the time the drop checker has changed color, your fish are almost dead.

[76white02]

what kind of rocks are those and where did you get them if I may ask.

[gus6464]

Wow that is an amazing tank

[Chucker]

Hey, nice tank there, neighbor. Are you at UofR or RIT?

[sayurasem]

Originally Posted by 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.

dude after 6 weeks like that, what other things you dose? like any ferts? root tabs?

[CmLaracy]

very nice mini

[ad3hybrid]

Thank you for looking. I appreciate all the nice words. I'm sorry of this late reply as I just returned from conference in Las Vegas for a week. My tank currently looks very awful because of serious evaporation, and other problems. I will report about this later.

@76white02, the rocks are Seiryu stones from Aquaforest. I'm not really satisfied with the stones they sent to me because most of the stones have ugly textures or shapes. Only 1 stone (the main stone in my tank) has the desired texture and shape just like what you can see in Takashi Amano tanks. My advice is, make sure you contact them personally and tell them precisely what kind of stones you want. Of course that depends on availability.

@Chucker, I'm at RIT. Are you nearby?

@Sayurasem, I dose 0.5ml of Seachem Iron and Flourish every other day and 1ml of Seachem Potassium every day. Sometime I forgot the dosing during exam weeks.

[acitydweller]

hi ad3hybrid, i noticed the tank is using an oversized Fluval CO2 kit rated for 15-40 gallons. Did that adversely affect your PH or were you able to maintain it by manually adjusting the flow? I'm planning to build out a 4 gallon soon and looking at CO2 as well.

[ad3hybrid]

Hi acitydweller, I don't have any kit for testing the pH in my tank so I don't really know if there is any pH swing. I just rely on CO2 drop checker in the tank but this is not an accurate method. Yes, the flow can be adjusted manually by turning a knob on the regulator and adjust it to your preferred bps, as for me, a bubble per 2 seconds.

[ad3hybrid]

Just some updates, nothing much has changed. My tank seems to progress smoothly after recovered some algae attack which I think not very serious. Only green algae was spotted on the glass especially at the back and on the glass diffuser. Algae growth in between HC at the front glass is yet to be removed because I'm still figuring out what method should I use. I was thinking to remove some portion of HC near the glass wall, removed the algae, and let the HC growth again. or Any suggestion?

The only sad news is that one of the fish was found dead and became dried fish. Now I'm thinking to add some glowlight tetras but I never had experience with this fish. Will they harm the shrimps? There are some new baby shrimps in the tank and I'm worried about them become prey to the fish.

So here is the picture of tank:


Still learning to take good pictures...


Baby shrimp, but this one has grown a bit:


I love to watch my tank from this angle:


Regards

[FlyingHellFish]

This is exactly what I want my next tank to be.

Do you find the Co2 kit to be costly with the replacement cans? If one 88g last you for one month, then down the line, you will end up paying for a full Co2 kit.

Space is my main concern and I was thinking of buying a regulator and using paintball. Do you turn off the kit at night to save Co2?

Great scape by the way, love the carpet.

Oh, forgot to ask, how did you do that ripple effect? Do you just add a drop of water then took the pic?

[ad3hybrid]

Originally Posted by FlyingHellFish

This is exactly what I want my next tank to be.

Do you find the Co2 kit to be costly with the replacement cans? If one 88g last you for one month, then down the line, you will end up paying for a full Co2 kit.

Space is my main concern and I was thinking of buying a regulator and using paintball. Do you turn off the kit at night to save Co2?

Great scape by the way, love the carpet.

Oh, forgot to ask, how did you do that ripple effect? Do you just add a drop of water then took the pic?

Thank you About the CO2 kit, yes, it is costly if count it like that. But I don't really mind about it because just like you, space constraint is really a problem to me. Another thing is, when I bought this kit, I was in hurry to replace my DIY yeast CO2 with a proper kit which I can control the CO2 supply more precisely. Paintball setup was definitely in my mind but due budget constraint at that time, I went for this Fluval kit. But now, I'm looking paintball kit with solenoid because this Fluval kit is difficult to adjust. Just a little bit tuning on the knob will cause huge difference in bps. But I don't think I will replace this kit with paintball soon. Still in consideration.

To save CO2, I turn it off an hour before light off and turn it on usually an hour after light on. Sometime later than that, depends on my schedule.

Another thing I want you to know, honestly, I haven't change the can since I started using it early November until now. So, it's almost 2 months already. I never expect each can will last this long, but yeah, this surprised me. However, when I was away for 11days, I set the bps to 1 bubble for every 5-6 seconds. Now, I set it to 1 bubble for every 2 seconds average. So, I don't know how to calculate how long each can will last. Maybe one day I will set up an experiment to test it, with more controlled variables.

I just drop some water using a liquid dropper after I set my camera on timer. The ripple effect was not nice, more like a UFO to me It will be better if use a hair dryer or anything similar.

Regards

[GhostRider]

The paintball kit isn't much different beside can size... Maybe find a way for two needle valves so you can have dual stage.. I've had mine for about a week still messing with it.. for some reason my bps slowly drops and i have to readjust every few hours? Still trying to figure out what thats about.. Also i have a home made bubble counter on mine and i bump the needle with tongs for very small adjustments. If i try to adjust with my hand i either blow the diffuser off or shoot all the water outta my counter. :/ maybe you could help me as well.

[ad3hybrid]

Hi!

Just wanna bring this thread up again as I'm going to post the final update of this tank.

I left this tank unchecked for almost 3 months during the summer. No CO2, no ferts, no proper trimmings. I just let a friend of mine who has no experience at all with tank keeping to take care of this tank (feed the fish, add water). After I returned from summer holidays, I was surprised to see the plants still growing, but in very poor conditions (lots of algae). Then I start again with all regular maintenance in hoping to see this tank shine again. So here is the result after more than a month of rehab:




I'm not going with all the details. You can see it yourself. So, this is it. I'm going to tear down this tank and come up with another scape using Sado-Akadama stones. Maybe I should start another journal, with more regular updates (senior year is much more relaxing than expected. haha).

Thank you!