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

[frrok]

***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

[inka4041]

Looking good! I like the manzy piece a lot. Looks like a lot of us are working with that Pacific Aquarium black lava rock, lol.

[frrok]

Originally Posted by inka4041

Looking good! I like the manzy piece a lot. Looks like a lot of us are working with that Pacific Aquarium black lava rock, lol.

Thank you! I love the black lava rock, It's so nice. Light(one piece was actually floating!), easy to work with and has really nice character. It blends in so well with dark substrate too. It was well worth the $10.

[frrok]

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 ?

[frrok]

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.

[frrok]

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.

[frrok]

Here is a little video of my tank, let me know what you think. thanks for looking.
http://youtu.be/Jr5mMSBq6G0?hd=1

[A Hill]

This looks like it'll be a great tank when it fills in. It'll be a fun tank, I love the mini m size.

-Andrew

[frrok]

Originally Posted by A Hill

This looks like it'll be a great tank when it fills in. It'll be a fun tank, I love the mini m size.

-Andrew

Yea me to! Its has the perfect dimensions and footprint. Its truly amazing how clear the glass is. I was a bit of a sceptic but not anymore. I do however would like to get a proper stand for it in the future. I currently have it on top of a desk drawer. not the best place.

[Marconis]

Frrok, good to see you over here. I think this tank will be great.

[frrok]

Originally Posted by Marconis

Frrok, good to see you over here. I think this tank will be great.

Hey man. Thanks. It's slowly getting under control. Haha...

[frrok]

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

[inka4041]

Looking good! I have a few smaller clumps of needle leaf plantlets if you're having trouble finding it locally.

[frrok]

Originally Posted by inka4041

Looking good! I have a few smaller clumps of needle leaf plantlets if you're having trouble finding it locally.

That would be awesome! Pming u

[frrok]

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.