Frank's Planted Tank How-To Mini Novel - The Mini S Returns! New Layout

[Francis Xavier]

Originally Posted by TheGuy

Frank did you find the small unzan was very buoyant

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Hmm, I never had an issue with it floating or anything. They are very light stones, and very porous.

[TheGuy]

I think it just wanted to give me a hard time. Would you be kind enough to tell me what page you went over dosing schedules ect. on for the mini m? I'm not sure how much of what is needed.

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[dr3ww3rd]

Originally Posted by Francis Xavier

A few of you now have asked me questions about the equipment list that I am running on this aquarium, and while I think that putting it up as the very first thing to do to get people to read a thread is in poor taste, it has become quite evident that you guys find the information valuable, whether that is to mimic the results or to find comparable products on the market.

So without further talk, here's the list:

It's all ADA proprietary:

Core:
Aquarium: Cube Garden Mini M
Lighting: Solar Mini M, Bulb: 27w Compact Flourescent, 8,000k.
Stand: Wood Cabinet Gun Metal Silver

Co2 & Distribution:
Co2 Advanced System (System 74-YA/ver. 2, Clear Parts Set, Bubble Counter (set includes more, but I had a few replacements)
Diffuser: Pollen Glass Mini
Metal Cap Stand
El-Valve (solenoid for automatic Co2 on/off)

Filtration:
Eheim 2211 (13mm inflow, 10mm outflow)
Clear Hose 10mm & 13mm
Lily Pipe Mini P-1 10mm (outflow)
Lily Pipe Mini V-1 13mm (inflow)

Filtration Media, Month 1:
Eheim Bio Rings
NA Carbon 750ml

Filtration Media, Month 2:
Eheim Bio Rings
Bio Rio 1L

Filtration Media, Month 4:
Bio Rio 2L (will end up being 1.5L in eheim 2211)
Tourmaline F

Substrate
Penac P
Penac W
Bacter 100
Clear Super
Tourmaline BC
Power Sand S 2L
Amazonia Powder Type 3L (for this slope, ended up being about 4.5L)

Maintenance Tools:
Maintenance Stand I
Pincettes S
Pincettes M
Sand Flattener
Pro Pincettes Spring (Curve Type)
Wave Scissors
Pro Scissors Short (Curve Type)
Pro Scissors Short (Straight Type)
AP Glass Feeder
AP-1 Fish Food

Fertilizers and Additives:
Week 1: Brighty K, Green Bacter
Week 2 to end of Month 3: Brighty K, Green Brighty Step 1, Green Brighty Special Lights (alternate Day 1 = Step 1, Day 2 = Lights, etc Brighty K everyday)


Month 3 onward: Brighty K, Green Brighty Step 2, Special Lights (see above for dosing)

Month 1 onward: ECA (iron, bacterial growth) once a week, 3 drops.

Fertilizer dosings are one squirt per day, by the end of the 2nd month this will likely be two squirts.

Green Bacter: after every water change, always.

Phyton Git: use when algae pops up
Green Gain: after trimming

Other Setup Tools:
Riccia Stones
Riccia Line
Moss Cotton
Lava Rock for moss attachment

Hardscape:
5 Manten Stones

Water Change Schedule:
First week = daily water change (50%-80%)
Second week = water change every other day (50%-80%)
Third week = water change every third day (twice) (50%-80%)
Fourth week onwards = once a week water changes, water change as needed due to algae.

Total time for water changes on a Mini M: 10 minutes
Likely Regime: draining about 10% of the water daily for extra aeration (~1-2 min)

Water Quality:
Pure RODI water, no additives.

Likely additional additives:

Seachem Excel, half capful daily after 2-3 week for a secondary source of carbon.

Co2 Distribution:
1 BPS first week
2 BPS second week
3-4 BPS onward, raise as needed.

Average Co2 cartridge lifespan:
4 weeks

P.S. if you've found these techniques valuable, help share the information with new comers by linking back here in your own journals when you use my techniques!

I think this is the post your looking for. It has most the info your looking for at the bottom of his post.

[Francis Xavier]

I'm not sure what page it was now - but to start 1 squirt of brighty k, 4-5 drops of green Bacter for the first week.

Second week onward step one 1 squirt and brighty k 1 squirt.

Increase dosage slightly as plants grow by your judgement.

[TheGuy]

Originally Posted by dr3ww3rd

I think this is the post your looking for. It has most the info your looking for at the bottom of his post.

Originally Posted by Francis Xavier

I'm not sure what page it was now - but to start 1 squirt of brighty k, 4-5 drops of green Bacter for the first week.

Second week onward step one 1 squirt and brighty k 1 squirt.

Increase dosage slightly as plants grow by your judgement.

Thanks guys.

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[Francis Xavier]

It's nasty....it's disgusting...it's often the result of neglect....it is algae!

It also just happens and there's just no getting around it. As one of the most common causes of frustration, it can easily drive you to a point of madness in it's eradication. However, when algae does happen, for any reason (maybe you had to go on vacation, maybe you just kept coming home tired and said "tomorrow I'll do a water change for sure," and life gets away from you), you have a choice: start over with a clean slate, give up on the aquarium thing all together, or, more preferably: solve the problem.

At the bottom of this post you'll see a pretty nasty picture. A shameful picture...one that should never happen in the picturesque world of the perfect planted aquarium seen in the pictures.

But, more often than not, the reality for most of us is it's something we've got to deal with at one point or another, and this is what this next series of posts is for. I'm going to show you how a terrible disaster will go to clean within 30 minutes and back to being on the path of beauty within 24 hours.

First, before getting into techniques of solving the problem, let me tell you how this tank got to this point so you can learn how to avoid the problem!

1.) I set the tank up, and three weeks in to it, I've only ever done one water change. Yep, just one.

2.) I dosed some potassium and special lights only a few times in the first week, then neglected the tank completely.

3.) I used pure RODI with no buffer at all and had no stones that add minerals to the water column, and barely any aqua soil, so there was nothing in the aquarium: the result? 2 days after tank setup the pH had no stability and the swings caused the moss to die off immediately and brown out.

4.) I didn't dose any Green Bacter or anything to help the beneficial bacteria get going, then probably killed a bunch of it trying to get established in the first week when I used tap water with no dechlorinator at the one water change I did do.

Without further ado, here's an extremely messy aquarium, one I will show you how to fix completely within 30 minutes and back to beautiful within 24 hours!


P.S. That's not mid water change - that's evaporated water levels!

[orchidman]

Now let's see how you fix it! My tank is going though the same thing! I literaly told myself yesterday "ugh I should probably just start over" but I really don't want to have to start over. I love the scape and want to get it back on track.

[bluestems]

I like that you allowed the tank to get like this as a teaching tool.

[Francis Xavier]

So the aquarium is out of hand and the task is to get it back to recovery. At the moment, it looks quite disheartening and you're unsure if it is even worth trying to recover it.

Fortunately, in this case here, the problem is much easier to deal with than it looks. The algae that has formed in this initial period and has been allowed to get out of control is a soft, green filamentous algae and diatoms (brown). Congealed together it looks nice and nasty and boggy though!

That being said, this kind of algae, left unresolved, often helps lead to more complicated algae types later. We've also got this nice little issue at the top of the aquarium where what looks like some kind of fungus is growing from the evaporated water levels, and there's hard water stains everywhere.

We're going to fix 90% of the problem within 30 minutes.

Step 1

Turn the filter and co2 off and Remove all that glassware from the tank!


algaediffuser by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

The diffuser taken off!


lilypipeadd by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

The inflow pipe


outflowpipe by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

The outflow pipe.

Now, add one capful of Superge to a Clean Bottle (bleach can also be used, though Superge has a polishing agent for glass added to it, so it's up to your preference) :


onecapsuperge by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

Then follow up by adding all three pieces of glassware into the Clean Bottle, shutting the lid and put it off to the side for a little while (20 minutes)


placeglassinsuperge by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

It's very important here that we sanitize the glassware from algae at this stage. Algae on the diffusion disc will make co2 delivery less effective, while algae in the inflow and outflow pipes will reduce flow. Additionally, if we were to clean the rest of the aquarium and leave these out, then we'd still have the unsightly algae on the glass in the aquarium. Besides the algae being unsightly, it will also provide a good place for the algae to recuperate and grow from - leading to another outbreak quicker.

Follow up to Step 1:

Remove the clear hose & filter tubing from the canister filter and place it to the side - we'll come back to that later. At this stage, drain water from the canister filter completely into a bucket.

Step 2:

It's time to tackle the algae! Use a Pro Razor Mini or other Razor blade and scrape the algae off the glass.


algaescrape by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

Use vertical strokes going up and down to thoroughly remove algae from the glass - follow this up with another round going horizontal to remove any troublesome algae that stays behind.

By looking at the glass in the aquarium from an angle, you can see exactly where the algae is.

For hard water stains, use the pro razor to scrape away the hard water, and using some of the aquarium water, rub it against the glass, this will help dissolve and remove the hard water stains from glass quickly.

Step 3:

Drain the aquarium completely - today we'll use a normal 10mm diameter hose to remove the water and remove heavy algae from the area. Stir up the sand with the pro razor to get any algae in the sand loose for removal with the hose.

Let the aquarium sit there for a moment while you tackle the next task.

Step 4:

Remove the glassware from the Clean Bottle while near a sink and run a spring washer through the glass pipes to remove any remaining algae. Rinse thoroughly in water and set them to the side. Use the spring washer to clean out the clear hose from the filter and thoroughly remove any built up algae in the tubing.

For the diffuser, simply rinse thoroughly under the sink until you can no longer smell a chemical odor coming from the glass. Bring these back to the aquarium with you!

Step 5:

Fill the aquarium back up with water, for nano size, typically a small pale (such as one you'd use to water plants) is sufficient - pour water over your hand or a plate slowly to prevent disrupting the substrate.

Once the aquarium is full with water, remove any remaining hard water stains (in this case with the aquasky light as well - running a microfiber cloth over the acrylic casing (separated from the light) removed water stains after an initial dipping into water).

The best technique at this point is to use your hand to rub the hard water stains around the rim, and follow up quickly with a towel or microfiber cloth to dry.

Step 6:

Place the filter & co2 back up, turn both on.

-Dose Brighty K
-Dose Green Bacter
-Dose Green Brighty Step 1

It's important at this stage to not hold back with your fertilization - as this primarily will only inhibit plant growth more than prevent algae growth. It is useful after this point to dose phyton git, which helps kill algae as a phystoncide. I've noticed that use of this product regularly as a preventative measure helps lesson the impact of algae outbreaks in general.

Aside from that, Day 1, 30 minutes later is complete and there will be one follow up water change tomorrow!


day1finished by Francis Wazeter, on Flickr

[orchidman]

Thatnks for the informative post!!! Is there anything I can do about BGA? It keeps coming back no matter what I do.

[Francis Xavier]

Originally Posted by orchidman

Thatnks for the informative post!!! Is there anything I can do about BGA? It keeps coming back no matter what I do.

Spreading Bacter 100 over the top, or dosing Arethra Myacin (spelling butchered there) will kill BGA.

Use an airline hose before hand to manually remove as much as possible before dosing. Then follow up with the Bacter 100 or Myacin.

Once you kill it once, it won't come back - but if you let it get infected to the root level, it is considerably more difficult to kill and will require repeat dosings and treatments.

[orchidman]

Originally Posted by Francis Xavier

Spreading Bacter 100 over the top, or dosing Arethra Myacin (spelling butchered there) will kill BGA.

Use an airline hose before hand to manually remove as much as possible before dosing. Then follow up with the Bacter 100 or Myacin.

Once you kill it once, it won't come back - but if you let it get infected to the root level, it is considerably more difficult to kill and will require repeat dosings and treatments.

Looks like Bacter 100 is out of stock on the ADG website..

Arethra Myacin- Would that be the same thing as Erythromycin? I actually think I have heard of people using it (in the form of pet-store-available Maracyn) for BGA before.

For the tank in question, I have DHG 'Belem' in low tech, so if it's growing, it's growing super slow. The only other plant really is Anubias barteri 'Micro' which also isn't a fast grower. Could that be my problem? That in my setup neither one is vigorous.

And it's also a constant battle with diatoms..

[Francis Xavier]

Originally Posted by orchidman

Looks like Bacter 100 is out of stock on the ADG website..

Arethra Myacin- Would that be the same thing as Erythromycin? I actually think I have heard of people using it (in the form of pet-store-available Maracyn) for BGA before.

For the tank in question, I have DHG 'Belem' in low tech, so if it's growing, it's growing super slow. The only other plant really is Anubias barteri 'Micro' which also isn't a fast grower. Could that be my problem? That in my setup neither one is vigorous.

And it's also a constant battle with diatoms..

Bolded words are the correct spellings, yes.

I would say that most of your issues are from the 'low-tech,' setup. It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that it's more difficult because of the variables at play. Things take much, much longer to balance out and problems can't be avoided from fast plant fill ins, so unless you have a huge bulk of plants to begin with, it's kind of like shooting yourself in the foot a little bit.

Not saying that over time you can't be successful, but that you would find many of these issues go away with the addition of a higher powered proper spectrum light and some kind of co2 injection. While I do not like yeast co2 solutions due to inconsistency, some kind of gaseous co2 addition is better than nothing.

[orchidman]

Originally Posted by Francis Xavier

Bolded words are the correct spellings, yes.

I would say that most of your issues are from the 'low-tech,' setup. It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that it's more difficult because of the variables at play. Things take much, much longer to balance out and problems can't be avoided from fast plant fill ins, so unless you have a huge bulk of plants to begin with, it's kind of like shooting yourself in the foot a little bit.

Not saying that over time you can't be successful, but that you would find many of these issues go away with the addition of a higher powered proper spectrum light and some kind of co2 injection. While I do not like yeast co2 solutions due to inconsistency, some kind of gaseous co2 addition is better than nothing.

Haha thanks!

I see.. I really am not a fan of yeast CO2 it's way too inconsistent. Do you think adding a floating plant or another type of plant that would grow quickly and basically be an excess nutrient "sponge" would help? Given my constraints of no CO2 and this low lighting that I have, what would you do? I would love to do Co2 and high light, but I simply cannot.

[Francis Xavier]

Adding floating plants would only further shade the layout and inhibit the growth of the plants underneath - if you were to add, I would add more plants that survive in the substrate.

The best thing to do is to keep up with the tank, use it as a learning exercise and start budgeting for a very basic Co2 system and light - it'll definitely earn you a lot of return on your dollar over time.