Dollface
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ADA Mini S or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hobby (Maybe).
So I'm gonna be frank with you guys, these past 6 months have sucked. I mean rolling-my-car-off-a-cliff kind of sucked. My passion for planted tanks had been waning prior, I had torn down my UG farm, stopped visiting the forums, but pulling a kickflip with my prius down a 50' embankment was the final straw. I sold all my tanks except for the 45-f, the true love of my aquaria life, and a 40 breeder that only managed to survive because taking it down would be more trouble than it was worth. I avoided the hobby for a few months, partly due to the crushing ennui it now inspired in me, but also because I got wrapped up in a new job. Then, one day a few weeks ago my mother uttered the fateful words that would see me being dragged kicking and screaming (Frank can attest to this) back in.
"I'd really like another small tank in my room." She said, staring at the 40 breeder ponderously.
(The "small tank" she was referring to was the old Mini-M that I had set up for her about 2 years ago as a birthday/mothers day gift, and had torn down in my great tank purge. She had lost interest in having it, I'd lost interest in caring for it, it's time had come)
I'm not going to lie, my initial reaction was something akin to this.
"But I'm out of the hobby!" I agonized to myself. "I don't want to deal with another tank!" "Well, maybe just a small one, if only I hadn't sold the mini-s..."
It's true, I had indeed sold the Mini-S, this exact Mini-S in fact, a few months back. I had waffled on the decision, but it came down to getting rid of either the -S or the -f, and the -f is going to win that battle every time. As fate would have it though, it turns out the guy I sold it to had never set it up, and graciously agreed to sell it back to me.
And with that, I had a tank.
I have a confession to make.
I hate manzanita. Absolutely abhor it. My back yard is nothing but manzanita for miles, it gets old. I hate scaping with it too, it's just so ... manzanita-y. Don't even get me started on the word "Manzy" either.
My mother, on the other hand, loves it. She specifically requested a tank with manzanita, and the scape that eventually became the mini-M went through about 4 different incarnations, all involving manzanita. I even asked my dad to make a custom ADA style stand with wood veneer stained to match, you guessed it, the color of manzanita.
So the prospect of setting up yet another tank with yet still more manzanita was, well, yeah.
"I hate manzanita" I bemoaned to Frank. (Yes, that Frank, ADG Frank. Why he still puts up with me, I don't know.) "I don't want to do another low tech with java ferns."
"So why don't you do an Iwagumi for yourself?"
All right, show us how it's done! Glad you survived your Toonces episode and glad you're back. I hope you find some peace in the water.
"But the 45-f is my tank."
"So set up that one!"
"Are you going to smuggle me in a WK for it?"
Alas, the answer was no, but you can't blame me for trying. One day, I will have a magical japanese plant ball of my own, but today (or rather, two weeks ago) was not that day. Frank did clue me in about his latest project, though, the tank that would become the subject of his ongoing Mini-M journal. He described some of his experiences with the ADA line and at the ADG gallery, his plans for the tank, the kind of techniques he wanted to share through the journal. He sold me on the system, on setting up my own tank, and I bought it.
Boy did I buy it.
hahahaha! HOW COULD YOU HATE MANZANTIA!? I LOVE IT SOOOOO MUCH!
anywho, glad to see you working on a tank project! looking forward to seeing your progress!
anywho, glad to see you working on a tank project! looking forward to seeing your progress!
Okay, to be honest, my patience for narrating is kind of petering out, and I don't have any more particularly artsy low depth of field shots to string you along with, so here's the finalized hardscape prior to planting.
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I'll have with-water photos for you tomorrow, along with some details about the set up.
I'll have with-water photos for you tomorrow, along with some details about the set up.
Day 1
Not much going on here, honestly. Today I'll be starting the maintenance routine as described in Franks' Mini-M thread, daily water changes for the first week, beginning to dose with Green Bacter, then Brighty K, and finally Step 1, but I'll get to that later. Right now, I'm honestly just enjoying the tank being up. I actually set it up last night, and it was kind of amazing watching the HC already pearling only an hour or two after I had filled and set up the Advance system.
If I had to give up everything but one part of this system, I'd keep the advance. Every single piece of the ADA equipment is a work of art in itself, but the advance system is where the combination of craftsmanship, functionality, and aesthetics really shines. It literally took me all of 5 minutes to hook everything up, it was as simple as screwing on the regulator to the cartridge, attaching the ball valve, and then running the tubing to the check valve, bubble counter, and finally the do!aqua music glass mini 15 that I'm using in place of the one that comes standard.
The decidedly non-ADA point and shoot off to the side is for a time lapse, which is something I've wanted to do with a tank for a while now. It's rigged up on mini tripod twist tied to the rack stand. It's not the greatest quality, but it should get the job done.
Pretty easy plant to grow imo...once it gets rooted well it takes off. Good light and CO2/Excel made it go weed mode for me. Ime trimming should be avoided until it gets about 1/2-3/4" tall and rooted otherwise you just end up pulling out plants by accident and that's always frustrating. You might have a different experience than I did but a few friendly tips never hurt anyone. 
Dollface is taking a very, very wise approach growing just a plant at a time here, I must say.
The reason is, now she can master the growth patterns and tendencies of HC (now she's already mastered hair grass), so next time she does a lay out she'll be able to do all sorts of really cool things really easily with HC + hair grass.
I've also got to say, that's a great stone arrangement. This is the first I've seen it with slope.
I can visualize now how the HC will slope over the rocks from behind and create some badass back drop to the front.
The reason is, now she can master the growth patterns and tendencies of HC (now she's already mastered hair grass), so next time she does a lay out she'll be able to do all sorts of really cool things really easily with HC + hair grass.
I've also got to say, that's a great stone arrangement. This is the first I've seen it with slope.
I can visualize now how the HC will slope over the rocks from behind and create some badass back drop to the front.
Midway through the first water change, the tint of the water was even more noticeable in real life.
PS: Whoever said that green bacter smelled like barbecue is right. I should probably eat before water changes from now on.
Day 2
Post water change. I managed to clumsily disturb some of the substrate in the front which dislodged some of the HC, so in the future I'm going to stick to draining with airline tubing. Still not much going on, I'm kind of amazing that frank manages to write three paragraph posts about a 5 minute water change, honestly. The only thing I really have to note is how much I love these mini- pipes. The flow is just perfection. I'm never going back to a spray bar, or a filter without quick disconnects for that matter.
This scape is interesting because the three primary stones make up a formation that is nearly three main stones together. Of course the two secondary stones on the left and right are slightly smaller than the main stone, but the formation together creates a more dramatic impression.![Image]()
For example, on both the left and right the angles on the stones is nearly 45 degrees.
Which means, it will rely on HC overgrowth to soften the angles to make it more passive, and the intended focal point is very clearly on the left. The small stones front and center should inevitably be covered by HC and become obscured.
In pictures, the slope doesn't look all that dramatic; but in person I'm sure it's similar to mine where the slope actually goes up really high in the back.
I can't help but think that this layout will require a lot of detail-orientation, which is a good thing. Great scapes are made in the details, not in the macro.
While the clear intended focal is on the left, my favorite part of the tank is actually the relationship between the main stone and the secondary stone on the right. That formation is the best execution of rock-work in the whole scape and maintains the direction of the scape moving to the top right. Consequently, this also makes the focal point more jarring on the left (every other stone in the layout is pointed to the upper right, where as the left secondary stone is going the opposite direction).
I would say that long-term I could foresee the addition of some hair grass around the main stone, notably on the left hand side, but I also say that this particular scape is well suited for a singular carpet of HC, considering it's tendency to mound up.
Otherwise, this scape has Dollface written all over it.
I intended for most of the rocks to be obscured once the HC grows in. Plus it'd be kind of hard to just "take out" any of the rocks without destroying the scape.
Speaking of the scape, I may as well show some progress shots of how it came together. Some of these are from my camera phone, so it's not quite DSLR pretty, and boy I wish I had cleaned my living room last week now...
![Image]()
I struggled for a while because I was essentially going backwards. I had this secondary stone placed first, and I tried to work all the other stones around that.
That was stupid. Don't do that.
![Image]()
After cycling through a few different variations, I settled on this. A final picture was starting to come together in my mind, but again, trying to work around the secondary stone was messing me up. It competed with the main stone rather than supported it, and don't even get me started on the right hand side. It didn't have nearly enough "weight", and the stone would've been almost completely obscured with a full carpet of HC.
![Image]()
Here's the closest picture I have to the final scape. I changed out the secondary stone, but now it just didn't have enough, well, oomph. What I ended up doing was using the stone from the previous scapes, but turned around in a different position. The stone directly beneath the main stone is mostly for added height and support, otherwise it tended to sink down, diminishing its presence. It's going to be almost entirely obscured once the carpet grows in.
Really, this process taught me a lot of things. Most of all though is the importance of a slope. I was working with maybe 1/3 the volume of substrate than I have in the tank now, and it showed. Most of the scapes ended up terribly flat and it was incredibly frustrating. The added variation in height and depth can definitely make or break a scape.
I struggled for a while because I was essentially going backwards. I had this secondary stone placed first, and I tried to work all the other stones around that.
That was stupid. Don't do that.
After cycling through a few different variations, I settled on this. A final picture was starting to come together in my mind, but again, trying to work around the secondary stone was messing me up. It competed with the main stone rather than supported it, and don't even get me started on the right hand side. It didn't have nearly enough "weight", and the stone would've been almost completely obscured with a full carpet of HC.
Here's the closest picture I have to the final scape. I changed out the secondary stone, but now it just didn't have enough, well, oomph. What I ended up doing was using the stone from the previous scapes, but turned around in a different position. The stone directly beneath the main stone is mostly for added height and support, otherwise it tended to sink down, diminishing its presence. It's going to be almost entirely obscured once the carpet grows in.
Really, this process taught me a lot of things. Most of all though is the importance of a slope. I was working with maybe 1/3 the volume of substrate than I have in the tank now, and it showed. Most of the scapes ended up terribly flat and it was incredibly frustrating. The added variation in height and depth can definitely make or break a scape.
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