Little Mini M - Mal Pais

[MARIMOBALL]

stones look better now. looking good.

[chase127]

i think you should try to slope your substrate so its about a half an inch higher in the back. it will give the tank more depth. youre off to a good start though. and spread that HC more!!!!

your tank reminded me of this amano scape..

[ZooTycoonMaster]

Oooh I see some HC stuck in the filter intake

Nice tank!!

[dougiefresh]

Chris, love the picture. The slope you show was kind of what I was after, it fell, compacted and flattened and I'm now out of this color aqua soil. Do you think I should order the powder type or more normal for this effect?

Yeah I know about the plantings That fresh emersed grown HC stuff is a pain to work with since the stems are microscopic. It's getting a little easier to separate and plant now it's getting a little longer.

Zoo: As you can tell from some of the plantings I'm no Amano I'm a Slacker!

[chase127]

i would get some powder so it will go with the scale of your tank more and its easier to plant in.

[dougiefresh]

Nothing new to report, but I did take a picture of cherry shrimp (boring). It almost turned out macro, but couldn't completely focus on the tiny thing.



Also here is my little filter, vintage eheim 2011, isn't she cute:

[bsmith]

Damn you with your clean awesome looking MINI-M!!! Now I must get myself some flow pipes for christmas. I have really been fighting the urge to spend a chunck of money on the tank (since I have been decently happy with it for the past month or so) but those pipes look great, the whole thing looks great.

BTW, where did you get the tubing for the 2211 at?

Keep up the good work.

[dougiefresh]

Thanks BSmith! Yeah, I thought of everything I could to get knock-off lily pipes for the 2011. Since, most are sold in pairs and others the wrong size, it wasn't worth it for the trouble. These were a Christmas present to myself

I got that tube at the tube a local fish store - city pets. They are just Lee's tubing 1/2 and 3/8 inch. They're a little thick but work.

[ZooTycoonMaster]

Where is Cypress?

Tank update?

[dougiefresh]

Well it's a been a little while for an update, hope everyone had a great holiday and happy new year. Since last post, I purchased five Boraras maculatus. I believe two jumped out Out of the three left, one looks a little different than the other two and doesn't have red coloration but it's marking are similar to the others. See him in first picture.

The hair grass has taken off, but the emersed HC is slow to carpet is slow but growing. The micro java fern on the rock looks pretty much as when I attached it, but it's putting on roots.

Also, I've got a little algae developing, looks like the green spot algae here and there. Primarily been using brighty K (about a one squirt a day), but recently started using the step 1. How often do y'all think I should squirt these things in? It recommends one pump daily.








Thanks for checking it out and any advise.

[MARIMOBALL]

from my experience for a tank this small I would dose ADA step1 one pump a week and brighty K 3-4 pumps a week. do you have Amano shrimp? the keen those rocks clean. tank is looking good BTW.

[dougiefresh]

Zoo: Cypress is in Texas, it's in the Houston area. I fixed my information. Thanks.

Marimo: Thanks for the advice on the ferts. I have one Amano shrimp in there now and one otto. I'll pick up a couple more shrimp next week and another otto. Also, I ordered some of that power type AS to build up the back corner more like you mentioned.

[dougiefresh]

Here's a few updated pictures of the Mini.
Front

Back

Angle:


Tank Mates:
Amano

Boraras Maculata

Ottos looking in mirror


Thanks for checking it out!

[chase127]

its really filling in great! whats going in the right corner?

[dougiefresh]

Thanks Chris! I recently added some powder type AS to build up that back corner so it's kind of bare. Was thinking just letting the hairgrass grow up in that corner and the HC up the front. That hairgrass is being pretty aggressive.